After spending two decades with the Lakers, it's hard to visualize Kobe Bryant in anything other than the purple and gold. However, in the latest edition of "The Phil Jackson Chronicles" for Today's Fastbreak, the Zen Master reveals that he once (briefly) contemplated dealing Kobe to the Pistons for Grant Hill.
From the moment Jackson was first introduced as the Lakers head coach in 1999, Kobe was so excited to play for him that he went up to Jackson's hotel room after his introductory press conference to have his first face-to-face conversation with his new coach. Kobe was looking forward to being able to soak up as much knowledge about the triangle offense as he could during Summer League, and he hit the ground running. But then, Kobe broke his wrist in the Lakers' first exhibition game, which sidelined him for several weeks.
During his time recovering from the injury, the Lakers started 10-1, and seemed to have a solid rotation in place. When Bryant was able to return, Jackson suggested he come off the bench. "I don’t see myself not starting," Bryant responded, according to Jackson. "I don’t want to be known as a bench player." When Kobe got back onto the court and into the swing of things, he eventually averaged 19 points per game. But while those would be good numbers for most NBA players, Kobe wasn't happy.
Kobe apparently reached out to Jerry West at that point to not only find out how he and Elgin Baylor averaged 30 points per game, but also to inquire about possibly getting traded to a different team. "Of course, Jerry told me about the conversation," Jackson said. "And, for a few minutes I thought about taking the Pistons up on an offer they made to trade Kobe for Grant Hill. Make that a few seconds."
“The thing was that Kobe already saw himself as being one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA," Jackson continued. "I thought that, in time, he would indeed reach that goal. Anyway, he was not going to be traded. So we’d talk about being patient, and letting the game come to him."
*Looks at Bryant's career stats*
Yeah...good idea, Phil.
