What If: Chris Webber Wanted To Be A Laker

He said in an interview that wanted out of Washington in 1998 and his preferred destination was the Lakers. He said he thought there was gonna be a trade involving Nick Van Exel, Eddie Jones and Elden Campbell for him was gonna happen. Instead, he got dealt to the Kings. Imagine, Kobe, Shaq & C-Webb on the same team in a Lakers uniform. Would you say that would have been a great trade? How many NBA Championships would they win?

 

Damn, that would have changed lots of things--the rivalry with the Kings would have been nowhere as intense as it was with him up un cowbell country

 

We would have won more titles for sure.

 

my god; that would have been ridiculous. in that era, cwebb's spacing as a pf on offense was plenty for a shaq/kobe team (as malone showed for his half season here).

i'm not sure anyone except the blazers would have taken a single playoff game against us for a five-year span.

 

just a souped up Elden Campbell tbh

 

likely would've won 5 in a row from 00-04

 

Man, those '04 Finals were so brutal.

 

still wonder how that series would've turned out if malone had been healthy. detroit was historically good on defense so they probably win it all anyways, but it certainly would've been closer

that entire season was just a nightmare, much like 12-13

 

Interesting article on Webber and the Timeout Game, and how he benefitted:

Chris Webber on how the "timeout game" both did and did not define him (nbcsports.com)

 

I don't think so. I think Malone crushes it just like he did against Yao. He's stronger and smarter than Sheed and even Big Ben. He also helps keep the locker room together. I think it goes 6, maybe 7. But with Malone healthy, there's no chance they beat us.

Just a reminder of what this monster did against the Rockets (30 points, 20 in the first half in this one)


His ripped jersey and chest pounding moment was one of my favorite moments of that season.

 

healthy Malone and Det’s whole defensive strategy crumbles. People forget we played slava and rookie Walton in his stead…just incredible difference.

we would have beaten them handily.

 

Yup, most people forget we were 20-3 at one point and basically wiping the floor with the entire league. Also both Shaq and Kobe got injured too, so we were all hobbled come playoff time and still made the NBA Finals.

That was probably one of the greatest teams in NBA history if not for injuries. But hey such is life. We have another shot this year with Westbrook.

 

yeah, i find it quite annoying that so many people talk about that as a failed experiment or cautionary tale. ummm....we were the best team in the league by a longshot.

injuries tanked us.

one could make a stronger argument that the howard/kobe/nash team might have been a failed experiment (though again, nash basically broke his leg in game 1!), but not the malone era lakers. that was clearly a roaring success. was brooklyn's team last year a failed experiment or cautionary tale?

 

Yeah, the only failed experiment that year was GP in the triangle and Phil not letting GP do his thing. Phil was too stubborn and years later admitted to as much. I still think he played a big role in keeping Kobe and Shaq from killing one another in the locker room, so maybe his locker room presence was bigger than his on the court presence. But not even that square peg in a triangle hole was stopping us from winning if injuries didn't derail things.

I think a healthy 04 team would've been much better than a healthy Kobe/Nash/Dwight trio. Their goals and agendas weren't aligned and the coach was a bafoon whereas in 04 there was a singular goal and we had one of the best coaches to ever do it. GP was the bad fit in 04 with our coach. Kobe would have been the one who didn't fit next to Nash, Dwight, and MDA unless he just went rogue and ignored the clown. Big difference. There's been a lot of what ifs, I'll run through a few below, but one that irks me the most that we had control over was shunning Phil in the 12th hour for MDA.


Back on the Webber topic, the spacing he would've given Shaq would have made him even more unstoppable... if that was possible. Phil would've loved using him as a facilitating big at the top of the post. And Sac Town would've never been a thing.

Here's an old B/R article running through some trades that weren't...
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1102429-top-11-trades-that-would-have-changed-the-game

-Peak Barkley to LA would've been HUGE after Magic retired.
-CP3 has been discussed to death, but still stings.
- Getting Anthony Mason's toughness and Kukoc shooting would've been nice in 00. There were a lot of attempts from Phil to get Toni in purple and gold over the years. Seemed like a lock that he or Pip were going to make their way here during our run.

 

exactly. people forget just how good the 04 lakers were before malone got hurt. they just remember them losing the finals to an underdog pistons team

i wouldn't even call the 13 lakers a failed experiment. dwight was coming off major back surgery and 40 year old nash broke his leg in like the second game. everyone forgets that

 

Yep …. Yep.