The 1996 Draft...

[Speedlot]

1 PHI Allen Iverson Georgetown
2 TOR Marcus Camby Massachusetts
3 VAN Shareef AbdurRahim California
4 MIL Stephon Marbury Georgia Tech
5 MIN Ray Allen Connecticut
6 BOS Antoine Walker Kentucky
7 LAC Lorenzen Wright Memphis (TN)
8 NJN Kerry Kittles Villanova
9 DAL Samaki Walker Louisville
10 IND Erick Dampier Mississippi State
11 GSW Todd Fuller North Carolina State
12 CLE Vitaly Potapenko Wright State
13 CHA Kobe Bryant Lower Merion (PA) HS
14 SAC Predrag Stojakovic PAOK Greece
15 PHO Steve Nash Santa Clara
16 CHA Tony Delk Kentucky
17 POR Jermaine ONeal Eau Claire (SC) HS
18 NYK John Wallace Syracuse
19 NYK Walter McCarty Kentucky
20 CLE Zydrunas Ilgauskas Lithuania
21 NYK Dontae' Jones Mississippi State
22 VAN Roy Rogers Alabama
23 DEN Efthimis Rentzias PAOK Greece
24 LAL Derek Fisher Arkansas-Little Rock
25 UTA Martin Muursepp Kalev Tallin (Estonia)
26 DET Jerome Williams Georgetown
27 ORL Brian Evans Indiana
28 ATL Priest Lauderdale Central St/Greece
29 CHI Travis Knight Connecticut

Do you remember how it was back in the day..? What were your thoughts and feelings in 1996 about the draft choices. Who made a bad pick? How much of a prospect was Kobe to be so low? I recall drooling over Iverson immediately, heh. Your thoughts?

[Upperclass]

I do remember this draft breathing new life into my NBA Live game & it had so many fun college players that i wanted to play like when i grew up.. kittles one high sock, one low.. marburys forehead part(though like myself, most ny guards had it) and no look passes..iversons speed.. kobes high, carrying crossover.. antoine walkers sikass handles.. it was a great draft

One thing that really standsout though, is me watching Kobe in the LA summer league and thinking no matter how good AI will be, Kobe will endup better.. just seemed like whatever Iverson could do.. Kobe had it in him as well

[Slava]

Todd Fuller and Potapenko over Kobe:

[ljp24]

The reason kobe fell so low was because he and his father(former NBA player Joe Bryant) threatned if any team drafted him besides LA, he would play in Europe.

[Warspite]

1. The Knicks were excited about 3 1st rd picks and trying to trade up (Kobe).

2. J Oneal was going to be picked by the Blazers (already had a deal)

3. Kobe had sent word that he would only play for Lakers, Knicks, 76ers and that would go to NCAA/Europe if drafted by anyone else. I believe the majority of GMs would rather have Allen but nobody wanted to deal with him and trade with Knicks/Lakers (76ers were set on AI and had Stackhouse)

4. Shreef was in and out twice but stayed. He was considered most upside.

5. GSW continue there search for the GWH.

6. 2 High Schoolers and several Freshman drafted. This is the draft that blinded GMs into what became Kwame and Curry. Its also a key indication of how bad the past few drafts had been and how little talent the NCAA was produceing from JRs and SRs. Its a domino in the ebb of NBA talent that led to horrible play in the late 90s. From this draft on players were drafted to play 3-5 yrs from now instead of 1-2. This simply mens the rebuilding process takes 5-10 yrs instead 3-5 and that most coaches will never reap the rewards of there labor.

Coach Lucas of the 76ers said it best when he said

"We drafted AI with a 5 yr rebuilding program. In my 5th yr Larry Brown takes my team to the NBA Finals and Im fired for not completing my 5th yr in 3 yrs."

The NBA goes into a drak time when the coaches/GMs and fans have to wait twice as long for there players to develope and its not a coincedence that they do just as they become FAs.

[lukeridenour]

yea tough call on both kobe and jo at that point. i think their age, possible immaturity, inexperience overshadowed their potential.

[lukeridenour]

The reason kobe fell so low was because he and his father(former NBA player Joe Bryant) threatned if any team drafted him besides LA, he would play in Europe.

interesting, did not know that. thanks.

