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The Lakers have had arguably the greatest players in NBA History Of the top five centers four have played for the Lakers Mikan, Wilt, Kareem and Shaq. Elgin Baylor is top five forward. and Magic, Kobe and West or in the top three at point and shooting guard. With their history who would be their starting all time team. My thoughts based on Magic's versatility would be:

C. Kareem
PF.Magic
SF. Baylor
SG. Kobe
PG. West

2nd team
C. Shaq
PF Mikan (his position if he played today)
SF Worthy
SG Goodrich
PG. Nixon

What a team! Magic would play point on offense and guard the power forward on defense all the starters except Baylor made all defensive in their prime and Kobe and West on the wings awesome. Magic and Baylor were great rebounders so Kareem would not be left alone and just thing the 11th man on this team is Wilt (not in his prime with the Lakers. Goodrich was the leading scorer on the 69 win team with Wilt and Jerry. Again what a team!

3rd team:
pg: smush parker
sg: sasha vujacic
sf: vladrad
pf: brian cook
c: kwame brown

well they can't all be winners

hermes wrote:3rd team:
pg: smush parker
sg: sasha vujacic
sf: vladrad
pf: brian cook
c: kwame brown

well they can't all be winners

hermes wrote:3rd team:
pg: smush parker
sg: sasha vujacic
sf: vladrad
pf: brian cook
c: kwame brown

well they can't all be winners

Oh lest we forget, Stanislav Medvedenko did not dawn the purple and gold in vain. His achievements shall be remembered!

Interesting argument with Magic at point forward and don't forget that West could play a lot of PG and so can Kobe on that team.

I'd much rather like to see Magic at SF though because he's not as accomplished a defender to begin with as he is an offensive player and most PFs can take advantage of his size.

Id rather go twin towers with Shaq and Kareem then play Magic at SF, with Kobe and West as guards but putting in Shaq could just lessen half of Magic's influence on the game by turning the offense more or less into a half court set.

So Kareem/Pau/Magic/Kobe/West?

I beg to differ about Magic's defense. When no one could guard Moses in the 81 series Magic would guard him remember he was 6'9' 245. By the way showtime Lakers played a zone to make up for their defensive issues and the league would let it go. I think no one could matchup to a three guard offense with Magic, Kobe and West. Like you said West could play point actually he did on the 69 win team. Baylor had over 11,000 rebounds for his career. But defense on this team will be the perimeter brilliance of Kobe and West and the shotblocking of Kareem. Think of them all in their prime. Could you picture Magic setting up with these weapons or the team on the break.

That is one knock on Magic that he couldn't play defense so I want to ask the people that watched him play is he really that bad on defense?

KB24_ILLMATIC wrote:That is one knock on Magic that he couldn't play defense so I want to ask the people that watched him play is he really that bad on defense?

No he wasn't. The knock is really not justified. Here is where it starts, because he was a 6'9" point guard everyone said he couldn't guard the smaller quicker guards but every time I ask them to name just 5 guards who constantly ate him up it can never be done.

Sure he was a much better team defender than 1 on 1 defender but most times in the Finals during crunch time he guarded the teams best player. in their back to back title he took Isiah for good stretches & Isiah was ridiculous at that time.

He guarded Michael for good stretches in the '91 Finals & Michael had no answer for him so Phil never put him back on Magic for the rest of that series.

hermes wrote:3rd team:
pg: smush parker
sg: sasha vujacic
sf: vladrad
pf: brian cook
c: kwame brown

well they can't all be winners

Sadly they were all the team at the same time, what dark days those were.

Going by there time with the Lakers:
C: Shaquille O'Neal
PF: Pau Gasol
SF: Elgin Baylor
SG: Kobe Bryant
PG: Magic Johnson

C: Kareem Abdul Jabbar
PF: Vern Mikkelsen
SF: James Worthy
SG: Gail Goodrich
PG: Jerry West

Mikkelson over Mikan? No worthy on either team? Gasol on a starting team ahead of either Worthy or West?

