# Kobe Bryant' Scouting Report circa 1996



## MarioChalmers (Mar 26, 2004)

Taken from: http://www.ibiblio.org/craig/draft/1996_draft/scout/sg.html#Bryant



> Strengths- Kobe's number one stregth is his maturity. He is a lot more
> mature than a lot of the college players and some NBA players as well.
> This is a huge asset because he isn't going into this without thinking
> like some people might think. Extremely intelligent player and student.
> ...


Sounds good til here: 



> Weaknesses- True, he is 17 (close to 18) which is huge but as his dad
> said "he's 17 going on 25". Has questionable ballhandling skills (to be
> a projected point guard). May not be ready for the rigors of the NBA life
> and does not have the body for it right now (although his father, ex-nba
> ...


But I don't blame the guy, nobody thought he'd be Mr. 81 at all, people slept on him, more than they slept on Jordan, Kobe is a bigger surprise than Jordan ever was. Besides, the only three swingmen ranked higher than him were Ray Allen, Kerry Kittles and *gasp* John Wallace. Iverson was considered a PG then, according to the website. 

I suggest that the people who havent seen the site check it out, it's good for a few laughs like them saying that Steve Nash "tries to do too much." Can't blame anyone, everyone makes scouting mistakes -- and we would've given the same reports IMO.


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## ChrisWoj (May 17, 2005)

Lindsey Hunter described as an "explosive scorer."

Little did they know...


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## nguyen_milan (Jun 28, 2005)

haha lol at this


> doesn't have the ballhandling and shooting skills to be an effective guard


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## nguyen_milan (Jun 28, 2005)

But scouting report on Duncan was dead on


> Duncan is the best player available in the draft and a lock to be the
> first overall pick. He has the ability to become a NBA superstar.
> 
> Scouts have mixed opinions on Duncan's NBA position. He may be a more
> ...


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## zxuan (Apr 1, 2007)

Kobe is physically built player.


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## lw32 (May 24, 2003)

Shock and horror. Do you really expect a scouting report from '95-'96 to hold accurate today? Kobe wasn't originally a "physically built player" coming out of HS he was a skinny runt. It was always a weakness at the time. So was his ballhandling.

The only thing this really tells us is how motivated Kobe has been over the years as these areas certainly aren't weaknesses anymore.


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## jordan0386 (Jul 4, 2006)

Bring back full beard and muscle bound Kobe

Cant believe he almost 30


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## Burn (Feb 2, 2003)

What the hell are you on about? The scouting report was correct. Did you expect it to say "weaknesses: none - he will be Mr. 81?" 

HE wasn't slept on at all. Basically his only criticism was "he's too skinny and not a great ballhandler" That's probably the best scouting report for a player out of high school outside of Lebron's. What a horrible thread.


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## MarioChalmers (Mar 26, 2004)

Burn said:


> What the hell are you on about? The scouting report was correct. Did you expect it to say "weaknesses: none - he will be Mr. 81?"
> 
> HE wasn't slept on at all. Basically his only criticism was "he's too skinny and not a great ballhandler" That's probably the best scouting report for a player out of high school outside of Lebron's. What a horrible thread.


What exactly are you trying to say? I said: 



> Can't blame anyone, everyone makes scouting mistakes -- and we would've given the same reports IMO.


I'm not on about anything, it's interesting and that's it. You're not a stupid person, so stop acting like one.


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## Scuall (Jul 25, 2002)

Ahhh, the old alt.rec.sports.basketball Usenet site. Anyone from here old enough to remember that? That brings back memories, yours truly was a contributor to that group. We'd have mock drafts and breakdown each player, similar to here. At that time though, the only real scouting was of college players.


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## afobisme (Apr 29, 2006)

anyone remember kobe chucking up those airballs against the jazz in round 2 of the playoffs (his rookie season)?


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## KillWill (Jul 1, 2003)

afobisme said:


> anyone remember kobe chucking up those airballs against the jazz in round 2 of the playoffs (his rookie season)?



you mean the one where nicky VE had the game of his life, and still couldn'y get a look down the the stretch. god the del harris days in l.a. iiiiiick!!!


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## BEEZ (Jun 12, 2002)

I dont understand how people thought his ball handling was suspect at that time. He was a really good ball handler albeit sloppy at times with the ball. YOU knew he was destined to be good when he wasnt scared to take those shots against Utah, that may have defined his career.


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## bballlife (Oct 5, 2003)

The suspect handle remark is wrong. Kobe had a very good handle in HS. It is one of the main reasons he separated himself from the pack.


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## BEEZ (Jun 12, 2002)

agreed


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## KillWill (Jul 1, 2003)

no pre-draft scouting report on sam bowie???


