It looks like Shumpert will be predicting each and every week. I wonder who he is going to pick next week?

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Jason Riley: Closing it up, swinging it back to the Olympics here, one of the big things you’ve done here recently is your commercial and the Kobe system. Is that going to be in full effect in London?

Kobe Bryant: [smiling] The Kobe system is always in effect, even when its not in effect…

David Brickley: Kanye West, has he figured it out yet?

KB: [smiling] He’s working on it, hes working on it. You know its always about going over the top. You know whatever that means, you know its really one of those cryptic message that seems to make a lot of sense even when it makes no sense.

DB: Last question for you is, you know Pau Gasol is obviously your Laker teammate, I remember when you played the Minnesota Timberwolves after the game you told Ricky Rubio ‘get ready’ so obviously the whole Olympics was on your mind and that was something you were already looking forward to.

KB: Well yea you know Spain has always been one of our top competitors. You know going into the Olympics I think they were ranked #1 in the world at the time [in 2008], so I talked to Pau about 3 days ago just to see how hes doing and stuff and he said I’m doing fine and I said make sure you train and work hard man and I hope you’re healthy and ready to go get that silver medal man [laughs]. So he says right back, yea I’m training real hard but it ain’t for the silver medal buddy [laughs].

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Jason Riley: You have been branching off, obviously you’ve developed some great relationships with your teammates but also with other guys that are in the Olympics and we had some inside sources that have told us you had an opportunity to jump in the water with Michael Phelps…

Kobe Bryant: [laughs] Nah, I m not doing that! But I enjoyed watching him swim and you know going to a bunch of different events because that’s really what the Olympics are about, its a celebration of the athlete and having the opportunity to go to different events and seeing them do what they do best was a real treat for me. I mean its like you know its like a kid in a candy store you know you get chance to meet so many different athletes from so many different countries and kind of talk to them about their stories and what got them to this point, also how they train for their particular sport.

David Brickley: And someone like Michael Phelps, you go against 5 different guys on the court, he goes against himself, so its kind of like a whole different beast that im sure you can kind of relate to in a way

KB: Well its always for me, for me sometimes after you have a frustrating game you wish you had been a swimmer or boxer or tennis player [laughing] or something like that in the individual realm but his training schedule is beyond demanding…

DB: I think he eats like 8,000 calories a day…

KB: [smiling] Just that in and of itself is tough to do. Let alone the training he has to do outside of the pool, its a lot of commitment required.

Kevin Figgers: You’re really a big fan of the non-traditional sports, we mentioned swimming and archery and things of that nature what is it about those types of sports outside of the mainstream that intrigue you, Baseball even soccer is big internationally, what is it about the off-color sports that intrigue you so much.

KB: Well you have a certain amount of appreciation for what they do because obviously to get at this elite level there has to be something in them that makes them the best at what they do, whether be it mental, be it physical, be it the preparation, there’s something about them and you know I really came to know some of the synchronized swimmers, some of our equestrian riders, archers, stuff like that as we’re walking to opening ceremonies in Beijing and all of us US athletes are walking together and that’s a great time to get to know some of them and start talking about some of their sports and it was just extremely interesting to me.

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DB: You know, the goatee I see youre growing it there…

KB: (smiling) Yeah

DB: …Last season as well, is that an off-season thing you got going now?

KB: You know its a part of getting into my mental element of training you know its kind of like my mountain man look you know, when I have this goatee growing, I’m going pretty intense on the training.

DB: Your next goal after this will be London and winning gold again in 2012. What are you doing currently? I even heard that you were training yesterday, even bringing your staff with you to get ready…the whole team.

KB: Well I mean you just gotta try to stay in shape as much as possible I mean there was such a quick turnaround this year because of the season because of the lockout everything kind of got pushed back so you don’t have kind of the down time that you normally would have. So its important for all of us to stay in shape and report to camp in Vegas in proper form.

Jason Riley: One of the interesting things about the timing of the Olympics is that its pretty quick after the NBA season. So, obviously these are your competitors and then a month later these guys are your teammates so what are those practices like when you get over there and you’re playing with those guys?

KB: They’re spirited [laughs]. You know a lot of it really falls on me because I’m kind of the wiser of the guys having been around so many years so most of the time I set the tone in practice by trash talking certain players whether it be a Lebron, or…

JR: Friendly wagers..?

