With Shaq's Retirement.............

[Anklebreaker702]

I was just wanting everyone's opinion (who ever cares) How many titles Kobe & Shaq would have achieved together had they not gone through war of the roses & what the structure of our team would have looked like?

I'm not usually up on the draft picks & all so someone with that knowledge will have to fill me in on who would have never been drafted etc.

Also, I wonder which free agents would have came in to fill roles as Harper, Shaw, & Fox aged?

[Kilroy]

As someone who went through every second of that time with them, I say the actual tension in the locker room really wasn't the biggest issue... It was money...

If the both would have been satisfied to take a little less so the team had a little more flexibility to round out the squad, I honestly thing the sky's the limit...

If Shaq had been motivated to stay in shape and work with Kobe and Kobe had been motivated to be more of a team player and work with Shaq, that duo in that team against that competition could have gone for 4 or 5 straight, easily... Nobody even thought they could beat the Lakers until the wheels came off against Detroit.

But we needed to get solid help around Kobe and Shaq and it was agonizing knowing how cash-strapped we were every season and that we weren't going to get anybody worth anything to support the core.

So Kobe deserved his pay-day, Shaq definately deserved an extension... But if both of them could have seen the bigger picture and accepted slightly less than what they wanted, this team could have won a whole lot of championships... Maybe even challenging the Celtics 11 in a row...

Not just because we were so good, but also because the competition just wasn't there.

[Asianiac_24]

We definitely win in 06/07, a maybe in 05. 04 we would have won without the locker room problems. 08 and on would be a challenge though

[Roll Tide Baaby]

11 straight? haha good God. there last season together they got raped by detroit. they were done there. Shaq wasnt the same after that. It took a hercules type series by wade to get shaq his 4th. They MAYBE could have gotten 1 more, but thats a big maybe. what the hecks that guy talking about 11 in a row lol. maybe one more to make it 4 instead of 3. but even the 1 more would have taken a phenomenal performace by kobe

[DrewBynum77]

not many. maybe one more...

shaq was a lazy bastard att and he did not want to be the second to Kobe.
and kobe would not be the second to a lazy bastard anymore.

[Kilroy]

11 straight? haha good God. there last season together they got raped by detroit. they were done there. Shaq wasnt the same after that. It took a hercules type series by wade to get shaq his 4th. They MAYBE could have gotten 1 more, but thats a big maybe. what the hecks that guy talking about 11 in a row lol. maybe one more to make it 4 instead of 3. but even the 1 more would have taken a phenomenal performace by kobe

They won exactly how many they should have won...

The question was not reality-based... It was purely hypothetical based on absolutely ideal situations.

Namely that Shaq and Kobe could have gotten along. That would have taken them putting aside their differences, coming to terms with the team and the financial realities of the league and maintaining a title contender, being motivated to play together, etc, etc, etc... It's a monumental stretch... And all we have to go on is the few seasons when they really clicked...

They already had 3... Shaq clearly had at least 6 more dominant seasons ahead of him (Who knows how many if he took the game and staying in shape seriously)... And Kobe was just coming into his dominant faze and had many more ahead of him...

So yes... IF they could have done all those things... And IF the FO had the financial flexibility to surround them consistently with decent talent... And IF everything else fell into place, I think they had A SHOT at challenging the record...

But if you take that large a leap, so could just about any team... I just think it was more likely for that team because the rest of the league was so far behind as far as talent and completeness...

The point is, they were clearly a better duo that Wade/LeBrick and would have surely won, Not 1, Not 2, Not 3, Not 4... More titles...

[crimsonkb24]

05, revenge on Detroit, you know Kobe ;>
06 easily without Shaq in Miami

thats it imo, but I guess we wouldnt have won in 09/10

[Wavy Q]

11 straight? haha good God. there last season together they got raped by detroit. they were done there. Shaq wasnt the same after that. It took a hercules type series by wade to get shaq his 4th. They MAYBE could have gotten 1 more, but thats a big maybe. what the hecks that guy talking about 11 in a row lol. maybe one more to make it 4 instead of 3. but even the 1 more would have taken a phenomenal performace by kobe

Go back to the heat board homie

[Imadogg]

11 straight? haha good God. there last season together they got raped by detroit. they were done there. Shaq wasnt the same after that. It took a hercules type series by wade to get shaq his 4th. They MAYBE could have gotten 1 more, but thats a big maybe. what the hecks that guy talking about 11 in a row lol. maybe one more to make it 4 instead of 3. but even the 1 more would have taken a phenomenal performace by kobe

Go back to the heat board homie

I liked his post though, let him stay

[Slava]

11 straight? haha good God. there last season together they got raped by detroit. they were done there. Shaq wasnt the same after that. It took a hercules type series by wade to get shaq his 4th. They MAYBE could have gotten 1 more, but thats a big maybe. what the hecks that guy talking about 11 in a row lol. maybe one more to make it 4 instead of 3. but even the 1 more would have taken a phenomenal performace by kobe

If Wade wasn't hurt in 05, they could have won that year. I personally think Kobe and Shaq together would have won 2 more and then Shaq's wheels kind of fall off with all the pick n roll oriented centers killing him from the perimeter.