LAS VEGAS Here’s how Phil Jackson put it recently when taking Kobe Bryant’s explosive offseason and trying to put the blasted pieces together for a coherent picture: “He has already been to the mountaintop. Anything besides that makes it very difficult. I know that frustration.”The one thing laid-back Jackson long has been working with Bryant on is teaching him to loosen the white-knuckle grip on everything that is a control freak’s reflex. Bryant’s recent outbursts against the Lakers reflected his inability to deal with failures that were somewhat out of his control.“Just had to put it aside, not think about it,” Bryant said Saturday. “I just wanted to move forward, not be distracted by it.”That had been Bryant’s initial plan after huddling with Jackson two days after the Lakers’ season ended. Bryant said then he would not fret about the Lakers’ need to make roster upgrades as the summer played out, mentioning the USA Basketball opportunities that awaited him. He failed spectacularly trying to let go of that Lakers-related frustration, but now that he is at the U.S. team’s mini-camp this weekend, he is breezily succeeding.“I’m in a better place … I’m here,” he said.Bryant used the word “happy” to describe himself. He mentioned getting to know Dwyane Wade, with whom Bryant worked in a serious post-practice shooting drill Saturday to get used to particular spots on the differently measured international court. Meanwhile, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant and Deron Williams jacked up NBA-length threepointers.Bryant is clearly viewing this as carrying a flag toward an even higher mountaintop: securing an Olympic berth for Team USA at the Aug. 22-Sept. 2 FIBA Americas Championship, then getting gold in China next summer after U.S. teams failed in 2000 (when Bryant’s ankle injury from the NBA Finals prevented his participation) and in 2004 (when he was facing a sexual-assault charge).Bryant wrote a first-person perspective for Newsweek after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and wore a “God Bless America” band over his right wrist for every game of the 2001-02 season.“There’s no bigger significance than representing your country,” Bryant said. “It’s something I’ve been looking forward to for a while, especially with the state of the world we’re in right now and the battle we’re in.“It adds more significance to it than ever. This is kind of the small part we can play in representing our country and representing it the right way. I’m really, really excited about this. I can’t stress that enough.”Such an eager mindset from one of the oldest players on the team feels wonderful to U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski.“He’s amazingly committed to the game and he works so hard,” Krzyzewski said of Bryant, who turns 29 in a month. “It’s his first opportunity to play for the United States, so even though he’s a veteran player and one of the truly great players in the history of the NBA, he brings a youthful energy to go with this.”Asked if the feel of the past two days has been anything like an All-Star Game, Bryant said: “No, no, no. It’s a team. It’s like we’re getting ready for the playoffs or something. The intensity is very high. It’s very competitive; it’s very serious. We’ll joke around with each other every once in awhile, but in a competitive manner.”That’s why this feels like a favorite warm blanket to Bryant: The familiar feel of elite competitive basketball hasn’t surrounded him in years — which brings us back to why Jackson believes Bryant went off in recent months.Bryant has done a lot of laughing with his younger teammates here (Anthony and Amare Stoudemire heckled Bryant on Friday during his lengthy interview session as “Barry Bonds” for dominating the media spotlight). Yet probably no part of this experience has been more meaningful for Bryant than playing with point guard Jason Kidd. Bryant said he and Kidd, the team’s elder statesman at 34, have been joking that they’re “the two old dogs on the team.”“I learned a lot just by playing with him the past couple of days,” Bryant said. Kidd was someone the Lakers could have gotten in trade for teenage center Andrew Bynum in February. When that missed Lakers opportunity was brought up to him, Bryant allowed this much: “I was very optimistic about it. But I have the opportunity to play with him now.”
By Kevin Ding
Orange County Register
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