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The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the most successful franchises in professional basketball since they began playing in 1948. Then they were the Minneapolis Lakers. Then they also found early success with a big man. His name was George Mikan and he was the first true superstar in basketball. He towered over other players at 6 foot 10 and led the Lakers to the Basketball Association of America (BAA) championship in their first season in the league. The Lakers followed the 1949 championship with a repeat in 1950 after the BAA became the NBA and began a three peat two years later.
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About The Los Angeles Lakers
The Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1959 after Mikan’s knee injuries became too much and the team struggled to remain competitive. The Los Angeles Lakers gave the city its first professional basketball team and immediately had high expectations. Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and Gail Goodrich reinvigorated the team and consistently went to the NBA Finals in the 1960s. Unfortunately, the Lakers met the Boston Celtics all six times and lost each NBA Championship series.
It was not until the addition of Wilt Chamberlain in 1968 that the team started down a new road toward an NBA Finals victory. Chamberlain was the 7 foot 1 center who revolutionized the center position with his blend of height and athleticism. The year after Elgin Baylor retired the Lakers were the most dominant team in the league, going 69-13. The record would stand as the single best season in history until the Chicago Bulls won 72 games in the 1995-96 season. The Los Angeles Lakers ended the dream season with their first NBA Championship since George Mikan anchored the team in 1954.
Wilt and West retired soon after and the Los Angeles Lakers began rebuilding a championship team. The first move was to fill the hole left in the post by Chamberlain’s departure. The team traded three players for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in one of the most lopsided trades in history. Abdul-Jabbar was the lone star on the team for the next few seasons, but Los Angeles drafted Magic Johnson in 1979 and the years known for the Showtime Lakers began.
Magic Johnson possessed the rare skills of a point guard in the body of a power forward. The 6 foot 9 could see the entire court and had the passing ability to make any play. His rookie season brought the Lakers back to the NBA Finals and his performance as the NBA Finals MVP brought the title back to the Los Angeles Lakers. Two years later the Lakers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers again to win the franchise’s eighth title.
The early wing players of the Showtime Lakers, Jamaal Wilkes and Norm Nixon, were replaced by James Worthy, Byron Scott, and Michael Cooper. The Los Angeles Lakers won three more titles and began a new rivalry with the Boston Celtics. The Lakers won five championships in the decade while the Celtics won three and the Lakers won two of the teams’ three meetings in the NBA Finals.
Age caught up with the Lakers and the days of the fast break and smooth passing eventually ended. The next decade found the Lakers struggling for the first time in years. By the late ‘90s the future looked bright for the franchise as the new stars for the Los Angeles Lakers became Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. Shaq was the next power house at center to grace the floor for the Lakers and Kobe became an unstoppable perimeter player.
The Los Angeles Lakers finally found the spark they needed when Phil Jackson took over as coach. His reputation for being able to handle incredibly talented players proved true as the Lakers won three straight championships from the 1999-2000 season to the 2001-02 season. Though the Lakers often seemed to lose interest during the regular season, the team came alive in the playoffs and could not be stopped.
After the three-peat the rest of the league caught up and the San Antonio Spurs became their chief rivals, being the only team that could beat them in the postseason. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar duo began to tear the team apart as their personal rift began to spill onto the court and by 2004, Shaq was traded to the Miami Heat. The trade was supposed to bring a dark age to Los Angeles for hoops, but after only a single season in the lottery Kobe Bryant took the team back to the playoffs.
Bryant became increasingly frustrated with the front office as he saw his only help coming from Lamar Odom and demanded to be traded prior to the 2007-08 season. Instead young players like Andrew Bynum became solid forces and role players like Luke Walton began to lighten the load for the star guard. The Los Angeles Lakers took advantage of the fire sale by the Memphis Grizzlies and acquired Pau Gasol, a talented forward/center who had suffered for years with a hopeless Grizzlies franchise.
Suddenly the Los Angeles Lakers went from playoff question marks to championship contenders. In a match up that made the basketball fans all over happy, the Lakers met the Celtics in the NBA Finals. The Celtics emerged victorious, but the Lakers began the first year of many at the Staples Center with a young talented roster signed to a long term contracts.
The Los Angeles Lakers are automatically part of the championship discussion after last season’s acquisitions and their performance in the playoffs. Kobe Bryant is perhaps the best player in the league. His killer instinct is unmatched in the league and his talent is otherworldly. With the versatile Lamar Odom at small forward, Pau Gasol at his natural power forward position, and Andrew Bynum back form injury after his breakout performance last year, the Lakers are stacked.
Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmer are not the most talented pair at pint guard, but with this roster and the ability of Odom and Bryant to handle the ball they do not have to be. Luke Walton and Vladimir Radmanovic are excellent off the bench. Walton is a less athletic, but equally versatile version of Odom (minus the defense) and Radmanovic is a standout shooter who could be starting on several other clubs. The Los Angeles Lakers biggest question is whether the team can become a cohesive unit. The offensive production should be fine, but that cohesion is necessary when looking at the defensive deficiency of many of the key players.
Phil Jackson is once again blessed with a tremendously talented team and with his ability to get the most out of the very best this Lakers squad could easily end up in the NBA Finals again.
