D'Angelo Russell Discussion: Opted In!

Man NVE was fun to watch. I can't believe that single season Laker 3 point record stood for as long as it did.

 

Laker curse on shooters once they wear purple and gold except when drafted by the Lakers like Nicky and DLo

 

They were a great tandem post Showtime, and gave me hope as a Laker fan!

 

really wish those two guys could've been part of the 3-peat

 

I hated the Eddie Jones trade at the time but man was Phil Jackson ahead of his time converting Horry from a SF to stretch 4 to play with Fox. They still putzed around with Grant at the PF but that was the real killer lineup of that 3 pt with those two at the forward spots

 

horry/fox was such an ideal fit because fox was so strong in the base that even against the two-bruiser fronts, you could match up a bit. both guys could defend both spots and were plug and play offensive options around two mega stars.

still a bit sad that shaq wouldn't stay and shape and shaq and kobe couldn't get along. probably would have been the best team in nba history, imo.

 

Depth was an issue for those Shaq/Kobe teams vs the greatest team of all time.
Some of these team like the GS and Bull and 80 lakers/C Bags are just insane in terms of not just top end talent like Shaq/Kobe. Fox/Horry/Fisher/Grant were good roleplayers but other teams had legit all star or multiple all stars across the board
steph, durant,draymond, klay, igoudala, livingston
mj, pippen, rodman, kukoc, harper
parish, bird, mchale, walton, ainge, johnson
Worthy, Magic, Kareem, Scott, Cooper, Thompson (4 first overall picks!: amazing how much talent these top end team could accumulate before expansion hit)

 

I'll pick another one because I don't want to pass up on the opportunity to s*** on Kurt Rambis and the fact that he should have not been allowed to sit in that HC seat for a single game.

Dennis Rodman.

It's documented from Rodman, Shaq, and others how he didn't fit, get along or enjoy that stint but Phil was the Rodman whisperer.

People forget just how good Rodman still was at dominating the boards that year. Averaged 11 boards at age 37. Some of the highs -- 16. 17. 20. 17. 17. 15. 17. Hell, the year prior he finished 5th in the DPOY race. He still had juice.

The Kurt-Rodman interaction that is singed in my brain was a local game where Kurt couldn't get Rodman to put his shoes back on. He was sprawled out along the baseline and wouldn't do it. If memory serves, he even got an assistant and maybe Shaq to ask. No dice. I can't recall if he wanted him to go back in the game or Rodman's feet smelled *that* bad from 8-10 feet away, either's possible. He just didn't respect him one iota and I don't blame him.

Just two months after Rodman's last game was when Phil was hired on. Hell of a sliding doors moment with what could've been achieved for at least 1 season under Phil. Sliding doors also for the off-court mingling. Rodman claims he was dating Jeanie and what would've happened? Would Phil and Jeanie never have been a thing? Does West not feel the power grab if Phil isn't dating the boss's daughter?

 

west hated phil going back to their playing days against each other in the 72 and 73 finals and couldn't handle being upstaged by him. phil dating jeanie was just the cherry on top that led to west basically telling dr. buss that he's out unless phil's fired. rodman or not, he was gone either way

 

This was reported that West did that? How could he possibly expect Buss to fire Phil when he came here and immediately started winning rings? Just curious about the palace intrigue.

 

that's how i always thought it went down. could see west pulling some s*** like that to be honest. its no coincidence that 99-00 was phil's first season with the lakers and west's last

actually, i think where it started going downhill between west/the lakers was when dr. buss gave magic an ownership stake in the mid 90s but didn't do the same for west. i think that always stayed in the back of west's mind

but like i said, west was gone either way. he wasn't going to coexist with phil

 

Plus Phil telling him to get the **** out of his locker room.

 

Mine too!!!

 

I liked how he kept including me with his eye contact as well as who asked the question. That's really cool and unexpected.

 

How the hell does Kobe has 180 as the high mark is what bottles the mind. Can you imagine him in this NBA. That mfer would be in the gym trying to become Curry.