Kobe Bryant Asked Pau Gasol to Be ‘The Black Swan’

Bean has clearly visited his local Cineplex in the last few weeks, and used the movie analogy to express his way of motivating Pau Gasol to be more aggressive on the offensive end.

The OC Register reports:

Bryant could not stop smiling as he summarized his advice for Gasol in colorful terms late Tuesday night. Bryant had already offered the generic outline: “I talked with Pau a little bit about being a little more selfish, being aggressive.” […] But when it comes down to Bryant being able to impart wisdom, he knows he’s the best man to make the toast about what you can accomplish in this world by cutting throats.

 

“Even when he was in Memphis and he was the go-to guy, he was always very nice,” Bryant said of Gasol. “Very white swan. I need him to be black swan. Be an (expletive) sometimes.” […] Never will the gentle Gasol smile that devilish smile – “because it’s not his nature,” Bryant said – but that doesn’t mean the long-necked Gasol can’t flap black swan wings on the basketball court or the big screen.

 

“I was going to look to attack anybody who was guarding me,” Gasol said after the Lakers’ overtime victory over Houston and his 26 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks in 47 minutes. “It didn’t matter who it was. It just doesn’t matter who is guarding me. Any particular night, I have to be aggressive and I have to attack like there’s no tomorrow.” Sound like the message Bryant was inspired to deliver after Gasol’s lame performance in the Lakers’ loss to Boston got through?