Comments on: Lakers: NBA Royalty http://www.thewannabesportsguy.com/2010/01/lakers-nba-royalty/ Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:26:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Ryan Mathews http://www.thewannabesportsguy.com/2010/01/lakers-nba-royalty/comment-page-1/#comment-24 Ryan Mathews Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:34:55 +0000 http://www.thewannabesportsguy.com/?p=357#comment-24 If you're going to take away titles from the Celtics because Russell "did not have a descent center to play against him during that decade", then I can take away all five titles from the Mikan era with more than enough justification. If anyone didn't have competition, it was Mikan during the era in which he played. At 6'10", he was hardly rivaled by any players due to his size (which was at a premium and hardly rivaled) and unique skill set (being his frame and the sheer size he was...) that separated him from any other big at that time. The breakdown of a few players taller than Mikan? Jim Slaughter who stood at 6-11 and only managed to make it through one NBA season in 1951-52. His statistical output that year? A sterling 5 points a game to go with an earth shattering, glass decimating 5 rebounds. Chuck Share standing at 6-11 who was a career 8 and 8 guy who peaked in '56 with 13-11. Coincidentally, this was the year where virtually everybody saw their stats increase (mostly due to the institution of the 24 shot clock, but still, forwards and centers weren't facing Mikan up to 11 times a season anymore) as a hobbled Mikan managed to only play 20 minutes a game over 37 games (George was the acting GM for the Lakers and after they started a dismal 5-15, he made his "comeback"). With that in mind, almost the entire pre-shot clock era can be discredited to an extent because the shot clock was what revitalized the NBA and kept players like Mikan, who couldn't handle a season (little lone 31 games), hobbling and panting to keep up with the shot clock. On the other hand, Russell (as well as Chamberlain because I don't want to try and provide any reason to believe I'm being bias), on the other hand, played against the likes of Chamberlain, Pettit, Schayes, Kerr, Thurmond, and Reed. Hell, I could go on, but that is more elite centers than there is in the NBA now, and Russell played them night in, night out with the number of teams in the league at that point in time. Oh, and as for Magic being so talented that he could beat Larry with his right hand behind his back and spotting him seven? Basketball, last time I checked, was a team sport, and championships are won as a team. As a matter of fact, when Magic did hold that title of all-time assists leader in NBA history, he couldn't have done that without teammates like Kareem, Worthy, Scott, Cooper, McAdoo, and Wilkes. Some food for thought, "Larry, you only told me one lie. You said there will be another Larry Bird. Larry, there will never, ever be another Larry Bird," Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Warm regards (it's freezing here in Detroit), Ryan Mathews If you’re going to take away titles from the Celtics because Russell “did not have a descent center to play against him during that decade”, then I can take away all five titles from the Mikan era with more than enough justification. If anyone didn’t have competition, it was Mikan during the era in which he played. At 6′10″, he was hardly rivaled by any players due to his size (which was at a premium and hardly rivaled) and unique skill set (being his frame and the sheer size he was…) that separated him from any other big at that time.

The breakdown of a few players taller than Mikan? Jim Slaughter who stood at 6-11 and only managed to make it through one NBA season in 1951-52. His statistical output that year? A sterling 5 points a game to go with an earth shattering, glass decimating 5 rebounds. Chuck Share standing at 6-11 who was a career 8 and 8 guy who peaked in ‘56 with 13-11. Coincidentally, this was the year where virtually everybody saw their stats increase (mostly due to the institution of the 24 shot clock, but still, forwards and centers weren’t facing Mikan up to 11 times a season anymore) as a hobbled Mikan managed to only play 20 minutes a game over 37 games (George was the acting GM for the Lakers and after they started a dismal 5-15, he made his “comeback”).

With that in mind, almost the entire pre-shot clock era can be discredited to an extent because the shot clock was what revitalized the NBA and kept players like Mikan, who couldn’t handle a season (little lone 31 games), hobbling and panting to keep up with the shot clock. On the other hand, Russell (as well as Chamberlain because I don’t want to try and provide any reason to believe I’m being bias), on the other hand, played against the likes of Chamberlain, Pettit, Schayes, Kerr, Thurmond, and Reed. Hell, I could go on, but that is more elite centers than there is in the NBA now, and Russell played them night in, night out with the number of teams in the league at that point in time.

Oh, and as for Magic being so talented that he could beat Larry with his right hand behind his back and spotting him seven? Basketball, last time I checked, was a team sport, and championships are won as a team. As a matter of fact, when Magic did hold that title of all-time assists leader in NBA history, he couldn’t have done that without teammates like Kareem, Worthy, Scott, Cooper, McAdoo, and Wilkes. Some food for thought, “Larry, you only told me one lie. You said there will be another Larry Bird. Larry, there will never, ever be another Larry Bird,” Earvin “Magic” Johnson.

Warm regards (it’s freezing here in Detroit),
Ryan Mathews

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