This story from the new book on amazon.com titled The Jump... Kobe Bryant would?ve been drafted by the New Jersey Nets in 1996 if not for sneaker maven Sonny Vaccaro, who wanted his Adidas client to play in a big market. Vaccaro and his friend, Arn Tellem, who was representing Bryant, hatched a plan to threaten Nets management that Kobe would play in Italy if New Jersey picked the high school star. The Nets blinked, Bryant was taken by Charlotte, and the Hornets completed their pre-arranged deal with the Lakers. Vaccaro admitted that he gained influence in the process by cutting a deal with Kobe?s father, Joe. ?I hired him for $100,000 a year,? Vaccaro said. [red]* Shameless spam link removed. -Mel[/red]
who cares anyway. he's a laker now. let him stay there and solve the problems he created there. getting rid of shaq blah blah blah. we have jason, vince. and jefferson. let's move on we will have three great players next years.
ya man we dnt need kobe we got kidd,jefferson,carter... that will be the biggest trio ever next year..