No Excuses

country Venice, especially special Lebron James. We look for an opportunity of the weekend on a flam and being the best in the world. I guess the Redeem Team is because it is right. We're the best team in the world. We're the best team in the world. Where we put basketball America, basketball wheels beat. Which is that time? All, Hello and welcome to Kobe Lebron and the Redeemed Team.

When at last we reached the Chinese capital city of Beijing, one of the oldest cities in the world, with a history that dates back at least three thousand years and was once known still known in some quarters as pe King. But we are not here co host j A Dande to speak of a delicious crispy duck entree. We are here to speak of the two thousand and eight team that entered the Olympic Games as well. I suppose the favorite,

but not the overwhelming favorite, So how's that possible? And just give a brief update before we talk about the Olympics on how things were looking as they headed in the world had clearly clawed up to the United States and there were several US losses that we've chronicled here. So this was a stronger U S team certainly, but some people are calling this the strongest Olympic field that we've ever seen, the deepest Olympic field that we've ever seen.

And Spain certainly was deep yed Palkasov Rudy Fernandez. It was a caldron Argentina led by Manucan Nobli Andres Noconi. So those are the two main threats. Lithuania still an old threat from back in the days, Russia still couldn't completely be counted out, and China was playing at home. So even though they didn't have a tremendous amount of NBA talent, they had had a couple of players, most ob Yao Ming play in the NBA in recent years,

and they had a tremendous home court advantage. So those are all the obstacles that in the path the team USA. They were still the wonderful favorite. You would have had a bet four hundred dollars to win one hundred dollars, but it wasn't a dominant and and there was some good value beds out there that we're worth a shot. I don't think he wanted to bet against the Dream team. You had a chance to make some money betting against the redeem team. This is the pre Fandel's uh you know,

bet anyone line. It sounds like you know something about this stuff. Man, I'm not a gambler, but I know just enough to know about that. It's funny. Chris Sheridan was covering international basketball for ESPN and and he had somewhat of a gambling disposition, we could say. So. So when you go back and you read his stuff previewing those Olympics, you're gonna see a touch of that, more than a touch. I just remember that movie that I

might have been called The Gambler. James Cohn is in his bathtub in the beginning of the movie and he bets. I think he bet on the Lakers and they lost like by a basket at the buzzer. He almost throws the radio into the bathtub to electric cute himself. You know, since then I was not going to get it on gambling. And the thing is, Jack on this team, you had the guys with the memory of losing, which wasn't something that we've seen before if you think about it, Uh,

you didn't have that predisposition. Maybe had it with with David Robinson who was on the Olympic team and then he was on the Dream Team in the team, but you had more guys including Lebron and Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony who had been on that two thousand four team, and then you had guys like Chris Bosh who his last experience in a team you say uniform was losing to Greece in the semifinals in two thousand and six, and he didn't play in two thousand seven he was injured.

So the last time he really played in international competition he had that loss and it stuck with him for two years. And he told us how that that changed his mindset heading into these games. And I think when you when you're humbled by losing, it kind of helps it out a little bit. You know, everybody is much more willing I think, Um, you know, I forgot the saying. But yeah, once you're successful, it's it's it becomes different. But at that time, you know, we were in a

position of of sacrifice. We had to do more sacrifice than what was done before in order to win because we knew the world is better at basketball. We can't just put a team together once for ten days and just go out and whoop ass. And you know, we've got to play some damn defense, you know. So it was always a spirited effort from everybody to make sure um that they were bringing what they needed to bring. Regardless. Now tonight's episode eight, we're calling for reasons that will

become clear. No excuses and j A, So much happens in this episode. There are no excuses for it not being good. We have a memorable tour that the team took in New York City. Um, we have a first class Phil Jackson invitation. Unfortunately we won't be able to

see it, but we can hear about it. A party in Macau when one of the teams, Superstar Ours gets left behind and then they had to decide whether to return for him or not if a mass of Chinese welcome for Kobe Bryant, a game one of the Olympics that drew a billion eyes literally and a memorable opening jump shot by uh someone we're gonna talk about, as well as an in game nap by a famous American. But first, j A set up the meeting that sets

up the title no excuses. Well, we talked a lot about meetings in this because there's some dramatic moments in meetings, and it would be really easy to just say that it all happened the first time they ever got together, and they made it sound like that at times, like there was this one super duper meeting and all these things got said, and it really set the tone for

how this redeemed team story was gonna play out. But Sean Ford and Craig Miller from USA Basketball were both nice enough to break down what happened when and which meeting some of these things took place. So in two thousand and eight, they're opening meeting for what's going to be the run through the Olympics. They they had their usual get together and this time it was Lebron James who spoke out and Mike Shazowski told us about that.

