LAS VEGAS — As the elder statesman of Team USA — but you probably don’t want to call him that to his face — Kobe Bryant seems to get a lot of questions about the state of the team and his thoughts on other players from the media at USA Basketball practices.
He had a couple of interesting observation Wednesday. For one, he thinks what we all think about DeMarcus Cousins.
And he’s not really worried about Lakers teammate Andrew Bynum, who has been the focus of trade rumors for Dwight Howard. Can Bynum ignore the whirlwind around him and come back ready to contend on a team that added Steve Nash?
“Yea, yea. He’s got kind of this f--- it attitude, you know what I mean,” Kobe said (and yes, we do). “Which is great, it’s one of the things that makes him a great player. It won’t bother him at all…. Andrew is a big boy, he can handle it better than most.”
What about USA Select Team big man Cousins, who has raised some eyebrows — not always in a good way — with his play?
“All he has to do is continue to work, continue to keep his level head. That’s all he has to do. That’s all he has to do,” Kobe repeated for emphasis. “If he can do that and can let his basketball talent speak for itself, he’ll be fine. He gets in trouble when he starts letting his emotions get the best of him, now people start talking about that as opposed to his game.”
Cousins is still working on channeling his emotions back into his game, not becoming as overwhelmed by them. And when he does, watch out.