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| Los Angeles Lakers; The unthinkable... | |
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| Topic Started: Mar 9 2012, 05:59 AM (315 Views) | |
| MPH | Mar 9 2012, 05:59 AM Post #1 |
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OMAHA!
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From Wikipedia Too often in sports players become bigger than the teams they play for. For myself there was no time this was more evident than the above feud. Shaq and Kobe, had they been able to exist together, could have brought more than the three NBA titles to the Lakers. Sadly, the franchise had to pull the trigger and split up the duo. The Lakers signed Kobe to a multi year deal and sent Shaq packing to the Heat. In this diary, I am going to do something unthinkable. 2003-2004 Rosters are next. |
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| MPH | Mar 9 2012, 06:08 AM Post #2 |
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OMAHA!
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2003-2004 Roster Posted Image The defending Western Conference champions enter into the season amid a flurry of rumors and questions. There is talk that Phil Jackson could be considering retirement after this run at a 4th consecutive NBA title, as well as rumors of a feud brewing between the Lakers two superstars, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. Still, the starting 5 look stout with the off season additions of Karl Malone and Gary Payton. It's a long season though, and anything could happen. |
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| MPH | Mar 9 2012, 06:59 AM Post #3 |
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OMAHA!
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| MPH | Mar 9 2012, 07:05 AM Post #4 |
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OMAHA!
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Recap Kobe and Shaq are gone. The Lakers managed to hold on to a 6 seed in the West, but fell to the Denver Nuggets in 6 games of the playoffs. The Indiana Pacers, led by Finals MVP Jermaine O'Neal defeated the Dallas Mavericks in a thrilling 7 game series to win the title. As we headed into the off season, there were a lot more questions to answer. with the trades of Kobe and Shaq, we have several picks in the draft, including what should be two lottery picks in the 10-15 range. We'll have a lot of shoes to fill, and it is highly doubtful that Malone and Payton will be staying with us or the league for that matter. |
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| MPH | Mar 9 2012, 07:34 AM Post #5 |
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OMAHA!
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Offseason Horace Grant and Gary Payton both retired. Karl Malone, Byron Russell and Jannero Pargo decided to test free agency. Medvedenko wanted to talk but we felt the 550k he was asking was too much, and we need the roster space for the plethora of picks we have. Speaking of picks, the lottery was full of shockers. The Bulls moved up from the 8 spot to land the #1. We ended up with the #8 and the #11. The draft is pretty stacked, so we'll take it. The Bulls wasted no time in selecting Andre Igoudala with their pick. The Blazers took the best ready now big man in Emeka Okefor. The Magic selected Josh Smith #3. The Wizards took Ben Gordon for some reason. At 34 the Bucks did what most were expecting them to do, drafting phenom Dwight Howard. when it finally came to us, we felt the biggest need was replacing Gary Payton. We had Derek Fisher, but we decided to draft PG Jameer Nelson. The Sonics picked before our next selection and took the player we were eying in Josh Childress. Leaving us slightly scrambling, we selected 18 year old Andris Biedrins. Good size and pretty decent defense and rebounding. With our third selection in the first round we kept with the international movement, selecting Anderson Varejao out of Brazil. With three spots open and three 2nds, we decided on youth and selected 19 year old Sebastian Telfair before dealing our other two picks to the Rockets for 2 future 2nds. In free agency we targeted a few veterans with our exceptions. The Kings immediately outbid us for our former center Vlade Divac . Meanwhile Chris Mihm was the early winner of free agency, signing a 6 year 77 million dollar contract with the Jazz. Late in the festivities, we finally landed a pretty big name as Rasheed Wallace decided to become our penciled in starter at power forward. Overall we had a decent offseason. The draft was decent. We landed a couple of guys that could really affect our win column in a positive way for years to come. Free Agency started out rough, but landing Rasheed only strengthens our defense going into the season. |
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| MPH | Mar 9 2012, 03:50 PM Post #6 |
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OMAHA!
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2004 - 2005 Season Preview Going into the 2004 - 2005 NBA season, the Lakers are looking to immediately put the Kobe/Shaq era firmly behind them. It's not easy recovering from the implosion of your team in mid-season, and the Lakers have a lot of questions going into this season, just like last year. The only difference is those questions can be answered solely on the court and not through media outlets and court rooms. Posted Image For the first time in years, the Lakers enter a season without the dominant low-post presence of Shaq. Centers Theo Ratliff and rookie Andris Biedrins should be able to do a decent job on defense, but neither of them will score that much. Sharif Abdur-Rahim is slotted to start the season at power forward, and while somewhat of a liability on defense, he should be one of the teams top scorers. Rasheed Wallace moves over to small forward and looks to continue a strong career for our team. He's got a nice rounded out skill set and will be our third scoring option. Shooting guard is all about Allen Iverson. Landing Iverson in the Kobe deal should hopefully make the memory of losing him a lot easier to bear. He's an all world scorer and defender, and is undoubtedly the key to our team moving forward. At point guard the decision was made during training camps to start rookie Jameer Nelson over Derek fisher. fisher has agreed to take a backseat to the developing rookie and provide us with some veteran leadership at the point coming off the bench. The Lakers are predicted to finish somewhere in the low end of the Western Conference playoffs, but we are clearly no longer the favorites to win the West, unlike the past handful of seasons. Edited by MPH, Mar 9 2012, 03:51 PM.
