NBA - Main

1. Len Bias

2. Calipari wanted to draft Kobe. He was really the only one considering Kobe in the lottery, and the Nets had the 8th pick. Other teams were hesitant to pick a high schooler so high, but Calipari saw it in Kobe.

However, he was a first-time NBA coach, and Kobe's team was successful in their last-minute push to scare Calipari. Arn Tellem, his agent, threatened that the future star would be more comfortable playing in Italy than for a franchise like the Nets. Imagine how damaging it would be to Calipari's efforts to establish himself as an NBA coach if he spent a top-ten pick on a guy who was playing in a different continent.

Sonny Vaccaro was also advising Bryant, and at the time he was working for adidas (Bryant was already committed to the three stripes). Calipari didn't have a relationship with Vaccaro, or the juice, at the time that would have allowed him to overcome their respective shoe affiliations.

So, what if Calipari had gone with his gut? Does he last in the pros with a Hall of Famer instead of Kerry Kittles? And if so, does he ever go back to college? Even if he does, does he first take a MM like Memphis to the final before getting a huge gig like Kentucky, or does he simply fall into a pretty good job at a power conference school and stay? Is there another coach who could have pulled Wall, Boogie, and Eric Bledsoe in the same class, or AD, MKG, and Teague in another? I think his recruiting success forced Coach K to change his team building philosophy that helped modernize Duke. There are just so many ripples from one night in 1996...