5 people in the 1996 draft who should not have gotten drafted before Kobe

This slideshow is to explain a fact that has been widely overlooked since 1996. No player as great as Kobe should have been drafted 13th. It is understandable that nobody in that era trusts drafting a guard straight out of high school, but the pre-draft workouts speak for themselves. Jerry West himself said Kobe's workout was the best he had ever seen. Read the slideshow and tell me what you think.

Samaki Walker

The Dallas Mavericks used their pick in the first round to draft Walker who would later have the pleasure of being punched in the face by Kobe while playing for the Lakers. Kobe could be a Maverick instead of a Laker,but they chose instead to opt for a man who has career averages of 5.3 PPG and 4.7 RPG.

Lorenzen Wright

Once again, a big thumbs down for the Clippers front office.They used the 7th pick in the draft to pick a young sophomore from Memphis who would only average 8.0 PPG and now is a washed up backup. Good choice Clippers

Vitaly Potapenko

The Cleveland Cavaliers used the 12th pick that they received from Washington to select Vitaly Potapenko. They envisioned a savior for the franchise, but what they got was an underachieving center who has terrible career averages of 6.5 PPG and 4.5 RPG. They would later draft Ilgauskas who played how they envisoned Potapenko would play like.

Todd Fuller

I don't want to call out Todd Fuller because he is from my hometown but something must be said. Its easy for the Warriors to opt for a college senior over a high school senior but this was one of the biggest mistakes they ever made. Instead of choosing Kobe Bryant, they used the 11th pick in the draft to pick Fuller who would average 3.7 PPG and 3 RPG for his career.

Erick Dampier

Erick Dampier is perhaps the best person on this list but it is still unacceptable that he got not only drafted in front of Kobe, but Steve Nash,Peja Stojakavic, and Jermaine O'Neal.He does have acceptable career averages of 7.9 PPG and 7.4 RPG,but what were the Pacers thinking when they selected him?