If there was one thing to take away from the fantastic Dream Team documentary that recently aired, is just how much trash talk takes place when the world’s greatest basketball players join forces. It’s no different this time around, as Kobe Bryant and LeBron James headline Team USA’s for Olympic Gold in London. But before they head across the pond, Bryant will remind James that he has a long way to go before he catches up in the race for NBA titles.
From
SI:
“He’s going to be a different player,’ said [Tyson] Chandler of the impact the championship will have on [LeBron] James. Chandler should know because he became a champion with Dallas in 2011 at the expense of James and Miami. ‘LeBron was already an incredible player, and if not the best, top two — there’s only one other guy that can challenge that, and he’s on this team.’ Chandler was referring to [Kobe] Bryant, of course. ‘So his whole mentality is going to be different, because the confidence of winning an NBA championship changes a player,’ said Chandler. ‘Confidence — knowing you’re a champion, you’re the best. You walk around with that swagger, and he deserves it. He worked very hard and now he can call himself a champ.’
[…] Above all else, he is not going to relax. The breakthrough doesn’t change everything, as warned by Bryant. ‘One championship doesn’t get it, you know what I’m saying?’ Bryant said. ‘So for me, when we won one, it was a little different because it was, like you know, Michael (Jordan) had six, Magic (Johnson) had five. So me and Shaq (O’Neal) both were like, man, we got to get some more. One ain’t going to cut it.’ Surely James has been thinking the same way. ‘Yeah, I mean, since the last time we were here I got two,’ said Bryant, extending the vowel the way Jordan extended his fingertips after making his last championship shot in Utah. He let the ‘two’ hang out there without rushing onto the next sentence. ‘Dirk got one. He (James) got one.’ Has Bryant reminded James of the championship score? ‘Not yet,’ he said. ‘I will. I will.’”