The last guy was Lebron, and he talked, he was eloquent, he said no excuses, and that became our first standard and they really kind of embraced that. And it was our guy, Craig Miller, the longtime PR director for USA Basketball, who filled us in really on what Lebron had to say. And I remember Lebron saying there's no excuses, and and then he elaborated. He said, you know, in the NBA, I can kind of write off not winning an NBA championship by saying, I wish I had Kobe, I wish

I had Chris Paul is my point guard. I wish I had Carmelo out there. I wish I had d Wade running with me because we're all here, we're all together because we've got no excuses now, right, there's no there's no town excuse. There's no not working hard if there's no And to me, that was that was a really strong openings statement by Lebron to the team. You know, it's funny, Jay help people everybody we talked to remember those meetings and when teams are together for a long time,

like over the season meetings, become a problem. Chuck Daily used to have this great soliloquy he would go on. I asked him one time why once in a while during a time out, Chuck would just sit there with his arms folded, and Chuck went, well, there's too many meetings. Time out. That's a meeting, half time, that's a meeting. After the game, that's a meeting. Next day at practice, that's a meeting. Pregame meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting. That's all

we did. You get sick of them. But when these teams are together for a short amount of time and they have a great collection of players together. I remember it was the same thing with the Dream Team, um that they the meetings do not become just another thing. They become sort of a real important part of what happened. Now, these guys were a really almost perfect mixture of being a young and an old team. You had the young bucks Lebron d Wade, Chris Bosh, Carmelo. Then you had

the grizzled veteran Jay Kidd. I don't know what you call Kobe in the apex of his career, maybe or just yeah, he's he's twenty eight years old and into that summer. So he's right in the heart of his career and he just he's he's coming off the m v P, his first and only m v P award. Yeah, so you had a really great mixture, guys. But the important thing is what we're gonna talk about is they were young enough and enthusiastic enough that you'd get him

to do things. You know, And I don't think you if you would have said to Michael Jordan's before the ninety two Dream Team crusade to Barcelona, you know, Mike, we're gonna take a little goodwill tour of the United States. You know, we want you to pack a bunch of clothes and we're, uh, we're gonna take off and promote the team. And no, that was not gonna happen. But I know you remember this sort of pre Olympic tour that the the Redeemed Team did and it produced some

pretty pretty cool moments. Yeah, they went to New York and the reason it stands out is they packed so much into that trip. There. They were going on the morning shows like Good Morning America. They were showing up at Rucker Park and and doing stuff on the playgrounds with the kids. They were all over the place. Uh. They even took a boat trip out through uh, you know, Harbor with Statue of Liberty in the background. All this

stuff was going on. And one of the moments that that was captured on the mini cameras that were around to chronicle this whole thing was this this interplay between Kobe and Lebron, And to me, it was really indicative of how Lebron was able to break through the I wouldn't even call a facade Jack the fortress, this impenetrable

fortress that Kobe and Kobe. That was Kobe. And so there's this this interplay and it's joking around and in it Lebron actually has the audacity to imitate Kobe Bryant the way he wore his his warmups and and everything else and just the way he operated. And Mike Sizevsky told us about it. It really stuck out in his mind and he's got fond memories of that. Both those guys have great, a great sense of humor, you know, like, uh, you know, Lebron really likes to joke a lot and

goof around a lot. And I can remember we're doing a photo shoot. We did all these iconic things with each team so that they would get a field. So we're on a boat, a ferry boat in New York, going out to the statue a Liberty where we're going to use that as a backdrop. And there Lebron. We're in our warm ups. Then they also had suits, and Lebron put his warm up pants up to his chest and his pants were high then and he was in Kobe and then he filled with Kobe's coach and uh,

say triangle triangle. He put up one finger, Yeah, waiting a game. You know that. That was Felst triangle. And uh, Kobe's rolling around on the floor. And so they used that sense of humor a lot. So Kobe's more serious than yet he's he's cracking up at Lebron. Lebron was definitely the jokester. Some people thought Lebron didn't take things quite seriously enough. We've seen obviously he's serious enough to

