Kobe Bryant would have been a Wizard in 2004 if Abe didn't fire MJ in 2003
Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2015 7:46 pm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... story.html
But during the height of his feud with then-teammate Shaquille O’Neal in the early 2000s, Bryant wanted to be under Jordan in a different capacity . Bryant revealed recently he felt pushed to ponder a future away from the purple and gold banners after O’Neal – a three-time Finals most valuable player from 2000-02 – went too far.
“The challenge had been thrown down upon me, of not being able to win without Shaq. A public challenge never really bothered me too much, but he made a couple of comments as well. I think he called me Penny Hardaway Part 2 or something like that. So that’s what [ticked] me off,” Bryant said. “Then it was like, ‘Listen, you know the step back that I took to help us win championships. Let’s not get [expletive] confused. I can dominate on my own. I decided to stay here and win championships and sacrifice MVPs and scoring titles and all that stuff.’ So once that was said, it was like a line in the sand now.”
Nearly two years after he retired for a second time in Chicago, Jordan teamed with Wizards then-minority owner Ted Leonsis and assumed the role of president of basketball operations for 1 1/2 seasons. According to two people with knowledge of the situation, after Jordan decided to sell his minority ownership stake to resume his playing career with the Wizards, Bryant informed him several times he wanted to play for the Wizards — under the assumption that Jordan would return to the front office once his playing days were over.
“I’ve always been very big on having mentors, on having muses and I’ve been really, really big on that,” Bryant said. “Being around guys who have done it before and done it at a high level and always tried to pick their brains and always tried to absorb knowledge. Obviously, being in that situation [with the Wizards], it would’ve helped having to be around him every day and so on.”
Jordan’s tenure as an executive in Washington had its successes (trading Juwan Howard to clear cap room and signing Larry Hughes) and notable failures (drafting Kwame Brown and trading Richard Hamilton for Jerry Stackhouse) but luring Bryant from Los Angeles would have been a reputation-altering coup.
“What I look at, in terms of the front office, is their commitment to excellence, their commitment to not winning division banners but winning NBA championships,” Bryant said of Jordan. “That’s where I always start and then I can work backwards. He obviously was a championship-or-bust man.”
The Wizards never had the assets to discuss a trade for Bryant, so the only chance the organization would have had to make a run at him was when he became an unrestricted free agent in 2004. Jordan, however, wasn’t allowed to recruit Bryant because Pollin decided in May 2003, not to let him continue running the team. While Jordan’s ability to land Bryant was no guarantee, a person close to him said Jordan was “confident” he would have made it happen.
