The historic American basketball player Kobe Bryant assured that, although his country’s team had played the World Cup in China with the best players available, they would also have suffered, adding that “the days of the Dream Team of (the Olympic Games in ) Barcelona 92 have already passed ».
“Put in the best players you have, make the best (possible) selection from the United States and we will still have challenges. It’s not going to be a piece of cake. It’s going to be tough, “said the legendary Los Angeles Lakers guard during a press conference at the Beijing Wukesong pavilion.
Bryant made these statements when asked about the disappointing performance of the United States in the World Cup in China, in which they lost to France in the quarterfinals and later to Serbia, so they will only be eligible for seventh place in a match they will play tomorrow against Poland.
On the future of the American team, Bryant said: “The next team is going to have challenges. It doesn’t matter who (the selected players) are, it’s not going to be easy. “
Regarding the supposed poor quality of the team selected for this World Cup, which did not include stars like LeBron James, James Harden or Stephen Curry, Bryant recalled that in the final of the 2008 Games the United States “needed a tremendous quarter and a final push tremendous »to beat Spain.
At the same press conference, the historic player had words of praise for Argentina, which is competing for a place in the final against France: “They always play well together, they organize very well as a group, both physically and defensively.”
Asked by Argentine guard Facundo Campazzo, Bryant said that “it has always been tough.”
During the day today, the former guard sat at the foot of the court with another NBA historical, Argentine Manu Ginobili.
“I was pretty pissed off at Manu because if he hadn’t been there, he’d have 10 (NBA champion) rings. He was always one of my favorite players to face me. He is the ultimate competitor, extremely smart, “said Bryant.
“It was fun sitting with him because he sees the game the way I do, in a very analytical way,” he added. Before we used to compete against each other, and it’s cool that now he talks to me and tells me what he thinks. We will never face each other again, now it will only be talking about strategy. It was good to catch up because we hadn’t spoken in a long time. ” EFE