How many #13 picks in the draft had as much clout as Kobe?

[SpecialQue]

look, i don't like Kobe, but to say he legitimately deserved to be number 13 pick is to ignore the fact that the only reason he dropped that low was because of his diva attitude (proclaiming he will only sign with certain teams). he'd be picked higher if he weren't such a diva.

Really. And where are you getting this from?

[9512]

Really. And where are you getting this from?

Lol I was gonna say...

Kobe dropped to 13 because he was the first shooting guard coming straight out of high school (that i knew of) and really it was only the second year hs players went straight to the NBA. Then later it was the rule as opposed to the exception until the league put an age limit for the 2006 draft.

Usually high school sensations drafted tended to be big men (Moses Malone, chocolate thunder, Shawn kemp, garnett, and Jermaine O'Neal taken 17th in 96). There were no guards or even small forwards before Kobe. Next in1997 it was TMac who was drafted... So what kobe did was unprecedented.

[iTare]

Karl Malone was a #13 pick in the 1985 draft if I remember correctly. Obviously not as good as Kobe, but deserves a mention.

[Fire Colangelo]

[gts]

Former Hornets general manager Bob Bass, the man who pre-arranged this deal that not only helped put his team into the Eastern Conference playoffs two straight years but also paved the way for one of the most dominating big men in league history to move from the Eastern to the Western Conference, still bristles 13 years later when asked about the swap.

"Let's start out this way, " Bass said. "There had never been a high school player come into the league that didn't play in the front court."

Bass offered examples such as Moses Malone, Darryl Dawkins and Kevin Garnett.
"Secondly, 12 other teams passed on Kobe Bryant; 12 other teams said, 'I don't want him.' The Nets even got a workout. He refused to work out with us. He didn't work out with anybody. We had talks on the trade, but we didn't make it for about 3 1/2 weeks. We had a chance to get a 7-foot-(1) center who had been very successful in the league.

"You add all those three things together, that's why the decision was made. Plus, he couldn't make a jump shot when he first came into the league. We won 54 the first year Divac was there and 51 the next year. The only problem with that (Hornets) team was Michael Jordan was in his hey-day and Patrick Ewing had that great New York team. And we were in the Eastern Conference. That's what happened on that."

The first year the Hornets had Divac in the post, as Bass pointed out, they won a then-team record 54 games but ran into Ewing's Knicks in the first round of the playoffs and were swept in three games.
The next season, the Hornets won 51 games, beat Atlanta in the first round, but lost to Jordan's Bulls in the conference semifinals in five games.

In 1996, Lakers General Manager Jerry West was hoping to free the team's salary cap of the rest of Divac's $8.3 million salary over the next two years so the Lakers could make a play in free agency for Orlando center Shaquille O'Neal. The Lakers, who were mired in a funk, hadn't made a playoff run since the Showtime-era of Magic Johnson.

Bryant had shown up in Los Angeles, unannounced, to work out for the Lakers, who were auditioning Mississippi State's Dontae Jones, who had led the Bulldogs into that year's Final Four after a successful SEC Tournament in New Orleans.

The son of former NBA player Joe "Jelly Bean" Bryant, Kobe had grown up in Italy where his father played after his NBA career ended, and he played for several years in Philadelphia at Lower Merion High School, where he finished as a 6-foot-5 shooting guard/forward who could jump but was an inconsistent shooter.

When Bryant got the better of Jones in the workout after having gone one-on-one against Lakers defensive specialist Michael Cooper, who tried to muscle the teen-ager and rattle him, West reportedly turned to an aide and whispered, "I've seen enough, let's go."
Armed with the knowledge that the Hornets were in the market for a post player, West made a pre-draft deal with Bass in which the Hornets would draft Bryant if he were still available and later swap his rights to Los Angeles for Divac.

"We had the deal, " Bass said, "but who in the world thought (Bryant) would be there at No. 13? And the Lakers, regardless of what they said after they had (Bryant), but they wanted space on the cap to sign Shaquille O'Neal. And devious as I am, I thought it would be a good way to get Shaquille out of the Eastern Conference. If we'd have gotten Michael and some others out, that would have been something."

http://blog.nola.com/hornetsbeat/200..._bass_liv.html

[moe94]

Karl Malone was a #13 pick in the 1985 draft if I remember correctly. Obviously not as good as Kobe, but deserves a mention.

That legit pissed me off.

[SpecialQue]

Former Hornets general manager Bob Bass, the man who pre-arranged this deal that not only helped put his team into the Eastern Conference playoffs two straight years but also paved the way for one of the most dominating big men in league history to move from the Eastern to the Western Conference, still bristles 13 years later when asked about the swap.

"Let's start out this way, " Bass said. "There had never been a high school player come into the league that didn't play in the front court."

Bass offered examples such as Moses Malone, Darryl Dawkins and Kevin Garnett.
"Secondly, 12 other teams passed on Kobe Bryant; 12 other teams said, 'I don't want him.' The Nets even got a workout. He refused to work out with us. He didn't work out with anybody. We had talks on the trade, but we didn't make it for about 3 1/2 weeks. We had a chance to get a 7-foot-(1) center who had been very successful in the league.

"You add all those three things together, that's why the decision was made. Plus, he couldn't make a jump shot when he first came into the league. We won 54 the first year Divac was there and 51 the next year. The only problem with that (Hornets) team was Michael Jordan was in his hey-day and Patrick Ewing had that great New York team. And we were in the Eastern Conference. That's what happened on that."

