Arn Tellem: In high school, Kobe trained with the Philadelphia 76ers. By his senior campaign, the big question was, would Kobe attend a college like La Salle, where Joe was an assistant coach, or turn pro. During the previous three decades, only six U.S. players had joined the NBA without playing college ball, and all of them had been big men: Moses Malone, Darryl Dawkins, Bill Willoughby, Shawn Kemp, Thomas Hamilton and Kevin Garnett. Kobe was a 6-foot-6 guard. I asked Kobe what he wanted to do. He didn’t hesitate. “I’m going to the NBA,” he said. “I want to be the next Michael Jordan.”