WEBVTT - Lucky 7's 0:00:01.960 --> 0:00:05.640 The Dream Team Tapes Season two. Kobe, Lebron and the 0:00:05.680 --> 0:00:10.360 Redeem Team is a production of Diversion Podcasts in association 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:26.960 with I Heart Radio Diversion Podcasts. The players selected for 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:29.520 the honor of representing the United States in the two 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:36.560 thousand and eight Beijing Olympic Games are Kobe Bryant. We 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:38.440 look forward to this for a while, you know, to 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:40.320 be in this position now to here, we don't represent 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:47.320 our country man, especially special Lebron James. We look for 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:49.640 the opportunity the weekend on athamall being the best in 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:51.720 the world. I guess the Redeem Team is as it 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:55.000 is right, We're the best team in the world. We're 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:57.280 the best team in the world where we put basketball 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:19.040 America basketball wheat. Which is that time? Welcome to the 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.560 Kobe Lebron and the Radeem Team podcast on Ja Donde 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:26.240 and we're calling this episode Lucky Seven's and most of 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:28.800 the action will be described and takes play in Las Vegas. 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.560 Lucky A Lady Tonight, etcetera, and all that and all 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:35.440 of the action takes place in two thousand seven. The 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:37.800 NBA All Star Game was in Vegas that year, and 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:41.640 so was Temo Says training camp and the FIBA America's Tournament. 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:44.280 It's originally supposed to be in Venezuela. We'll get to 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:48.080 the story behind that later. They were important breakthrough moments 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.120 for Kobe Bryan and Lebron James individually in two thousand 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:53.680 and seven, and then they came together that summer to 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:56.680 play a teammates for the first time. But the story 0:01:56.720 --> 0:01:59.880 starts at All Star Weekend in February, and in season 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:02.240 one of the Dream Team tapes, Jack McCallum told us 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:04.320 about the lengths he would go to an avoid writing 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:06.880 about All Star Games, and Jack, you were willing to 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:10.320 jump through the logistical hoops of gathering Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:12.760 Charles Barkley, Patrick Doing, and Karl Malone for a photo 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:16.520 shoot for the Sports Illustrated Famous cover photo shoot. You'd 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:19.200 rather do all that than recap the All Star Game 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:22.079 in Charlotte that year? Did you really despise covering All 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:24.440 Star Games that much? First of all, don't be giving 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:29.079 away all my professional secrets. J. That's that wasn't very nice. 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:32.520 The thing I remember most about All Star Weekends to 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:34.280 give you an idea what the game meant to me, 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:37.680 was that one of my Favorites was six, the first 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:41.720 year they did the three point shot contest. I mean 0:02:41.760 --> 0:02:44.400 by then we had seen a lot of unbelievable dunks. 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:46.840 I mean you went back to the A B A dunks. 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:49.480 You know, they were as spectacular as anything. But I 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:52.720 remember that first shooting contest when Bird, you know it, 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:56.280 comes out and doesn't remove his warm up jacket. The 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:59.960 problem with it was was that when you write first 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:03.600 Barts illustrated, You're always supposed to be looking at some angle, 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:07.280 some sort of thing that would propel you to forward. 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:10.240 And with the All Star Game, you couldn't really get that. 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:12.040 And I'm talking about an arrow when some of the 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:15.400 All Star games were pretty good. So it was just 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:20.639 very hard to find an angle. The moment the weekend 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:22.800 was over, the game was over, you went back to 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:25.560 the regular season, and it just seemed this kind of 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:29.040 anomaly that was very difficult to write about. But I 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:32.640 was there for everyone, uh from tip off until the 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:37.240 final and was even reasonably non hungover when the tip 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:40.440 off went off. Congratulations. Well, the parties were always the 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:42.920 best part of All Star Weekend, but I always felt 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:45.640 the All Star weekends and even the All Star Games 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:48.720 could be viewed as a referendum on the state of 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:50.800 the NBA if if you really took a step back 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.360 and looked at it that way. And in two thousand seven, 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:56.320 Kobe clearly approached it as a way to climb back 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:58.520 to the top of the league and to regain his 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:01.320 