A look back at the greatest basketball franchise ever

A look back at the greatest basketball franchise ever

Postby 3Peatkb24 » Tue Oct 06, 2020 9:19 pm

Once the Lakers capture #17, the debate is simply over between Lakers and Celtics. The Celtics have won 17 as well but we have been to the Finals a lot more and our all-time greats simply outweigh theirs. Somewhere my buddy Bill Simmons is crying about now but he knows this is true. Imagine the Lakers rolling out an all-time lineup of:
PG Magic Johnson
SG Jerry West
SF Kobe Bryant here
PF LeBron James here
C Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and I left off George Mikan, Wilt, and Shaq :roflmao: . Not to mention Elgin Baylor or James Worthy at either Forward spot.

Minneapolis Lakers were World Champions:
1949. 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954

LA Lakers were World Champions:
1972, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010, and with 2020 coming shortly we finally catch the Celtics. It is about damn time, I have waited for this moment for a long time :kingclaphands: .

Hats off to the greatest basketball franchise of all-time!
4 best Titles- 1988 Repeat Lakers/2002 3Peat Lakers/2006 Colts/2016 Cubs
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Re: A look back at the greatest basketball franchise ever

Postby lakerevolution » Thu Oct 08, 2020 6:37 pm

The newly-formed Lakers had the first pick in the 1947 Professional Basketball League of America dispersal draft, which they used to select George Mikan, later to become one of the greatest centers of his time. With Mikan, new coach John Kundla and an infusion of former University of Minnesota players to replace those lost prior to the relocation, the Lakers won the NBL championship in their first season.

The next year, the Lakers switched to the 12-team Basketball Association of America (BAA) and proceeded to win the championship in that season. As the BAA is considered the direct lineal ancestor of today's NBA, this 1949 BAA championship is recognized today as an official NBA championship for the Lakers, whereas their 1948 NBL championship is not. This makes the Lakers the most successful expansion team in NBA history, since the NBA does not recognize NBL records and considers the Lakers to be a 1948 expansion team. The next year saw the absorbing of the defunct NBL by the BAA, to form today's NBA, and the Lakers won the championship on the backs of Mikan, Vern Mikkelsen, and future National Football League coach Bud Grant.

The Lakers' two-year streak of championships came to an end in 1951, when they lost to the Rochester Royals in the NBA Western Division Finals. Nevertheless, they rebounded from that defeat to capture the title for the next three consecutive years, thus becoming the NBA's first "dynasty", having won five BAA/NBA championships in six years. In addition to Mikan and Mikkelsen, the Lakers teams of these years also featured future Hall of Famers in Jim Pollard, Slater Martin, and Clyde Lovellette. During this time, the team also participated in the lowest-scoring game in NBA history; on November 22, 1950, the Lakers fell to the Fort Wayne Pistons by a score of 19–18. This contest later proved to be a factor in the league's introduction of the shot clock.[
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Re: A look back at the greatest basketball franchise ever

Postby lakerevolution » Thu Oct 08, 2020 6:39 pm

After Mikan's retirement, attendance at Lakers games dropped off sharply. In 1957, the team was nearly sold to Kansas City interests who planned to relocate it there, before a local group helmed by businessman Bob Short purchased the team and kept it in Minneapolis. The new ownership was unable to cure the team's financial ills, however.

The Lakers found their way back the playoffs in 1957, when they lost to the Hawks once more. The following year was disastrous, however, as Mikan became head coach before finding he was not suited to the task. After compiling a 9–30 record, he stepped aside in favor of Kundla, but the Lakers found themselves last in the league that year with a 19–53 record.
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Re: A look back at the greatest basketball franchise ever

Postby lakerevolution » Thu Oct 08, 2020 6:45 pm

Last place, however, meant the first pick in the draft, and the Lakers chose wisely, picking Elgin Baylor, who went on to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award after averaging 24.9 points per game and 15.0 rebounds per game. In 1959, Baylor and Mikkelsen were able to lead the team past their recent nemesis, the Hawks, and into the Finals, where they fell to the then-emerging Boston Celtics in the first four-game sweep in NBA Finals history. This marked the start of the long rivalry between the two teams. 1960 saw the Lakers start poorly, but they managed to make the playoffs with a meager 25–50 record.

