In an appearance on Russell Wilson’s “DangerTalk” podcast, Dwyane Wade talked about a number of things pertaining to his career, the NBA, and some of the most memorable moments he’s had over the past two decades.
One of the most interesting segments was a moment that Dwyane Wade shared with Wilson, and the world, of Kobe Bryant in the 2008 Olympics.
“So I was coming off the bench and Kobe came to me as he knew I was coming off the bench and he said ‘hey, D, when you come in, this is what I’m gonna do: I’m gonna pick up the defender, 94 feet, I’m gonna harass him, I’m gonna turn him and once they get to half court, I want you to shoot at him, trap them try to get a steal.’
But for me, I looked at that like ‘I’m a younger guy, I’m the least confident guy in this group.’ He should have told me, ‘D, you go pressure, I’m gonna do that.’ But his mindset wasn’t that way. His mindset was, listen, all Kobe cared about was defense. When he knew me and him was gonna play together he was like ‘I don’t care about the offense, I just know we’re two dogs on both ends.’
To be able to play with a guy who had everything offensively who could have just demanded us to give him the ball every time down, was worried about defense in the Olympics, what am I gonna do? I’m gonna follow suit. That was one of my favorite things when he came to me and he said that.”
Kobe was a beast on the court, nobody can deny that. But perhaps his best aspects were his relentless work ethic, which set an example to the rest of his team.
He wasn’t a guy who played half the game — he was someone who gave his all on the court and put forth his best effort on both ends of the floor. Those characteristics were clearly shining in 2008 and for DWade, who was just 26 at the time, it made an impression that he carries to this day.
Kobe, a 5x Champion, 18x All-Star, 15x All-NBA player, and 2x Scoring Champ, is scheduled to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this spring, almost a year after his tragic death in January of 2020.
