What if the Lakers drafted Kobayashi instead of Kobe?

[BUMP]

http://loyalkng.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/kobayashi.jpg

vs http://bill.kall700sports.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/kobe_bryant.jpg

[Goran Dragic]

They'd have 20 rings by now

[Trainwreck2100]

shaq would have stayed in shape cause kobyashi would have eaten all the food`

[Venti Quattro]

They wouldn't be fighting for the top dog status of the team but rather for hotdog sandwiches

[phyzik]

uhhh... The lakers DIDNT pick Kobe in the draft......

He was picked by Charlotte Hornets in 1996 and was traded shortly afterwards to the Lakers because Kobe was being a little bitch saying he wouldnt play for anyone but the Lakers.

And Kobayashi wouldnt need Shaq or Gasol to win titles.

[badfish22]

They wouldn't be fighting for the top dog status of the team but rather for hotdog sandwiches

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:Bh2SLyRiSUj4GM:http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/attachments/drivetrain-tech/13194d1049855256-putting-act-2600-lmao.jpg&t=1

etc.

[usdane]

uhhh... The lakers DIDNT pick Kobe in the draft......

He was picked by Charlotte Hornets in 1996 and was traded shortly afterwards to the Lakers because Kobe was being a little bitch saying he wouldnt play for anyone but the Lakers.

And Kobayashi wouldnt need Shaq or Gasol to win titles.

Really - When did Kobe demand this trade? link.

Charlotte got Vlade Divac an established 7' 1" big man for the 13th draft pick that 12 other teams passed on. At the time not a bad deal for Charlotte.

In retrospect they naturally should not have done the deal. But who? other than Jerry West could have know that the 17 year old Kobe would become an all-time great.

Do you think the Raptors would give up Ed Davis for Al Horford right now?

[phyzik]

Really - When did Kobe demand this trade? link.

Charlotte got Vlade Divac an established 7' 1" big man for the 13th draft pick that 12 other teams passed on. At the time not a bad deal for Charlotte.

In retrospect they naturally should not have done the deal. But who? other than Jerry West could have know that the 17 year old Kobe would become an all-time great.

Do you think the Raptors would give up Ed Davis for Al Horford right now?

You should know your idols history.....

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/03/05/1289903/passing-on-kobe.html

about midway through the article....


"He wouldn't work out with us and that bothered us," Bass said. "We couldn't meet him. His agent was trying to aim him to the Lakers and they threatened us."

The Hornets got the message that if they drafted Bryant, he wouldn't play in Charlotte.

They weren't the only team to be warned off taking Bryant for their own.

a little bit further into the article....



One day later, with Divac still stalling the trade, Tellem was more direct when asked if Bryant might wind up playing for the Hornets.

"That is an impossibility. There are no ifs. It would not happen. He is going to be a Laker and that's the only team he's playing for," Tellem said.

There was talk that if the trade didn't go through, Bryant might play professionally in Italy for one season, then attempt to re-enter the draft.


I remember him actually saying that he wanted to only play for the Lakers, it was a drawn out response to a question about proving himself in the NBA and he talked about playing alongside Grandmama or something like that and it was buried in there somewhere, I think it was during an interview on TNT or something like that..... I watched that draft week as it was the deepest in recent memory. Yet Bryant fell to I think the 13th pick. That draft was deep, true, but Bryant should have gone alot sooner, surely at least in the to 10.

[usdane]

You should know your idols history.....

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/03/05/1289903/passing-on-kobe.html

about midway through the article....


a little bit further into the article....




I remember him actually saying that he wanted to only play for the Lakers, it was a drawn out response to a question about proving himself in the NBA and he talked about playing alongside Grandmama or something like that and it was buried in there somewhere, I think it was during an interview on TNT or something like that..... I watched that draft week as it was the deepest in recent memory. Yet Bryant fell to I think the 13th pick. That draft was deep, true, but Bryant should have gone alot sooner, surely at least in the to 10.

I just read all of it and there is not a single quote of Kobe demanding a trade.