be a four time NBA champion. Uh, but at this point, I think it was something that Kobe needed, Uh, you know, somebody who he respected enough to allow him to pope fund at him and uh, someone who was playful enough to bring out that playful side of Kobe. Shack was a big, playful guy. But Kobe at that time was trying to establish himself when he first came into League and was a little bit resentful of the big brother label that had tried to be a fixation act. Kobe

was tired of being the little brother. He grew up with two older sisters. He wanted to be his own man. But now he and Lebron were there somewhat as peers, and for whatever reason, and I think for that reason, the relationship worked better. You know, we don't say enough about this, but you know, Lebron is really good at that stuff. Like Lebron's an actor. I mean, you you know, he cast in that like, Okay, he's not playing Hamlet next to Amy Schumer, but he's damned good in that movie.

And we always looked at Michael Jordan's as the ultimate, you know, crossover guy kind of, but Michael really was sort of wooden and I'm probably gonna get in trouble with that, but you know, he had he had a certain range for for to to act interact with Spike and you know, hayneses underwear. Lebron is like, you know, he's an old guy in a barber shop. I mean, he he is a true actor and I would have I wish I could have. I would have paid some money to watch his uh invitation of Phil Jackson. That

would have been pretty cool. Well, it was mostly Kobe. He did a little bit of Phil calling in the plays from the side, but the fact that he was able to imitate Kobe to Kobe's face is not something that many people could have gotten away with. Uh. You know,

that wasn't all they were doing. That. The reason they were on the boat in the first place was Jerry Colangelo wanted to get the shot, a shot with the members of the Deemed Team in their Team USA outfits with the Statue of Liberty in the background, And so Craig Miller described for as how they pulled that photo off. We have a really cool iconic photo of the team with the Statue of Liberty in the background around the front of the boat and they turned the boat and um,

it's an amazing photo. Was a beautiful blue day. It was done before we started training camp. Um, we carved out like I think two or three days in New York where we did all these things, and uh, I think it really just set the tone for the bonding, the importance of representing your country, and then the committment that was going to be needed by all the players. Nobody, nobody skipped the event, nobody lepped out of the media. Um. Everybody did what was asked a woman and it was

a huge, huge success, Jack. That doesn't mean that everyone was all gung ho about this and USA ra RA, And if you think about it, Ski and Jerry Colangelo were very big on Statue Liberty and the entry point in Ellis Island and all time because that's probably the

way that their answers came to the country. If you think about the makeup of the players on the team, I'm guessing their origin story in their arrival in the United States isn't quite the old Las Island saga, if you if you know what I mean, Jack, So not

at all. They didn't They didn't necessarily have the same sentiment and and the motions that had seen the statue and this eagerness to have their picture taken in front of the Statue of Liberty, and but they went along with it, and I think they got what was going on, and I think they understood that this was part of what being on this team meant, and Jason Kidd described to us his memories of that day on the boat

and the stature of Liberty. Yes, Um, when you look at the photo on the boat, um statue of Liberty, right, Like, I don't think there was a lot of people excited about going on the boat and try and take a picture and have to you know, be perfect and everybody be still. But again I think you just nailed it. Like they were young enough like, hey, guys, let's just

get on our place. So as sooner we do this as soon as the boat can head in, right, and they get it and so but they were like, why are we you know, taking up a picture on the boat, you know, like like so you know, there was probably a look, you know, complaining. But at the end of the day, as long as you told them we can get to the finish line, as sooner you do it, the sooner we're going back in. So um that's how

that worked. And I remember being on that boat because they weren't very happy about the boat picture, but it all worked out. Yeah. I kind of came more from because of age and the color of my skin, I can and came more from the Colangelo Mike Shaski. Uh, my my wife's grandmother landed at Ellis Island. Her plaque from Italy, you know, is up there, and it meant something to me. And I took that music cruise one time.

I remember my wife and I walking through, uh, towards the harbor boat with a cooler and people shouting tourists, tourists, you know. But we got on the boat and got that shot of the Statue of Liberty behind us, and we both went, you know, all right, it was embarrassing walking up there, but uh, but this is pretty cool. You're listening to Kobe Lebron and the redeem Team. Jay and I will be back in a minute, you know,

before we go any further, Jay, these these things. He's even going out to dinner with a team, a famous team. When you have Kobe Lebron, you know, it's not a simple thing. And one guy, before we go any further, I think we should mention and he's kind of been

with us on this tour all the way through. And that's Sean Ford, now called the director of Basketball Operations, and uh, every I think just about every person mentioned Sean Ford, through whom most of the arrangements were made and uh, here's Mike Saski talking about Sean Ford, the guy who never get the at A for being like m v P of Shawn Ford. Shaun Ford and I lived with each other, so to speak. He would know everything.

