Way Back When - Kobe Bryant
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Because he threatened other teams that drafted him he wouldn't sign and he only wanted to play for LA; Kobe's ego developed at a young age, go youtube Kobe's decision on going pro, or his comments during all star weekend. His draft class was pretty f*ckin strong also
I had heard about Jerry West telling other teams to back off him, but if you watch the actual draft (search it on youtube), no one was even mentioning his name until Kerry Kittles got drafted (8th pick). Strange thing was when he did get drafted, they were speaking so highly of him; a praise many of the guys who got drafted before him weren't getting. lol
Sorry for the double post, but it seems I don't have access to edit my previous post. I found something about how Jerry West talked John Calipari out of drafting Kobe Bryant with the 8th pick in the '96 draft. It confirms both that Jerry West wanted Kobe, and Kobe wanted to go to the Lakers from the start.
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/4672/how-jerry...
Lebrons hairline, could you back the threatening of over teams with a link?
Not a Kobe fan (by any stretch, some would call me a hater), but I'm very much interested in knowing about this, as I had NO idea of such facts. Would like to forward this information to some Laker fans I know when the topic is brought up. Especially when his Ego is brought up.
http://dimemag.com/2010/02/jerry-west-talked-john-calipari-out-of-drafti... doesn't go into Kobe's words but Jerry West scared teams that wanted Kobe by saying that Kobe wouldn't sign and would just play a year in college and had the Bryant family call John Calipari warning him not to take him at 8, the same way he scared teams away from Vlade Divac by telling him to smoke in the green room. http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/02/kobe-bryant-on-nba-teams-th... this one talks about Kobe's call with Dave Cowens where Dave didnt even expect Kobe to stay a hornet for long based on their conversation.
kobe did demand that he go to the lakers, but that was late in the process after the lakers were in the midst of talks with teams about getting him so he did his part to make sure it happened. He wasnt saying i wont play for whoever from the get go. Plus he was never considered a consensus top 10 pick or anything, many people including calipari said kittles was the better sg prospect period.
i disagree as well, but im telling you from memory nobody was saying kobe was hands down top 10 or clearly better then kittles. Many experts placed kittles ahead of kobe and calipari publicly stated he selected kittles over kobe becasue kittles was the better prospect. Its possible he was just saying that to make kittles feel better after being scared away from kobe, buts its also possible he trully felt that way and is only stating in hindsite that he knew kobe was better to save face. Either way, if calipari passed on kobe becasue he was scared, then it doesnt speak highly of him. If im a gm ,i take the best player period. ANd if they refuse to play for me, i either demand a lot in trade from another team or make sure the guy never wears an nba uniform if he doesnt want to eb a part of my team. Getting pushed around doesnt get you far as a gm or coach.
th real bonus for the lakers as well that draft was that they had no choice to trade vlade. They had to clear money for shaq. They had already traded two quality players in george lynch and anthony peeler to vancouver for a second round pick simply to shed salary. If they had to, they probably would have gave vlade away for nothing. Getting kobe was a bonus.