good standing in the public eye. So remember, after the 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.760 two thousand three sexual assault allegation, he lost endorsement deals 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:08.280 with sponsors like McDonald's and Nutella. Now, Nike stuck with 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.840 him the whole time, but they weren't exactly emphasizing him. Uh, 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:14.080 they kept him on the roster, but he wasn't at 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:16.480 the forefront. But at the two thousand and seven All 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:19.159 Star weekend, Kobe is doing promotional events for the Sony 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:22.120 PlayStation and the NBA O seven video game, and that 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.000 was his first new sponsor since the case against him 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:28.360 was dropped in two thousand four, and the NBA was 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:31.039 embracing him as well. Formally, he was one of the 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:33.600 past Dunk Contest winners that they brought back to serve 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:35.599 as a judge for the Dunk Contest, So he was 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:39.200 sitting there along with Michael Jordan and Dominique Wilkins. Michael 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:41.600 was hating by the way, he refused to give up 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:44.400 tens to anybody. The lowest score for every dunk was 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:48.360 Michael Jordan's. He was in full hater mode. And then 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:52.040 comes the game on Sunday night, and everybody else played 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:54.760 like exactly what you'd expect people have spent their previous 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:57.440 four day hours in Las Vegas to play like, but 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:00.440 not Kobe. He's picking guys up at half of court, 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:03.520 he's saving ball from going out of bounds. He had 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.159 thirty one points and get this, Jack six steals in 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:09.600 this game and Kobe is actually the all time steals 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:11.360 leader in the All Star Game. That tells you how 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:14.480 seriously he takes it. And to hear Carmelo Anthony tell 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:17.840 it that performance in two thousand seven was all predestined. 0:05:18.200 --> 0:05:22.200 Even being there, you felt it like he would tell you, like, Yo, 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:24.479 I'm going forward tonight. You know what I'm saying Like 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:27.719 he was, he was telling people, I'm going forward tonight. 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:30.880 I'm locked in. And so the people that know him 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:33.760 have been a rhyming know's environments. When he get that 0:05:34.000 --> 0:05:37.640 that aura that you know, it's almost like Bruce Leebroy 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:39.880 when you get the glow. When when he gets that 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:41.880 and you start looking in his eyes, and he started 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:43.800 getting his look you know what type of night is 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:47.160 gonna be? And he had that, he had it. He 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:50.120 would just say, I'm going forward. I'm going forward. I 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:52.800 like that Bruce Leroy reference from Carmelo, a hint to 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:57.120 the eighties movies The Last Dragon. And since Carmelo was 0:05:57.200 --> 0:05:59.719 Kobe's teammate on the Western Conference squad back when they 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:02.760 still divided all Star teams by conference, he had a 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:07.320 warning beforehand. But Chris Boss was unprepared. He was playing 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:09.440 for the East. He had no idea what was coming, 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:11.280 but it didn't take him long to see what was 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:13.800 happening at first, Like, man, what the hell's it doing? 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:16.160 Oh yeah, a star m VP. Yeah he's going for 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:18.440 boys and he's gonna get it because it was a blowout. 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:22.520 But I mean, yeah, he was there. He was playing hard. 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:26.680 I do I do remember that. Man, he was playing 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:30.440 so hard you know for a guy like me. I'm 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.200 the young dude, My family is there. I just want 0:06:33.240 --> 0:06:35.720 to get a couple of dunks be in the game. 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.960 It's not for bigs, you know what I'm saying. And 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:42.799 I'm you know, he's just you know, the guard lays 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:45.359 down on a screen and roll or I so, and 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:47.640 we're the one. You know, I'm a big and Kobe's 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:50.960 coming at me full speed. I'm like, man, this is crazy. 0:06:51.000 --> 0:06:56.680 He's really moving fast. I get offensive rebounds and all 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:59.240 that stuff. It was it was pretty fun that that 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.360 taught me how Bordner was, you know. I'm just like, yeah, 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:05.560 everybody is just you know, just kind of out here 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.720 for ships and giggles, and they'll play the game there there. 