These guys we're planning to do and we gotta gotta take care of this this and there are a lot of moving parts. Once they're off the court, So the tour is over, they come back to Las Vegas. They demolished Canada in one exhibition game, and then they packed their bags for two games in Macau, two games in Shanghai before reaching the Olympics. Well, one of the things that struck me ja was these just weren't any teams

they were playing. I was a little surprised. I don't remember these games, to be honest, But they played Turkey, Lithuania, Russia, and Australia. They won all of the games. First of all, you're surprised they played that kind of exhibition schedule or is that sort of what you do? I mean, a dream team didn't play any exhibitions, you know, they just went to the Olympics. Yeah, they just they did the

Turn of the America's and they won those handily. I mean I think they were prep Remember they played that college Select team. They had guys like Penny Hardaway, grand Hill, and Chris Webber. And remember that was the only team that beat the Dream Team in the scrimmage in right, that was like the second or third day of practice, just kind of get it ready. But you know, the idea playing these good A teams, I don't know. It just surprised me a little bit. But anyway, not everything

went uh smoothly, including on the social front. Yeah, so they're still bonding, still hanging out. And one of the reasons I think they went to matt Macau is that it's the Las Vegas of China, basically, right, A lot of the same hotel properties that you see in Vegas are there in Macau, and so it was a good socializing opportunity for some of the guys in this group is coming together and believe it or not, there even

inviting Kobe Bryant. Now, Jack, I was trying to think in Kobe's Laker years, I do on'tly remember him going out and seeing him out at a post championship party and that two thousand, two thousand to three run Shack had a party one year and and Kobe showed up at that, but noticeably, Kobe was back in the VIP area and Shack was out in the main area. And I'm not even sure how much they interacted throughout the night.

I was going back and forth, but Kobe stayed back in there and Shack stayed out in the main area. But guys like Rick Fox and Derek Fisher would have parties and you wouldn't see Kobe at those. I don't recall seeing him at some of the hotel parties on the road when they were they won the championship in Philly, or they won the championship in New Jersey, and their

partying back at the hotels, you wouldn't see Kobe there. Uh. I didn't see Kobe at the party the Lakers had had at the Playboy Mansion when they won in two thousand and So he's not someone you see out and about partying at that stage in his career. One thing we're learning here, by the way, is you went to a hell of a lot more parties than I did. By the way, that was life come from the Lakers, Jack. I mean, I see that's the problem. That's the one

drawback sports illustrated. Right that the series ends, the finals are over, and you gotta be up in your room all night writing man. I had a ten thirty Pacific time deadline, and once that thing was in, it was time to go hang out. But by this time, this age, and with this group most significantly, I think Kobe is becoming somewhat of a socialite, and that leads to this little misadventure that they have when they're going out for

a night on the town of Maccau. You know, we were going, um, leaving the hotel to go to a party, and uh we were waiting, and unfortunately he wasn't on time, so we left and and Lebron was like, hey, you said, you know, we be on time. If you're not all the time, we leave. So we we left, and uh we got a call that we had to turn around and go kick him up. Um. Lebron wasn't too happy

about that. Where was it that, Uh, this was in Macau and so um we were going from the Hotel Macau to the win um to see the win and so when we left, um, alright, Lebron was like, you said on time, we gotta go. So we left and mid way through the drive, we get a call that we have to turn around and go get Kobe, and Lebron was not happy about it, but um to Lebron's

you know, give Lebron credit. We did turn around and we went back to pick up Kobe, and we let Kobe know that you know that you can't you have to be on time or we're leaving. But we can't leave any man behind. So we came back to get you this one time. And that was Jason Kidd, who in a minute or two is going to tell us about another sort of Kobe thing that happened when they moved on to Shanghai. But and it's about shot selection

