Understand that the Lakers had Eddie Jones and Del Harris liked playing veterans
About a month before passing in a helicopter crash earlier this year, Kobe Bryant talked about his first few years in the NBA. To think that if he had it to do all over, he would have went to college. Well that’s what he told Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes on All The Smoke podcast.
"At the beginning of the journey, I was not playing. So coming in as a rookie and saying, ‘Man, if I knew the s*** was going to be like this, I would have went to school,” said Bryant. “I felt like my coach, Del Harris at the time, was trying to make sure he did not show favoritism to the young kid, and as a result, he swung completely in the opposite direction and doing things that weren’t really fair. I mean, not playing. My first two or three years were a nightmare.”"
To put this perspective, Del Harris had no intention of playing this man at all. If it wasn’t for Rick Fox having injuries to both of his feet along with another injured player not mentioned in the podcast, Harris would have kept him glued to the bench.
Plus the Lakers had another shooting guard in Eddie Jones that was pretty good too.
He owns a finger roll that puts George Gervin to shame!
- He was Kobe’s mentor
- All-NBA 3rd Team
- 3-time NBA All-Star
- 3-time All-Defense
Plus he was the first MVP winner of the now defunct All-Star Rookie game.
Happy Birthday, Eddie Jones (From the NBA Vault) pic.twitter.com/Uw5qB6VYSg
— NBA History (@NBAHistory) October 20, 2016
Sadly, only the hardcore knowledgeable Lakers fans know about how good Eddie Jones was for this team. But Del Harris got Nick Van Exel traded out-of-town as well so Harris did have his issues with his players. But when Jones was traded with Elden Campbell to the Charlotte Hornets for Glen Rice and J.R. Reid, the Lakers were resetting. Kobe Bryant was basically anointed the guard for the future, Del Harris was gone as well replaced by Phil Jackson the next season.