ro_50
03-11-2006, 12:34 PM
I've been trying to figure out for years why the days leading up to the 1996
NBA Draft, when the Nets were ready and set to take Kobe with the 8th pick - IT WAS A LOCK AMONG THE MEDIA AND INNER CIRCLES OF THE NBA - they choose to take Kerry Kittles out of Villanova instead.
John Calipari, then the Nets coach and currently, head coach for the Memphis Tigers, wanted him and John Nash, the Nets GM at the time, was enamored w/ him as well.
But Kobe didnt want to play for them. Read this article.
Draft class of 96 is remarkable (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/basketball/magic/sns-ap-bkn-class-of-96,0,5146588.story?coll=sns-ap-basketball-headlines)
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Here's an excerpt from the article
How Bryant ended up going so low out of Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania remains a bit of a mystery. Asked recently how 12 teams could have passed on him, Bryant joked that West must have been responsible. The former Lakers executive acquired Bryant's rights by sending Vlade Divac to the Charlotte Hornets.
"I think Jerry West might have had something to do with that," Bryant said. "He was kind of putting out, 'Oh no, don't draft that kid. I saw him work out. He's not that good.'"
Still, Bryant would have been gone long before that if John Nash had his way.
Nash was New Jersey's general manger and said the Nets planned to take Bryant with the eighth pick. In fact, he says he and then-Nets coach John Calipari told Bryant and his family of their plans at dinner the night before the draft.
But Nash says Bryant called the next afternoon to tell the Nets he wasn't interested in playing for them, probably because he knew where he could end up instead.
"As I recall, we got this phone call somewhere in the vicinity at 2 in the afternoon," Nash said. "By 6, it was apparent to us as to what had happened."
Not willing to take a chance of Calipari's first draft turning into a mess, the Nets instead took Villanova guard Kerry Kittles, the other player they had been interested in. But Nash, who would scout both players on trips to Philadelphia, said he wanted to go with Bryant anyway.
"I was a Kobe guy and I told John not to change his decision," Nash said.
NBA Draft, when the Nets were ready and set to take Kobe with the 8th pick - IT WAS A LOCK AMONG THE MEDIA AND INNER CIRCLES OF THE NBA - they choose to take Kerry Kittles out of Villanova instead.
John Calipari, then the Nets coach and currently, head coach for the Memphis Tigers, wanted him and John Nash, the Nets GM at the time, was enamored w/ him as well.
But Kobe didnt want to play for them. Read this article.
Draft class of 96 is remarkable (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/basketball/magic/sns-ap-bkn-class-of-96,0,5146588.story?coll=sns-ap-basketball-headlines)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's an excerpt from the article
How Bryant ended up going so low out of Lower Merion High School in Pennsylvania remains a bit of a mystery. Asked recently how 12 teams could have passed on him, Bryant joked that West must have been responsible. The former Lakers executive acquired Bryant's rights by sending Vlade Divac to the Charlotte Hornets.
"I think Jerry West might have had something to do with that," Bryant said. "He was kind of putting out, 'Oh no, don't draft that kid. I saw him work out. He's not that good.'"
Still, Bryant would have been gone long before that if John Nash had his way.
Nash was New Jersey's general manger and said the Nets planned to take Bryant with the eighth pick. In fact, he says he and then-Nets coach John Calipari told Bryant and his family of their plans at dinner the night before the draft.
But Nash says Bryant called the next afternoon to tell the Nets he wasn't interested in playing for them, probably because he knew where he could end up instead.
"As I recall, we got this phone call somewhere in the vicinity at 2 in the afternoon," Nash said. "By 6, it was apparent to us as to what had happened."
Not willing to take a chance of Calipari's first draft turning into a mess, the Nets instead took Villanova guard Kerry Kittles, the other player they had been interested in. But Nash, who would scout both players on trips to Philadelphia, said he wanted to go with Bryant anyway.
"I was a Kobe guy and I told John not to change his decision," Nash said.