The stories about Kobe Bryant from his summer with the 2008 United States Men’s Basketball team are the stuff of legend. There was the time he tackled his Lakers co-star Pau Gasol to set the tone for his Olympic teammates, and his iconic performance to secure a gold medal against that very same Spanish team.
But Bryant laid the groundwork for what he would do at the Olympics before the team even left for Beijing. To hear then U.S. head coach Mike Krzyzewski tell it, Bryant actually got things started — in typical Kobe fashion — days before any other players on the team even showed up for training camp.