I don't think Kobe would start that rookie season as like you said, there are a lot of wings on the Hornets roster and this was a time where teams were still suspect about kids coming out of High School straight to the NBA, and this was the first time a guard had ever gone straight to the NBA from HS.
Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but at the time picking Kobe would have been seen as extremely risky. If the Hornets keep Kobe, they probably would have traded the 17th pick and probably packaged him with Curry to get the Center they need.
Kobe could have also easily gone to the Nets if they had decided to take the chance, but instead went with the safer pick with Kittles. Kerry Kittles was actually a pretty good shooting guard, averaging about 15 points per game from 96-02 but obviously he is no Kobe as a Laker fan like myself can attest to.
As for picks 1-6, you can't fault the teams that picked those guys. Allen Iverson was MVP, and while Marcus Camby was a stretch at the number 2 pick, he was an excellent athletic defensive and rebounding center. Very underrated. Shareef Abdur Rahim was a 20ppg guy, though as the TNT crew says, 'I don't remember a single basket that he ever made'. Minnesota blew it by trading Ray Allen for Marbury; they could have paired Ray Allen with Kevin Garnett. Heck, if Minnesota had decided to take a risk and draft Kobe, they would have had two high schoolers, and how cool would a Kobe/KG tandem would have been? If you don't think those two would have gotten along together on the court, I will show you this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-6aFg_TZeg
After watching Kobe go 7-24 tonight against the lowly sixers in yet another dismal shooting performance, seeing how athletic both he and KG used to be makes me sad. Father time is undefeated.