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## ChrisWoj (May 17, 2005)

http://www.ibiblio.org/craig/draft/1995_draft/scout/pf.html - Interesting, the top four and six of the 20 on this list have been Pistons. Ha.


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## Gilgamesh (Dec 23, 2005)

nguyen_milan said:


> But scouting report on Duncan was dead on


Duncan was pretty much a sure thing. Scouts had 4 years to evaluate him in college.

Kobe still had many unknowns. He was coming out of HS. Give credit to West. 

At that time, a perimeter player coming out of HS was unheard of. Scouting player from HS is tricky. Remember Felipe Lopez? He was Latin Jordan in HS and overrated at St. John's to journeyman in NBA. 

Not many players live up to their hype but true great players do like Lebron, Kobe, KG, TMac and from what I saw from Oden yesterday he is poised to join that lineage.


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## Gilgamesh (Dec 23, 2005)

KillWill said:


> no pre-draft scouting report on sam bowie???


Taken from wiki:

As a player at Lebanon High School, Bowie was one of the most heavily recruited players ever. He averaged over 28 points per game and 18 rebounds per game and was a McDonald's All-American and Parade All-American. In 1980, Bowie was picked for the Basketball at the United States Olympic Men's Basketball Team, the last player with no college or professional basketball experience to make the Olympic squad.

That sounds like Oden. If Bowie was prospect today coming out of HS he would probably go lottery. At Kentucky he played very well when healthy. Sadly not was not often. Injuries ruin his NBA potential. The Blazers were stupid enough to select him before Jordan who won college NPOY. But nobody thought Jordan would become what he became. That draft was the Hakeem draft. Everyone else was secondary news.


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## Phenom Z28 (Nov 22, 2004)

Gilgamesh said:


> Duncan was pretty much a sure thing. Scouts had 4 years to evaluate him in college.
> 
> Kobe still had many unknowns. He was coming out of HS. Give credit to West.
> 
> ...


Lebron is living up to the hype...he hasn't lived up to the hype yet. Still much for him to accomplish before we're all "witnesses."


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## Zei_Zao_LS (Apr 1, 2005)

Phenom Z28 said:


> Lebron is living up to the hype...he hasn't lived up to the hype yet. Still much for him to accomplish before we're all "witnesses."


He lived up to his initial hype. An 18 year old averaging 20.9 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 5.9 APG? Crazy. By the time he's 21 he's averaging 31.4 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 6.6 APG. I don't know how much more you can expect out of the guy.


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## compsciguy78 (Dec 16, 2002)

What was wrong with the scouting report???

All they said about his weaknesses is that his body might not stand rigors of NBA. Thats not really bad. He made that comment because he was fresh out of high school. 

You have to remember Kobe was straight out of high school and at that time high school scouting was newer.
The scout did a great job!
Its not like he called him a ballhog which many people thought he was earlier in his career(and many still do). 

What do you expect him to say??? "This high school player is going to be Hall of Famer and 3 time champion."
No scouts ever say that about anyone!!! Scouts are supposed to be kind of subjective.


And I'm not buying into "Kobe was a bigger suprise then Jordan ever was" bologne. Well hoodly hoodly hooo. Look who was the bigger suprise??? 
Kobe fans are ****ing lame.


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## Spriggan (Mar 23, 2004)

Looks like somebody forgot to take their pills this morning.


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## compsciguy78 (Dec 16, 2002)

Just calling like it is. 


you could post anybodys scouting report and find weaknesses. Seriously....go try it. Many scouting reports rip guys far worse then that. 
This particular scouting report he mentioned Kobe should have gone #12 and possibly higher(he went #13, correct). 

How is this scouting report negative on Kobe?

This is just another lame attempt for Kobe fans to hype up their guy. 

Just another attempt for me to prove how illogical and lame they are. And let me remind you its steady work...


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## Spriggan (Mar 23, 2004)

Gian, the Heat/Wade fan, posts a 1996 scouting report of Kobe for the sake of interest and he's magically trying to bump the guy up? lol. What's with you, anyway? You were just as excited and amazed as any other Kobe fan when he was on that 50/60 point streak, but then did a complete 180 and started taking whatever issues you have out on Kobe fans.


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## compsciguy78 (Dec 16, 2002)

I just realized that Kobe fans are the worst.

Its a long story...its start with me being a lifelong Laker fan. I'll save it for a rainy day.


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## Jordan23Forever (May 14, 2005)

compsciguy78 said:


> I just realized that Kobe fans are the worst.


Wait, you _just_ realized this? Not exactly perspicacious, are you?


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## SickGame (Jan 23, 2006)

ChrisWoj said:


> http://www.ibiblio.org/craig/draft/1995_draft/scout/pf.html - Interesting, the top four and six of the 20 on this list have been Pistons. Ha.