The first year the Hornets had Divac in the post, as Bass pointed out, they won a then-team record 54 games but ran into Ewing's Knicks in the first round of the playoffs and were swept in three games.
The next season, the Hornets won 51 games, beat Atlanta in the first round, but lost to Jordan's Bulls in the conference semifinals in five games.

In 1996, Lakers General Manager Jerry West was hoping to free the team's salary cap of the rest of Divac's $8.3 million salary over the next two years so the Lakers could make a play in free agency for Orlando center Shaquille O'Neal. The Lakers, who were mired in a funk, hadn't made a playoff run since the Showtime-era of Magic Johnson.

Bryant had shown up in Los Angeles, unannounced, to work out for the Lakers, who were auditioning Mississippi State's Dontae Jones, who had led the Bulldogs into that year's Final Four after a successful SEC Tournament in New Orleans.

The son of former NBA player Joe "Jelly Bean" Bryant, Kobe had grown up in Italy where his father played after his NBA career ended, and he played for several years in Philadelphia at Lower Merion High School, where he finished as a 6-foot-5 shooting guard/forward who could jump but was an inconsistent shooter.

When Bryant got the better of Jones in the workout after having gone one-on-one against Lakers defensive specialist Michael Cooper, who tried to muscle the teen-ager and rattle him, West reportedly turned to an aide and whispered, "I've seen enough, let's go."
Armed with the knowledge that the Hornets were in the market for a post player, West made a pre-draft deal with Bass in which the Hornets would draft Bryant if he were still available and later swap his rights to Los Angeles for Divac.

"We had the deal, " Bass said, "but who in the world thought (Bryant) would be there at No. 13? And the Lakers, regardless of what they said after they had (Bryant), but they wanted space on the cap to sign Shaquille O'Neal. And devious as I am, I thought it would be a good way to get Shaquille out of the Eastern Conference. If we'd have gotten Michael and some others out, that would have been something."

http://blog.nola.com/hornetsbeat/200..._bass_liv.html

Of course this is going to be ignored by people who think Kobe had Magic's clout coming into the league.

[Fire Colangelo]

That legit pissed me off.

I meant that Kobe had a better career, who the better player was is definitely debatable (I'd still take Kobe).

[longtime lurker]

Former Hornets general manager Bob Bass, the man who pre-arranged this deal that not only helped put his team into the Eastern Conference playoffs two straight years but also paved the way for one of the most dominating big men in league history to move from the Eastern to the Western Conference, still bristles 13 years later when asked about the swap.

"Let's start out this way, " Bass said. "There had never been a high school player come into the league that didn't play in the front court."

Bass offered examples such as Moses Malone, Darryl Dawkins and Kevin Garnett.
"Secondly, 12 other teams passed on Kobe Bryant; 12 other teams said, 'I don't want him.' The Nets even got a workout. He refused to work out with us. He didn't work out with anybody. We had talks on the trade, but we didn't make it for about 3 1/2 weeks. We had a chance to get a 7-foot-(1) center who had been very successful in the league.

"You add all those three things together, that's why the decision was made. Plus, he couldn't make a jump shot when he first came into the league. We won 54 the first year Divac was there and 51 the next year. The only problem with that (Hornets) team was Michael Jordan was in his hey-day and Patrick Ewing had that great New York team. And we were in the Eastern Conference. That's what happened on that."

The first year the Hornets had Divac in the post, as Bass pointed out, they won a then-team record 54 games but ran into Ewing's Knicks in the first round of the playoffs and were swept in three games.
The next season, the Hornets won 51 games, beat Atlanta in the first round, but lost to Jordan's Bulls in the conference semifinals in five games.

In 1996, Lakers General Manager Jerry West was hoping to free the team's salary cap of the rest of Divac's $8.3 million salary over the next two years so the Lakers could make a play in free agency for Orlando center Shaquille O'Neal. The Lakers, who were mired in a funk, hadn't made a playoff run since the Showtime-era of Magic Johnson.

Bryant had shown up in Los Angeles, unannounced, to work out for the Lakers, who were auditioning Mississippi State's Dontae Jones, who had led the Bulldogs into that year's Final Four after a successful SEC Tournament in New Orleans.

The son of former NBA player Joe "Jelly Bean" Bryant, Kobe had grown up in Italy where his father played after his NBA career ended, and he played for several years in Philadelphia at Lower Merion High School, where he finished as a 6-foot-5 shooting guard/forward who could jump but was an inconsistent shooter.

When Bryant got the better of Jones in the workout after having gone one-on-one against Lakers defensive specialist Michael Cooper, who tried to muscle the teen-ager and rattle him, West reportedly turned to an aide and whispered, "I've seen enough, let's go."
Armed with the knowledge that the Hornets were in the market for a post player, West made a pre-draft deal with Bass in which the Hornets would draft Bryant if he were still available and later swap his rights to Los Angeles for Divac.

"We had the deal, " Bass said, "but who in the world thought (Bryant) would be there at No. 13? And the Lakers, regardless of what they said after they had (Bryant), but they wanted space on the cap to sign Shaquille O'Neal. And devious as I am, I thought it would be a good way to get Shaquille out of the Eastern Conference. If we'd have gotten Michael and some others out, that would have been something."

http://blog.nola.com/hornetsbeat/200..._bass_liv.html

Requoted for truth