LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Basketball people will forever howl about the year (1984) Portland selected Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan in the NBA Draft.
With the second pick, that is — after Houston selected Hakeem Olajuwon.
There was also that crazy time (2007) the Trailblazers selected Greg Oden ahead of Kevin Durant.
Marvin Bagley over Luka Doncic two seasons ago?
I could go on. I could name other iconic players who failed to go first in their draft classes. But at least Jordan, Durant and Doncic were taken in the top three.
In 1996, Kobe Bryant did not go in the top three.
Or even the top 10.
Bryant went 13th — behind two guys that we watched play college basketball in Kentucky. I’ll give you two paragraphs to name the former Kentucky and Louisville players who were drafted ahead of Bryant.
Allen Iverson, the dynamic Georgetown point guard, went first.
Then the head-scratching selections began with Marcus Camby, followed Shareef Abdur-Rahim, followed by Stephon Marbury.
That was the draft after Kentucky won the national championship, and Bryant was taken well behind Antoine Walker of Kentucky (No. 6) and Samaki Walker of Louisville (No. 9). Two more UK players — Tony Delk (No. 16) and Walter McCarty (No. 19) — went after Bryant.
I’m at a lost for words!! It was a pleasure experiencing greatness up close and personal🏆 pic.twitter.com/2XrVvIJh8h
— Samaki Walker (@samaki_walker) January 26, 2020
A million things have been written about Bryant, who died tragically with his daughter Gianna and seven others in a helicopter crash in Los Angeles on Sunday. But when you look back at that NBA Draft, you remember Bryant was a player who refused to accept the scouting reports the basketball world filed about him.
Bryant was the greatest 13th pick in the history of the NBA. He made a lot of wise guys look dumb.
Funny thing about the No. 13 pick: Two local guys have been taken 13th in the last three seasons. That would be Kentucky’s Tyler Herro (who went 13th last season) and Louisville’s Donovan Mitchell, the 13th pick in 2017. Herro and Mitchell have delivered terrific starts to their prof careers. But nobody is predicting the Hall of Fame for them yet.
That was a different time, a time when high school players were not forced to embrace the charade of playing college basketball. If you could convince a team you were ready to play against men, you could go for it.
Just one year before Bryant was a senior at Lower Merion High School in suburban Philadelphia, the Minnesota Timberwolves took a high school kid — Kevin Garnett — with the No. 5 pick in 1995.
Garnett quickly showed the skills that made him a lock for the Hall of Fame.
The wise guys were not so sure about Bryant. In fact, they were doubtful.
Unlike Garnett, Bryant was not 6 feet 11 inches tall. Although he was a McDonald’s all-American and the pick of many as the best high school player in the country, NBA scouts questioned his size (6 feet 6 inches tall), strength and maturity (only 17).
Philadelphia, his hometown team, passed for Iverson. Understandable. Legitimate. Iverson did great things in the league. Everybody would have made that call.
Except Jerry West.
Nobody has had more trouble discussing Bryant’s death this week than West. Speaking on TNT’s one-hour tribute to Bryant on Tuesday night, West, 81, said he did not believe he would ever get over the loss.
West has usually been the smartest guy in the room, and he proved it by engineering a trade to get Bryant to the Lakers after Charlotte took him with that 13th pick.
As talented as West was as a player, he was better as a scout and general manager. West watched Bryant play. He worked out Bryant against several former Lakers. He trusted his eyes and instincts.
Sold.
And justified.
Over his 20-season NBA career, Bryant scored more points (33,643) than the combined total of the six players drafted directly in front of him.
And as much as two teams whiffed by not taking Jordan, a dozen whiffed by not taking Bryant.
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