In 1958, the Brooklyn Dodgers of Major League Baseball moved to Los Angeles and quickly became a huge financial success. Owner Bob Short did not fail to notice this. After considering moves to Chicago and San Francisco, he decided to move the franchise to Los Angeles prior to the 1961 season, making the Lakers the NBA's first West Coast team. The Lakers did not change their name after this second move, despite the general scarcity of natural lakes in southern California. Minneapolis, meanwhile, would remain without an NBA franchise until the debut of the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1989.
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Re: A look back at the greatest basketball franchise ever

Postby lakerevolution » Thu Oct 08, 2020 6:50 pm

The new Los Angeles Lakers, behind Baylor's 34.8 points per game and 19.8 rebounds per game, improved on the previous year's results before losing once more to the Hawks in the Western Conference Finals. The duo of Baylor and West proved to be lethal and they both finished among the NBA's top 10 scorers for the next four years. Baylor was called to active military duty during the 1961–62 season following the Berlin crisis and was only available on weekends. Nevertheless, Baylor and West went on to average 38.3 and 30.8 points per game respectively during the regular season. The Lakers were able to pull together and make the NBA Finals, only to lose in heartbreaking fashion to a now-dominant Celtics team.
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Re: A look back at the greatest basketball franchise ever

Postby lakerevolution » Thu Oct 08, 2020 6:56 pm

It had become clear that the Lakers needed to counter the great Celtics center, Bill Russell, and thus Cooke obtained Wilt Chamberlain from the Philadelphia 76ers, hoping to supplement the aging and ailing Baylor. The move seemed at first to have worked, as the 1969 Lakers proceeded to compile a better record than the Celtics behind Chamberlain's league leading 21.1 rebounds per game. The two clubs met once again in the NBA Finals, but for the first time the Lakers had the advantage as they were clearly considered the better team entering the series by most observers. However, they once again failed to top their rivals and the Celtics emerged from the series as victorious yet again, winning their 11th NBA Championship in 13 seasons. That 1969 championship series is also notable in that Jerry West was named the first-ever Finals MVP; this remains the only time that a member of the losing team has won the award.

1970 saw Jerry West win the NBA scoring title at 31.2 points per game, and the Lakers returned to the Finals where, for the first time since moving to Los Angeles, they did not have to face the Celtics. This time it was the New York Knicks, a team which included future Lakers coach Phil Jackson. West made a memorable 60-foot shot as the fourth-quarter buzzer sounded in Game 3, forcing that game into overtime and helping West earn the nickname "Mr. Clutch". However, the Knicks recovered from what might have seemed a crushing blow and took the game in overtime.

In Game 5, Knicks center Willis Reed tore a muscle in his leg and it looked as if he would not play again in the series. However, the Knicks found a way to win Game 5 without him. Afterward, the Lakers took Game 6 to force a seventh and final game back in New York. With everyone speculating as to his status for the game, Reed created one of the most memorable moments in NBA history as he came out of the Madison Square Garden tunnel and onto the court to start Game 7. To the roar of the crowd, Reed scored the first two baskets and the Knicks were off and running. Reed left the game for good at halftime, but the inspired Knicks already had 24-point lead at that point, and went on to rout the Lakers. It was Los Angeles' seventh NBA Finals failure in the last nine years.
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Re: A look back at the greatest basketball franchise ever

Postby lakerevolution » Thu Oct 08, 2020 6:58 pm

The next year would not be the Lakers' year either. Baylor played in only two games due to injuries, and the Milwaukee Bucks, led by Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), defeated Los Angeles in the Western Conference Finals. That year, however, did see the Laker debut of their future coach, Pat Riley.

No one could have foreseen the team's domination the next season, however. Bill Sharman had been installed as the new head coach, and on the afternoon of November 9, 1971, just nine games into the season, the legendary Elgin Baylor retired, finally accepting that his injuries would no longer allow him to play professional basketball. That very evening, the Lakers proceeded to win the first game of what would turn out to be a 33-game winning streak; the streak was snapped with a loss to the Bucks on January 9, 1972. The streak shattered the previous NBA record of 20 consecutive victories, which happened to have been set by the Bucks the year before. To this day, the Lakers' 33-game winning streak remains the longest winning streak in the history of any major North American professional sport.

The Lakers set another record in 1972 by winning 69 games; this mark would stand for nearly a quarter of a century. Los Angeles led the league in scoring, rebounds, and assists, and Sharman was named Coach of the Year. Chamberlain led the NBA in field goal percentage and rebounding, and West led the NBA in assists. Not only that, but the Lakers at long last shook the monkey off their back, conquering the Knicks in the 1972 NBA Finals to claim their first NBA title since 1954 and their first since moving to Los Angeles.

