Greatest Lakers ever

[Gold Tooth Carl]

1. Magic
2. Kareem
3. Wilt
4. Shaq
5. Gasol
6. Nick Van Exel

:toast:lol

[ElNono]

I would switch Nick Van Exel with Jerry West, tbh

[Giuseppe]

Magic. He brought us from an ELE in the Spring of '84, to our deliverance precisely a year later....the silence in the aftermath of that CBS national broadcast was deafening.

[Gold Tooth Carl]

I would switch Nick Van Exel with Jerry West, tbh

:lol i can dig that

[usdane]

lol should be banned for omitting West, Worthy, Mikan, Gail Goodrich and Elgin Baylor.

[baseline bum]

I would switch Nick Van Exel with Jerry West, tbh

I'm not sure about West, since he wasn't technically a Laker when he gifted them Gasol. Baylor would probably be a more appropriate #6 with that taken into consideration.

[Venti Quattro]

William "Smush" Parker should be in the list tbh

[JoeTait75]

Mike Pemberthy should be on that list.

[Giuseppe]

^Who is that, Joe, is that Eckersley?

[Venti Quattro]

Mike Pemberthy should be on that list.

lol denied entry in the lakers' facility for not looking like a nba player. :rollin

Epic story :lol

[JoeTait75]

^Who is that, Joe, is that Eckersley?

Lenny Barker, Cully.

[lefty]

Gasol ahead of Worthy?

James was so underrated

[easy7]

No Kobe?

[JamStone]

Gasol ahead of Worthy?

James was so underrated

I think James Worthy is one of the more overrated HOFers. Still in his prime, when Magic got HIV, he went from shooting 55% from the field to 45% from the field without Magic. He wasn't a great rebounder or assist guy. Not a great shooter or defender. He wasn't horrible at any of those things, but he certainly didn't excel in any of those areas either.

He was a great finisher on the break. But that's about it. He made a HOF career out of getting spoonfed easy baskets in transition. Still a great player for that reason alone. But greatly overrated as a better player than he was.

[lefty]

I think James Worthy is one of the more overrated HOFers. Still in his prime, when Magic got HIV, he went from shooting 55% from the field to 45% from the field without Magic. He wasn't a great rebounder or assist guy. Not a great shooter or defender. He wasn't horrible at any of those things, but he certainly didn't excel in any of those areas either.

He was a great finisher on the break. But that's about it. He made a HOF career out of getting spoonfed easy baskets in transition. Still a great player for that reason alone. But greatly overrated as a better player than he was.
I may be biased

I still remember how well he played late in game 5 vs PHO in 1993; he was in the zone

[ChrisRichards]

Notable Lakers also ahead of Kobe


Sedale Threatt
Michael Cooper
Byron Scott
Kurt Rambis
Cedric Ceballos

[ChrisRichards]

I may be biased

I still remember how well he played late in game 5 vs PHO in 1993; he was in the zone
You're not biased. James Worthy>Gasol by a long mile.

[JamStone]

Fair enough. There's a reason he was Big Game James.

To me, he was just a really good player who played on great teams for much of his career, which let his "really good" look "great."

[lefty]

Fair enough. There's a reason he was Big Game James.

To me, he was just a really good player who played on great teams for much of his career, which let his "really good" look "great."
True, but the same can be said for some of Magic's teammates

[21_Blessings]

I think James Worthy is one of the more overrated HOFers. Still in his prime, when Magic got HIV, he went from shooting 55% from the field to 45% from the field without Magic.

He wasn't in his prime and he fell off due to multiple nagging injuries.


He was a great finisher on the break. But that's about it. He made a HOF career out of getting spoonfed easy baskets in transition. Still a great player for that reason alone. But greatly overrated as a better player than he was.

Now this is really dumb and his all of his contemporaries would laugh you out of the room. Nobody in the league could defend Worthy 1v1 consistently. You say spoonfed, which is a joke, when Worthy was actually the 1st option in the playoffs during The Show's back to back.

Your post is bitter Piston fan/troll all rolled into one. Good day, sir.

[tdunk21]

vladimir radmanovich, the so called "space cadet" by phil jackson, should be there tooooo

[JamStone]

Nagging injuries allowed him to play 39 minutes a game in 91-92 when he did play. He played all 82 games the following season. His production fell off the cliff without Magic. Injuries or not, he was still only 30-31 years old, still prime years for a player.

No one's denying James Worthy could score. He was a really good scorer. What else did he do on the court that was even above average? And even scoring wise, he wasn't a great jumpshooter. He wasn't a great playmaker. Wasn't a great defender. Wasn't a great rebounder. He could score. Worthy was the first option in the playoffs for the Lakers in their back-to-back championships, but barely. Magic still ran the show and in the first of the back-to-back Kareem was still a big part of the offense. And in the second of the back-to-back, Byron Scott took almost as many shots as Worthy in the playoffs. It wasn't like a Jordan or Kobe first option. It was more like being the first option among three fairly equal first options.

Worthy was a great player. Had big games in the playoffs. Still overrated as a HOFer.

[redzero]

:lol

Anybody could see where this topic was headed by just reading the title.

[JamStone]

Your post is bitter Piston fan/troll all rolled into one. Good day, sir.

As it relates to the Lakers, bitter about what?

The Pistons ended two of your dynasties. I'm good.

I'm an admitted Kobe fan and Magic Johnson was one of my favorite players growing up, so why would I be bitter about James and the Lakers? If anything, I'm biased in favor of the Lakers.

