As the Lakers brace for a four-game trip through Miami, Orlando, Memphis and New Orleans, Bryant’s ready to see three of his Team USA fellow gold medal winners: Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard and Chris Paul.
Accordingly, we asked him a few questions about Wade and Howard in particular heading into the first of two back-to-back games Friday and Saturday.
Here’s a link to the video: KOBE VIDEO
Kobe explained that he didn’t really know Wade before the summer in Vegas and the Olympics, but learned this about Flash: “He’s just a good person. An overall good person. He works extremely hard, and it’s fun being around him. I really respect him and how hard he works. We share similar work ethics … When I got up in the morning to lift weights, he’d be there as well, and we’d wind up lifting together. We’re pretty much on the same program, so a lot of stuff we did we did together.”
The only question is, whom do you think demanded the final set? Wade did his thing in 2006, but couldn’t you see Kobe demanding to go last so that he could put the bar up one more time than D-Wade? I do.
As for Howard, who missed the first two games of his career on Saturday and Monday with inflammation in his knee*, Bryant had this to say: “He’s just fun loving, but LeBron’s the same way. To have those two on a team, if kept everybody loose … (Howard)’s such a charismatic young player, and he enjoys talking to the press and goofing off a little bit, but he’s actually pretty quiet around us.”
*The Orlando Sentinel reported that Howard’s expected to play with a brace on Thursday against San Antonio.
In other news, Bryant said that he doesn’t expect the trip to “be a problem” due to L.A.’s depth. Finally, when prompted about Pau Gasol’s All-Star chances, Bryant was quite clear: “I don’t even think that’s a question. I don’t think that’s a doubt. If you count Tim Duncan as a center, he’s probably one of the two best forwards in the game with Kevin Garnett.”
The team takes off for Miami on Thursday morning, and we’ll be there as always to make sure you don’t miss a beat.