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Mar 9 2012, 03:52 PM Post #7 |
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Tyler
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Ouch to losing Kobe and Shaq for Iverson, Abdur-Rahim and picks <_< |
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| MPH | Mar 9 2012, 06:01 PM Post #8 |
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OMAHA!
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2004-2005: Days 1-30 Posted Image Posted Image The first thirty days went much as expected. The team is struggling to find an identity. Defensively we are pretty strong, holding opponents to 96 a game. Theo Ratliff has been big defensively in the middle, as well as early season free agent pickup Carlos Boozer. Shareef has been huge for us consistently, and after some early season struggle, Allen Iverson has started to pick up the pace. The two biggest problem we have on offense right now are Rasheed Wallace and Jameer Nelson. Nelson has been up and down so far this season, and hopefully will start to adjust as we get a little farther along. Wallace has been good on the defensive side of the ball, but he has had a hard time getting his shots. All in all, we expected this. We're currently holding on to the #7 seed in the West, but it's still to early to tell what could happen. |
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| MPH | Mar 9 2012, 08:36 PM Post #9 |
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OMAHA!
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2004-2005 Days 31 - 60 (including ASW) Posted Image Posted Image We closed out the first half of the season pretty strongly. Rasheed is starting to find his place in the offense, and Jameer is making great strides in being our point guard. The biggest factor for us has been Carlos Boozer off the bench. Going into the break team management has decided to stand pat and not seek out any massive deals to the team. Being as we are leading our division by half a game and a half over the Supersonics, we're currently sitting at the #2 seed in the West. For those wondering, the Atlanta Hawks led by 34 and 12 from Shaq. Kobe Bryant is leading the 76ers with 29 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. All star weekend had the sophomores beat the rookies 112 to 104. Darko Milicic was the unlikely MVP with 15/11 and 3 blocks. Jameer Nelson represented the Lakers on the rookie team with 9 points and 5 assists. Ray Allen of Seattle beat Shawn Marion of the Suns in the 3-point shootout, 13 to 12. Rookie Andre Igoudala announced his presence to the NBA, winning the slam dunk contest over both Kobe Bryant and Richard Jefferson. The all-star game would see Allen Iverson as the sole representative of the Lakers, and the reuniting of Shaq and Kobe for the East team. Iverson had a disappointing showing, only scoring 4 points as the East won the game 112-106. Shaq had 20/5 and Kobe had another 12. Jermaine O'Neal won the MVP with 21/11 and 2 blocks. We now head into the second half of the season with a slim lead in our division and no plans on making any significant moves. Edited by MPH, Mar 9 2012, 08:40 PM.
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Mar 9 2012, 10:45 PM Post #10 |
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Tyler
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Abdur-Rahim playing well enough to make me eat my earlier words. And Iverson shooting 48%! Sixers-Lakers Finals could be epic. |
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| MPH | Mar 10 2012, 02:13 PM Post #11 |
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OMAHA!
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2004-2004 Days 61 - 90 Posted Image Posted Image The Lakers continue to surprise a lot of people in the post Shaq and Kobe era, most of the credit going to Allen Iverson, Abdur-Rahim and the continuing resurgence of Rahsheed Wallace. Wallace continues to bounce back from a slow start to the season, settling nicely as our third option. Rahim has tapered off a bit after the hot start, but he's continuing to play very nicely along side Allan Iverson. Iverson is having one of the best shooting seasons of his career, hitting 48% of his shots. Our offense is still sitting insode the top ten, something that has been key to our success. We still hold a decent lead over arch rival Sacramento and Seattle in the division, and we're gearing up for a hopefully deep playoff run. |
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| MPH | Mar 10 2012, 02:39 PM Post #12 |
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OMAHA!
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2005-2005 Days 91-120 and Awards Posted Image Posted Image Opening up the run towards the post season, we dropped 5 straight games, resulting in a tie with Seattle for the division. We also lost Abdur-Rahim for a few games, but we were somehow able to end the skid, thanks in no small part to the play of Carlos Boozer. After we got Rahim back we were in a dog fight with Phoenix until the last day of the season. With our loss to Charlotte we waited to see if Phoenix could topple the Heat and steal the division crown from us. They lost the game by 11, giving us the #2 seed in the playoffs. With a few first round draft picks coming our way and the guys we have in place now, things look very bright for us; this season and for many to come. Posted Image Posted Image Posted Image A few awards which were largely unsurprising. Theo Ratliff got some huge recognition for his defensive efforts replacing Shaq. Jameer Nelson was named to the First Team All-League Rookie squad. Nelson still leaves some things to be desired, namely on the defensive side of the ball, but he is showing the potential to be a special player for years to come. |
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| MPH | Mar 10 2012, 02:56 PM Post #13 |
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OMAHA!
