The 20 years of Kobe Bryant in the NBA gave birth to a legend in the game of basketball. Despite his heroics, the enigma faced immense criticism from the officials of the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves during his introductory phase. Jeff Pearlman recalled those moments in his book, Three-Ring Circus, as he looked back on the Los Angeles Lakers’ decision to skip college.
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At the mere age of 17, Kobe decided to enter the league following his high school career at Lower Merion in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Despite a subpar SAT score of 1080, his four years of marvelous stint in high school had the likes of Duke interested. Yet, he showcased immense faith in his qualities as he declared his preference to enroll for the 1996 NBA draft.
Jeff reflected on that announcement from 30th April 1996 as a teenage Bryant grasped the attention of the audience. “With two dozen (or so) reporters crammed inside, the curiously named Kobe Bean Bryant—aged seventeen—walked to a table at the front of the room, unfolded into his seat, rubbed the scruff along his chin, leaned into a microphone, smiled somewhat apprehensively, and said, “Kobe Bryant has decided . . . to skip college and take his talents to the NBA,” he wrote.
Despite the confident statement, the problem was that the majority of NBA scouts back then had never heard of him. So, his words caused a wave of disruption in the basketball community as it received a major backlash. Marty Blake, the NBA’s Director of Scouting at that time, publicly mocked young Kobe. He said to the Los Angeles Times, “He’s kidding himself,” before adding, “Sure he’d like to come out. I’d like to be a movie star. He’s not ready”.
Following this, the officials of several NBA teams did the same as the dislikeness for the decision gained momentum. Timberwolves’ Director of Player Personnel, Rob Babcock later mentioned, “You watch Kobe Bryant and you don’t see special”. He even questioned his talent, further highlighting, “His game doesn’t say, ‘I’m a very special talent'”.
The Celtics’ Director of Basketball Development soon did the same, stating, “I think it’s a total mistake”. He later told Kobe to reconsider his choice, mentioning, “Kevin Garnett was the best high school player I ever saw, and I wouldn’t have advised him to jump. And Kobe is no Kevin Garnett”.
Kobe Bryant was hellbent on making it to the NBA
Despite the noises, the teenager was focused on entering the league. This youngster was like no other as Pearlman witnessed it firsthand. “He wore sunglasses. Sunglasses! And they may well have been drugstore shades, but they looked Armani on him. It was hard to accept the total lack of humility and the sort of Hollywood quality to it,” he mentioned in the book
The writer pointed out how even the legends like Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley had never managed to pull this off. Jeff revealed, “I’d been around Michael Jordan, I’d been around Charles Barkley, but I’d never seen anything so show-offish”. Amidst the concerns, Kobe went 13th in the first round as the Charlotte Hornets selected him before trading him to the Lakers. The rest became history as we know.
