I don't know where you get the Jacobson and Williams comparisson. The point was the Kings passing up Pierce and Dirk. Keep in mind Jacobson was a late round pick, 25 or 26, so don't try and compare that pick with the blown 7th (LOTTERY). Mike Bibby was an excellent salvage job by the Kings IMO.
WOW,
IF this discussion was about the choices the Kings made drafting bums prior to Petrie we could drown every other member of this board in our gene pools.
But the, er, subject of the Laker GM never making a drafting mistake lends this discussion more depth, believe me. Since you did bring it up, though, let me tell you something else about how Sacramento was perceived back in those dark, dark days of the late 80's and early 90's. Lottery draft picks, which we routinely had access to during those years, would be judged on whether or not our management team could convince them to actually sign with the Kings. They often had to pass on good players who flat out told them they would not come to Sacramento. Others, like Billy Owens, got traded away immediately because of the same thing.
Think about that before berating the Kings for who they were drafting back then and compare it to whether the Lakers ever had to make that assessment in their entire history.
I knew Brian Grant would come up. Grant was smoozed by LA but his asking price was way too high. Ironic we ended up with that guy and his contract, but that's Buss and Kupchack's doings, I don't even try defending the indefensable.
It had to be said, WOW.
I don't understand how you put Chamberlin into the scenario as Kareem. I still don't know how Kareem, a native New Yorker, ended up a Laker, my guess is Bruin pride.
To this day, I would take Wilt Champerlain over any center who ever played, but I do not know the reason why Philadelphia traded him to the Lakers. Maybe dabods or rick could elaborate. But clearly Jabber let it be known he was going to be either a Laker or a Knick. My guess is that the Laker offer to the Bucks was preferable, though a gander at those players really makes me wonder what the heck the Knicks were offering, if anything.
Lynch? Are you kidding, I'd still pick him over those guys. If it wasn't for all the money the Lakers had to pay Shaq he'd still be a Laker. L.A. loves Tar Heels. By the way who had the 7th (LOTTERY) pick that year? As far a Nick the Quick was concerned, nobody wanted the guy because of the legal problems he was having. I think he beat up his girlfriend or something.
Yeah, we had the 7th pick. See above. True, we probably could have gotten Lynch, for instance, but why fight fate. He was just destined to be a Laker. That particular year was rather weak, but Van Exel surely was more worthy in the long term as a first rounder then Lynch turned out to be. Lynch is an okay player, but Nick the Quick was a killer.