What a weak draft, I think only 7 players made it in the NBA, the rest just dissapeared.
Look at Kurt Thomas' stats from his last year, something along the lines of 28pg and 14rbg...pretty sick.


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## Phenom Z28 (Nov 22, 2004)

Zei_Zao_LS said:


> He lived up to his initial hype. An 18 year old averaging 20.9 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 5.9 APG? Crazy. By the time he's 21 he's averaging 31.4 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 6.6 APG. I don't know how much more you can expect out of the guy.


 It's not my expectations, he surpassed those in his first week in the NBA. I thought he'd fail miserabley and become an average player in the league...

It's the hype man.... the freak'n hype. He hasn't lived up to all of it yet. I am still not a witness to anything completely spectacular yet. Yea he has awesome stats for a player his age and he's setting "first player to xxxx awards" but he still doesn't have very many meaningful accomplishments. He needs to manhandle a great team in a playoff series. Have some kind of arch-rival, not a playpen buddy like Dwyane Wade. He needs to lead a team to a championship for me to believe he's lived up to the hype. This is the player that I'm being led to believe is going to be the next big thing in the NBA, the hier to Michael. The top of this webpage has him as its icon. He has a LOT to live up to besides pretty stats....


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## MarioChalmers (Mar 26, 2004)

Spriggan said:


> Gian, the Heat/Wade fan, posts a 1996 scouting report of Kobe for the sake of interest and he's magically trying to bump the guy up? lol. What's with you, anyway? You were just as excited and amazed as any other Kobe fan when he was on that 50/60 point streak, but then did a complete 180 and started taking whatever issues you have out on Kobe fans.


I'm not taking issues out on anyone, what're you talking about?


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## KDOS (Nov 29, 2005)

gian said:


> I'm not taking issues out on anyone, what're you talking about?


Read his post again...this time slowly.


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## theflyballa (Aug 8, 2006)

Kobe haters are idiots. Sure, Kobe wasn't perfect at first. But now, he's right at PERFECT. No weaknesses. I have never seen a player in any sport without weaknesses...till Kobe, of course. The Jordan comparisons are an insult to Kobe.


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## Jamel Irief (May 19, 2002)

Gilgamesh said:


> Taken from wiki:
> 
> As a player at Lebanon High School, Bowie was one of the most heavily recruited players ever. He averaged over 28 points per game and 18 rebounds per game and was a McDonald's All-American and Parade All-American. In 1980, Bowie was picked for the Basketball at the United States Olympic Men's Basketball Team, the last player with no college or professional basketball experience to make the Olympic squad.
> 
> That sounds like Oden. If Bowie was prospect today coming out of HS he would probably go lottery. At Kentucky he played very well when healthy. Sadly not was not often. Injuries ruin his NBA potential. The Blazers were stupid enough to select him before Jordan who won college NPOY. But nobody thought Jordan would become what he became. That draft was the Hakeem draft. Everyone else was secondary news.


Actually I watched the 1984 draft many times and Bob Neal's exact words were "Jordan is a can't miss superstar."

What was funny was when Stockton was drafted, everybody was treating it like it was just some other random guard taken in the middle of the round. But Rick Barry kept raving about how great he was.


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## Gilgamesh (Dec 23, 2005)

Jamel Irief said:


> Actually I watched the 1984 draft many times and Bob Neal's exact words were "Jordan is a can't miss superstar."
> 
> What was funny was when Stockton was drafted, everybody was treating it like it was just some other random guard taken in the middle of the round. But Rick Barry kept raving about how great he was.


I never watched the 1984 draft but I dunt think people thought or had expectations that Jordan would have become one of the greatest players like Lebron. Hakeem or Akeem was the unanimous #1. 

Jordan had a terrific college though. He was NPOY in his last year and led NC to #1 in the nation.


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## Hyperion (Dec 5, 2006)

<table border="1"><tbody><tr><td>*Name:*</td><td>Steve Nash</td></tr> <tr><td>*College:*</td><td>Santa Clara</td></tr> <tr><td>*Height:*</td><td>6'3" (6'1")</td></tr> <tr><td>*Weight:*</td><td>185 (187)</td></tr> <tr><td>*Born:*</td><td>2/7/74</td></tr> <tr><td>*Position:*</td><td>Point Guard</td></tr> <tr><td>*Other Position:*</td><td>Shooting Guard</td></tr> <tr><td>*Strengths:*</td><td>Great ball handler, shooting</td></tr> <tr><td>*Weaknesses:*</td><td>Tries to do to much</td></tr></tbody></table>


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## compsciguy78 (Dec 16, 2002)

"The Jordan comparisons are an insult to Kobe"

-theflyballa

Thats good enough to put in my sig!

hahaha


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