slava! holy crap, i thought he fell off the earth or something. haven't seen or heard anything about him since he left the lakers
I miss watching Kobe and wondering if he was going for an average night of 35 or was he gonna outscore the Mavs by himself, or do something else out of this world.
I think I'll break out my Blu Ray set of the 2010 Finals to make myself feel better. Of course, I will skip Games 2, 4 and 5. ...dug Artest but Ariza was another favorite during the last few years. In the 2009 Finals he had Turkoglu so flustered that the latter took exception. Then there was him flattening Rudy Fernandez up in Portland. Those two game sealing steals against Denver. Thank you Goose!
I miss teams being scared of us. I miss knowing that every game we played was circled on the opposition teams calender and that every game we played was the oppositions A game, them playing at their absolute upper limit.. I miss beat L.A chants, and M.V.P (Kobe) chants erupting due to the disciplined excellence of our star and team. I miss so many things, but feel better for having seen them as I know some teams have never, will never experience them. We will return and until then so many great memories keep my love of the Lakers strong. Magic, Worthy, Kobe, Horry, Shaq, Fox, Fisher, Odom, Artest, Ariza, Phil. So many amazing posts on this thread. It's about celebration not sadness.
^Oh I think we'll be back slapping around opposing teams in our place...and theirs. It will take time but it will happen.
I miss Gasol. Yea he sucked in his last few years with the Lakers, but the guy was a consummate professional, great teammate, the reason we won those two championships, and probably a future HOF. I really do hope his jersey # is retired with Kobe when it's all said and done
fisher. great call. I can't think of another player with such sustained sub-mediocrity whose highs were so incredibly high as to make you forget about the rest. winner. hope to see a couple more of those coming this way.
I miss Eddie Jones. I wish we could have signed him back in the championship years. But being traded cut him deep and he never considered coming back I guess.
He was one of my favorite Lakers KTG33. Rumor was that he actually wanted to be traded at that point and that Jerry Buss tried to talk him into staying. He had gotten sick of being in every trade rumor that came up (starting with Mitch Richmond) and Shaq seemed to want him gone ("gimme a shooter, gimme a rebounder" . . .). I, too, wish we could have had him for the championship runs. I loved seeing Eddie Jones and Kobe Bryant together in the backcourt. That was Del Harris' secret weapon. It would have been a perfect backcourt for Phil Jackson and the triangle - two 6 foot 6 guards who could lock it down on D. Sick. Ah well. I never cozied up to Glen Rice. Too selfish a player, especially when Eddie was so unselfish.
I miss winning. When you turned on a lakers game and saw a team clicking the time where you knew that sooner or later the team would 'figure it out' and when they did - they were unstoppable. That feeling of 'will this work?' and the satisfaction and pride you had as a laker fan in knowing that if you trusted the organization - a banner and rings were coming but not before you watched the Lakers abuse teams with their ball movement and defense. Felt it in 1979-80 when Magic took the court. Felt it when B-Scott joined the crew. Felt it with Big Game and AC were drafted. Felt it when Lakers picked up McAdoo, and Thompson. Felt it when lakers tried to cobble something out of nothing and drafted Eddie Jones and then suddenly Re-invented themselves again...and again...its coming...the curse of the CP3 trade will be broken and it will be glorious. I miss how scared teams were to play the lakers (and beating the snot out of teams like the clippers). We will rise again.
