NBA Legends Share The CRAZIEST Kobe Bryant Story From The 2008 Redeem Team

foreign [Music] documentary set to release on October 7th on Netflix sparked this video creation so I went back and looked at each redeemed team member and all these NBA legends had a story to tell on Kobe Bryant and they all fit in so here's the craziest Kobe Bryant Olympic story that you've ever heard if you enjoy these types of videos please help me out by hitting that like button subscribe if you are new get your popcorn sit back and relax and welcome to the craziest 2008 Dream Team Kobe Bryant story let's talk a little bit about the big picture for USA basketball last couple of Olympics that you were not a part of maybe the reputation wasn't the greatest in the world this is a different team isn't it it is a different team I think it's a different attitude I think it's uh and we understand the significance and the importance of representing our country and I think that was something that was maybe missing on those past teams it was ugly to watch it was terrible to be a part of and you kick our ass I had a lot of concerns that's why we recruited Kobe Bryant a lot of it really you know falls on me because you know I'm Wiser of the guys having been around for so many years so you know most of the time I set the tone in practice I'd like to share a lesson I learned from it was 2008 the redeemed team was formed and we were in Vegas for the start of training camp and we're getting ready for the Olympics in Beijing we're going to head to Beijing and this is when I knew Kobe was a big monster though you hear about it you hear about it but you really if you don't see it you really really don't know so 2008 Olympics was right after he um he and the Lakers got beat by the Celtics we were in the player Lounge like playing cards there was four of us playing Spades and he came in and there was a little wine sat down brought himself a glass and he like saw this newspaper and he saw a picture it was like something about the Lakers series and blah blah and it was a picture of Paul Pierce like celebrating and there was a picture of Paul Pierce so they had just lost to the Celtics in the finals like tragically and in a very you know gut-wrenching way if you remember they like blew a lead it was not good but Kobe Bryant sits down and pours a glass of wine we're like what the [ __ ] you know and he got very competitive with drinking the wine and it was like he didn't want to be behind anybody on these glasses and we were like Kobe you know we got practice tomorrow we're just sipping and I just remember watching Kobe just stir the pot the whole time you know how Kobe does nope he was like into this wine he's because I'm small and he literally like he didn't say a word he didn't say anything but we saw him like take the paper he started cutting out the Paul Pierce picture you know ripped out this picture he had folded it up and he put it in his pocket and he was like it's motivation for next year but like dead ass serious and we were like okay okay and then he proceeded to like chug his wine pour another glass chug it toward the third and he was like basically like he looks over and he's like now I'm one ahead of you guys we're like okay weren't County function oh that's what like that's who he is like that's what this is like this is who Kobe Bryant is you know it was funny we were in Olympics right yeah when we uh we're starting to build a culture uh at uh USA basketball and he Chauncey Phillips and Jason Kidd were added to add uh veteran leadership Coach K did a great job of of of preparing us you know of getting us ready Coach K I really want to say Coach K led the charge on that one because he knew the moment and how serious it was you know but at the same time we had the group of guys we had you didn't have to really worry about that you know with with LeBron Kobe D Wade Carmelo and you know those those guys who were great guys man Cole became we became very close um the one that I'm closest to from the team yeah I look at him as a brother but he pulled me to the side in the Olympics and said you're a bad [ __ ] like that you know what I'm saying because he knew what it was already so for me as a young player four or five yeah four years in the league at that time it's nothing you want nothing more than somebody like that to come to an illusion you're a bad [ __ ] you know what I'm saying that was respect so when he did that I knew it took a lot out of him to tell me some sitting like that so I took that and then you know I built on that and um you know I I thought the word of them prior to my experience with them been playing with them uh even more so it just worked extremely hard compete but we became close on some like some disrespectful [ __ ] like today going at your neck and saying [ __ ] to your elbow on you I had my braids back then too so he touching my head I'm like I don't touch my head like you know what I'm saying like don't touch me no more dog the last summer he was a butt of a lot of jokes and he you know he's he's smirking and you know he's doing his little [ __ ] elbows he come back elbow me I come back elbow on him he's going to be physical with you he's going to try to wear you down he laughing talking about that's all you got you know what I'm saying it was just pushing your button pushing my button to see if I was that where I was just standing I was just listening I was just trying to soak everything up I could you know and I remember one thing that he said he was like if you want to try to be you know great at it or want to be one of the grace you got to put the work in you know there's no substitution to work and so we get into a city uh one of these cities very late and immediately we all go to the