After a slow start, Team USA Basketball blew out Tunisia by nearly 50 points in their second preliminary round game. As has been the case in their previous outings, Kobe Bryant has not had to do much, allowing the likes of Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony to handle the scoring duties. If anything, it does seem like Kobe has taken on the role that Jason Kidd had during 2008 Olympics, where he only gets brought back in if it's really necessary. Expect Bryant to play more once the medal round hits, but before that, he will be the happy guy on the sidelines watching the young kids like Anthony Davis dunk at every opportunity.
What has not changed is Bryant's status as the most popular player in the world. James and Durant might be better players now, but they both have a long way to go match what Bryant has accomplished. In many ways, that is why he holds a mythical stature among today's generation of players, much like the players who went up against the Dream Team all those years ago.
So when Mohamed Hadidane, a reserve player on the Tunisian squad, asked Kobe Bryant to sign his shoes, it was not that big of a deal. What was a big deal was that Hadidane was wearing a pair of the Nike Zoom Kobe 7 "USA," the same shoes that Bryant wore to that game. It would be the equivalent of somebody from Angola back in 1992 asking Charles Barkley to his pair of the Nike Air Force 180 "USA."
The kicker of this story is that Hadidane was not only wearing a pair of shoes in the colors of his opponent, but he was also wearing the Nike Elite "Team USA Basketball" socks (see above slideshow of Hadidane getting dunked on by LeBron James for evidence). Hadidane is definitely making the most of his opportunity to meet some American basketball figures. Here's to hoping this won't be his only shining basketball moment.
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