Jerry West is a legend who was a great player but a better general manager . There are many things he has done. But besides his hall of fame resume, his post career helping teams improve as a GM or consulting for teams. There are many teams he helped with his eye for talent but none more then the La Lakers.
One of the most impressive things Jerry west ever had was getting Kobe Bryant the night of the draft. He only saw Kobe once in pre-season before he set his plan into action. Kobe was sought out by many teams in the top ten but not many knew if they would go for the risk that was a high school player with men. Jerry West knew if he showed to much interest team would take a risk. He had to make it seem like he wasn’t at all interested in Kobe. Not only that but Kobe’s agent knew that Jerry had a plan and helped him do it. Kobe agent wanted his client in the LA market. Some of the teams that were interested were the Sixers, Nets and the Grizzlies. The plan that jerry had needed Kobe to get drafted by the Hornets. The Sixers were watching but had one big fear. If he would choke in his home town in Philadelphia. So Jerry and Kobe agent decided to feed that fear for the team. The Nets were harder to foul but they had to show that they have no interest at all but also his age would bring him down. So the Nets ultimately decided not to for those reasons. The last one was easy, Kobe did not want to play for the Grizzlies at all so his team decided to threaten to go over to Europe if he was drafted by them.
Overall the teams who didn’t pick Kobe probably feel bad but at the end of the day it didn’t matter. Kobe career is a great for him to Laker. He other teams let fear decide the choice they made. The Laker not only took the risk but planed for it. And they won the gamble.
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