and the shots that Kobe took before we do that. Ja, It's always interesting to me shot selection for a superstar player, for a score, a dry dead guy that you're gonna ride his points to the championship or wherever it's gonna take you. Shot selection something you can always talk about. But to me, it's not that important. I mean, people used to bitch about some of the shots Kobe took. Well, let me tell you something, Larry Bird. You know, Mr Fundamental took some of the for one of a better

word shittiest shots you could ever take Jordan's did. It's part of kind of the deal, isn't it with being a scorer, like this is what this is what you do? You know once in a while, somewhat Kobe took it to an extreme and Kobe seemed to relish in the

degree of difficulty. Uh. That did lead to this maybe someone dubious title, but I think he was the best bad shot maker of all time, and that he could get himself in a position where it was a bad shot, but he could make it, and he was comfortable taking and making those shots. It's one of the reasons I always say, if I had a second left for the last shot, I'm going to Kobe. If I've got eight seconds and there's enough time to create a good shot,

then I'm putting the ball in Michael Jordan's hands. If I've only got a second or a few fractions of a second left to take a shot and that means I can't get a good shot, I'm going to Kobe Bryant, who is the best bad shot maker of all time. I ran that by Phil Jackson one time, who coach both Michael and Kobe, and he agreed with me. So,

so that's that's one notion. Jack. Another thing with this is that the fact that these players and his coaching staff had to encounter that and had to figure out a way to get Kobe to take less of those

and to trust his teammates a little more. In some ways, the entire Kobe experience that we heard Phil Jackson describe in in the second episode of this podcast series, it was condensed into these couple of summers with the Olympic basketball team, and so they experienced the whole run of Kobe and and all the pluses and the minuses that come with Kobe having on your team, the experience in

a very short period of time. But I'd say the outcome was ultimately the same that Kobe looked, learned to work within the system, and the team was successful because of it. But it doesn't always come easily, Jack, No, you know, this just occurred to me. The mega Outlander shot, which is the Steph Curry Damian Lillard a little bit hard and thirty footer. I wonder which came about, you know,

the three point shots. Now a decade we've been talking about it, but those bombs is a new thing, a little bit new four or five years, and I wonder if Kobe would have got it, would have got into the thirty ft thirty two ft jump shot type of thing. You know, he would have done it against the double team. Though these guys are doing it. They're they're they're finding some space. If you leave them open from thirty, they're gonna pull up. If you double team Kobe from thirty.

In this era of the NBA, he's suiting it against the double team. That's the difference. And and you know, it's funny. Right around this time I was when I did you know, I did this book on the Sons

oh five six. They spent three quarters of their time for the first round playoff talking about how to defense Kobe and mark I VRONI would lose hours of sleep trying to figure out do we let him shoot and guard everybody else or do we really shut down on Kobe and feel that they can't, you know, sort of the elemental question when you're playing against a great player.

And he said, well, if he goes this way, will double him this way and all this, and d'An Tony says to him, well, what happens when there's four goddamn guys around him, and he just gets the ball and shoots and goes does what he does the rise up he called it. Ronny goes, well, there's nothing we can

do about that. That's just that's what's gonna happen. But anyway, so Jason Kidd and then Carmelo is going to follow him, both talk about this inclination of Kobe, no surprise, but now they're seeing it firsthand there on his team, this inclination to take really uh wild shots, crazy shots even for somebody as skillful as Kobe. And here's Jason Kidd and then Mellow talking about it. Kobe would take some crazy shots. You know. There was a point in practice

where I asked him could he catch and shoot? And he looked at me like I was speaking a different language, and so, um, I just said, do you always have to dribble the ball? You know, to to shoot? You know? And uh, I think he took offense to it at first, but I think I was really actually just trying to

help him make the game easier. Um, and I my whole thing was to say, hey, if you just can catch and shoot, that sets up the whole dribble, That sets up everything that you are extremely good at and I and I thought, you know, I was trying to help him, but I think he was. He was looking at me like, no, no, that's how I get my rhythm, that's how I play. And I was like, okay, all right, we'll figure out something else. But he he took some

some crazy shots. Um, but I understand why, because you know, you just never know, and at the time I didn't know. But understanding who Kobe is now, um, he was always going to be prepared for a situation that he had to make a shot, a tough shot, someone would call it a crazy shot, but he would always have the answer that I've worked on this. And most people would

not believe that. The pre notion that everybody had about Kobe him coming on the team, everybody expected that him to bring what he was doing with the Lakers, and you know, everybody just thought that's what he was gonna do coming on that team. And that was as leaders

