Old school Showtime....

[The_Tick]

I am not a Laker fan...but I grew up in California in the mid-80's and you couldn't help but admire the Lakers and what they were doing. I was an envious Jazz fan and I admit it.

I was driving around the oilfield today listening to some sports radio and they were talking about how bad this years team really is after Kobe/Gasol. Ariza is so so, Odom is so so, Bynum a bust this year. Other than that....bleh. Fisher is long in the tooth.

So I started thinking about "Showtime":

Magic
Kareem
James Worthy
A.C. Green
Michael Cooper
Byron Scott
Kurt Rambis

Really...how did this team ever lose? The Celtics of the 80's were amazing also.

I hated Jordan. But the older I get, the respect I have for his as a basketball player has grown.

The farther away Showtime gets....man those were some good freaking players.

[TripletDaddy]

The odds say that you are not going to win them all. But the Showtime Lakers went to the Finals 8 times and won 5 of them. It was a great decade.

Their lineup was sick. At one point, they ran out on the floor 4 #1 draft picks (Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Mychal Thompson) and a #4 draft pick (Byron Scott). You will never ever see that again in the NBA. Or probably any other sport. Just having 2 #1 picks on your team at once is mind boggling. Having 4...yowza.

No wonder Riley guaranteed another championship at the podium.

I hate to burst your bubble but triple double trouble
is coming to your town and he's gonna make rubble.
LA Lakers, fast break makers
kings of the court shake and bake all takers
Back to back is a bad-arse fact. A claim that remains intact.

[il Padrino Ute]

So I started thinking about "Showtime":

Magic
Kareem
James Worthy
A.C. Green
Michael Cooper
Byron Scott
Kurt Rambis

Jamaal Wilkes
Mychael Thompson

Those were some great teams.

[il Padrino Ute]

Their lineup was sick. At one point, they ran out on the floor 4 #1 draft picks (Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Mychal Thompson) and a #4 draft pick (Byron Scott). You will never ever see that again in the NBA. Or probably any other sport. Just having 2 #1 picks on your team at once is mind boggling. Having 4...yowza.

You're right. There won't be that kind of depth ever again. It's a result of the dilution of the league by expansion. The NBA got bigger and worse.

Think of these starting lineups for the Lakers and Celtics:

Lakers
Magic
Scott
Kareem
Worthy
Thompson

Celtics
DJ
Ainge
Parrish
Bird
McHale


Ridiculous.

[Donuthole]

You're right. There won't be that kind of depth ever again. It's a result of the dilution of the league by expansion. The NBA got bigger and worse.

Yep. Cut out all of the expansion teams since then (Hornets, Magic, Timberwolves, Raptors, Grizzlies, Bobcats, Heat) and spread their players over the remaining 23 teams, and you'd probably end up with a couple teams as stacked as those. If you got rid of those 7 franchises, think of some of the players who would be adding depth to the remaining teams:

Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, Rashard Lewis, Hedo Turkoglu, Al Jefferson, Kevin Love, Randy Foye, Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon, Andrea Bargnani, Rudy Gay, OJ Mayo, Emeka Okafor, Gerald Wallace, Dwayne Wade, Michael Beasley, Jermaine O'neal. etc.

[Hazzard]

You're right. There won't be that kind of depth ever again. It's a result of the dilution of the league by expansion. The NBA got bigger and worse.

I'm not sure I agree with the dilution argument. Since the 1980's, I believe the NBA has grown from 23 teams to 30 teams -- about 30% larger. But with the explosion of basketball worldwide, hasn't the pool of talented players from which to choose grown by more than 30%? Judging by the number of foreigners on NBA teams, that seems to be the case.

Isn't the dilution of talent due more to the changes in draft/trade/free agent rules? You NBA gurus out there can correct me if I'm wrong ...

[il Padrino Ute]

I'm not sure I agree with the dilution argument. Since the 1980's, I believe the NBA has grown from 23 teams to 30 teams -- about 30% larger. But with the explosion of basketball worldwide, hasn't the pool of talented players from which to choose grown by more than 30%? Judging by the number of foreigners on NBA teams, that seems to be the case.

Isn't the dilution of talent due more to the changes in draft/trade/free agent rules? You NBA gurus out there can correct me if I'm wrong ...

My argument is that expansion has diluted the talent in the NBA because there are more players in the league that would not be there had expansion not happened. Less teams means fewer players. Fewer players means only the best are in.

There are certainly very talented foreign players who would be in the NBA today even with fewer teams. All expansion did was allow less talented basketball players to play in the league in order to fill roster spots.

[HBCoug]

The odds say that you are not going to win them all. But the Showtime Lakers went to the Finals 8 times and won 5 of them. It was a great decade.

Their lineup was sick. At one point, they ran out on the floor 4 #1 draft picks (Kareem, Magic, Worthy, Mychal Thompson) and a #4 draft pick (Byron Scott). You will never ever see that again in the NBA. Or probably any other sport. Just having 2 #1 picks on your team at once is mind boggling. Having 4...yowza.

No wonder Riley guaranteed another championship at the podium.

I hate to burst your bubble but triple double trouble
is coming to your town and he's gonna make rubble.
LA Lakers, fast break makers
kings of the court shake and bake all takers
Back to back is a bad-arse fact. A claim that remains intact.

Lakers are the team that I watch on the telly 'cuz they got more moves than a bowl full of jelly. The Buck stops here, pops then cheers. A roar through the Forum that deafens my ears.