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:11.120 They put your name in the paper for these things, 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:14.800 you know, and especially if you uh, if you're trying, uh, 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:19.000 you know, to make a comeback. And man, hell yeah, 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:23.520 I couldn't even fathom that stuff. I couldn't even fathom 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.120 the pressure he was putting on himself to even do that. 0:07:26.320 --> 0:07:28.160 So Kobe wins the All Star Game m v P, 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:30.840 and this time he's cheered when he holds up the trophy, 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:33.040 unlike in two thousand two when he won the All 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:35.880 Star m v P in his hometown at Philadelphia and 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:40.040 the fans booed him, that's your town, Jack, explaining what 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:43.119 your people were doing. Well, that's kind of my talent. 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:47.320 I've always lived. I was born just south of Philadelphia. Now, 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:49.720 I lived just north of Philadelphia, but I did work 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:51.800 there for a while, so okay, I'll claim to be 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:55.480 a Philly guy. You know, the relationship j was interesting 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.720 and and Kobe was I remember that Kobe was very surprised, 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.960 uh and even you know, a little bit hurt. And 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:06.320 I think there's a couple of reason. Number one, it's Philly, 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:09.840 so I kind of they booed Beyonce at the NBA 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:12.560 Finals the year before and Destiny's Child, and I know 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:14.920 they talked about Philly Bowe and Santa Claus. How do 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:17.960 you boot Beyonce? I mean, I will defend Philly fans 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:20.400 a little bit more than most people, but it is Philly, 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:23.000 so it's kind of what we do. Number two, Kobe 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:26.680 wasn't a true, true Philly guy. You know. He wasn't 0:08:26.720 --> 0:08:30.120 from Roman Catholic, he wasn't from Overbrook. He was out 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:32.760 there in the bourbs, you know, at at Lower Marriott. 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:36.520 Number three, Before I give the final reason, let me 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:38.640 ask you something you would know better than I would. 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:44.800 Was Kobe a teetotaler? Like? Did he not party at 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:48.760 all during these weekends in Vegas and stuff? I don't 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.280 really know. I never had cocktails with him or anything. 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:53.319 So I don't know the answer to that was he 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:56.480 he didn't see him out. Yeah, and I actually had 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:59.760 drinks with them much much later, including I think one 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:02.400 of the as USA teams a times in in Vegas 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:06.520 when they had training camps in Vegas. But at that stage, no, 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:09.360 I had never had a drink or seen Kobe out drinking. 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:11.640 You know that has something to do with his All 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:14.960 Star appearances. But I think the final reason Jay was 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:18.320 that this time we're talking about two thousand two, that 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:23.120 was in the middle of the AI Philly honeymoon. I mean, 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:25.440 he had taken them AI had taken them to the 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:28.840 finals a year before one that memorable Game one in 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:31.600 l A. We all knew, okay, it's probably gonna win 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:33.839 four in a row after that, but AI kicked their 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:36.679 ass in Game one, and A I was the m 0:09:36.720 --> 0:09:38.600 v P of the All Star Game and oh one 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.320 had a great game down in Washington. I think people 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:44.719 were looking at hey, let's get two in a row. 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:47.520 He's our guy. He's on the other team with Kobe, 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:50.800 so in in retrospect, I guess it's pretty natural that 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:54.920 he got booed. However, Kobe was disappointed. You know, and 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:56.679 he was a little bit hurt if you look at 0:09:56.679 --> 0:10:00.480 the YouTube films of that, and uh, he went out 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:02.880 and showed I'll show you how I play when I'm 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:05.800 hurt and went out there and as he usually did, 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:09.000 you know, took no prisoners. Kobe did still have love 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.120 from the fans on the West Coast, and Vegas is 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:14.880 kind of like Lakers secondary market. Remember they used to 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.840 play regular season games up there and they still play 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:24.000 preseason games there and Vegas bands love Kobe. But talking 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:26.440 to the players after that All Star Game in OH seven, 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:28.920 I just remember they didn't seem particularly close to him. 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:31.640 I talked to Iris and Ray Allen. They just didn't 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:36.400 know him that well still, and they were, okay, good 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:38.200 for him. He won the m v P. He wanted 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:39.920 that bad. If he wants it, he can have it. 