Kobe Bryant sparked a massive debate when he said earlier this month that the current Team USA basketball squad would beat the Dream Team. After reiterating his stance to reporters, Bryant has finally backtracked and admitted that the Dream Team was better.
“I didn’t say we were a better team,” Bryant said Friday at an introductory Olympic news conference, according to the Los Angeles Times’ Mike Bresnahan. “But if you think we can’t beat that team one time? Like I’m going to say no, that we’d never beat them.
“They are a better team,” Bryant said. “The question was ‘Can we beat them?’ Yes we can. Of course we can.
“We like where we are but we’re not going to compare ourselves to them because those guys are living legends. We just hope that when our careers are all said and done, people can look back on our team and say we had quite a bit of Hall of Famers as well.”
That sure sounds a lot different from the guy who doubled down on his original quotes by saying the Dream Team once lost to a college team. The funny thing is that Kobe backed off his original opinion at the same time LeBron James entered the debate by agreeing with his current Olympic teammate.
Saying that the Dream Team was better is accurate because nearly all of its members are in the Hall of Fame. Many of the current Team USA players are in the middle of their careers. But like Kobe and LeBron said, for one game, this team could definitely beat the Dream Team. A full series would be a different story.
Photo credit: Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE
