Louisville Courier Journal
LEXINGTON - As a first-year NBA coach in 1996, John Calipari wanted to select Philadelphia high school star Kobe Bryant with the No. 8 pick in the draft.
The New Jersey Nets ultimately took Villanova's Kerry Kittles with that pick, and Bryant slid to the Los Angeles Lakers as the No. 13 pick. Bryant went on to become one of the best players in NBA history. Calipari was fired midway through his third season as the Nets' coach.
"Everybody thought I was nuts," Calipari said Monday night on his weekly radio show when asked for his memories of almost drafting Bryant, who died along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others in a helicopter crash on Sunday.