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:43.400 The attitude was more like they had to respect him 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:45.920 as a grudging respect. It wasn't love, but there was 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:49.760 grudging respect for Kobe. Yeah. I think that feeds into 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:52.080 that We've alluded to it before. J that kind of 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:55.600 he just wasn't one of the guys. And I'm talking about, 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:57.920 you know, covering All Star games back in the eighties 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.480 when players really really wanted that to be m v 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:04.520 P of the All Star Game. That was really really important. 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.920 And Okay, did they play defense like the regular season? No, 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:12.080 All Star games have always been high scoring affairs. You know, 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:15.240 they weren't double teaming the post and doing all the 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:19.640 pat Riley you know, Hubi Brown, you know defenses. But 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.800 they still played their butts off. But it just had 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:26.520 to do with that lone wolf aspect of of Kobe. 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.040 And later in that season in the playoffs, one of 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:31.640 the guys that really earned the respect of that year 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:34.720 was Lebron. It was the year of his memorable forty 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:39.000 eight special, which followed hard upon the Danielle Marshall game 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:44.840 when he apparently committed the egregious, unforgivable sin of instead 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:47.800 of driving to the basket for the final play, passed 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:50.840 off to a wide open uh Danielle Marshall in the corner, 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:54.160 who wasn't known as a three point specialist. Danielle Marshall lived, 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:58.560 Mr Shot. Everybody went, my god, the Lebron's not a game. Well, 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:01.440 he went on to be quite a gamer in that 0:12:01.520 --> 0:12:05.360 series against the Pistons, and if you look at that series, 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:09.520 it's one of the most incredible scoring explosions of all time. 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:14.120 They're playing the Pistons with too forty nine left at regulation. 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:18.600 Drew Gooden makes a free throw that cuts the Pistons 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:22.840 lead to four points. They eventually play three more minutes. 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:28.559 Of that twelve minutes of overtime, nobody scores another point 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:33.320 for Cleveland except for Lebron James. They let him shoot 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:35.920 from the outside. He starts making threes. They said, oh, hell, 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:37.720 we gotta go out and cover him. He gets to 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:40.120 the basket and makes a dunk. And when it was 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:43.719 all over and they had beaten the Pistons, they then 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:47.640 beat him in the climactic game. The league had a 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:50.920 little bit of a change. And I remember that summer. 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:55.000 You know, people would say, for the first time, hey Jack, 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:58.720 if you could pick Kobe or Lebron, who would you take. 0:12:59.440 --> 0:13:02.160 And I still remember going, well, if you're asking me 0:13:02.240 --> 0:13:07.240 this year, I guess I would still take Kobe. But 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:10.280 if you asked me next year, I think it's gonna 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:14.000 be Lebron. Yeah, it's starting to happen, and it's starting 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:18.160 to become a legitimate conversation. And this was just a 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:21.800 fantastic performance. Marv Albert called that game for Turner. He 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.319 called it one of the best playoff performances he'd ever seen. 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:28.880 And when Marv Albert says that, coming from all the 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:33.720 playoff performances he's witnessed, that is incredible praise. And it's 0:13:33.720 --> 0:13:35.920 indicative of the type of attention and the type of 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.520 love that Lebron is starting to get at that moment. 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:42.880 And I really think Kobe was envious of Lebron getting 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:47.160 all this attention. And it's no coincidence in my mind 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:49.120 that in the middle of these playoffs, in the middle 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:52.040 of that series, Kobe goes on Stephen A. Smith radio 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:55.760 show and says he wants to be traded the Lakers. 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:58.480 Remember coming up, Kobe's out of the playoffs. He's been 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:00.760 eliminated in the first round for of the second year 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:03.280 in a row by the Phoenix Suns, and they're regressing. 