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2004-2005 NBA Playoffs Posted Image Round 1 Our matchup against the Spurs was a tough one. One of the top defensive teams in the league, San Anotio set the tone for the series early with a 91-86 win in Los Angeles. The next game was even more embarassing as the Spurs completely shut down the Lakers offense, putting us down 0-2 with a 100-77 win. Heading back to San Antonio we were in trouble, and the Spurs knew it. It was clear at this point that we had no answer for Tim Duncan. Iverson found his shooting touch in this game, but a 111-99 loss all but put us out of the playoffs. In game 4 all bets were off and we came oh so close, led by Carlos Boozer of all people, but lost a heart breaker 94-93. Tim Duncan completely dominated us. scoring over 35 every single game. We exit the playoffs disappointingly, but having won our division and two first round picks in the upcoming draft, we're looking forward to next season. Mavs over Kings, 4-0 Rockets over Suns, 4-1 Spurs over Lakers, 4-0 Timberwolves over Supersonics, 4-1 Raptors over Knicks, 4-1 Bucks over Pistons, 4-3 Hornets over Nets, 4-2 Pacers over 76ers, 4-2 Second Round Rockets over Mavericks, 4-2 Timberwolves over Spurs, 4-1 Bucks over Raptors, 4-0 Pacers over Hornets, 4-0 Conference Finals Timberwolves over Rockets, 4-0 Bucks over Pacers, 4-1 NBA Finals Timberwolves over Bucks, 4-1 MVP: Kevin Garnett (34.6 ppg and 18 rpg in the Finals) |
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| MPH | Mar 10 2012, 08:56 PM Post #14 |
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OMAHA!
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2005-2006 Off Season Resigning, Retirements and Players Leaving - Rick Fox has retired. - Shareef Abdur-Rahim has decided to test free agency :fu: - Theo Ratliff came at us with a 4 year, 42 million dollar offer. In the end we decided to go with it. It's a bit more than we would have liked, but he's been a monster defensively for us, and we're going to need that to compete in the West. - Rasheed Wallace decided to test free agency. Sheed likely made himself some money last season, and it's money we likely won't have. - Carlos Boozer has decided to test free agency. We also expected this. Boozer was somehow passed over last year, and after his performance last season with us, he'll likely land somewhere with much more money than we had to pay. - Luke Walton also tested free agency. Good luck Luke... NBA Draft Being as both picks we had this year weren't lotto picks, we spent our time digging through some guys in the draft we felt would fall past the lottery teams. The big winner of the lotto was the Clippers who moved up from 5 to #1. The Magic had the biggets move, going from #8 to #2. We went into the draft with the #19 and the #25. We weren't eying anyone particularly, and the general consensus was that if there wasn't a quality player available, the pick or picks could be traded. Notable picks are as follows: Clippers - Dante Saperstein, PG (1st overall) Magic - Andrew Bynum, C Hawks - Antonio Rogers, SF Bulls - Craig Zollner, C Cavaliers - Matt Willis, C Trailblazers - Raymond Felton, G Grizzlies - Charlie Villanueva, F Heat - Channing Frye, C Kings - Deron Williams, PG Spurs - Chris Paul, PG Hornets - Danny Granger, SF By the time it came to be our turn, we decided on Andrew Bogut. Bogut has good size for a C/PF and helps fill the hole that Carlos Boozer filled. With our next pick we decided to select Monta Ellis. Ellis has some decent defense, and looks pretty promising on the offensive side of the ball. In the second round we added Ronny Turiaf and Gerald Green. Both look to be project players at best. Free Agency In free agency, our only concern was Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Big signings on day 1 were: Tony Parker to the Spurs for 7 years, 105 million Tyson Chandler to the Bulls for 7 years, 105 million Donyell Marshall to the Bulls for 84 million Day two landed us our man as Rahim signed a big 7 year 119 million dollar contract. It was big money, but given our other choices at the position and the demand of the fans on us to remain competitive, we had to pay. Other signings of note: Ray Allen to Seattle for 7 years, 124 million Zydrunas Ilgauskas to the Cavs for 7 years, 109 million Jason Richardson to the Warriors for 7 years, 83 million Andrei Kirilenko to the Trailblazers for 6 years, 75 million Bobby Jackson to the Nuggets for 4 years, 35 million and finally, Rasheed Wallace made some money, signing with the East champion Bucks for 2 years, 9 million. Training Camps Andrew Bogut, Jameer Nelson and Monta Ellis had a great camp. Bogut looks to be a very solid defensive player, meaning hopefully little to no dropp-off when Ratliff needs a break. Jameer Nelson looks to be a traditional scoring point guard, coming out of the camp looking much sharper shooting the ball. Monta Ellis came out of the camp showing strong defensive skills and a great looking mid-range jump shot. |
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