Grumpy Heat Fan wrote:ryguy613 wrote:Grumpy Heat Fan wrote:
are we really doing the lying thing?
Other teams DID want to draft Kobe.
Except Kobe and his agent threatened everyone to not draft him, and if they did, he would go play in Italy, because of his dad's connections, he could speak italian and had been there, etc.
The only reason why Kobe was off the bench, was because of some old school way of thinking by their coach at the time, Del Harris? Everyone knew Kobe was a star, and should be in the starting lineup.
OK Grumpy Heat Fan. Way to live up to your name. What you said is mostly untrue, or at least misleading. Kobe and his agent did not "threaten everyone not to draft him". He literally threated ONE team not to draft him... that was the Nets... who wouldve drafted him 8th overall. If the 76's for instance wanted to draft him with the 1st overall pick, instead of AI, there is not a chance in hell he wouldve turned that down. In fact there is absolutely no indication that Kobe would have fought against being drafted top 5 or so at all, as to do so wouldve been 1. bad for his ego and 2. bad for his wallet.
Bottom line is this... if scouts truly believed that Bryant was unquestionably a star in the making (they didnt, thats just a fact) he would have been drafted much higher. 17 year olds were not... again repeating here... were NOT taken in the draft. Kevin Garnett was the only other guy ever taken right out of high school at that point... and he was 19, not 17. And no, Kobe Bryant did not come off the bench because of "old school blah blah blah". Kobe's first NBA game saw him play 6 minutes, and take one shot which he airballed... something he did a LOT back then by the way. Kobe Bryant was literally the definition of an NBA prospect. Unbelievable potential with high risk of flaming out early.
Can I just ask how old you are? Were you actually watching the NBA in 1996? Because I was, and I can tell you that Kobe Bryant was extremely far from a surefire thing.
So, now you admit Kobe did threaten teams. You tried to paint a rosy picture that nobody wanted Kobe and the Lakers took a shot at an unknown, which is a lie.
Okay, so you admitted one team.
Here's a second :
Bryant's agent threatened the Hornets, that Bryant could potentially sit out the season if they tried to keep him on the Hornets.
dawg, lol, its widely known that the Hornets had no intention of drafting Kobe for themselves so I dont really know where all that is coming from. The Lakers and Hornets had agreed to the parameters of the trade earlier in the week, and it was part of the deal that Charlotte would be drafting for the Lakers. This was not a trade the Hornets were backed into making. This wasnt Eli Manning.
Look, I never said it was perfect, or rosy for that matter. I just said it was FAR from a foregone conclusion that Kobe was gonna be a star player for the Lakers. It was a risky move to make in 1996. And he was drafted 13th overall. He wasnt the heir apparent like LeBron James. He was a talented, but immature 17 year old high school player who showed immense potential, but also risked being a dud. You know how many straight out of high school prospects with star potential ended up flaming out? I can make a list if youd like...