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:06.000 It took seven games the year before. This year in 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.840 two thousand and seven, he's out in five games and 0:14:09.200 --> 0:14:11.640 he's grumbling that night. He pulled me aside and he's 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:14.760 talking about, you know, this ship has to change. He's 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:17.319 unhappy with the supporting cast that he has there. They 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:20.280 need to do something about it. And it's just lingering 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:23.040 and festering in him, and then here's Lebron getting all 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.000 this attention and it just spills out on all these 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:28.240 radio interviews that he's doing that summer in that spring, 0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:31.200 so Kobe wants to be traded, and that all leads 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:34.320 to a big meeting that offseason that Phil Jackson described 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:36.920 to us. He was like, I don't know if we 0:14:36.920 --> 0:14:42.960 can go forward without making some dramatic changes, and he said, uh, 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.000 I'm gonna have to do it. So he picked up 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:49.600 the ball an email with Dr Bus a Barcelona, and 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:52.960 then he came back to California. So I was kind 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:58.400 of there as the mediator. There was Dr Bus and 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:03.600 there was Jimmy Bus and Mitch Cup checking. On the 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:08.040 other side was Rob Blinka and Kobe, and I could 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:13.080 sit in between and kind of my moderate Whatever I 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:17.880 could talk about is, you know, the effectiveness, And eventually 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:24.320 Kobe came out down to reasoning and going forward, even 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:27.640 those very different I think we we actually got down there, 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:31.560 even having some names that were on the board, and 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:35.080 Dr Buzz said something to the effect if I had 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:39.440 a five carrot ring and our diamond, he should didn't 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:43.920 say ring a diamond, and someone suggested that I break 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:46.920 it up and make one carrot diamonds out of the 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:51.640 five carrot diamonds. That wouldn't be smart with it. Something 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:54.680 to that effect. He said, the five carrot diamond is 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:58.320 much more valuable than five one caret diamonds. And that's 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:01.680 how I feel about you Cook. And with that jewelry analogy, 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:03.880 Kobe was destined to remain a Laker. It took a 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:06.280 little while, but eventually not only did he stay, he 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:09.120 winds up winning the MVP the next season. But it's 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:12.840 pretty amazing to think that all this dissension and turmoil 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:15.800 with the Lakers is playing out that same summer that 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:20.240 there USA basketball team is training and playing to qualify 0:16:20.360 --> 0:16:23.000 for the Olympics. Yea, Kobe always seemed to be one 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:26.120 of those guys that that ascribed to the theory that 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:30.240 creative tension was best. You know, that you couldn't if 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:33.320 things were too calm. Uh, you know, it just didn't work. 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:35.600 But one thing he didn't have to worry about was 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:39.280 the roster with the USA Basketball that they had compiled. 0:16:39.680 --> 0:16:42.960 I mean, beside the you know, Carmelo, Kobe himself being 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:47.080 on it. Lebron Jay kidd, Uh you know, they had 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:50.160 some other Darren Williams, he had some other guys that summer, 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:52.800 one of the main ones being Chauncey Billups And I 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:57.480 was always a fan of Jauncy's game. I just thought Chauncey, 0:16:57.640 --> 0:16:59.880 you know, really walked that line. He was kind of 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:04.200 up combo guard at the same time. He was kind 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:06.520 of a combo style guy. He was sort of a 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:09.240 you know, an urban player. You could see him in 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:12.439 Rucker Park, but you could also see him, you know, 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:14.960 dribbling the ball and taking the time and doing kind 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:17.280 of a magic Johnson let's calm down and everything. And 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:19.159 he was on that team, and he's one of the 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:23.560 guys who's uh games I really respected. And And here's 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:26.840 what Darren Williams, who was at the time kind of 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:29.760 a younger player, here's what he thought the first time 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:32.080 he saw that team assemble when we got together, and 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:33.520 I was like looked that. I was looking at like 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:38.160 the lineup, and I was just like, man, this is uh, 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:42.840 it's a pretty good team. I don't see anybody beating us. Honestly, 0:17:43.119 --> 0:17:45.480 that's that was my first name. Just I didn't see 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:49.760 anybody beating us. How do you then fight off the overconfidence, 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:52.240 right that that could be a dangerous attitude to come into. 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:56.480 I don't think while I while I felt like I 0:17:56.520 --> 0:18:00.520 didn't see anybody beating us, that didn't it wasn't It 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:03.840 wasn't cockiness. It wasn't it was kind of cockiness, I think, 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:06.800 but it was you know, it was just at the 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:09.879 same time, we just we had a goal when you 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:13.639 put that much talent in the room, with that, you know, 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:16.480 with some of the hardest workers in the game. Uh 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:18.920 was some of the best leaders in the game, with 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:21.200 one of the best coaches that's ever coached the game. 