RhetoriCal Bear said:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaabk/how-cal-nearly-landed-dirk-nowitzki-and-lost-him-to-the-nba/ar-BBVONsw?ocid=spartandhp
Makes the point (as some have here) that Cal is well suited to recruit international players.
Edit: Seems like Nike was paying players to go to specific schools even back then...Quote:
Barkley: [The game had] Scottie, MJ, there was a bunch of NBA guys. Dirk was 18. This was when Scottie was quote on quote "the best defender in the world." So Dirk is kicking our ass. He's got like 25 at halftime. Me and Michael are like "Scottie you gotta pick it up a little bit." He's like "Man, I'm gonna lock him down in the second half." Dirk finished with 52. I was like "Dude, who the hell are you?!"[...] So I call Nike. I say, "Find out about this kid. Tell him I'll give him anything he wants to go to Auburn. Anything he wants, we'll get it done." So they call, this is in the middle of the summer, [Nike] is in the middle of Germany somewhere. I say, "Just give him anything he wants. He's got to go to Auburn." They say "Well, he's got to go in the army." I said, "Dude, that dude is seven feet tall, he's not going in the damn army, what's he gonna hide behind?" The next year Milwaukee drafted [Nowitzki] so I was like "Dude, you should have gone to Auburn. We'd probably have a few banners up by now."
This story never seems to lose its luster.fat_slice said:
This is the best news the basketball team has had in years!!! Nowitzki almost went to Cal!!
We know the LeBron-would've-come-to-Cal story, too. He played briefly for the Oakland Soldiers, I think it was between his sophomore and junior years in high school. Leon Powe was on the team and the two hung out. Maybe they come to campus and get in a pick-up game with some Cal players or something. LeBron, already getting famous, says something like, "Maybe I'll go here for college."RichyBear said:
FWIW- A while back on talk radio, Ben Braun was talking with GaryRadnich. Ben said that he had Nowitzki ready to come to Cal, until every one saw him in that All Star game. Ben also said that if labron Jame didn't go directly to the NBA, he would have came to Cal.
Big C said:We know the LeBron-would've-come-to-Cal story, too. He played briefly for the Oakland Soldiers, I think it was between his sophomore and junior years in high school. Leon Powe was on the team and the two hung out. Maybe they come to campus and get in a pick-up game with some Cal players or something. LeBron, already getting famous, says something like, "Maybe I'll go here for college."RichyBear said:
FWIW- A while back on talk radio, Ben Braun was talking with GaryRadnich. Ben said that he had Nowitzki ready to come to Cal, until every one saw him in that All Star game. Ben also said that if labron Jame didn't go directly to the NBA, he would have came to Cal.
That was about the gist of it. Maybe he published a list with some colleges on it, too, and Cal was on that list. Anyway, shortly thereafter, he starts becoming known as a possible future all-time great and it became apparent that he probably was a likely none-and-done. Even if he had gone to college, there was a high likelihood that some college powerhouse was going to swoop in and grab him.
Makes a nice story, though.
