Trash-talking is sort of a lost art in the NBA nowadays. Many guys across the league are friendly with each other. Still, every once in a while, you'll see a couple of guys throwing some harsh words at their opponent in an effort to get in their head.
One guy who was subtly good at trash-talking during his esteemed career was Kobe Bryant . While he was never the loudest guy on the court, Gilbert Arenas recently explained how he still managed to make his mark felt with his words.
What made Bryant's trash talk different
For much of his career, the five-time champion let his play do the talking. You don't have to say as much when you win as Kobe did, both on a team level and an individual level. But when he talked trash, he ensured it was worth his while.
Arenas recalled one such instance that showed how Bryant managed to get his point across in a sly manner. When Caron Butler, who was guarding Kobe during this game, fouled one of his teammates, Bryant lambasted him for wasting a foul on a player who wasn't him.
"You gotta remember with a chess player, they think about the whole game, they think about the moves," Arenas on Vlad TV. "And so we were playing, it's a 2-on-1 break, and Caron (Butler) fouls, stops the break, So everybody's like, 'Good job, good stop…You saved two points.'"
"So Kobe walks over to him and says, 'Hey, who are you guarding? 'You.' 'How many fouls you got?' 'I got one.' 'So you only got five left?' 'Yeah.' 'Well you need all six fouls to guard me, and you just wasted one on him, Stupid play.' And you had to think about it like, 'Ah, that's a good point… He's right,'" Arenas added.
Related: "We can't (recruit) off of the banners and past championships anymore" - Antawn Jamison on his stint as a scout for the Los Angeles Lakers
Kobe made players second-guess themselves
Bryant is a legend of the game, so when he takes a second to question one of your decisions, it's human nature for you to turn around and do so on your own. Kobe knew the status he carried with him and used it to his advantage.
This critique from the one-time MVP cuts deeper because, as Arenas notes, the guys quickly realized he was right. Being told you are trash isn't always necessarily true, but with Bryant, he knew he was right and that telling his opponent as much would throw them off their game.
It's interesting to get an inside look at how the "Black Mamba" operated in this aspect of the game because he's not widely considered a legendary trash talker like Michael Jordan or Larry Bird. And yet, his words were deadly when he wanted to wield them as a weapon.
Arenas wasn't even the guy who received this trash talk, but it still resonates with him. Kobe was great at many things, and it looks like we can add trash-talking to that ever-growing list.
Related: "You realize he should be a sophomore in college, and it's real scary" - What a rival coach said about the rising Kobe in 1998
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