[ChrisRichards]

Now this is really dumb and his all of his contemporaries would laugh you out of the room. Nobody in the league could defend Worthy 1v1 consistently. You say spoonfed, which is a joke, when Worthy was actually the 1st option in the playoffs during The Show's back to back.

Your post is bitter Piston fan/troll all rolled into one. Good day, sir.
Yeah calling Worthy a great finisher and "that's about it" was pretty dumb. Larry Bird himself said out of all the players he covered, James Worthy is the toughest.

[JamStone]

I'd love to know what James Worthy excelled at other than scoring.

[lefty]

I'd love to know what James Worthy excelled at other than scoring.
Hitting fadewawy jump-shot after fadeaway jump-shot late in game 5 vs the Suns in 93 :lol :downspin:

As you said, he was good in different areas but not great

He was much better in his prime because of his quickness; Riley would play him at the 4 spot late in games vs Boston because McHale would be tired.

I think Worthy's decline has more to do with him losing a few steps than Magic's retirement

But the great great players can overcome losing a step ad remain great (Jordan during the 2nd three-peat, Bird torching Portland for 49/12/10 in 1992, Magic with pretty good numbers in 96)

[dunkman]

Magic

[ChrisRichards]

Jordan was asked in Slam's 100th issue who would he pick in his Top 5 Players. He picked, Pippen, Olajuwon, Magic and James Worthy. Just shows you the tremendous amount of respect Jordan has for Worthy as a player.

Some Laker fans attributes Worthy's condition in the 91 Finals (along with missing Cap's presence) was the 2 major reasons the Bulls dominated the Lakers.

Calling James Worthy as just a finisher is dumb.

[Killakobe81]

I think James Worthy is one of the more overrated HOFers. Still in his prime, when Magic got HIV, he went from shooting 55% from the field to 45% from the field without Magic. He wasn't a great rebounder or assist guy. Not a great shooter or defender. He wasn't horrible at any of those things, but he certainly didn't excel in any of those areas either.

He was a great finisher on the break. But that's about it. He made a HOF career out of getting spoonfed easy baskets in transition. Still a great player for that reason alone. But greatly overrated as a better player than he was.

Disagree to some extent. Not a GREAT outside shooter but james had a deadly 15 footer that many of today's players lack ...

[Spurs rock]

Shaq.

[lefty]

Jordan was asked in Slam's 100th issue who would he pick in his Top 5 Players. He picked, Pippen, Olajuwon, Magic and James Worthy. Just shows you the tremendous amount of respect Jordan has for Worthy as a player.

Some Laker fans attributes Worthy's condition in the 91 Finals (along with missing Cap's presence) was the 2 major reasons the Bulls dominated the Lakers.

Calling James Worthy as just a finisher is dumb.
Jordan played with Worthy at UNC

He might as well have picked Perkins as Hakeem's backup :lol

[Gutter92]

I dont like Kobe either but cmon...he's at least a top 10 Laker all time...any1 saying otherwise is lying. I'd put him somewhere in the 7-10 range.

[dunkman]

Kobe is a great player, but as Laker he's clearly bellow Magic, Kareem and Shaq. He's better than Worthy, Gasol or Goodrich though. Wilt and West won few championships, Baylor never.

[Killakobe81]

Kobe is a great player, but as Laker he's clearly bellow Magic, Kareem and Shaq. He's better than Worthy, Gasol or Goodrich though. Wilt and West won few championships, Baylor never.

As a Laker? Kobe is better than shaq and Wilt. In fact Baylor and West have better cases. I can see some of you saying shaq is a greater player when you factor Orlando (though i disagree) but simply as a Laker... Kobe has been a key part of more titles has been the better regular season player clearly since 2002 ...

If you say who is the greater FINALS performer shaq would give magic a run for the money ...

In Lakers history Kobe is only behind Kareem and Magic in some order. I say

1. Magic
2. Kareem
3. Kobe a close 3rd
4. West
5. Shaq
6. Baylor

[JamStone]

Jordan was asked in Slam's 100th issue who would he pick in his Top 5 Players. He picked, Pippen, Olajuwon, Magic and James Worthy. Just shows you the tremendous amount of respect Jordan has for Worthy as a player.

Some Laker fans attributes Worthy's condition in the 91 Finals (along with missing Cap's presence) was the 2 major reasons the Bulls dominated the Lakers.

Calling James Worthy as just a finisher is dumb.

Lol Michael Jordan isn't biased or anything when it comes to his former Tarheel teammate...

Worthy's injured ankle in the 91 Finals didn't help, but it wasn't one of the major reasons. How about the Lakers having no one to defend Michael? 31 PPG on 56% FG shooting. How about Scottie Pippen actually doing a great job defensively on Magic once Phil switched him onto him? How about the Lakers pretty much having no bench that season or post season? How about Byron Scott's disappearing act in the Finals? The series was already in the Bulls' hands before Worthy got injured.

[Killakobe81]

Jordan was asked in Slam's 100th issue who would he pick in his Top 5 Players. He picked, Pippen, Olajuwon, Magic and James Worthy. Just shows you the tremendous amount of respect Jordan has for Worthy as a player.

Some Laker fans attributes Worthy's condition in the 91 Finals (along with missing Cap's presence) was the 2 major reasons the Bulls dominated the Lakers.

Calling James Worthy as just a finisher is dumb.

Smartest post you have ever made.

[dbreiden83080]

http://ballerwives.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/glen-rice-nba.jpg

[rjv]

1) alcindor
2) chamberlain
3) johnson
4) west
5) bryant