KB: [laughs]…You know or in Beijing it was D-Wade. Kinda getting practice going because up to that point its always kind of a little uncomfortable when guys don’t know if they can elbow a guy or talk trash to a guy and you know I just come out and just start chirping man [smiling]…

DB & JR: [laughs]

KB: …But it makes practices more fun and everyone starts talking trash back and forth to each other and there’s some pretty funny stuff that’s said most of the time.

Kevin Figgers: You mentioned comfort level and things you can and can’t do on the court with guys that you’re normally competing against during the regular season. There’s a couple of new teammates, a couple of guys are out that you played with in 08, how has it been trying that rebuild that chemistry and camaraderie again with newer teammates than you had in 2008?

KB: Well I mean the process is going to be the same or at least very similar in terms of how you get to know guys outside of the game itself so its kind of building those relationships you know on plane flights and breakfasts’ and dinners and things like that. And then on the court its fairly easy because we’re all intelligent basketball players we’ve played against each other numerous times so you know what they’re strengths and weaknesses are and vice versa so you can adjust pretty quickly.

DB: You took the role in 08 as the defensive stopper and then if they need you towards the close, especially in 08 against Spain, so do you think coach K will do a little of that as well with you this time around?

KB: Yea probably, you know that’s something I really took the challenge of because in the world games in the [United States'] their previous showing on the world stage they really had a lot of issues with bigger guards who would handle the ball and break down their defense and get into the lane and make plays for others so that was something I really enjoyed doing I mean I had a lot of size, speed and quickness so I felt I could kind of plug that hole for the USA team.

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Jason Riley : Looking back to 08′ the one thing that a lot of fans think about is the big shot against Spain, the 3, the…

David Brickley: Shhh

Kobe Bryant: [Laughs] Yeah. The shush three [Laughs]

JR: You’ve kind of made a career out of making and taking big shots, what is it about the last few seconds of a game, on the line that bring the best out of you?

KB: You just gotta have the fearlessness to take those shots. You know because if you miss those shots then you have to deal with the criticism. A lot of times people get kind of apprehensive about taking those shots because of that…

DB: Right when we mentioned it, it seemed like you were smiling already. Just thinking about the word “clutch”.

KB: Its always been a myth to me as to why certain people don’t really like those situations because of that pressure because we’ve all lost games before. So its not like by missing that shot you’re about to face something that you’ve never faced in the past, I mean we’ve all come up short at one time or another so you just kid of gotta let it all hang out and trust your skills and trust the work that you’ve put in.

Kevin Figgers: Going back to the 08 team that team was kind of branded as the redeem team after not the greatest showing in the world for the United States in 2004. There’s a recent documentary released about the 1992 Dream Team, I think I might already know the answer to this question but I’m going to ask it anyway, the redeem team versus the 92 dream team, who comes out on top?

KB: Umm, its tough for me to say that we would come out on top because of the legends they had on that team but I believe we would win just from the standpoint that, you know the 92 dream team guys’ careers were pretty much established. You had Clyde Drexler who was sorta towards the end of his prime but was still playing extremely well, Michael [Jordan] who was just starting, Bird who was at the end, you know Magic had just won 5 championships and it was pretty much the end for him. You know you had Charles, Ewing, Robinson, but for us, most of our guys are still kind of evolving and Lebron is right in the middle of his prime you know, KD [Kevin Durant] is just starting so there’s a different dynamic with our group. Those guys were pretty much established as being legends and our team is still kind of evolving.

DB: One of the fun things about that documentary was the fact that Patrick Ewing and Larry Bird became friends. Which I think Charles Barkley said was the most awkward pairing he’s seen. So for you, the guys that you maybe see once or twice a year all of a sudden now they’re you’re teammates and I think in 08 you mentioned you developed some real strong relationships with these guys because you just never got to know them.

KB: Yea because you don’t have time to. You know everybody s constantly doing a million different things during the season and off the season its even more so because you have so many commitments to sponsors and things like that so during that season Carmelo Anthony and I became extremely close just because of our personalities….

DB: You became his P.R. Guy right?….

KB: [laughs] That was my guy man, that’s my guy. I know he went through a very tough time when he was in Denver and needed somebody to kinda go to bat for him and stand up for him and that’s what friends do.

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