Agreed...let's not forget that he also trusted Fisher to take the crucial shots. More often than not though, 24 took over games as only he could. It is understandable that his immense talent would be difficult for him to harness. Scorers are wired differently. The teammates you mentioned were role players more than anything not the talented, reliable options that Johnson had at his disposal. Worthy was once asked who he would like to be on the same floor with. Johnson or Jordan? He picked the former. 24's drive to dominate even spills over to All-Star games. It is that strong. Bryant to his credit has grown so much in the leadership aspect which even his own revered coach Jackson has praised him for it. He found that right balance that helped the meek Gasol and the flighty Odom flourish. Johnson was no defensive stopper so true. That one I would not dispute. He was always assigned to the 4s who back then were slow and easy to account for. Johnson probably couldn't lock down anything other than his car or his mansion.
Funny how most of the players who ended up with the P&G had more an affinity with it than their previous ones or the ones after. Fox for example does not care for where he was before. McAdoo could never thank West enough springing him out of the East. Mychal Thompson is full on Laker for life. Same with Artest. Norm Nixon... Eddie Jones had his best career moments as a Laker. Even Bynum at his petulant worst probably regard his Laker career fondly. Hopefully, Kupchak and the Busses can bring that shine again to the brand. I don't think I can stand seeing the Southland bleeding The Tenants' colors.
Speaking of selective, lets not mention assists Well Magic can't help it that he only got 12 years in the league. In spite of that he is 5th in assists ahead of people that played far longer. He would never have been on par with Kobe in other scoring stats anyways so the comparison is rather pointless. It's like comparing a sports car to a truck, different purposes, one goes fast, the other carries everything and everyone. Defense, Kobe tops him there for sure. What about leadership though? No stat for that. Magic transformed the game for everyone. Kobe did as well, of course but not in the same way. If I'm a Devean George, I'd rather play with Kobe and take the focus off me, if I'm James Worthy, I'd rather play with Magic. Bottom line is both came as rookies to a team with an all-time great center (in Magic's case a 33 year old center, north of prime, in Kobe's, a 24 year old beast entering his prime) but Magic impacted the team to the degree that they immediately won the championship (in, as you mentioned, a harder era) including throwing his entire team on his shoulders and winning the final game without Kareem. Now THAT is a stat.
No doubt about that. All Laker fans have been very fortunate enough to witness almost all the NBA greats play for this franchise at one point in time if not big part of their careers.
Magic and Kobe are my two favorite Lakers of all time, but I think Kobe is the greatest. Magic's four missed seasons are huge. He was averaging like 20/12 in his season before sitting out; he would have posted monstrous numbers, at least 15/9 for those four years, and he'd have even more ridiculous career numbers. Could he have added another ring? I'm very doubtful, but the numbers matter to a lot of people. Don't forget those seasons.
This. It's a very cool thing to imagine. Imagine 05-06 Kobe in his athletic prime still playing with Shaq. I think we would have gotten revenge on the Pistons in a finals rematch.
