Kobe-The draft & the Hornets trading Kobe to the Lakers

Hey Kobe, LeBron and Melo coulda came to LA if you didn't take a bloated contract

 

Well he kind of has a point, the Hornets didn't have any use for him, they needed a center to compete for a title and Kobe was a crap shoot HS prospect. Makes perfect sense.

 

July 10th 2014, after no big name ends up a Laker

"On this day, everybody decided they didn't want to win anymore"

- Kobe "$24,000,000" Bryant

 

Kobe ... you are one of the greatest basketball players ever...arguably the best ever... an NBA/Lakers icon, a fairly charitable celebrity, and falsely accused of rape... but, the Hornets not wanting you.



You know damn well playing for the lackluster Hornets in Charlotte was not happening. You three (possibly four - David Stern), were not going to let a possible future star-heir apparent languish in Charlotte...especially with your power agent (Arn Tellem) and LA growing hungry for more titles. Rumors of Shaq floating on a magical carpet and crashing on an LA team bursting with talent, hopefully bringing gold and not cold turkeys.

As I sit here in 2014, as a self-professed Lakers hater, the right decision was made...Shaq and Kobe in LA kept the league from falling into complete obscurity. Stern was a little worried in 1999, when the Spurs made short work of everyone, after a strike-shortened NBA season with MJ, back into retirement (so we thought). The Spurs are just not a TV-friendly team...no type of edge or intrigue to them. If someone has to tell people that you are exciting or play basketball in its purest form...I hear people snoozing and watching reruns on TV Land. Happily for most casual fans, The Lakers would appear in 7 NBA Finals over 10 seasons going home champion 5 times...Mission Accomplished.

Yet, people think NBA collusions are a product of LBJ...

http://blog.nola.com/hornetsbeat/2009/03/former_hornets_gm_bob_bass_liv.html

http://www.thelostogle.com/2012/05/16/the-redeeming-side-of-kobe-bryants-narcissism/

 

]I think it's just a poor choice of words by Kobe. Technically, he's right, since they were drafting him for someone else..but I think in his mind, he took it as an insult because he was so confident about how good he was, so that's how he has decided to remember it.

 

Dun bother, dun care. Kobe got his rings, congratulations to him. One of the best SG ever. But will never be the GOAT.

 

Funny how he doesn't get annoyed that Lorenzen Wright or Samaki Walker were picked over him. Only because he knew he fell into a dream scenario.

However, he was very high profile in 1996, I'm shocked so many teams passed on Kobe.

 

Reminds me of when Reggie bush had that commercial thanking the Texans for not drafting him. I don't hate Kobe because some of the best moments I've witnessed had something to do with the Lakers (most notably Horrys game winner against the Kings and AI's step over game) but he's in for a rude awaken when he figures out the lakers are going to suck for the remainder of his career.

 

No he doesn't. He told 29 teams before the draft that he's not playing in the NBA if they draft him. Didn't bother working out. Every other team that drafted him would've gotten nothing for their pick.

So yeah, no kidding the Hornets didn't have any use for him.

 

Makes me wonder if Kobe isn't, consciously or not, trying to latch on to the Hornets positive pub right now. Perhaps he wants a different narrative out there than how his current salary is hurting the Lakers flexibility. Especially when other aging stars are taking pay cuts to help assure their teams best chances.

 

good thing kobe sabotaged his draft, he probably would have 0 titles.

 

He and MJ just met out in LA for dinner, so maybe they were talking about doing business together.

I love that those two are friends, two guys who are miserable in their success.

 

The Lakers made over $100M last season. I think Kobe giving Kobe $20 million x 2 seasons is a fair deal considering his popularity was a big part of that. If it's one thing that the Lakers stand for is that they are a class organization. If they have to sacrifice a couple years where they don't win a title, it's not worth sacrificing their brand which is all about class. The new CBA has created this whole culture where the public demands all of the players to take paycuts if they are real winners. NBA players get screwed the most as far as their salaries are concerned. The only reason this is somewhat acceptable is that there are a ton of endorsement opportunities for NBA players. It's absurd that Olajuwon finished his career as a circus freak road show on the Toronto Raptors because the Rockets refused to give him $3M per season.