gym you know all my guys it's you know it's mellow his b is Brian it's Kobe like we all go to the gym we all get all working it's real late and so after we get done get not working me and my guys we say hey like let's meet for breakfast in the morning and I wanted to establish myself as a young leader on the team by waking up bright and early like if you can't sleep whoever first one wake up hit us up we're gonna go eat day one so the goal was to be the first one at breakfast and so we probably get like three hours of sleep you can't sleep much when you're traveling across the world you know like we were traveling so I set my alarm I make sure I'm about Sunrise I get out of bed I put on my gear and I head downstairs and we get probably get like three hours of sleep and we we wake up we go down to where the food is as we walk it down you know slubbing with with sleep in our eyes Kobe Bryant is sitting there Kobe's already there with ice packs on his knees drenched in sweat right so we walk up to cold be like cold what what's up and he was like oh yeah man I just finished uh finished his workout and uh I'm about to go do another one now it took me a minute to figure it out but this guy wasn't only awake before me he had already worked out and at that moment I was like wait hold on we just worked out about three hours ago you know what I mean and like you've done another workout and you're about to go do another one he was up every morning at seven o'clock in the morning getting a lift in going to the gym getting up shots going to get breakfast coming back for practice by himself every day and then coming back at night to get shots up the finals days earlier meanwhile I'd been off for months when I was still exhausted what he had done that morning was incomprehensible to me that dedication he had only days after falling short of an NBA championship that taught me something I've never forgotten Legends aren't defined by their successes they're defined by how they bounce back from their failures that's when I was like okay I got to get my stuff together I gotta get my [ __ ] together because this dude right here is on a whole different level uh than even I'm on and I'm supposed to be great right so that's the kind of person he was and that's how he drove me you know I mean like this little stuff like that I went back and said okay that means I got to work hard and I got to do more at the first week of training camp for the for the Olympics in 08 he was doing it by himself by the second week we had the whole team there yeah I mean it's contagious and that was our regiment from the second week of training camp to get ready for the Olympics all the way until we got the gold medal and we'd be Spain and China that was the standard he wanted to leave he wanted to make sure that we all achieved greatness we put the work into it you know when you see you know at the time he was probably you know him and him and him and LeBron are the best players in the world you know arguably you know it's kind of one of those battles went back and forth at the time so it was two different things that you had to worry about with LeBron it was pick and roll at the pick and roll at the pick and roll well Kobe it was a matter of don't let him get to a sweet spot he's going to beat you up for three quarters and throw in a four quarter it'll be easier to get to his sweet spot you need it crazy stamina you see this man the work he's putting in the hours he's putting in the gym the extra shots he's getting up you can't help like you're not gonna go sit down on the sideline while he's still out here at 30 you know see him doing that and I'm you know I'm 20 23 years old you know I got to get up there too you know and so it was great it was great being able to work out with him um to learn from him to talk to him and pick his brain about things um and then have a chance to compete with him you're gonna see how hard he worked how much he put into the game how good he how good he really is what was and so to be able to play with a guy who had everything offensively who could have just demanded us to give him the ball every time down was worried about defense in the Olympics come on bro what am I going to do I'm going to follow suit yeah and so that was one of my favorite things when he came to me and he said that like I didn't care about starting the world I care about was my mom was when I got a chance to get on that corporate code because I knew what it was going to go down I'm sure he knew that man you know I know D this is tough for D Wade not to be started on this team and Colt came to me as he knew I was coming off the bench he came to me right away and he eased my mind he was like listen and he said hey D when you get in when you get in the game and it's me and you on the floor this is what I'm gonna do I'm gonna pick up the defender 94 feet I'm gonna harass him I'm gonna turn him I'm gonna turn him I'm gonna turn him and once I turn him you do what you do you come in like shoot at them you know what I mean like to come and trap or to come and get a steal you know and so I got so many steals and so many dunks and so much because of unselfishness of a star in our lead for me I looked at that I'm like I'm a younger guy I'm the least you know accomplished guy in this group I should be the one that you said he should have told me D you go pressure and I'm gonna do that but his mindset wasn't that way Grover uh his his trainer was talking about how he would just go on bike rides through the desert and just like really just work like just do wild stuff just to get like his mentally repaired when Kobe was in uh the Olympics in 2008. you took the role in 08 as a defensive stopper and then if they need you towards the end you would