The kids aren't alright. The 96 Draft Class. Part II

Let's continue

6. Boston: Antoine Walker (18.0 ppg, 7.9 rpg)

Good Stuff:

• 2006 NBA Champ,
• 3 Time All Star

Bad Stuff:

• He got so fat, that even Pat Riley doesn't play him (He plays Shaq, though)

• He is no very brave

• His last year statline and salary

7. Clippers: Lorenzen Wright (8.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 3.0 PFpg)

Good Stuff:

Bad Stuff:

• (8.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 3.0 PFpg)

• You might don't know this, but he's crazy too. In 2005, He allegedly confronted his wife and friends with a gun, doing a lot of yelling and cursing in the process

8. Nets: Kerry Kittles (14.1 ppg, .378 3PFG% )

Good Stuff:

Bad Stuff:

• Around 6 right knee operations.

• In 2004, he was traded to the Clippers for a bag of potatos and some chopped liver second round pick

9. Dallas: Samaki Walker (5.4 ppg, 4.7 rpg)

Good Stuff:

• 2002 NBA Champ
• Played 24 mpg in a Championship Team

Bad Stuff:

• Played 24 mpg in a Championship Team

10. Indiana: Erick Dampier (8.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.5 bpg, 3.1 PFpg)

Good Stuff:

Bad Stuff:

• He has a super high self-confidence and is picking a fight against Shaq

• This is not his fault, but, somebody or something created a very concerning and weird forum about him. Let's just hope this is not his own doing.

11. Warriors: Todd Fuller. Who?

12. Cavs: Vitaly Potapenko (6.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg)

Good Stuf:

• Ukrainians love him

Bad Stuff:

• Why was the previous article in English?

13. Hornets: Kobe Bryant (24.6 ppg , 5,2 rpg, 2.9 TOpg , .838 FT% )

Good Stuff:

• 3 Time NBA Champ (2000-2002)
• 9 Time All Star,
• 7 Time All Defense (5 Time First All Defense),
• 9 Time All NBA (5 Time First All NBA)
• 2 Time Scoring Champ

Bad Stuff:

• In 1998, at his first all star game, he disrespected Karl Malone waving off a screen he politly set for him. It was the third quater, around 9 minutes left in the quater (5:10 mark on the video below) . This is not a big deal, but Malone didn’t like it, and true be told, he was 19 years old, you cannot say “move, bitch” to Karl Malone when you have 2 years in the league and cannot even drink legally. Somebody missed the signs, we all did.

• The Shaq-Kobe feud. This thing has to be the more stupid “bad stuff” of all this couple of posts: an ego driven feud between two superstars that broke a dynasty. This Lakers teams were relatively young, with a lot left in their tank and the could maybe squeeze one more title or two.
  

They actually never saw each other eye to eye, once Kobe started to develop you could see the hunger of the kid, and this hunger made him appear kinda selfish and self centered. When you have a player like that it doesn't matter, if his talent is worth it, you can build your team around him, but when that player has to share the court, the spotlight and the playbook with a presence like Shaq, it’s just a recipe for disaster. I thought that Phil Jackson could keep this situation (Kobe) on check, but I might underestimated Kobe power in LA.

Everything started to get really bad around 2003, when Kobe returned to the Lakers after recovering from knee surgery (we all know he did a little more than take care of his knee on that summer. More of his coming ahead). Here's a stract from a nice overview of this

When Bryant joined the Lakers in camp, O'Neal told reporters Bryant should look to be more of a passer than a scorer until Bryant's knee was fully healed. Bryant took offense, and fired back that he did not appreciate unsolicited advice from O'Neal on how to play the guard position.

O'Neal then responded that he would voice his opinions as he saw fit because the Lakers were his team. He said that if Bryant, who would be a free agent at the season's end, didn't like what O'Neal had to say, Bryant should just leave the team.

This interview in October, 2003 with Jim Gray, just blew things up, Kobe critized Shaq as a person, as a leader and as a player. Everything went downhill after that, Shaq got traded to Miami, won a championsip thanks to the DWade Free Throw Parade and Kobe has won 3 playoff games since then. Studid, Stupid stuff.

• In 2003, he was charged with sexual assault against a 19-year-old woman the charges were dropped, after Kobe pay a ton of money

• In 2004, he accused Karl Malone of making a pass to his wife, he defended her after cheating on her, THAT IS A MAN, YEAH!

• On May 30th, 2007, he went to Steven A. Smith radio show demanding the Lakers to trade him

I would like to be traded

3 hours later he told Dan Patrick that he wants to die as a Laker

I want to be a Laker. I want to be here for the rest of my career.

5 hours after that he told Mike Bresnahan from the LA Times that he wants to be traded, but it didn't have any open choise

All of this happen, apparently, because Kobe was frustrated by his team inability of getting quality talent to play along his side. The boiling point came when a day earlier a report came out blaming the Shaq departure entirely on kobe.

..as a Lakers insider notes, it was Bryant's insistence on getting away from Shaquille O'Neal that got them in this mess.

• This same year, he starred in the kobevideo.

This delicate art piece takes place in the beautiful surrounding of a parking lot. Our beloved character, a grocery shopping Kobe, played genially by Kobe Bryant, talked with two evil opportunists. They trick Kobe, shamelessly and without any hesitation, to speak his mind. He being a innocent and direct individual talked in a candid and friendly way with this gentlemen, the result would amaze you, it would change the way you see life and the way you see yourself on the mirror day after day. Two basketball gods' thumbs up.