European players more skilled: Bryant

LOS ANGELES -- European youth basketball coaches are doing a better job of teaching the game's fundamentals than their US counterparts, and the results show in the NBA, Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant says.

Bryant, speaking after the Lakers' 109-106 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night, said that players such as the Grizzlies' Spanish big man Marc Gasol -- and his brother Pau -- have been given a better background in basketball basics.

"In America, it's a big problem for us," Bryant said, in comments reported by the Los Angeles Times. "We're not teaching players how to play all-around basketball.

"That's why you have Pau and you have Marc and the reason why 90 percent of the (San Antonio) Spurs roster are European players, because they have more skills."

In fact the reigning champion Spurs are a veritable United Nations of basketball, with a team featuring French players Tony Parker and Boris Diaw along with Argentina's Manu Ginobili. Italy, Brazil, Australia and Canada are also represented on their roster as well as the United States.

Bryant said his own skills owe much to the childhood years he spent in Italy when his father, Joe Bryant, played basketball there.

Had all of his early basketball education come in the United States, Bryant said, "I probably wouldn't be able to dribble with my left, shoot with my left, have good footwork."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Kobe tells Gilas: Keep working as a team

MANILA, Philippines -- Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant had a few words of advice for the Gilas Pilipinas national team after their silver medal finish in the recently concluded 27th FIBA Asia Men's Basketball Championship.

Bryant, who is in Manila to promote Lenovo mobile phones, told Gilas Pilipinas to continue to keep playing as a team.

"Just continue to play together," he said during a press conference at Resorts World Monday. "It's a team sport. It's about how individuals work together."

Bryant stressed that playing as a team will allow Gilas to hide some of their weaknesses as individuals.

Bryant, a five-time NBA champion, also advised the national team to "tune out the noise and the fanfare" and instead focus on the task at hand, which is the FIBA World Cup in Spain next year.

Gilas' second place finish in the FIBA Asia tournament allowed them to clinch a berth in the World Cup next year, marking their return to the world stage for the first time since 1973.

The United States have already qualified to the World Cup although it remains to be seen if Bryant will still play for Team USA.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com