Kobe Bryant didn’t have a noteworthy college career before declaring for the 1996 NBA draft. Therefore, a lot of players in the NBA underestimated him, mostly because they hadn’t seen him play before. Kobe was selected 13th overall in the draft class headed by Allen Iverson, which shows how oblivious the NBA was of the Mamba’s generational talent.
Advertisement
In his book Three Ring Circus, author Jeff Pearlman noted his experience watching an 18-year-old Kobe destroy an unwitting Phoenix Suns team. Kobe Bryant would go on to do something so ridiculous, that would leave Suns defender Brian Tolbert completely embarrassed.
Pearlman recounted the incident in his book in Tolbert’s words, “The ball swung Kobe’s way… He caught it at the top of the key, maybe a step behind the three-point line. I was waiting for him to make his move and before I knew it—whoosh!—he was gone. He cut hard left, dribbled twice, and dunked on Mario Bennett so hard.”
Bennett, who was a first-round pick in the 1995 draft, didn’t take the dunk from a rookie kindly. He yelled at his teammates, “Who’s man was that.” But Bennett would just be a name in a long list of opponents that Bryant embarrassed during his 20-year-long career.
Looking back, Brian Tolbert felt stupid thinking his defensive techniques would be useful against the Mamba. He correctly assessed the situation at hand, “We didn’t know that Kobe Bryant would become the Kobe Bryant. He was a kid making us all look stupid.”
Kobe had embarrassed every NBA player that stood in his way when he was working out for teams as a senior in high school. Jerry West had even declared that Kobe’s Lakers workout was the best he had ever seen. However, Kobe’s youth and inexperience gave off the illusion that he was a lamb headed for the slaughter. But players would soon realize after playing against him that the situation was pretty much the opposite.
Kobe was unguardable from the Jump
Kobe Bryant was an assassin, even when he was just 18 years old, 180 pounds. Unlike his counterparts, Kobe didn’t get much playing time his rookie season, averaging just 15.5 minutes per game in the 1996-97 season.
But even with his limited minutes, Kobe put up some jaw-dropping performances from time to time. His first 20+ point game came against the Kings on January 3rd, when a young Kobe led the Lakers to a 100-93 victory over Sacramento, scoring 21 points off the bench.
Kobe would quickly follow up his performance against the Kings with another 21-point outing against the Pistons, even though he was still just a bench player. By the end of the season, Kobe would have a total of four 20+ point games, adding the Warriors(24 points off the bench) and the Grizzlies(20 points as a starter) on his rookie hit list.
