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Top 9 Lakers of all time (1 Viewer)

timschochet

timschochet

Footballguy
So after Kobe Bryant got his jerseys retired last week, a local sportscaster said he might be the greatest Laker ever. I immediately thought, “Love Kobe but no he’s not.” And then I thought, who is? And so I made this list: 

1. Magic Johnson

2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

3. Shaquille O’ Neil

4. Kobe Bryant

5. Wilt Chamberlain

6. Elgin Baylor

7. Jerry West

8. George Mikan

9. James Worthy

I only ended up with 9 here because these were the 9 dominant players in Lakers history. Everybody else you can name was either a feature player for a short period of time (Pau Gasol) or a contributory but not feature player (Michael Cooper, Derek Fisher, Jamaal Wilkes, Robert Horry, etc.) 

Anyhow, this is my list for now, off the top of my head. Thoughts? 

 
timschochet said:
So after Kobe Bryant got his jerseys retired last week, a local sportscaster said he might be the greatest Laker ever. I immediately thought, “Love Kobe but no he’s not.” And then I thought, who is? And so I made this list: 

1. Magic Johnson

2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

3. Shaquille O’ Neil

4. Kobe Bryant  (Kobe is #2)

5. Wilt Chamberlain  (Wilt is #7.  He didn't play too many years with Lakers and wasn't the offensive force of the team)

6. Elgin Baylor

7. Jerry West (West is #3.  An amazing player for his era.)

8. George Mikan

9. James Worthy
Click to expand...
Magic
Kobe
West
Kareem
Shaq
Baylor
Wilt
Worthy
Mikan

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Magic
Kobe
West
Kareem
Shaq
Baylor
Wilt
Worthy
Mikan
Click to expand...
Do you think guards are more valuable than big men as a general rule? Because I would say they're not. Magic, like Jordan, is an extraordinary example of a guard who rises above the play of centers, but centers should be more valuable most of the time. I can't justify West being as high as you put him.

 
timschochet said:
Do you think guards are more valuable than big men as a general rule? Because I would say they're not. Magic, like Jordan, is an extraordinary example of a guard who rises above the play of centers, but centers should be more valuable most of the time. I can't justify West being as high as you put him.
Click to expand...
Your topic is about the Lakers. Magic, Kobe and West had incredible careers all as a Laker.  Kareem and Wilt did not. Just because one is a center doesn't make them more valuable.  #MelCounts

Actually Baylor should be ahead of Wilt.  Wilt wasn't that great in his 5 years as a Laker.

 
Basketball-Reference shows Mikan-era forward Vern Mikkelsen with 83.4 win shares over nine seasons (799 games) with the Lakers.  He slots in just ahead of Worthy (81.2 shares in 926 games).

There were only eight teams in the league but Minneapolis was dominant in the 1950s.   Mikkelsen averaged nearly a double-double over his career.

 
timschochet said:
So after Kobe Bryant got his jerseys retired last week, a local sportscaster said he might be the greatest Laker ever. I immediately thought, “Love Kobe but no he’s not.” And then I thought, who is? And so I made this list: 

1. Magic Johnson

2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

3. Shaquille O’ Neil

4. Kobe Bryant

5. Wilt Chamberlain

6. Elgin Baylor

7. Jerry West

8. George Mikan

9. James Worthy

I only ended up with 9 here because these were the 9 dominant players in Lakers history. Everybody else you can name was either a feature player for a short period of time (Pau Gasol) or a contributory but not feature player (Michael Cooper, Derek Fisher, Jamaal Wilkes, Robert Horry, etc.) 

Anyhow, this is my list for now, off the top of my head. Thoughts? 
Click to expand...
You know what the Top 8's favorite thing to say @ Laker reunions is? We're not Worthy! We're not Worthy!

