Kobe Forever Linked to Orlando's Assistant GM

LOS ANGELES -- Dave Twardzik and Kobe Bryant will be forever linked.

What? You didn't know they were linked at all? Well, they are and they always will be in the Bay Area.

Back in June 1996, the Golden State Warriors had the No. 11 pick in the NBA draft, and there was Bryant, who had just completed his senior year at Lower Merion High School, still on the board.

But with the 11th pick, the Golden State Warriors selected Todd Fuller, a 6-foot-11 center out of North Carolina State.

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Bryant is in the process of trying to nail down his fourth NBA title as a Los Angeles Laker. Fuller played for four teams in five seasons, his career coming to an end in 2001. Unfortunately for Fuller, his name has come to symbolize the Warriors' long-term lack of success.

"There is a lot the public doesn't even know about, and it will not come from me," said Twardzik, now the assistant general manager of the Orlando Magic. "But there were some extenuating circumstances involved with that."

No doubt those circumstances related to Arn Tellem, who was Bryant's agent. Tellem had been making no secret of the fact that his client wasn't going to play for anyone but the Lakers and it's why several teams – not just the Warriors – passed on him that year.

Charlotte ended up taking Bryant with the No. 13 pick, and he was subsequently traded to the Lakers in a deal that involved Vlade Divac. At the time, Tellem said Bryant playing for Charlotte was "an impossibility."

When Twardzik was asked Friday if he believed Bryant would never have played a game for the Warriors if they'd drafted him, he responded: "Yep."

Sure, Twardzik would like to have that draft back. But what's he going to do now ... more than a dozen years later?

"If I knew then what I know now would I have done things differently and not just because of 20-20 hindsight but just because of experience ... of course," Twardzik said. "But stuff that happens in the past you just can't let that bother you. You have to move on."

Twardzik has. But that can't be said for all Warriors fans.