The Lakers would fall to the Knicks in the Finals in 1973, and Chamberlain, who had set a record for field-goal percentage that year, making 72.7% of his shots, announced his retirement. West followed suit a year after that and the Lakers bottomed out in 1975, finishing 30–52 and failing to make the playoffs for the first time in 17 years.
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Re: A look back at the greatest basketball franchise ever

Postby lakerevolution » Thu Oct 08, 2020 7:06 pm

Before the 1979–80 season, Cooke sold the team to Dr. Jerry Buss, a Santa Monica real estate developer. That year also found the Lakers holding the top overall draft pick in the Western Conference, compensation for Goodrich's departure via free agency three years earlier to the New Orleans Jazz. At the time, the overall top pick in the draft was decided by a coin toss between the two teams with the top picks in each respective conference. The Eastern Conference team was the Chicago Bulls. The Lakers won the coin toss and selected Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who had just led Michigan State University to the NCAA championship, and was along with Indiana State University forward Larry Bird one of the top prospects in the 1979 draft.

Just 14 games into the season, the Lakers' rookie head coach, Jack McKinney suffered a serious head injury in a bicycle accident. Assistant coach Paul Westhead stepped in as the team's new head coach. Officially, Westhead began his head coaching term serving as the "interim" head coach. But the severity of McKinney's injury meant a long convalescence, and that combined with Westhead's subsequent success in the job ultimately meant that McKinney would not return to the Lakers. Westhead's promotion to the head coaching position also meant there was an assistant's post open, for which the Lakers hired then-TV commentator Pat Riley to fill in. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had a fantastic year (earning his sixth and final MVP award) as the Lakers won 60 regular season games. They beat the Suns and SuperSonics in the playoffs and then defeated Julius Erving's 76ers to win the NBA championship, behind an incredible Game 6 performance by the rookie Magic Johnson, who scored 42 points, pulled 15 rebounds, and dished 7 assists, while starting at center for an injured Abdul-Jabbar. That alone won Johnson the first of his three Finals MVP awards.
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Re: A look back at the greatest basketball franchise ever

Postby lakerevolution » Thu Oct 08, 2020 7:09 pm

Under the tutelage of new head coach Pat Riley, the Lakers returned to the finals that year by beating Phoenix and San Antonio in the playoffs. Furthermore, they found themselves again with the top overall draft pick, thanks to a trade two years earlier with the last-place Cleveland Cavaliers. This marked the first time that a reigning NBA champion also had the first pick in the draft. The Lakers used that pick to select James Worthy. Worthy had a strong rookie campaign, but he broke his leg at the end of the season and could only watch helplessly as the Lakers, also hobbled by injuries in the post-season to Bob McAdoo and Norm Nixon, were swept by the powerful 76ers, led by regular season and Finals MVP Moses Malone, in the 1983 NBA Finals.

Byron Scott joined the team the next year, in a trade for the popular Norm Nixon, and the Lakers got off to a roaring start. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar set the NBA all-time scoring record against Utah on April 5, 1984, topping Wilt Chamberlain's 31,419. The Lakers returned to the finals to face Larry Bird's Boston Celtics. The 1984 Finals were a brutal slugfest with games 1, 2, 5, and 7 played in the June heat and humidity of Boston Garden. The Celtics won the last match 111–102 to clinch the championship.
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Re: A look back at the greatest basketball franchise ever

Postby lakerevolution » Thu Oct 08, 2020 7:26 pm

Really good article about the top-ten Laker short-timers who helped lead the squad to a championship:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/syndicatio ... s.amp.html

_________________

Jim McMillian

Seasons With the Lakers: 1970-1973

Championship Season: 1972

Stats With LA: 15.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 2.3 apg, 47% FG, 81% FT

When many think of the great Lakers teams of the late 1960s and early 1970s, they think of superstars like Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor. Even after those three players, Gail Goodrich often comes to mind.

But we can see how important Jim McMillian was for those teams. The Lakers started a North American professional-sports franchise-record winning streak of 33 games when Baylor retired and Jim McMillian took his place in the lineup.

In fact, during the 1971-1972 season, McMillian averaged 18.8 points per game while totaliing a .482 field-goal percentage. This was hardly surprising to those familiar with his highly-successful career at Columbia University.

That 1971-1972 Lakers team may arguably be the best team in NBA history, as not only did it put up the all-time winning streak record, but it also holds the records for point differential (+12.3) and road winning percentage (.816). In addition, the team led the NBA that season in points scored, rebounding and assists.

Jim McMillian continued his impressive play throughout that historic playoff season as he notched 19.1 points per game in helping the Lakers secure their first championship in Los Angeles.

McMillian certainly impressed many in just his second season in the league. While he picked up much of the scoring, teammate Happy Hairston focused on rebounding. Together, these two were able to make up for the absence of Elgin Baylor, truly one of the premier legends of the game.
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