"I had the complete set of Michael’s tapes," he said he wanted to learn Michael’s moves and wanted to buy these tapes from me, so I gave him a price, and he agreed and took the tapes. But then he refused to pay, and it pissed me off so much I went to his house and took the tapes back."
"Really? Is Kobe really that kind of person?"
"Now you know why I look down on him, don’t you? He always tries to take advantage of little things like that."
Su Wan unexpectedly became friends with "Mad Fan."
Since he used to be teammates with Kobe, he could always tell Su Wan about the embarrassing moments from Kobe’s rookie season, which Su Wan would enjoy to no end.
"What else?"
"Another thing is that the kid really likes to show off. He goes everywhere practicing his shooting motion, but sometimes he doesn’t even have a ball, just pretending like this..."
"Mad Fan" imitated Kobe pretending to dribble and shoot without a ball.
Su Wan almost died laughing.
"Mad Fan" could have won first place for his imitation of Kobe in a competition.
"We really couldn’t stand it sometimes, so we made him go buy us burgers and fries at 2 AM. It’s such a pity phones back then didn’t have cameras, otherwise I’d have definitely taken photos."
Su Wan exclaimed in regret.
He had seen the photo of LeBron carrying Ricky Davis’s sneakers and another of Yao Ming massaging Cato’s legs, but had never seen photos of earlier superstars acting as "underlings."
Thinking about it now, why did the superstars of the 80s and 90s have such a high B-factor?
Mostly, it was because there wasn’t an internet to expose their "underling manners."
There was a saying 20 years later:
This is an era where even Michael Jordan couldn’t become a God.
Because the exposure was too great, embarrassing and rotten incidents could easily be dug up.
Considering Jordan’s private character and some of his actions, it didn’t seem like a random remark, but considering Jordan’s actual strength in games, you would want to argue against it.
Ultimately, a superstar’s reputation is decided by their performance on the court.
These days, the Lakers and the Heat Team each held their press conferences in succession.
Kobe, having succeeded in losing weight, made a public appearance in front of the media and said, "I feel better than I’ve ever felt before! I think this season will be my best!"
One could say that a superstar’s confidence is not unfounded.
Just like Derek Rose later said to the media before the start of his third professional season, "I hope my name can come up in the discussion for this season’s regular-season MVP."
And then he started his "legendary season."
Kobe did the same after his remark, putting on his most explosive individual performance of a season.
But the media just had to annoy him by asking him about this summer’s Lakers trades.
As soon as he heard this question, Kobe’s face fell.
Well, that reaction was normal.
The biggest trade the Lakers made this summer was sending Caron Butler to the Wizards to get Kwame Brown.
Not to mention other media, even Los Angeles’s media couldn’t help but ask Kupchek when hearing about this trade: "Mickey, do you have some sort of leverage over the Wizards’ general manager?"
How bad were the Lakers now?
Were they giving warmth to others?
Actually, Kobe initially had some expectations of Kwame Brown.
He didn’t believe that an inside player Michael Jordan couldn’t coach, he wouldn’t be able to coach either.
Perhaps Brown was a watered-down No. 1 pick in Jordan’s hands, but in Kobe’s hands, he could turn into "Little O’Neal."
But the illusion was shattered on the first day of training camp when a beautiful pass slipped through Kwame Brown’s hands, and from then on, he never said another word to this "Watered-down No. 1 Pick."
The reporters changed the subject and asked him to evaluate Andrew Bynum, the Lakers’ no. 10 pick of the summer.
As a teenager who hadn’t even reached the age of 18, Bynum thus became the youngest professional player in NBA history.
Kobe kept silent.
Bynum wasn’t his pick.
He didn’t entertain the idea of waiting for a high school kid to grow up.
His prime time wasn’t meant to be spent babysitting others.
Reporters could only continue changing subjects as they brought up Su Wan.
Kobe said, "Honestly, I’m a bit disappointed. I thought he would train diligently, but after seeing the news, I’m very clear that he’s fallen. I hope in the new season we can meet the Pacers soon, and I will make sure that rookie comes to his senses!"
The last question from the reporters was whether Kobe was satisfied with the Lakers for the new season.
Kobe’s gaze unconsciously drifted toward "Colonel Sanders," not far away, finally showing a trace of a smile: "I am delighted to see Phil returning to Los Angeles, even though he believes I’m uncoachable in his newly published book."
Toward the end, the smile on his lips carried a bit more mockery.
Phil Jackson was also answering this question: "Why did I come back? Simply because this team needs me, it’s that simple."
But when it came to the rookie Bynum, his attitude was much like Kobe’s: "Regarding this question, you’d better ask Jim; he can tell you how he saw the shadow of Shaquille in Andrew."
"Zen Master’s" true intent was to mock Jim.
However, after his interview, Bynum’s nickname "Little Shark" quickly spread to Miami.
Two days later, on the Heat Team’s media day for the new season.
When Shaquille O’Neal appeared in front of everyone, a gasp of admiration was heard.