on the team that was approached before that. You know, it was sit down with Code like listen, bro, like, we don't need the Laker Kobe, Like you know what I'm saying, Like we we need like, we we need you to be who you are, but you're playing with you know, you're playing with the best. Now you're playing the best of the best. So I think at first it took him a little while for for him to adjust to that. So these guys are learning the delicate dance not always so delicate at times that that comes

with playing alongside Kobe Bryant. And it sort of comes to ahead right before the Olympics in the last these exhibition games. Jack you question why they did it. Apparently they needed it to to work out some of the kinks that they had going on this team. So they're they're playing Australia in Shanghai and it's their last of

these exhibitions tour games. But before they get to Beijing and play and it gets a little out of hands with some of these shots that that Kobe is taking, and it leads to a showdown, a meeting that Showski felt he had to take and schedule with Kobe Bryant, and he did so with great trepidation. And so coach k describes that that whole build up and how that

meeting went down. We're gonna win, and in the first half, Kobe start taking Kobe Waker shots, which they had not been doing and you could see the whole team and Lebron is, you know, like you're sitting and the team's suiting the free throw or something, and you know how Lebron can look at you, and he looks at me. I know we got a real problem. And I said, I will take care of this. Trust me, and he

looked again. I said, please trust me, let's not and I don't want this whole thing blowing up right now, and and uh he did so. But then we were going to Beijing. So we were up all night as the staff literally all night trying to figure out how to handle this. And I said, give me his shots with a you know, a computer. I'll have an individual meeting with Kobe. So I'm scared, really apprehensive. Let's put it this one meeting. But I said, I gotta do it. I have to do it. I said, I'll take care

of it. So I brought him in. I said, look, I want to talk to you about shots selection. I said, let's take a look at these shots. I said, they're bullshit shots. You know you can't do that when you have Carmelo Lebron and it e rodes what we're what we're doing and so I don't know what I'm gonna get, but what I get was like a gift from God. He just said, you're right, I won't do that because what else to myself? I said, funk, that's that math,

you know. But I said, all right, yes, but it was, you know, And so there weren't like too many of those moments. I didn't I didn't think, and but that was one of them. You're listening to Kobe Lebron and of a deem team. We'll be back after this. Like you said, it probably was, you know, in retrospect. I mean, coach k didn't want to make it sound like it was the whole shooting match, but it was right before the Olympics. And uh again back to the Dream team.

You know, they had this legendary scrimmage in uh in Monico, in Monte Carlo, just because they had a really crappy practice right before they were gone to the Olympics. And that's kind of not the note that you want to set.

So this happened presumably there's air clearing of some kind on they go to Beijing, and one of the first things everybody noticed over there, and it even took some people by surprise, and I think I think me too, little bit um and that was how big Kobe Bryant was in that particular era of of Asia, of of China. Did you get a sense of that back in l A during by that time? Was he that he was that kind of a global star? I'm not sure I got it at that moment, but I certainly was quickly

made aware of it. And so one year, one of the All Star Games in l A. And and they've had so many recently, but I think it was the twenty eleven maybe maybe yeah, I'm I'm thinking twenty eleven All Star weekend in l A. And we're sitting in there in the workroom, which also is adjacent to the press conference room, and all of a sudden, they bring in Kobe, but only for Chinese media, so the American media was not allowed to go sit in there or

ask any questions he's doing there. It's an appearance for Sprite and Jack. I'm trying to imagine how much money they had to pay him to take time the day of the All Star Game to come in and do this press conference. But they debut this new commercial that he'd done with this Chinese pop star and then they had him take questions from the Chinese media and packed

ton of ton of reporters. They're all from China, all eager to hear what Kobe had to say, and in this pairing with this this pop superstar, and I thought, Okay, this is something I wasn't aware of prior to this, but it was obvious that there was so much interest in Kobe Bryant and that this was such a big deal, and that there was so much money for him to

make over there. And you did see at this point, player after player going over to China and making these trips, usually sponsored by their shoe companies, and you did see the popularity. And I would hear stories from Kobe security people about just how crazy it was when he went over there, and we heard similar tales from the likes of Jerry Colangelo as we heard him in the preview for this episode, and also Sean Ford telling us about the insane popularity for Kobe Bryant the game's leading up

