Roger's inspiration for trash-talking came from Jerry Stackhouse's defense of himself years later.
Stackhouse once told an NBC reporter that the story of Kobe beating him one-on-one was simply not true.
Everyone thought he would say that he had never lost to Kobe, but this is how he defended himself:
"Did we play one-on-one? Yes. Did he beat me? Yes. But, he was only 17 years old then, there was no way he could consistently outplay a 20-year-old Jerry Stackhouse, it just wasn't possible, he only won a few games!"
Well, as an NBA player, losing a few times to a high schooler was his defense.
It seemed to him, not being utterly dominated by a high schooler was already quite an achievement.
So, Roger used that piece of trash talk to mock Stackhouse.
Stackhouse pushed away Roger's hand from his shoulder: "No one took that play seriously, Roger, I will show you in the regular season!"
Huffing, he pushed his way through the reporters blocking his path and stormed off.