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:24.359 And the coaching staff was an unbelievable coaching staff behind 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:26.639 Coach K. Because it wasn't just Coach K. I mean, 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:29.440 we had we had a great coaching staff and so 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.760 all those things together, great leadership from the top from 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:35.359 Jerry Colangelo. You know, I just didn't see us losing. 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:38.679 Keep in mind they had lost to Greece in the 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:42.560 World Championships the year before, and Lebron Carmelo and Dwight 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:44.680 Howard were the key players from that OH. Six team 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:47.359 who were back in OH seven Chris Bosh and Dwayne 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:51.439 Wade round OH six team and they're in Vegas in 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:53.440 the summer of O seven, but they're injured, so they're 0:18:53.440 --> 0:18:56.159 not on the active roster. But Boss was there and 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:59.200 he told us the most noticeable difference was having Kobe 0:18:59.280 --> 0:19:03.440 on the court. Yeah, I mean, um, Kobe is playing. 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:07.399 Kobe is here. You know it's and you know you 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:10.000 have to even though you play against him. He he 0:19:10.119 --> 0:19:12.280 has an aura. So when you know he walked in 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.240 the room, you're you know, everything stops. I didn't play 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:17.240 in over seven. I was there, but I didn't play. 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:20.520 I have planning fashitists, which made me a little nervous 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:23.440 as far as making the team. But I didn't get 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:28.040 those those experiences in the game with Kobe at that point. 0:19:28.040 --> 0:19:33.000 But just being a spectator and watching him and Jason Kidd. 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:35.160 I'll be on the bench and in practice, you know, 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:38.840 Jason Kidd throws the past to Kobe and he goes 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:41.080 right by his face because he didn't know he was open. 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:43.600 So they had that chemistry that they were working out 0:19:43.640 --> 0:19:46.040 getting used to each other. And I mean Kobe, he 0:19:46.119 --> 0:19:49.159 was um, he was always a serious person. You know, 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:53.679 he was always very very uh meticulous about basketball. So 0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:57.520 anytime he's playing basketball serious, like every single time, so 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:02.200 that definitely um changed the narrative a bit. And we 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:05.280 we were unsuccessful in the last minute, So it's not 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:08.359 panic or anything like that, but it's definitely like, Yo, 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:10.679 we gotta we gotta get better. You know, we have 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:14.879 to do better. You're listening to Kobe Lebron and the 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:23.040 redeem Team will be back in a minute. I always 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:24.760 wondered what it was like for those, you know, a 0:20:24.800 --> 0:20:26.920 guy like Jim Beheim by that time had been around 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.000 the game for fifty years and he was one of 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:32.359 the assistants, And I always wondered what it was like 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:37.639 for those guys that have complete command over their team, 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:41.480 you know that their their rule is uh is absolute, 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:44.000 and then they come in and and meet up with 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:48.560 a guy like Kobe and Lebron, who are basically the bosses, 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:52.720 you know, of their own team. And I think Beheim 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:56.679 probably one of these guys that didn't love Kobe to 0:20:56.760 --> 0:21:00.760 begin with, but boy, he certainly developed a a grudging 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:03.639 respect and admiration for the guy. And here's what he 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:07.320 had to say about Kobe coming in. Kobe really changed 0:21:07.400 --> 0:21:10.119 the whole focus of the team. He came in. I 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:12.439 remember he came in, he worked out in the morning, 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:15.560 he came to them and worked out at night, came 0:21:15.600 --> 0:21:21.440 to practice and just attacked everybody, just literally literally attacked 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:24.920 whoever he was guarding. You know, And I've never been 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:27.400 around Kobe other than the state he lo to him, 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:31.080 but he attacked everybody in that first couple of days 0:21:31.080 --> 0:21:34.000 of practice. And then it was a matter of would 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:36.600 it be a fair fight? So if he's attacking everybody, 0:21:36.600 --> 0:21:38.360 are the people on the other side of the scrimmage 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:40.800 is going to have the weapons and the wherewithal to 0:21:40.880 --> 0:21:42.800 be able to go back at him. And of course 0:21:42.840 --> 0:21:45.639 the best way to assure that was to put Lebron 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:47.920 on the other team. And if you wanted that creative 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:50.200 tension that you talked about, Jack, I'd say it goes 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:53.200 beyond just creative tension. But if you if you wanted 0:21:53.240 --> 0:21:57.199 that competitive desire to come out into practice, you definitely 0:21:57.200 --> 0:22:00.240 separate Kobe and Lebron and have them go at it 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:03.919 in the quest for supremacy of the team in the league. 0:22:04.600 --> 0:22:07.400 And to me, it seems similar and you can tell 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:09.000