to the Olympics. You know, two o'clock in the morning and ten thousand people are on the streets lined up waiting for yelling Kobe, Kobe, Kobe, I mean he was. He had invested a lot of time over in China in Japan and had built quite a business for himself and follow him, and he was larger than life for for those people. That was kind of a revelation for me, just how big he had become and how big the

market was over there for NBA players. I don't know, but it was amazing, you know, the players when we would go and if we were gonna go somewhere where the crowd was gonna kind of like her, they would always make Kobe go first, right is then they would go crazy about him, and then the other guys could just like walk around and like not be noticed. But it was amazing to me everywhere he went, when we pulled in and out of the hotel and in the game and there were crowds there and stuff. They it

was always they were yelling Kobe. They were always yelling Kobe. But now there was one name. I guess you could say as big, big in a different big in a different way. I suspect if you gave the Chinese people a choice between hanging out with Kobe for a while or hanging out with Yao Ming, I will say this, Jack that remember Tracy McGrady sold more jerseys in China than Yao Ming for a while, and they were both

playing on the rockets. So I don't think it's too far fetched to think that Kobe Bryant could have been more popular than Yaoming in China. We're gonna go with that. But the first game, and I don't I don't know whether they arranged the draw in the Olympics to have, but you know, Game one, at any way, at any rate, is the United States versus China, and I you know, it's hard to imagine anything that big. You know, the

home country. They built this, They built this Olympics up like nobody had ever done a more efficient job of constructing a whole Olympics than the Chinese people did. The first game is gonna be, uh, your guy, do you have anything comparable of a home not in the United States, but being somewhere overseas? You had mentioned you saw the World Cup in Germany. You know you're watching it there.

Do you have any experience comparable to what this would be, not of being there, I remember just watching on TV and Jack, you might have been there for this opening ceremonies. But the U the archer that lit the flame in Barcelona for the opening ceremony. Oh, I was there, unbelievable. And I know it wasn't a hero, you know, it wasn't It wasn't like one of their great sports heroes.

But uh, it just felt like there was that pride and and that was a little bit different too, because Barcelona you're dealing with like Catalonian pride in addition to Spanish pride, and those are two separate things, right, So I think it was the pride of the region, the pride of the country, and I felt that even through the television. Um, just in terms of a hero Jack. I went to a promotional event for Alberto Tomba, the

great Italian skier and the swaggering self styled playboy. So they did a promotional event for a credit card company in Turin, Italy when the Olympics were there in two thousand and six, and it was a Valentine's Day promotion and I think, you know, women could win like a lunch with Alberto Tomba. Uh, and so you know he's he's one of their great Winter Olympic heroes. So I did get to see that. I did get to see Tombo's popularity in his own country, but I don't think

it was comparable to Yea Megan China. So I will say that I think one of my top five moments as a sportswriter was in in Australia in two thousand at the Olympics. Fortunately I wasn't even working. I was at the track the night that Kathy Freeman took the starting line for the fours. And Cathy Freeman and an Aboriginal athlete who had been gone through I can't even imagine what, you know, what kind of prejudice. But by the year two thousand, everybody in Australia realized, okay, well,

we gotta get together. She is an amazing athlete. She's our hero. She was the face of those Olympics. And that guy was sitting in the in the track stadium that night. I don't know how many were there, but every seat is taken always in the Olympics, and that gun went off. I never heard anything like it. You I was sitting next to somebody from Sports Illustrated. We couldn't we were shouting and we couldn't hear each other.

We were, you know, twelve inches apart. And she went around and on and I just uh, I just never never forgot that, you know, and I guess this, you know, this moment for Yao was something like it. So, uh set the seat a little bit. What's happening? Here comes Yallo out for the opening tip. Yeah, it felt more ceremonial, Jack, maybe than Cathy Freeman winning the gold medal. Remember y'all had carried the the Chinese flag into the stadium and

the opening ceremonies, and it really was. He was the face of the Chinese delegation, that this humongous Chinese sporting delegation as the host country, and uh, here he is. They had to have drawn his play up for him, Jack, right, even though it's not exactly his sweet spot. Uh yeah. Ming isn't known as a long distance shooter. But here they are the first game and from the first play China against the ball, and they set up a screening

roll for yell Ming. Maybe they'd seen the Skuyting report that Greece game where Greets killed him on the screen and roll in the World Championships. So they run like a maybe more of a pick and pop, and yeah, Ming gets a three pointer straight away and drains it and the place goes crazy and yeah, does this gigantic fish pump? And it was a pretty cool moment. Chris

Boss described it to us. It was a surreal feeling kind of pulling up to the stadium seeing I mean, it was it's the Olympics, right, Yeah, you see the birds nests and then the aquatic center, and you see all the people in the streets and all that stuff. We had already taken part in the ceremony and now it's time to get down to business. But I think that was I mean, it was a huge game for everybody because you know, um, we had all been to China a couple of years before, we had seen the growth.