[CITYOFANGELSX3]

-= original quote snipped =-



interesting, did not know that. thanks.

Didnt know that either. I remember a couple years ago hating eli manning for that.

[greenbeans]

yeah, it was everybodys first taste of what a self-centered p***k Kobe was and has proved to be

[Slava]

I believe Jerry West was the only reason Kobe even wanted to go straight to the pros. He had an offer from Duke at that time and Jerry actually met him at his high school game and talked to him while driving him around in his personal car. He has continued to be Kobe's mentor even to this day.

[cdubbz]

I dont like how Kobe did that to charlotte. I dont think players should be able to dictate where they go to play in the NBA. They should sign their 3-year contract and then go somewhere after that. This is one huge reason I disliked kobe from the start.

[pewing33ny]

i didn't know a lot about ncaa at the time and with no real internet at the time. i remember i love camby and didn't know why he didn't go #1 after the final 4.

i was also so excited about the knicks getting 3 first rounders. that sure turned out great.

[cdash]

Brian Evans...what a stud.

[CarolinaCash]

I dont like how Kobe did that to charlotte. I dont think players should be able to dictate where they go to play in the NBA. They should sign their 3-year contract and then go somewhere after that. This is one huge reason I disliked kobe from the start.

Kobe didn't do anything to Charlotte. I was a huge Hornets fan and they picked Kobe for the Lakers to get Divac. West told them who to draft....if they were going to pick for themselves they were set on either Steve Nash or Jermaine O'Neal. It's true that Kobe's camp did scare off other teams by saying he only wanted to play in LA but Charlotte didn't want him......they wanted a veteran big man.

[tribulations]

3 league MVPs in the one draft

Jeez. Hindsight is a wonderful thing

[tribulations]

[quote="j-far"]Todd Fuller and Potapenko over Kobe: [/quote]

If I'm not mistaken, Fuller had a pretty decent college career at NC but I think in retrospect the lateness of the Kobe pick always looks worse than it was. At the time taking high schoolers (esp high in the draft) just was not a common thing...

[enuggz]

I dont like how Kobe did that to charlotte. I dont think players should be able to dictate where they go to play in the NBA. They should sign their 3-year contract and then go somewhere after that. This is one huge reason I disliked kobe from the start.

The team he screwed was the Nets, I remember Calipari saying he was all for Kobe and couldn't get him to change his mind about LA.

[Enrique]

The Bucks drafted Marbury then traded him to the T-Wolves for Ray Allen. The Bucks fans at the draft night party at the Bradley Center booed the crap out of that trade announcement. Who would've known how brilliant that trade turned out to be.

[ninetyone4ever]

I dont like how Kobe did that to charlotte. I dont think players should be able to dictate where they go to play in the NBA. They should sign their 3-year contract and then go somewhere after that. This is one huge reason I disliked kobe from the start.

As others have posted and it has been quietly publicized, Kobe wanted to play for Los Angeles or Philadelphia. If Philly hadn't gotten the first pick and landed AI (who was much closer to a sure thing at the #1 slot than Kobe would have been) Kobe would probably have been a Sixer.

The Nets wanted to draft Kobe at #8 and were told sternly by his father and agents that he would not report.

LA and Charlotte had the deal pre-arranged for Divac before Kobe was ever drafted. It wasn't like the Steve Francis snub of the Grizzlies after the fact, Charlotte was essentially drafting Vlade Divac when they selected Kobe and they knew that before they were even on the clock. I'm sure Charlotte would have loved to have kept Kobe at that pick and wish they could have somehow, but the whole league knew Bryant was headed to one of two teams, it was just a matter of getting him there.

[HitMan52]

[quote="ninetyone4ever"][/quote]

I didnt know there were so many players that told teams not to draft them. Those are reasons why I dont like Eli Manning and Yi Jianlian(even though he actually did end up with the Bucks).

John Elway did the same thing with the Colts I believe. He said that if the Colts drafted him he would go play baseball in which he was also drafted in. Players like Terry Bradshaw were angry and said that he should just play baseball. If I actually knew this about Elway I never would have like him same goes for Francis. I already dont like Kobe Yi and Eli.

So all of the players that threatened to not play that I could remember are:

John Elway
Kobe Bryant
Steve Francis
Eli Manning
Yi Jianlian

Anyone else know anymore players that did this.