Posted by SupremeCommander:

Really? People would've been okay with trading three firsts to "move up a few slots"? I know its hard to see that everyone would've been screaming that the team gave up to much value then, but that would've been the prevailing opinion.

Posted by JohnWallace44:

Posted by JrZyHuStLa:

Posted by JohnWallace44:

easy on John Wallace folks...

What made you pick a username based on that scrub?

grew up outside of Syracuse
#44 is now retired so Wallace will have been the last to wear it in basketball or football

Jim Brown, Floyd Little, Czonka, Derrick Coleman... it has a pretty sweet history.

Posted by garyclips:

I specifically remember that Bryants father threatened Calipari that Kobe will not play for the Nets and would go play in Italy if they drafted him. He still wanted to take him but was overuled by ownership. Jelly Bean wanted his son to play for LA, only. And my feeling is that if Kobe wanted the Knicks, Grunfeld would of been able to make the trade. My proof: The Hornets were DESPERATE to get out from under LJ's 12 year contract, especially since he showed signs of back trouble. Are you telling me that Grunfeld/Checketts couldn't put to screws to the Hornets to flip Kobe to the Knicks to take LJ off there hands WHICH THEY DID IN JULY,1996 ANYWAY. Jelly Bean ONLY WANTED HIS SON ON ONE TEAM, LA.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by garyclips:

I specifically remember that Bryants father threatened Calipari that Kobe will not play for the Nets and would go play in Italy if they drafted him. He still wanted to take him but was overuled by ownership. Jelly Bean wanted his son to play for LA, only. And my feeling is that if Kobe wanted the Knicks, Grunfeld would of been able to make the trade. My proof: The Hornets were DESPERATE to get out from under LJ's 12 year contract, especially since he showed signs of back trouble. Are you telling me that Grunfeld/Checketts couldn't put to screws to the Hornets to flip Kobe to the Knicks to take LJ off there hands WHICH THEY DID IN JULY,1996 ANYWAY. Jelly Bean ONLY WANTED HIS SON ON ONE TEAM, LA.

if the Knicks had traded up to pick him no way Kobe's going to Italy to play til his draft rights expire... i just don't buy it.

[Edited by - TMS on 05-03-2009 9:19 PM]

Posted by garyclips:

Then what your saying is that Kobe wasn't on Grunfelds' radar? I think Jelly Bean was determined that he will play for LA. He probably felt that with Jerry West, his son had the best chance of winning. How many years did the Knicks have Ewing before this draft,11 years, and did they win anything? Kobes' father didn't even want him to play for his home town Sixers, who he played for. The problem was NOT KOBE, it was his father. If Kobes' father WASN'T an ex-player maybe chances are he would of stayed in the background. But since he knew the NBA he had clout with his son. Remember the kid was only 17 years old.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by garyclips:

Then what your saying is that Kobe wasn't on Grunfelds' radar? I think Jelly Bean was determined that he will play for LA. He probably felt that with Jerry West, his son had the best chance of winning. How many years did the Knicks have Ewing before this draft,11 years, and did they win anything? Kobes' father didn't even want him to play for his home town Sixers, who he played for. The problem was NOT KOBE, it was his father. If Kobes' father WASN'T an ex-player maybe chances are he would of stayed in the background. But since he knew the NBA he had clout with his son. Remember the kid was only 17 years old.

we're all just speculating at this point... i'm just finding it hard to believe he would have ever turned down an opportunity to play in NY... the fact that his father knew the NBA is even more reason for me to think Kobe wouldn't have turned down a chance to come here... you're comparing Philly to NY here? come on, how fair is that? NY was a team with an established C who Kobe would have had an awesome opportunity to play alongside & grow with so if NY were truly after Kobe i can't believe that his father would have stood in the way of that... but NY was so obsessed w/making the playoffs every year that i personally don't think Kobe was ever really that serious of a consideration, at least not to the point where Grunfeld would have given up all 3 picks to get him... Sixers already had Stackhouse & had just drafted Iverson w/the #1 overall pick so of course his dad wouldn't want his son to go there to have to compete w/those guys for touches & minutes in the backcourt... not like Philly woulda taken Kobe over Iverson who was the consensus #1 overall pick that year to begin with anyway.

[Edited by - TMS on 05-04-2009 2:42 PM]

In 1996, Bryant, a teenager exiting high school for the N.B.A., was not the first pick, but he exuded self-importance when he refused to play anywhere but Hollywood.

With the 13th selection, with a deal to trade Bryant to Los Angeles in pocket, Charlotte chose him. But there was a point where it looked as if the Lakers’ Vlade Divac would retire rather than take part in a trade that would send him to Charlotte for Bryant.

Couldn’t Bryant be a Hornet? Could he grow to love Southern sweet tea?

“That is an impossibility,” Bryant’s agent, Arn Tellem, said at the time. “There are no ifs. It would not happen. He is going to be a Laker, and that’s the only team he’s playing for.”

Bryant got what he wanted.