As
a five year old kid in 1980, my older brother introduced me to the NBA. There is only so much a five year old kid can
retain, so the NBA became three players and three teams: Julius “Dr. J” Erving
and the Sixers, Larry Bird and the Celtics, and Erving “Magic” Johnson and the
Lakers. Magic and Bird were great, but
no one was as exciting to five year old me than Dr. J. When the Doctor finally got past the Celtics
only to lose in the finals to the Lakers, I cried like…well, like an eight year
old kid. As great as Dr. J was, he never
won a championship until Moses Malone joined the Sixers.
The
Celtics and Larry Bird had arguably the best frontcourt in NBA history. If Magic as a 6’9” PG wasn’t enough, the
Lakers also featured the NBA’s all-time leading scorer at Center in Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar. The Lakers won 5
Championships, Celtics won 3, and Dr. J finally got his with Moses Malone. Of the ten championships in the decade, nine
were won with a combination of an all-time great perimeter player and a Hall of
Fame post player. Of the 36 championship
teams since 1980, 23 have won with that combination. Eight of the remaining 13 championships were
won by arguably the top two perimeter players in the history of the NBA in
Michael Jordan and LeBron James. In
simpler terms, since 1980 86% of NBA Championships were won by a transcendent
player or the perimeter/HOF combination.
Kobe
Bryant and the Lakers have won five championships in the new millennium, with
Kobe as the perimeter player and Shaq then Gasol as the future HOF post player. If you listen to sports radio or any ESPN
show, the Lakers are done as a relevant team and Kobe the cause of their demise. As Kobe approaches his 20th season,
the Lakers are looking for the next Hall of Famer to lead them back to glory. The Lakers put the full court press on Dwight
Howard, Carmelo Anthony, and LaMarcus
Aldridge over the past three season and they lost out on all three. The story is that after 19 seasons Kobe isn’t
capable of being the best player on a championship team, but he expects free
agents to take a backseat him. As long
as Kobe is a Laker, he expects to play the Batman role. In Kobe’s defense, he is a five time champion
and the Lakers have won 16 overall.
Howard, Anthony, and Aldridge are good players but neither have a
championship. With the skyrocketing
salary cap, money has to be spent and quite a few players are receiving max
contracts. Though they are getting max money, very few players are capable of
being the alpha dog on a championship team.
Aldridge, Carmelo, neither Howard fit that bill so they need someone to
either teach them or another player to be the first option. You see Howard found that in James Harden in
Houston.
Making
matters worse Kobe and the Lakers, three of the past four championship teams
were led by pass happy stars (LeBron & Stephen Curry) who are great
“teammates” and neither team had great post players. So in the new NBA, Kobe and the Lakers are
dinosaurs who need to change or become extant.
After hearing this for the past two years, it seemed as if the Lakers
had finally given in. It was widely
assumed the Lakers would draft Okafor to be the Center of their next
championship run, but surprising everyone at the draft, they took D’Angelo Russell. Most of the analyst were happy because the
Lakers finally moved into the future.
Then free agency started and they Lakers were back to their old
ways. Not only did they miss out on
Aldridge, but he was insulted by their presentation. For three straight off-season, the Lakers
would not only miss out on their top targets, but no free agent of relevance
would join them. Even second tier free
agents like Greg Monroe chose the Bucks (of Milwaukee that is) over the sunshine
and star-studded city of Los Angeles.
In
four years (the max length of a contract for free agents), we will look back
and see that Kobe saved the Lakers from themselves. It seems that Kobe has higher standards from
the Lakers than does the current management team. Dwight, Melo, and Aldridge are all good
players, all-star players, even all-NBA players, but neither has the complete
game or the ability to dominance at a level which is required to be the primary
option on a championship team. And that
is only considering on court skillsets. We’ve
all heard that a team needs to struggle and “learn” to be champions. I am sure someone will say what about the Warriors
who won with no player who had NBA Finals experience. They are champions and I am not diminishing it
in any way, but most every agrees their path was made easier when they did not
have to face the battle tested San Antonio Spurs. You only need to look to LeBron James to understand
the importance of winning experience. He
fled to go to Miami, not only for more skilled players, but for players (mainly
D Wade) and a management team that knew how to win. Even with an experienced Heat team, and a
healthy Dwayne Wade, LeBron’s lack of championship experience costs the Heat
the series against the Dallas Mavs. After
the letdown against the Mavs, you saw a different player against the Thunder
the following year.
You
can’t knock Aldridge for choosing the Spurs, but if the rumors are true and
free agents are not choosing the Lakers because they don’t want to play with
Kobe for even a year, then Jean Buss is right and they don’t belong in the Purple
& Gold. If you are not willing to sacrifice
a few shots for a year so that you can learn from one of the top 15 players
all-time, then I don’t want you on my team.
Missing out on the “Dwight Howard” type free agents may cause the Lakers
to miss the playoffs another year or two, but when they do find that right
player (and many believe it is Russell) then they will be championship contenders,
not just contenders for the 7th or 8th seed. I have two sons, ages 2 & 3, and I am a
season ticket holder to the lowly Sixers. Maybe Russell and Okafor will lead the Lakers
& Sixers back to NBA Finals. I saw
it for the first time when I was eight years old. That means that they have
five to six years for me to give my boys the same experience. Maybe this time the Sixers will win so my
boys don’t have to cry like I did.
Talk2Me
The
Gap Man
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