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发帖数: 3962 | 1 科比马上就要退役了。他的全部篮球生涯都效力在湖人队。
很多年轻人不知道这个篮球传奇为什么到了第13顺位才被
选中。也有人质疑他为什么被山猫选中然后给了湖人。这
里有答案。
http://www.chatsports.com/los-angeles-lakers/a/The-Inside-Story
Kobe Bryant is one of the greatest players in NBA history, and may go down
as the greatest Lakers player ever. But, had rookie NBA head coach John
Calipari trusted his gut instinct in 1996, the history of the NBA could have
unfolded in a completely different way.
John Calipari was the head coach of the New Jersey Nets in 1996, and was
amazed by what he saw in 17-year-old Kobe Bryant when Bryant came to work
out for the Nets in summer 1996 before the NBA Draft. Bryant, attempting to
follow in Kevin Garnett's footsteps and jump right from high school to the
NBA (a move nearly unheard of before Garnett made it in 1995), put on a show
for the Nets coaches, and virtually guaranteed that they'd select him with
the #8...if he lasted that long.
Calipari worked out Bryant three times at Fairleigh Dickinson University,
and three times came away mesmerized. "If you watched the workouts,"
Calipari said in 2011, "you would say either this kid was taught to fool us
in these workouts, or he's ridiculous."
Or both. No one knew it at the time, but Bryant and his agent Arn Tellem
were about to fool Calipari in a staggering way.
After the three workouts with the Nets, Kobe worked out for Lakers GM Jerry
West, who instantly decided he wanted to draft Bryant. Given the fact that
Kobe grew up a die-hard Lakers fan and was enthralled with Magic Johnson, it
was an easy sell for West - all he had to do was convince Kobe and his
agent to threaten to not play for anyone who drafted him other than the
Lakers.
There was just one problem, though...the Lakers held the #24 pick in the
draft, and there was no way that Kobe would last that long, no matter what
he told the teams that held the first 23 picks.
Jerry West had some tricks up his sleeve to ensure the Lakers were able to
select Kobe. First, West was 100% confident that the Lakers would land
superstar free agent center Shaquille O'Neal in July, making Lakers starting
C Vlade Divac expendable...and the Charlotte Hornets, who owned the #13
pick, desperately needed a big man.
As draft day grew closer in June 1996, Calipari made it clear to Kobe that
the Nets were going to choose him with the #8 pick. That's when Kobe and his
agent pulled off the biggest bluff in sports history.
“Jerry (West) wanted Kobe, so he basically called up and talked Calipari
out of drafting him,” explained Hal Wiseel, who was with the Nets at the
time. West also encouraged the Bryant family to talk to Calipari and explain
that their son really wanted to play for the Lakers. “West knew if we didn
’t take him at eight, he’d drop to Charlotte, and he could make the deal
with Charlotte,” Wissel recalled. “Cal was young in the league and, hey,
it’s Jerry West on the phone.”
On draft day, Calipari met with Nets owner Joe Taub for lunch and informed
him that the team intended to draft Bryant that night. The only problem was,
Bryant wasn't interested. He called Calipari after his lunch with Taub, and
Bryant's agent, Arn Tellem, called Nets GM John Nash. Both Kobe and his
agent declared they wanted no part of Jersey, and Tellem even threatened
that his client would play in Italy instead (where Kobe lived for much of
his youth) if the Nets ignored their wishes.
Some members of the Nets organization told Calipari to stand strong and not
get pushed around. Others suggested the safe pick – promising Villanova
senior guard Kerry Kittles. It was the call of a lifetime.
‘Everybody knows that I was talked out of [it],’ Calipari said recently.
He picked Kittles, a good player with bad knees. Bryant went to Charlotte,
then was traded instantly to L.A. for Divac. After that, you know the rest.
Several weeks later, the Lakers signed the biggest free agent in NBA history
, 24 year old superstar Shaquille O'Neal. Shaq and Kobe would go on to play
in four NBA Finals together, winning three straight from 2000-2002.
Calipari was 3-17 when fired by the Nets in his third season, and to rub
salt in the wound, he was forced to take a humiliating walk out of Miami
Arena to a waiting Cadillac.
"It's a humbling thing," Calipari said, "when you walk in and ... they say,
'We don't want you here. Just beat it. You're out. You can't do this job.'"
Calipari would spend one year as an NBA assistant for the 76ers before re-
emerging at the University of Memphis as head coach in 2000. Coach Cal, as
he became known, did pretty well for himself there, and was wooed away by
Kentucky in 2009. Calipari won his first NCAA Championship in 2012, 16 years
after missing out on a young Kobe Bryant. | a********5
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