go in and close especially no way against Spain Kobe right away said I'll play defense and in first practice he never took a shot [Music] what Kobe cared about was defense all of a sudden there's a knock on the door just two days early and it's Kobe he said coach can can I talk to you for a minute and I said certainly so he went to a private room and a I said what do you need he said I I need to ask you a favor and as a job what is it and he said I want a guard the best perimeter player on every team that we play now he's the NBA scoring champ he's the best player in the league at that time he wanted to let everyone know that I'm here and I want to guard the best offensive player every time we go and we have a team meeting in the first practice he doesn't take a shot does not take one shot like successfully Coach K was a coach and he pulled Kobe and myself over and he said I call him over afterwards and said you know yo Colby you're actually going to have open shots would you shoot the freaking ball and Colby said I've been playing this game for I don't know how many years I've never had an open shot he goes no because with the talent that we have and the offense we're gonna run you're gonna have open shots so Kobe goes well we're gonna where are my open shots gonna be from he said mostly the corners that's something that I really took the challenge of because very rarely did he take shots from the corner and he smile you know he had that smile and he said from then on I was the only coach ever to ask him to shoot and you know what he was doing JJ he he had this vision of moments he knew that for us to win the gold medal we would have to beat Argentina whether it be in a semis or the gold medal game and that he wanted to guard chinobling but believe me he already had this figured out and he was going to prepare to guard you know it wasn't just a set an example for his team he had that Vision crazy so every single day from the moment the coach told him that we would make 500 not miss not take we would make 500 jump shots from the corners that's it let's not just make the shot because there's a lot of individuals that can make the shot let's enhance the focus this is how the ball has to go in the hoop this is how it has to come back to you so those 500 shots weren't all the same every single time that's mindset Remains the defending world champions we're both undefeated and um this is a game everybody was waiting to see your impossible relationship but we're like brothers I mean we're very very close and then young I'm very happy for him that he's playing well got me we're we're very very tight so it's a little tough to compete against right before the game or we came to see me when they came to visit the village I remember that very clearly immediately my big brother team to see me with my teammates which everyone was like whoa Cody's in our apartment I'm cool and I believe you know that might have been part of his strategy that kind of softened me up now it's time for the United States to battle for many feel is their toughest fall in these Olympic Games Spain both teams come in 3-0 they're the two best teams they're the two gold medal hopefuls both said he gonna set the tone to start the game we said I'm running through Pal's [ __ ] chess first play the game I'm running through Pakistan we was like what uh we trip I guess your teammate you're tripping you ain't about to do that he said first play the game I know what they're gonna run and you know Pals with the last screen I asked for the first play of the game [Music] we was like holy [ __ ] I just went right into the middle of my chest trying to get right through me to send a message not just to move it to his teammates and say hey this might be my brother play with him close but I don't care about anything else by winning I'm right there in front of the Men's Life he was like no he ain't my teammate right now [ __ ] get up I'm like I love this energy this is what we need because like he did that to his teammate oh my God boy so they look for me to really have that Poise in those type of situations it's not get rattled but get flustered about it it is what it is to kind of keep their composure was part of my job [Applause] we indicated the two points like three minutes to go I was like man this is this is so much fun you know I remember wanting the ball in those situations and once I made the shot it just felt felt good it's like oh [Music] yeah different it's a different family plan for your country when you play in the NBA you're playing for a particular City a particular Market when you plan for your country those lines go away we're all together we're all playing for the USA Basketball carries it is a great honor with that that goes above and beyond winning the NBA Championship but their moment was really special and I hope you guys enjoyed the video if you did please be sure to leave a like subscribe if you are new and comment down below what you thought about the stories in this video I thought they were absolutely insane here are two new videos that you may enjoy and I will catch you guys in the next one peace

Channel: Nick Smith NBA

Views: 998,410

Keywords: kobe Bryant stories, kobe bryant story, Kevin Garnett young Kobe bryant story, kobe bryant motivation, kobe bryant motivational, kobe bryant, nba stories, nick smith nba, best kobe bryant story, best kobe bryant stories, kobe bryant high school, kobe bryant podcast, nba podcast kobe, NBA Legends Share The Most Insane Kobe Bryant Story From The 2008 Redeem Team, kobe Bryant story olympics, 2008 kobe Bryant, kobe Bryant olympics, 2008 redeem team, redeem team Netflix

Id: MUb4zGkR858

Length: 18min 12sec (1092 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 29 2022