So like I said before, this was their moment to really kind of just established themselves as a basketball power in the world. We knew, I mean, once we got the schedule, we knew, Okay, all right, this is gonna be crazy China basketball. This is their moment for the world to showcase to the world. Um, they had a pretty good team as well. Um, and yeah, yeah, it comes out and hits the first the first shot and it's the three, and I mean it was deafeningly loud.

I remember asking Chris during our interview with him, he was on the you know, he didn't start. Dwight Howard started at center, and I said, Chris, were you screaming Dwight get out on him. You gotta get out on him, you know. But that's not what they were thinking for the first play the game, and it was it was beautiful, and I wondered, probably the States didn't think this dre In the middle of the game, I wondered, Okay, that's great, let's get at the hell over with and uh and

go on. But it wasn't. After y'all hit that shot. I think it inspired China a little bit. They played a good game, so it wasn't all that easy of a game for him, Jay, It wasn't. It took a while for them to pull away. But as was the case, inevitably and just about every game they played over there, they would have this run. Uh. I like to call it the can opener, when they would just have this moment and it would just you know, pry the lid

off the game and then forget it. In this game, the can open a moment was uh, uh box gets a rebound those in the haad the kid and uh he throws along pass the Dwayne Wade who throws this incredible alley you to Lebron, and Lebron throws it down one handed, and that makes it for two and and and they're off and here they go, uh and and it was just a breathtaking display of the athleticism of

Lebron and the firepower of Team USA. And so you think that all of this going on, all this excitement China hosting the Olympics, this redeemed team, and the incredible athleticism of the American players, But there was one person in the American delegation in the stad ends who wasn't all that impressed. Is the guyfather Jerry Colangelo told us about the whole experience of playing China in the first game. The most watched televised game in the history of televised

basketball was that game. And obviously being in China playing them, um, that's the reason for all of that. But it was you know, a funny story is President Bush and his father and the whole Bush clan wanted me to sit with them. And usually during the game, I'm either playing or coaching, and I'm not a very good host, you know, in terms of small talk during the game because I'm into the game, but I agreed to do that when

the President requested you do it. So I'm getting to my seat with them and the President of China, the their top chelon of people who are right there. We're all together. But as I'm going to my seat, I just kind of noticed somebody sleeping in the midst of all of this, and it was Kissinger. Kissinger was sound asleep during everything that was going on. In all fairness,

Jay football was really Kissinger's game. He constantly dropped soccer metaphors into his negotiating, and he was supposedly the person most responsible for getting uh Pail to play over here in the North American Soccer League. So he was probably waiting for, you know, Jay Kid to set up Lebron with a corner kick or something like that for ahead

or otherwise. He probably wasn't interested. But the games went on and rarely was the United States asleep during that rest of the Olympics, although one member of the American contingent was. So we have another dozing story j A for episode nine, as well as accounts of the games the way the team really came together. And here's Chris Bosh to close us out. I mean, you know, as close you man. I mean, you see how talented guys were, And I always tell people that was some of the

best basketball I've ever seen. I remember just being happy of having that luxury just to kind of playoff guys, just to see how really how talented guys are, what their work ethic is and all these things, and just to be able to take part in that and have a good summer roader. I'm Jack McCallum. That's all for episode eight, and I'm J Donne. Will be back with more in episode nine. The Dream Team Tapes Season two, Kobe Lebron and the Redeem Team is a production of

Diversion Podcasts in association with I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This season is written and hosted by me, Jack McCallum and j A. Dande. Executive producer Scott Waxman and Mark Francis for Diversion podcast

and Shawn's High Tone for I Heart Radio. Our editorial director is John Tuttle, Supervising producer Brian Murphy, Legal producer Freddie Overstegen editing, mixing and sound designed by Mark frances Verna. Fields is our technical producer and our Director of Marketing and business Development is Jacob Bronstein. Diversion Podcasts