Philly Papers Set the Kobe Table

But in terms of must-reads ahead of Kobe Bryant’s final visit to Philadelphia in an NBA shooting guard uniform, the honors belong to the Inquirer. Teased on their front page, the article by Bob Ford revisits how the Lakers star was almost drafted by the 76ers in 1996 at #1 instead of Allen Iverson:

[Sixers head coach and GM] John Lucas came home from a disappointing road trip in the spring of 1995 – the Sixers of that era rarely had any other kind – and his wife told him there was a high school player he needed to see.