Greatest Lakers of All-Time

When it comes to the “all-time” argument, it’s almost always fun and always tough. These are usually tough because you may be arguing with an idiot, because of generations, or just lack of exposure to a certain era. For example, a few nights ago Brian Kenny had a greatest quarterback of all-time list and had Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas 1a and 1b. I can agree on Montana, but I really know nothing about Johnny U. except he wore #19 for the then Baltimore Colts, was known for black shoes and hates the Indianapolis Colts and wanted all ties to the franchise cut. I also know he attended Louisville, only because there’s a college football trophy named in his honor. Otherwise, I know he was a great QB and considered one of the greatest of all time. However, I could never argue that he was better than Montana, not because he wasn’t, but because I saw Montana play. Then you have the Wilt, Russell and Shaq argument that shows how much the game has changed over the generations. Wilt and Russell were big men in a league all by themselves while Shaq was the only big man in a league becoming guard oriented. And arguing with an idiot, well that speaks for itself.

J.A. Adande, best known for his role on Around The Horn, compiled a list of The Five Greatest Lakers. This was a very bold move to create a list like this, especially while Kobe is at the height of his game. A few things were surprising about this list other than the five Lakers that were names. For starters there was not one single mention of the word Minneapolis. I’m not saying where is George Mikan, but this was in fact where the franchise was born and got its name. I’ll try to defend and argue Adande’s list, which is the beauty of…list!

Let me just say it would be impossible for me to list the Five Greatest Lakers. My knowledge and exposure to them go back to around 1987 I believe. That’s when my Dad got me the caricature championship shirt with the cartoon Lakers team surrounding Pat Riley and the Larry O’Brien trophy. Then I remember getting the Magic and Kareem Back to Back shirt the following year. And in 1989 I remember going to Arakawa’s and watching the NBA Finals against the Pistons on the TV’s downstairs. To go off on a tangent I loved that store. If there’s ever anything from my childhood that I miss it was that place. I remember upstairs was the sporting goods and it was so cool. I remember they had sporting goods, memorabilia and everything sports. It was a Field of Dreams inside of a Sports Authority! I used to love looking at the posters of the Raiders defensive backfield “No Passing Zone”, the Chargers “Bombs Away”, and my personal favorite the Joe Morris height chart “Look Ma I’m taller than Joe Morris.” I also got my first batting glove there.

Back to the Lakers list. I could easily make a list of my Five Favorite Lakers which would be Magic, Shaq, Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel and Robert Horry. Honorable mention to Sean Rooks and Glen Rice. But the Five Greatest? From what I know and what history tells me the list has to include Wilt and Kareem even if they came to the Lakers to finish their careers, Magic, Kobe and Shaq. But if I have to include Wilt and Kareem, why can’t include Karl Malone? And why does James Worthy get left out? Worthy left out, but Adande includes Dr. Jerry Buss? Because of this, I believe the list was The Five Most Important Lakers, not the Greatest. Adande’s list goes Kobe, Jerry West, Magic, Jerry Buss and wait for it, wait for it…Chick Hearn. Greatest Lakers? I’m sorry, I don’t think Harry Carey makes the Greatest Cub s list. I love Vin Scully, but he’s not the Greatest Dodger. Important, yes. Greatest, no. So for importance, I like this list, however, I would swap out Kobe Bryant for Vlade Divac. Vlade essentially was traded for Kobe Bryant. Jerry West made that trade happen. Magic brought the Lakers to the forefront of a growing, thriving NBA and allowed Nike and Michael Jordan to avoid becoming L.A. Gear and Xavier McDaniel. Jerry Buss is arguably the greatest franchise owner in sports, and owns the best run franchise. And Chick Hearn brought the Lakers to everyone, and made people want to watch them, or tune in on the radio.

As for Greatest, Magic sits at the top. No questions. I will say this though. I feel that Kobe will surpass Magic in rings to become the Greatest Laker. I’m also going to say, he has a very realistic shot of surpassing Michael Jordan’s six rings to become dare I say a part of the Michael, Magic, Bird argument?