Recalling the great Kobe Bryant and wondering what if

Hearing the tragic and horrible news about Kobe Bryant’s passing today made me think of one thing I was relatively close to in regards to the legend.

I was covering the New Jersey Nets in the spring of 1996 when the team was readying to make a crucial draft pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.

The Nets had the No. 7 pick in the first round and were considering a host of different collegiate players for the selection.

About two weeks before the draft, I had the privilege of a sit-down interview with John Calipari, the Nets’ head coach and president at the time.

In that interview, Calipari hinted to me that he wanted to take Kobe Bryant with the pick. Calipari was convinced that the 17-year-old Bryant, coming straight out of Lower Merion High School, was the best talent and was hopeful that the owners of the Nets would agree with his assessment.

I had witnessed Bryant play in high school against Bob Hurley and his fabulous Friars of St. Anthony and although Hurley’s team did a fantastic job of shutting Bryant down that day, you could see that he had incredible raw talent and had the potential to be a stellar shooting guard.

But there was talk about Bryant not accepting some teams that would draft him and that he might go to Europe to play for a year, then become eligible for the NBA Draft the following year. The Nets were potentially one of the teams that Bryant didn’t want to play for. The Nets couldn’t afford to risk taking Bryant and then watch him leave for Italy or Spain.

However, Calipari was apparently all set to take the gamble and take Bryant. I then wrote an article for the Newark Star-Ledger that stated the Nets would consider taking Bryant with the pick if he was still available with the seventh pick in the draft.

The owners of the Nets were not happy with my article. In fact, I got word from a Nets’ official – who will remain anonymous here – that the ownership was not pleased with me either tipping their hand or that they were considering taking a high school kid with a team that was on the cusp of contending for a playoff berth.

The owners wanted to make sure that they took a player who was going to sign with them and a player who had a lot of college experience, which was ruling out Calipari’s hope of taking Kobe.

So when the Nets’ turn came at No. 7 and Bryant still available, the Nets selected Kerry Kittles, the Big East Player of the Year from Villanova. Kittles played four years in college and had a ton of experience playing in big games. Kittles was going to fit in with the Nets and was not a risk of going overseas.

With that, the chance of Kobe Bryant being a New Jersey Net went out the window. The Nets took Kittles, who became a big part of the 1997-98 team that went to the NBA Playoffs and lost to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the first round.

Kittles played seven years with the Nets and had a serviceable career, helping the Nets win the Eastern Conference championship in 2002 and 2003. Ironically, the Nets lost in the 2003 NBA Finals to—yes, Kobe, Shaquille O’Neal and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Still to this day, I wonder what life in local professional basketball would have been like if the ownership of the Nets listened to Calipari and taken Kobe with that fateful pick.

And what my life as a sportswriter would have been like covering Kobe on a daily basis.

I enjoyed my time covering the Nets those days. They had a cast of characters that I still admire and remember the time fondly.

Kerry Kittles was one of those Nets who I drew close to. He is a wonderful man who came with me to visit Rashid Dunbar, a high school basketball player from Marist High School who was seriously injured in a car crash. He also came with me to visit Victor Muniz of Kearny, who was in Kessler Rehabilitation Institute after being paralyzed when a tree fell and crushed him during a storm.

Kittles was always there to lend a hand to a charity or to visit kids that idolized him and that were seriously injured. I always applauded his efforts in helping those in need.

Kittles was a good member of the Nets, one who I will always be grateful for his generosity and care.

I won’t second guess the selection of Kittles. But I just wonder how life would have been if the Nets took Bryant instead. And that’s what I thought of when I heard the news today of Kobe’s untimely demise.

In covering the Nets for over 30 years, I also had to cover the untimely death of Drazen Petrovic in 1993, when he was killed in a car crash. It was an awful time, because Draz had become such a great player for the Nets, earning All-NBA status that year before his death. It was stunning news, like you remember where you were when you heard about Draz's crash. I don't remember ever being sadder in my professional career.

It’s a little different because Petrovic was in the prime of his career, while Kobe was retired for a few years. Still, at 41, Kobe was far too young to be gone.

Who knows what life would have been like covering Kobe on a daily basis? Would he have been such a nice and caring guy as Kittles? Would have he done the things that Kittles did?

Just makes me wonder. In any case, I’m saddened by the news today. He was a great player, one of the top 10 players I ever watched. He wasn’t Jordan or LeBron, but he was up there. And he could have been a local hero instead of one on the West Coast in La-La Land.

The other news today was that my friend and mentor Jerry Izenberg has decided to break his streak this year of covering the Super Bowl. Jerry was one of three sportswriters to have been at all 53 prior Super Bowls. I know my friend Dave Klein is another of those great scribes.

But reading today that Jerry has decided not to go to Miami this time to cover the Super Bowl, like he did every single year, is a sad moment. Jerry is someone who I always looked up to as a kid, reading the Ledger and watching Sports Extra on Channel 5 with Bill Mazer.

I then had the great fortune of working many times with Jerry over the years when I was doing work for the Star-Ledger. He always liked my knowledge of sports and even requested me to cover big-time events with him.I was so grateful and honored that he respected me that much.

He said in his column today, “I’m old, but I’m not dead.”

Thank God for that. We can still read his great work on NJ.com and the Star-Ledger. He will continue to work from his home in Nevada. He just doesn’t want to travel anymore and I don’t blame him.

But it does mark the end of an era. Jerry not being at the Super Bowl to send his words back to all of us. We will miss that coverage.

You can read more of my work on www.hudsonreporter.com, www.theobserver.com and tune in to my Hudson County Sports podcast on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter with new interviews weekly.