Magic Johnson

[coxon]

Originally posted by Bresh
As far as I can recall, Miami, Minnesota and Orlando's line-ups were full of absolute tripe. Seriously, can you think of a major loss that the clubs had the time had to these ball clubs?

absolute tripe... they were..

charlotte's one was tripe, but better than the other 3..

 

[CURVE]

Originally posted by Portmagpies
Campbell has a couple os 20ppg seasons with the Wolves, then headed to the Knicks. His career petered out after that. Stil, he got a ring with the Lakers and averaged double figures for his career. Something about off guards and the Wolves around that time. Anyone remember Doug West?

Bummer.

A couple of 20ppg season with the Lakers would have been very handy in the early 90's. May even have helped us win another championship.

 

[no1bankteller]

Originally posted by jod23

When you compare Magic's all star teammates to Jordans rag tag bunch of nobody's (Pip excluded), then and only then do you realise that Jordan = championship, simple as that. And as a GM, you want your team to win championships, so MJ is the logical choice.

LMAO

I just about choked on my wheeties when I read this...

Now jod were you not saying that the 96 Bulls were the greatest team of all time, even better then 87 Lakers...

LMAO - well you cannot have it both ways my friend.

 

[Fall Out Boy]

Originally posted by no1bankteller

LMAO - well you cannot have it both ways my friend.

He tries, oh does he try.

 

[TheBloods]

Originally posted by DEVO
1989 Detroit Pistons. Thomas, Dumars, Laimbeer, Rodman. With the exception of Rodman all have had their number retired by the Pistons, and Thomas is or soon will be a Hall of Famer.

Injuries to the Lakers also affected this series.

 

[jod23]

Originally posted by no1bankteller
LMAO

I just about choked on my wheeties when I read this...

Now jod were you not saying that the 96 Bulls were the greatest team of all time, even better then 87 Lakers...

LMAO - well you cannot have it both ways my friend.

The 96 Bulls are still the greatest team ever. 72-10. Cant beat it im afraid.

Plus they had Michael Jordan....and well, he's Michael Jordan, what are you gonna do.

 

[Portmanteau]

If you can't have it both ways, I'm intrigued how Magic is therefore the greatest player of all-time with all that help on his roster.

 

[CURVE]

Originally posted by jod23


The 96 Bulls are still the greatest team ever. 72-10. Cant beat it im afraid.

Plus they had Michael Jordan....and well, he's Michael Jordan, what are you gonna do.

Michael Jordan was a high price, greatly over-rated failure until Boston, Detroit and the Lakers disbanded their Championship winning teams, either through retirements, injury and/or trades. At their peaks, Chicago could get within a bulls roar any of them. Chicago doesn't even come close to being the greatest team of all-time.

Wake-up Jod, your basing your evidence on the weakest era in Basketball History. And that is a fact. Plain and Simple.

 

[Portmanteau]

...and no one could get in a bulls roar, pardon the pun, when Chicago were at their peak. Obviously, Lakers, Detroit and Boston weren't going to remain dominant... just like how the Lakers took over when Boston's team of megastars in the 1960-70s departed. It's cyclical, dynasties rise and fall... The Lakers got their late 90s titles due to the Bulls dynasty being disbanded, but does anyone hold that against them? No things change, it is unrealistic to presume dynasties will continue for so long.

Are the Sydney Kings any of a lesser dynasty because the Maher, Cattalini, Brooks and Mee team was broken up?

I don't see how it's not OK for teams to be too old, but it's fair game that the Bulls were too young. Can't have it both ways.

 

[CURVE]

Originally posted by Bresh
...and no one could get in a bulls roar, pardon the pun, when Chicago were at their peak. Obviously, Lakers, Detroit and Boston weren't going to remain dominant... just like how the Lakers took over when Boston's team of megastars in the 1960-70s departed. It's cyclical, dynasties rise and fall... The Lakers got their late 90s titles due to the Bulls dynasty being disbanded, but does anyone hold that against them? No things change, it is unrealistic to presume dynasties will continue for so long.

Are the Sydney Kings any of a lesser dynasty because the Maher, Cattalini, Brooks and Mee team was broken up?

I don't see how it's not OK for teams to be too old, but it's fair game that the Bulls were too young. Can't have it both ways.

I totally agree with you, but Chicago has to be the luckiest team in History. Not only do three of the Greatest "Dynasties" in History disband within two or three years of each other, but expansion further weakened them and the all other clubs as well, including Chicago, and that made it easier for Jordan and the Bulls. Instead of having all-star teams to contend with, they only one or two quality players and a handful of OK support players to worry about.

 

[CURVE]

Originally posted by Bresh
If you can't have it both ways, I'm intrigued how Magic is therefore the greatest player of all-time with all that help on his roster.

What makes Magic the greatest (in my opinion) is what he was able to do against the quality of competition he came up against. When the NBA was at it's peak (mid 80's), Magic Johnson was the Premier Player.

 

[Portmanteau]

Originally posted by DEVO
Instead of having all-star teams to contend with, they only one or two quality players and a handful of OK support players to worry about.

But aren't you all saying that Chicago had one or two quality players plus OK support players, in opposition to the Lakers which fielded a team of stars - see Lakers 87-88 (believe that was the year) versus Chicago 95-96 thread. It's apples and oranges. The Lakers were equipped to handle the teams they were put up against, as were Chicago.

If you want to compare both teams straight up, yes, the Lakers would probably take Chicago - but both teams competed in entirely different eras (in reference to salary cap, expansion and general equalisation policy within the league), but the degree of difficulty in either teams accomplishments were near equal.

 

[ant]

Bresh, you talk so much sense it's scary.

 

[jod23]

Look the bottom line is as follows.

Jordan won more championships than Magic.

Jordan won more MVP's than Magic.

Jordan has more 1st Team NBA and 1st Team All D selection.

Jordan won DPOTY, Magic didnt.

Jordan won more Finals MVP's than Magic.

Jordan is WIDELY regarded as the GOAT.

I love Magic Johnson but he has to be content with second place.

95/96 Bulls. 72-10 Greatest record in any season of all time.

What more can be said.

 

[benjones1977]

My favourite basketballing memory was watching the Magic Johnson All stars play the Boomers at the Perth Entertainment Centre.

That was the best game I ever saw in my life with Magic hitting a buzzer beater to take the game into overtime. Even though they were playing the boomers the whole crowd jumped up. That was a great day.

Did anyone else have the pleasure of seeing him play?

I went to this game and got to give Magic a high five when he was bowing to the crowd, never have heard so much noise in the Entertainment Centre. So many great memories from this game!

 

[Son of Skeletor]

Wow, fair bump here

.... And it turns out it's a Magic vs Jordan thread.

I'm not going to argue either way on that, but I will say that the argument that Jordan/Chicago profited from a watered-down league compared to Magic's Lakers is complete nonsense.

Who was the second best team in the Western Conference during the 1980s? The Lakers had no consistent challengers out West for a solid decade.

Their biggest potential rival was Houston who beat them in '86 and were promptly torn apart by injuries and suspensions - took them five years to recover. Dallas had a good team briefly which took LA seven games in the '88 WCF, but they too were similarly blown up. It wasn't until Portland put together their great team in the late 80s that the Lakers faced a legitimate annual threat to their hegemony, and by then the Showtime era was winding down anyway.

The East by contrast was much tougher.