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Magic
Kobe
West
Kareem
Shaq
Baylor
Wilt
Worthy
Mikan
Click to expand...
Getzlaf15 nails it.  West has to be top 3 for his play, and if you interpret greatest Laker to mean contributions to the success of the franchise, he's probably #1.  And while I love Kareem more than Kobe, Kobe playing his entire career with the Lakers gives him the nod.  Also, the teacher in me has to point out that Shaq's last name should be spelled O'Neal.

 
Getzlaf15 said:
Magic, Kobe and West had incredible careers all as a Laker.  Kareem and Wilt did not. 
Click to expand...
You’re kidding with this right? Kareem played most of his career with the Lakers (14 out of 20 seasons). Wilt, while at the bottom half of his career, led the Lakers to 4 title appearances. 

You can debate where they belong on the list, but to claim they didn’t have incredible careers as Lakers is just wrong. 

 
timschochet said:
It’s amazing to me. I honestly debated putting him at #1 over Magic; it’s that close. 
Click to expand...
He's #1 for me. But I've grown less and less interested in the minutia of rankings as I get older. They've had an insane number of excellent players grace their roster over the years.

 
Peens's List

1. Jerry West

2. Gail Goodrich

3. George Mikan

4. Kurt Rambis

5. Vlade Divac

6. Mitch Kupchak

7. Mark Landsberger

8. Steve Blake

9. Chuck Nevitt

 
timschochet said:
So after Kobe Bryant got his jerseys retired last week, a local sportscaster said he might be the greatest Laker ever. I immediately thought, “Love Kobe but no he’s not.” And then I thought, who is? And so I made this list: 

1. Magic Johnson

2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

3. Shaquille O’ Neil

4. Kobe Bryant

5. Wilt Chamberlain

6. Elgin Baylor

7. Jerry West

8. George Mikan

9. James Worthy

I only ended up with 9 here because these were the 9 dominant players in Lakers history. Everybody else you can name was either a feature player for a short period of time (Pau Gasol) or a contributory but not feature player (Michael Cooper, Derek Fisher, Jamaal Wilkes, Robert Horry, etc.) 

Anyhow, this is my list for now, off the top of my head. Thoughts? 
Click to expand...
1.  Magic

2.  Kareem

3.  Kobe

4.  West

5.  Shaq

6.  Mikan

7.  Baylor

8.  Worthy

9.  Wilt

I'm a huge Wilt fan, but he was there at the tail end of his career and didn't contribute to the Lakers nearly as much as the rest on the list.  I also dropped Shaq a couple of spots since Kobe won a couple more without him.  You could argue for West at #2 and if he had more rings I'd probably put him there, but he had the misfortune of playing his entire career during a time when the Lakers just couldn't amass as much talent as Red did every year.  Baylor obviously falls in that same category.

 
  Van Smack was trolling this big time last week.  I always felt like Kobe (and Jordan) had it easy.  The refs would blow the whistle if anyone even breathed on them. They could throw up any garbage attempt on a drive knowing that call was coming. The superstar call ruined the league for me. 

  I stopped watching for a while after the Utah-Bulls finals, came back and left again after the Kings-Lakers fix series.

Paul Pierce got me back in again after he got stabbed and came back strong. It now finally seems like the Superstar call is gone now.  Thank god.

 
PIK95 said:
  Van Smack was trolling this big time last week.  I always felt like Kobe (and Jordan) had it easy.  The refs would blow the whistle if anyone even breathed on them. They could throw up any garbage attempt on a drive knowing that call was coming. The superstar call ruined the league for me.
Click to expand...
Jordan didn't have it easy, he made it look easy.

 
Magic and Kobe are 1-2.  Buncha rings, never played for another team.  I'd put West at #3.  Kareem and Shaq at 4-5 are interchangeable to me.  Then probably Baylor, Chamberlain, Mikan (I guess).  Worthy.  Goodrich.

 
The Lakers retire 2 numbers for Kobe and he isn't in the top 10 twice? You all need to start over, do some research and turn in your papers tomorrow!

 
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