Greatest Lakers ever

[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

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

[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 les 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]

[rjv]

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