Kobe Bryant Once Described His Time With Del Harris as ‘Nightmare-ish’ During His Teenage Years With Lakers
William Harris Kobe Bryant had one of the greatest careers in the history of the NBA. Everything from MVPs to championships to countless All-NBA and All-Star nods, Bryant had quite nearly accomplished every single thing one could while on NBA hardwood.
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As the 13th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft and having gotten traded to the Los Angeles Lakers on draft night, things were looking up for him. Despite being merely 17 years old and straight out of Lower Merion High School, he was taken in the lottery and the legendary Jerry West traded away Vlade Divac to acquire him.
Though, the high of being touted as a top recruit soon wore off when he realized playing on an NBA team as a teenager/rookie was different from playing on a high school team that you were the best player on.
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Kobe Bryant on the lowest point of his career
In his first 2 seasons in the NBA from 1996-98, he would start a total of 7 games out of 150 played games. What makes this even more absurd is the fact that Kobe Bryant was named an All-Star in 1998 despite starting 1 game that whole season.
Head coach at the time, Del Harris, was quite restrictive with the way Bryant played. Guys like Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones were given a higher priority than Bryant and frankly speaking, rightfully so. Sure, the lottery pick should’ve gotten more run-time but you’ve also got to respect the elder statesmen.
When asked about what the lowest point of his career was by Stephen Jackson, Bryant admitted that it was those first few years on the Lakers.
How did Kobe Bryant feel about Del Harris?
Harris constantly berated Kobe on his over-dribbling and his shot selection. So much so that Bryant believed Harris had a personal agenda against him, saying, “He doesn’t know who I am as a player. He’s trying to hold me down/ he doesn’t want me to be the player I know I can be.”
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Aside from his early years with the purple and gold, Bryant also said that the 2008 loss to the Celtics in the NBA Finals in 6 games was another low point of his career.
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