Kobe's secret Spanish for Gasol

[That Nicka]

No wonder Kwame looked confuse on offense most of the time.

[Tommy Trojan]

No wonder Kwame looked confuse on offense most of the time.

And all along we though it was Kwame's fault for being lost on offense

[RASMARX]

Free Paella Night

[deathbringer6]

Kobe speaks...

- Spanish
- Italian
- French
- English

That's Gasol, Sasha, and Turiaf's language right there.

You mean the other guys can't speak english?

[snaquille oatmeal]

I heard the interview, Pau said that he was getting directions where to stand in the triangle in spanish from Kobe not codes.

[milesfides]

Aw, poo. I was hoping for the double-layer of encryption. That would have blown my homer mind.

[Erik Eleven]

I was hoping for secret codes, too. Like some serious hexadecimal binary encryptions and stuff. Can't believe it was just Spanish.

[LLcoleJ]

que?

[islander009]

Interesting info about Kobe. Glad that there is that extra connection between the two.

[traumeel]

[Tommy Trojan]

^^^ lol

[senfono]

I heard Kobe shouting "ven, ven" (come here, come here) to Pau to get a screen. It was in Pau's block + and 1 play

[Jordan-esque]

LA Daily News:

One starting forward hails from Serbia and Montenegro (Radmanovic). The starting center is from Spain (Gasol). A backup shooting guard is from Slovenia (Vujacic). One reserve center is from France (Turiaf) and another from the Congo (Mbenga).

Conversations on the team's bus and chartered airplane have taken on a new tone, one that reflects the international makeup of the Lakers' roster.

And it's not just away from the court either.

Kobe Bryant said he's been speaking Spanish to Gasol on the floor, the better the confuse opponents who have no clue that Bryant might be explaining the next play to his teammate right in front of them.

"We were in New Jersey the other night and Marcus Williams is guarding me and Kobe said something to Pau and Williams said, `This dude is speaking Spanish now?"' Lakers guard Jordan Farmar said with a laugh Friday.

"I think it's awesome to see that basketball is a worldwide sport," Turiaf said. "You've got me speaking in French to my friends and my agent. Sasha speaking Slovenian to Vlade. Now you've got Pau speaking Spanish and DJ speaking French.

"It's all fun. It must be weird for my teammates hearing all those foreign languages on the bus, especially that romantic French."

Mbenga holds the Lakers' language title, speaking three dialects from the Congo, plus also French, Flemish, Portuguese and, of course, English. That's 7 languages.

Gasol said he's looking forward to playing his first game in L.A. as a Laker. He said he has always had a strong connection to Southern California's large Spanish-speaking population, even though most are from Mexico or Central America.

"We feel related just by the language," Gasol said. "We feel real close there. We're not from the same country or continent, but at the same time I think the language brings us very, very close. It's cool. Everywhere I go, since my first year, the Latino community has always been very supportive. It's always a good feeling to get that kind of support."

As Stu would say... N-o-I-C-E!