‘Mamba’ tells PH 5: Believe, work hard

Kobe Bryant waves to the crowd during his Mamba Mentality Tour at Araneta Coliseum in Cubao. Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

RETIRED NBA star Kobe Bryant certainly knows a thing or two on international basketball success.

A five-time NBA champion, Bryant has won the Olympic basketball gold medal twice in 2008 in Beijing and four years later in London as part of the powerhouse United States team.

And as Gilas Pilipinas seeks an Olympic berth in the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament against the likes of more fancied teams France and New Zealand next month, Bryant stressed the importance of belief and hard work for the nationals to achieve their goal of making it to Rio de Janeiro.

“My message of hope is first of all, they (Gilas Pilipinas) have to have, like I said earlier, imagination is the most important, that’s where it starts, you need to have the belief and secondly, it’s practice, it’s practice,” Bryant said in a group interview during the press conference of the Mamba Mentality Tour Manila at Shangri-La at the Fort.

Bryant, who played 20 years in the NBA said both belief and hard work should go hand-in-hand.

“Everybody in the world can have hope all day, but the whole world having hope is absolutely meaningless if you don’t work to achieve. So for them, the best advice I can give is to practice really really hard, work together, work on their weaknesses and make it their strength,” said Bryant.