TAIPEI, China -- Kobe Bryant believes the U.S. basketball team will have to work on its chemistry if it wants to perform well at the 2008 Olympics.

NBA star Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers gestures during a news conference in Taipei, China September 7, 2006. Bryant, who is visiting China's Taiwan Province for the first time will conduct a basketball clinic, a Nike spokesman said. [Reuters]

The Los Angeles Lakers star, visiting Taiwan Province in China as part of a five-leg tour of Asia to meet with fans, said Thursday that a newly assembled team always needed some time together before starting to play with consistency.

Bryant did not play in the world championships because of a knee injury, and the U.S. squad returned home from the tournament in Japan last week with a bronze medal -- mirroring its performance at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Both results were widely seen as disappointments for teams loaded with NBA talent.

"Years playing together will jell us as a unit, (but) if there is no chemistry, it's going to be tough to beat all those talented teams," Bryant said, adding he was confident the two years leading up to the Beijing Olympics would be enough time to find that chemistry.

Bryant's Asian tour has already taken him to Japan and Hong Kong. On Friday, he was scheduled to leave Taiwan Province for South Korea, en route to mainland China.