The Lakers Research Paper

Kobe came into the league in the most ideal scenario; he was picked by a big market, star studded, rich organization, the Los Angeles Lakers. To add to that, Kobe had 0 pressure due to the other superstar in town, Shaquille O’Neal. Kobe would be the robin to Shaq’s Batman, and by doing so, Kobe would have 3 championships in a row. In historical context, on the NBA’s chess board, Kobe was a knight; he was important but they could do without him. Kobe did not become an important piece until in his ninth year, when he was stranded with NBA journeymen. Comparing them to his old teammates was like comparing minute maid orange juice to Dom Perignon champagne. So, Kobe was granted permission to do whatever he wanted with the basketball in his hands, which lead to his average points per game going up, and his shooting efficiency to go down. LeBron however, was not drafted into success with no pressure and a Batman like Kobe was; he was the most anticipated basketball player ever, expected to lift a team, rather a city, whom had not won a sports championship since 1964, out from the ashes and into the limelight,at the age of 18. Unlike Kobe, Lebron had all the pressure to live up to his prophecy from the moment he stepped on the NBA’s basketball court and he did not disappoint. In fact, LeBron put up stats never before seen from a player so young, changing NBA history in the process. At 19, he

Initially, he struggled coaching a high school in Kentucky as he led his team to a 6-11 season. However, he returned to his hometown in Indiana, where he taught English and coached the basketball team at South Bend Central High School. After his career in South Bend, he became the athletic director and coach for the basketball team at Indiana State Teachers College. There his team won back-to-back titles and had an impressive 44-15 record for two seasons. This is where his coaching career started to heat up. In 1948, he became the basketball coach for the UCLA Bruins. In his first eight seasons they won three Pacific Coast Conference Titles. He then went on to lead UCLA to a perfect season and a national championship, and won coach of the year. With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton, UCLA went on to have three undefeated seasons, as well as seven straight championships. However, in 1974, their 88-game winning streak ended and Wooden “The Wizard of Westwood” had retired with a 664-162 record and 10 national championships after 29 years of coaching.

Magic left college after his sophomore year in 1979 to join the Los Angeles Lakers. Magic made made NBA thirteen years with the Lakers, Magic made NBA history by accomplishing virtually everything a basketball player could dream of doing.

The 76ers had a record of 68-13 and the Lakers had a record of 69-13 which was “the two best marks in NBA history until the Chicago Bulls’ 72-10 record in 1995-96” (Sachare 28). The Lakers also had “33 straight victories with an average winning margin of 12.3 points, best in NBA history [Note: the record for average winning margin has been broken since the writing of this article by the San Antonio Spurs in 2015-2016]” (“Wilt was larger than life…”). Wilt Chamberlain carried the 76ers team, leading them in every important statistical category. Despite the Lakers team having legends such as Jerry West and Gail Goodrich, they probably wouldn’t have set the records in win streak or average win margin without Wilt. Although a few teams have gotten a better record than Wilt’s championship teams, Wilt is the only one

The Detroit Pistons "Bad Boys" The Detroit Pistons "Bad boys" were one of the greatest teams of all time, beating some of the most iconic teams the league has ever seen, and having such a huge impact on city which was very destitute at the time, yet is forgotten in history due to the way they played. When people knowledgable of the NBA think of the late 80's, or early 90's, the names that come to mind are usually the infamous Michael Jordan, Larry bird, and magic Johnson. You wouldn't usually think of Isiah Thomas, or joe Dumars, right? Well this Pistons team beat Mj, Magic, and Larry in the playoffs! Teams around this time were quite frankly scared to play these monsters, not just because they were good, but because of there aggressive

Kobe won three consecutive NBA championships from 2000-2002. In Kobe’s 2008 season he was announced as the league’s MVP. This award is given to the best player in the NBA every year. Kobe won his fourth championship in his 2008-09 season. The following year he won his fifth and final championship.

Although Kobe and Magic are basketball stars, they have different ways of how they dominated the league. Earvin “Magic Johnson entered the league in 1979 as a 6 foot 9 point guard. Michigan State was the college he went to for two years . When he was in the NBA most people said that his era was very physical. Most people back then wanted to score the ball ,but he wanted to pass a lot.

During its memorable years with basketball superstar Michael Jordon, the Chicago Bulls became on of the most dominant sports teams in the history of sports. They won six NBA Championships (1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998) and remain as one of the elite franchises in the league.

The lakers had superstar talent and one of the best coaches in NBA history. Everyone thought this was the end for the mavericks in the play-offs. But really the Mavs just went complete attack mode and blew out the lakers in only 4 games. As the Mavericks won all the games of the series. Both players and fans were gaining momentum and suddenly, the Mavericks were one of the contending favorites of the West.

Ten years after his first title he also chased for two more titles again the Orlando Magic and the powerful Boston Celtics, led by Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Rajon

The Lakers won four titles with six finals appearances. Additionally, they won a title a year before the decade and a title a year after the decade, so they won six titles in twelve years. Their main rival was the San Antonio Spurs, which won three out of the six titles the Lakers did not win. The Lakers were the team of the decade due to two undeniable star players, a big man and a shooter. Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal made the Lakers the team they were.

Another strength is that the Lakers keep up to the trends on social media. Their posts are consistent and keep up with current events. For example, during the past Martin Luther King Jr. Day, they posted the importance he had on the country in addition to showing footage of Laker players visiting MLK memorials. Lastly, the Lakers have managed to hold a strong following even though the team is not as strong as they were in the past. Executing the strategy of creating a loyalty is proven by this current

The San Antonio Spurs are the oldest team in the NBA in terms of the players age, meaning that their organization possesses many years of experience of being in the league. This also means that they have played a lot more games than the other players on the other teams. The

With the 1992 Summer Olympics around the corner, the hype for this event was so great because everyone had their eyes on the legendary Dream Team. The team had eleven future NBA Hall of Famers with Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Clyde Drexler, and a college kid winning back to back titles with Duke University, Christian Laettner. This team was so hyped that everyone basically watched the Olympics to see how great this team was. It was so great people thought it was not fair for them to compete because they were unbeatable but that did not stop them. They won all their games with a margin of forty points and won the gold. The

In my first season, I kept the team stable. Lou Will’s beloved Drake-cosign status and ridiculous range make him a fan favorite coming off the Baby Lakers’ bench. I fixed Julius Randle’s hideously false jumper with the lefty’s somewhat-silky shot. Lowlights of the 2016-17 simulation include a 61-point loss in the Boston Garden to the rivaled Celtics and maintaining the worst record in the Western Conference for the second straight year. Highlights include the likes of going 3-0 against the Timberwolves, which is a feat they will be hoping to face amidst the heat of the 2019 Western Conference playoff race, and that’s about it. This first season was a goddamn atrocity to say the least. I ended up drafting Josh Jackson out of Kansas with the first pick. I plan on interchanging him and Ingram at the 2 and the 3, which would make for a ridiculous perimeter defense because clearly the Lakers can’t stop the ball if their lives depended on it.