Even Kobe Bryant is aware of how hard it can be to work with Kobe Bryant. The Lakers legend was asked about how he’s been communicating with Jeremy Lin after the Lakers’ Friday night loss to the Clippers, the Lakers point guard who Kobe will have to collaborate with in the Lakers back court.
Kobe was frank in his assessment of how he and Lin will be able to work together. For Kobe, respect is earned, not given and it will be up to Lin to assert himself with Kobe (good luck with that Jeremy).
“You have to be able to assert yourself,” he said, “especially on a team that I’m playing on — especially on a team I’m playing on. “Because I don’t want chumps, I don’t want pushovers. If you’re a chump and a pushover, I will run over you.
So it’s important for him to have that toughness and to say no ‘I believe in myself, I can step up I can make these plays I can perform and I think that is very very important.”
In order to colorfully illustrate what he meant by “assert yourself”, Kobe decided to use a canine analogy.
“It’s like, you’ve got to put your mark down, man. At some point, you’ve got to piss on the fire hydrant.”
So, there you go Jeremy. In order to gain Kobe’s respect, get in a pissing match with the Lakers’ ornery star (pun entirely and unfortunately intended).