1st team.
C. Kareem
PF. Shaq
SF. Worthy
SG. Kobe
PG. Magic

2nd team
C. Wilt
PF. Gasol
SF. Baylor
SG. Goodrich
PG. West

Kareem + Worthy + Magic = 5 with Lakers
Shaq = 3 with Lakers.
Kobe = 5

My only argument with Goodrich is that he did not win one for us - but we did retire his number in LA.
Skeptical about Mikan coz its damn hard to find actual recorded games from that era, plus the team was still in Minneapolis and not Los Angeles.

Anklebreaker702 wrote:

KB24_ILLMATIC wrote:That is one knock on Magic that he couldn't play defense so I want to ask the people that watched him play is he really that bad on defense?

No he wasn't. The knock is really not justified. Here is where it starts, because he was a 6'9" point guard everyone said he couldn't guard the smaller quicker guards but every time I ask them to name just 5 guards who constantly ate him up it can never be done.

Sure he was a much better team defender than 1 on 1 defender but most times in the Finals during crunch time he guarded the teams best player. in their back to back title he took Isiah for good stretches & Isiah was ridiculous at that time.

He guarded Michael for good stretches in the '91 Finals & Michael had no answer for him so Phil never put him back on Magic for the rest of that series.

Thanks Ankle I always thought people just said that to nit pick and find something wrong with Magic's game, dude is the greatest pg to play the game and arguably the greatest player to play the game.

wallsfamily wrote:Mikkelson over Mikan? No worthy on either team? Gasol on a starting team ahead of either Worthy or West?

Tried to go by specific position so with KAJ and Shaq there was no room for Mikan or Wilt. ALso, Worthy is my 2nd team SF...

G=K wrote:
Oh lest we forget, Stanislav Medvedenko did not dawn the purple and gold in vain. His achievements shall be remembered!

excellent point

Wow I just realized how many great players have been on the Lakers at one point in their careers. Great, great franchise.

Anklebreaker702 wrote:

KB24_ILLMATIC wrote:That is one knock on Magic that he couldn't play defense so I want to ask the people that watched him play is he really that bad on defense?

No he wasn't. The knock is really not justified. Here is where it starts, because he was a 6'9" point guard everyone said he couldn't guard the smaller quicker guards but every time I ask them to name just 5 guards who constantly ate him up it can never be done.

Sure he was a much better team defender than 1 on 1 defender but most times in the Finals during crunch time he guarded the teams best player. in their back to back title he took Isiah for good stretches & Isiah was ridiculous at that time.

I read a book by Magic Johnson, I think it was his auto-biography. He said that when he came into the NBA he was a poor defender. He said this was because in Michigan State they would play a zone defense and he wasn't use to playing man defense especially against NBA Players. He said that guys would consistently torch him like George Gervin and later he wondered if he could guard anybody in the league.

wallsfamily wrote:I beg to differ about Magic's defense. When no one could guard Moses in the 81 series Magic would guard him remember he was 6'9' 245. By the way showtime Lakers played a zone to make up for their defensive issues and the league would let it go. I think no one could matchup to a three guard offense with Magic, Kobe and West. Like you said West could play point actually he did on the 69 win team. Baylor had over 11,000 rebounds for his career. But defense on this team will be the perimeter brilliance of Kobe and West and the shotblocking of Kareem. Think of them all in their prime. Could you picture Magic setting up with these weapons or the team on the break.

Since we're picking all time Lakers team, how'd he defend a Malone or Duncan on an all time Spurs or Jazz team?

j-far wrote:
Since we're picking all time Lakers team, how'd he defend a Malone or Duncan on an all time Spurs or Jazz team?

We can't win on every positions

Guys the Lakers truly have had the most talent of any team including Boston. For instance, Top ten centers in league history have four lakers with Three here in their prime. Kobe and West are only behind Jordan at shooting Guard and Magic Kobe, Kareem, West and Baylor are top 10 in league history. Just points with Lakers Kobe, West, Baylor and Kareem all over 20,000 points. Team dominated three different eras and are a superteam in 2008 from another threepeat. Then lets look at this team of role players:

C. Vlade
PF A. C. Green
SF Jim McMillian
SG Byron Scott
PGNorm Nixon
This team would make the playoffs every year as a team of role players. Mcmillian averaged 18 points on the 69 win team! Awesome!