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I thought for fun we can discuss our underappreciated players during your time as a fan.
I'm 35 and remember enjoying the showtime Lakers as a child but I didn't understand the game enough to comment on that era.

My favorite underappreciated guy was Sedale Threatt. I always felt comfortable with him. He seemed to do everything right. He was fun to watch. He got everyone involved. He drove well. Handled well. Got his hands in on defense. I simply never held my breath when he had the ball.

Cedric Ceballos. During his short tenure I loved watching him work around the glass. It seemed like you could drive to the hoop and throw up prayers knowing that he was going to know where it was going and put it back up for a bucket. He did dirty work. Never needed the ball to get his money. Low profile, high results. I wish Lonzo had Ced running alongside him down court

What's yours? Comments on mine? Looking forward to a nostalgic conversation.

Julius Randle, Luke Walton... Also, Nick Van Exel, Kurt Rambis, Mitch Kupchack, Norm Nixon... Maybe even James Worthy depending on how you look at it...

Will always be Lamar Odom, specially the days before Pau was traded for.

I'm almost 50 and I remember Jerome kersey and elden Campbell.

Mike Penberthy
Jannero Pargo

AC Green and Big Shot Rob

Nick Van Exel.

Elden Campbell, Jamaal Wilkes, NVE, Threatt.

Michael Cooper and Jamaal Wilkes

Trevor Ariza and Jordan Farmar/Shannon Brown.

dockingsched wrote:Will always be Lamar Odom, specially the days before Pau was traded for.

Oh heck yeah. LAMAR was my dude. Totally forgot about him. That was a time when I was losing zeal because the Lakers we're so dominant. As much as I liked Shaw, trading him rejuvenated me.

AC “Jerry Curl” Green & Eddie “Sweet Shooting” Jones...

I always really liked Rick Fox, or at least really respected him. Hard-nosed defensive player, good passer, just capable enough on 3s that he could spread the floor. You can't win championships without role players like him. Derek Fisher isn't far behind him. Was never a good player, but he came through so many times over the years.

I also never thought Pau got his complete due here. Easily one of my favorite Lakers of all time; his skill level and IQ made him an absolute pleasure to watch. But it seemed like a good chunk of our fans wanted to obsess over the fact that he was a finesse player. OK, fine. All I know is that he dominated the last two games of the 2010 Finals, outplaying Kevin Garnett in the process, and that's good enough for me.

Anthony Peeler, Vlade Divac. Horace Grant, Ron Harper.

Sedale Threatt wrote:I always really liked Rick Fox, or at least really respected him. Hard-nosed defensive player, good passer, just capable enough on 3s that he could spread the floor. You can't win championships without role players like him. Derek Fisher isn't far behind him. Was never a good player, but he came through so many times over the years.

I also never thought Pau got his complete due here. Easily one of my favorite Lakers of all time; his skill level and IQ made him an absolute pleasure to watch. But it seemed like a good chunk of our fans wanted to obsess over the fact that he was a finesse player. OK, fine. All I know is that he dominated the last two games of the 2010 Finals, outplaying Kevin Garnett in the process, and that's good enough for me.

Yeah...Fox was a big part of what we did. Alway dug Fox. And those damn car commercials. "this baby does it all"

Slink wrote:Anthony Peeler, Vlade Divac. Horace Grant, Ron Harper.

I was super stoked when Ron Harper followed Phil here. Huge part of our first couple titles. Really brought the right mentality. 90% of fans forgot he was even here. Very underrated.

His short tenure prob didn't help his 'rep' around here.

Since everyone's picked the more prominent ones, I'll pick Trevor Ariza and Karl Malone. We don't win in 09 without Ariza and Malone was a huge part of our success until his untimely injury in 04.

For me personally.....D-Fish, and Coop aughta be in the HoF. Huge roles in the "Laker machine".

Gotta give Fox, Worthy, Ariza mentions.

And I will also say this: Go watch game 1 of the 2010 finals between boston and Lakers. Literally 20-30 seconds into the game, Artest and Pierce get locked up, and they goto floor. Pierce and the celtics thought they were facing the 08 wimpy Lakers again. And I promise you....watch that exchange on the floor. Pierce gets up......and he knows. This isn't gonna be like last time.

I think Ariza was the better player by that time in Artest's career....and I LOVE Ariza. But Artest was why we won that series.

Josh Powell - always played hard when he had to sub in for when the Bynum/Pau/Odom triumvirate got into foul trouble

Luke Walton - had to play the part of running the triangle offense when Lamar sat, and was an extension of Phil on the floor

Randle, Gasol.

The amount of BS both put up with at times was insane. Especially the last couple years of Pau's tenure.