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1996 NBA Draft: Kobe Bryant and Vitaly Potapenko

Found February 07, 2012 on Bacon Sports: Yardbarker Blogger Network
PLAYERS: Kobe Bryant,  Vitaly Potapenko,  David Stern,  Wilt Chamberlain,  Lorenzen Wright,  Samaki Walker,  Erick Dampier,  Jerry West
TEAMS: Los Angeles Lakers,  Miami Heat,  Wright State Raiders
Paucb
Kobe Bryant just passed Shaquille O’Neal to become 5th All Time on the NBA’s scoring list. This got me thinking about when it all started for Kobe: The 1996 NBA Draft. Kobe went 13th overall to the Charlotte Hornets and was taken one pick after the Cleveland Cavaliers took Vitaly Potapenko. Lets take a look at what TNT had to say about each player when they were drafted: Vitaly Potapenko: David Stern did not seem to enjoy trying to pronounce “Potapenko”. I’m not confident that he even said that correctly. How pissed would you be if on the biggest day of your life the commissioner mispronounced your last name. Wright State has a long and storied history of producing NBA players. The only other player that played in the NBA from there was Bill Edwards and he only played 3 games and 44 total minutes. “The Ukraine Train” is a fantastic nickname. In the event that his NBA career didn’t pan out he has a very easy segue into the porn industry. “Double and Triple teamed a lot”. Really, tri...
Original Story: http://www.baconsports.com/1996-nba-d... Verified_ybn
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