Kobe Bryant Defends His Dream Team Comments
Kobe Bryant has never been subtle.
The 2012 United States Olympian wants the world to know that he believes in himself and his team, so much so that he had the audacity to say this year's team could beat the 1992 Dream Team.
Two days after he made the remarks that took on a life of their own, Bryant is not backing down from his statement (via CBS Sports):
"The fact is, they have [Patrick] Ewing and [David] Robinson and those big guys, it's tough. If you're asking me, 'Can you beat them one game?' Hell yeah, we can beat them in one game. You didn't ask me if we could beat them in a 7-game series. In one game, we can beat them. No question about it.
"
Playing devil's advocate, is what Bryant said really that outlandish?
If you look at the actual comments he made, it's not like he said the 2012 U.S. Olympic team would run all over the Dream Team and make them look like the Dominican Republic squad that just lost by 54 points on Thursday night.
All Bryant said was, "It'd be a tough one, but I think we'd pull it out." Listening to the way the media portrayed it, you would think he said that the Dream Team was the worst collection of talent ever assembled and that the 2012 team would mop the floor with them.
Plus, does anyone acknowledge the fact that it was the media who kept asking Bryant about how the 2012 team would fare against the Dream Team?
Any competitor is going to say that his team is going to win.
No one would have told you that the 1980 U.S. hockey team was going to beat the Russians in the Olympics, but in a one-game scenario, anything can happen.
Over the course of, say, 100 games, the Dream Team is going to win a majority of games over the 2012 team.
But, as Bryant said, in a one-game situation, you never know what is going to happen. The best teams don't win every game or every championship.
Bryant was completely right to say what he did, and he shouldn't even have to defend his position. If Michael Jordan were on this team, he would have said the same thing Bryant did.
Actually, he would have said this team would mop the floor with the Dream Team.
