I’m pretty sure Kobe didn’t say at any point he was not going to play for Charlotte

“He wouldn’t work out with us and that bothered us,” Bass said. “We couldn’t meet him. His agent was trying to aim him to the Lakers and they threatened us.”

The Hornets got the message that if they drafted Bryant, he wouldn’t play in Charlotte.

and the point is not to rehash kobe vs. lebron

Yeah, that was the whole point in the first place.

Wait, all this had a point?

/scans the previous 50 comments
//walks away

Yeah, that was the whole point in the first place.

Not one person (aside from Kobe and maybe Jerry West) though Kobe was going to be an all-time great till about his second or third season. Hell, people thought he’d be like Penny without Shaq in 2004 even.

there’s a big difference between “not being an all time great” and “no expectations.”

you expect things out of your first rounders, esp if they’re in the lottery. period. it’s foolish to argue otherwise.

and the point is not to rehash kobe vs. lebron, it’s to dispell this notion that kobe WASN’T given the keys to basketball royalty at birth. he had a easy lane to professional sportsdom and he’s an etitled, arrogant egomaniac equally on the level of lebron.

rose on the other hand? i agree.

Then you trade Felton (either now or at season’s end) for Rubio to MN, who Kahned up the ’09 draft ended up with no good PGs after picking three of them. I’d have voted for season’s end, bc all the sudden Billups is going to be playing a lot of minutes without a Lawson/Felton spelling him.

Also, he was in the Dunk contest as a rookie

I don’t see the relevance of that. Winning the dunk contest just means exposure, it doesn’t mean greatness lies ahead for you. See: Jason Richardson, Harold Minor, Vince Carter (!!!), Nate Robinson, Dee Brown, etc.

Also, he was in the Dunk contest as a rookie and took the Lakers last six shots (airball! airball!) of the season.

lets not pretend kobe was some undrafted free agent. hell, gilbert arenas has a legit beef, but nobody (or their fans) drafted 13th overall can play the “nobody believed in me game.”

Not one person (aside from Kobe and maybe Jerry West) though Kobe was going to be an all-time great till about his second or third season. Hell, people thought he’d be like Penny without Shaq in 2004 even.

Even I expected greateness from Lebron, and I haven’t liked him since about 2004.

During his rookie season, Del Harris yanked his minutes consistently. One game he’d play 10, the next he’d play 2. After barely playing against the Jazz most of that series, Harris unexpectedly plugged in Kobe in the final moments for some reason. Cue the airballs from an 18 year old.

Who’s on the Knicks bench? You know you will need a bench.

Yea, who’ll contain CJ Watson and Omer Asik.

yet thats exactly what you do.

Kobe was a bench player because the Lakers had Eddie Jones at the 2 and there was still skepticism about guys going straight from high school to the league. Remember how he was only the second guy of this generation to make that jump (a year after Garnett did it)? Also, he was in the Dunk contest as a rookie and took the Lakers last six shots (airball! airball!) of the season. Not exactly “up from the bottom” but I could see why you might think he had a harder route than LeBron. That Lakers team was also a damn sight better than the Cavs when LeBron got picked

Stop trolling. With that screen name you should be better than that.

I’ve been on this board long enough to not be trolling. Keep your arguments to the subject and don’t question whether or not I watch enough games to know what I’m talking about, and we’re cool.

BTW on the Draft thing – Kobe didn’t force the trade. Jerry West had said he would draft Kobe and was orchestrating the trade behind the scenes. Plus, Charlotte got Vlade freaking Divac when he was actually pretty good for unproven 17 year old.

didn’t kobe not hire and agent so he could keep his eligibilty? and didn’t he say that he wasn’t going to play for charlotte?

He was the 13th pick in the draft – no one expected him to be this good so his desire to prove himself has always been higher. Same goes for D-Wade.

d-wade was the 5th pick in the most loaded top end of the draft of all time…people expected PLENTY of him.

lets not pretend kobe was some undrafted free agent. hell, gilbert arenas has a legit beef, but nobody (or their fans) drafted 13th overall can play the “nobody believed in me game.”

He was the 13th pick in the draft

Do you think the hornets regret trading him for Vlade?