What if LA never trades K. Washington, D. Chaney in 77-78?

[ceiling raiser]

Both Kermit Washington and Don Chaney were great defenders, and in one of his books Kareem suggests that trading both worsened their playoff fortunes.

Suppose they stay in LA for the durations of their careers (Kermit retired after 81-82, Chaney after 79-80). Here are their results those seasons:

77-78 - 45-37, 5th seed, lose 2-1 in West first round to the Sonics (would have both)
78-79 - 47-35, 5th seed, beat Nuggets 2-1 in West first round, lose 4-1 in West semis to the Sonics (would have both)
79-80 - 60-22, 1st seed, beat Suns 4-1 in West semis, beat Sonics 4-1 in WCF, beat Sixers 4-2 for title (would have both)
80-81 - 54-28, 3rd seed, lose 2-1 in West first round to the Rockets (would have Washington)
81-82 - 57-25, 1st seed, beat Suns 4-0 in West semis, beat Spurs 4-0 in WCF, beat Sixers 4-2 for title (would have Washington)

In the one season they had both guys (EDIT: Kermit Washington missed the entire playoffs, thanks ShaqAttack for pointing this out):

76-77 - 53-29, 1st seed, beat Warriors 4-3 in West semis, lose to Blazers 4-0 in WCF.

What changes?

[ShaqAttack3234]

The '77 Lakers had a few real weaknesses, among them was help inside, particularly rebounding alongside Kareem. Washington was an excellent rebounder and played 53 games for LA, but they were still -2.0 rpg. To make matters worse, Washington missed the entire '77 playoffs. Portland was just the better team, especially with one of LA's only 2 perimeter threats offensively(Lucius Allen) also injured in the playoffs.

As for '78, well, that was the year they did the midseason trade for Dantley. The Lakers were just 8-13 without Kareem including the game he was ejected after a few minutes for punching Kent Benson. I'd have to look into this year more thoroughly as I have with '77 and '79 to say for sure, but they lost in one of those best of 3 mini-series so I'm always unsure about predicting things would be different in such short series.

'79 is where it really gets interesting. The Lakers lost to Seattle, but there 2 problems in the series were backcourt defense(Norm Nixon is underrated, but never much of a defender) and rebounding with the small forwards combo of Dantley and Wilkes without a competent PF. Gus Williams lit up LA for 31 ppg in the series and DJ also had some big games so Chaney could have really helped. Additionally, Washington would certainly give them more size and help on the boards. This is what people forget about the '80 Lakers. Obviously, Magic was a huge addition, but Michael Cooper also broke into the rotation and gave them the perimeter stopper they needed. I've watched '80 Laker games and heard Bill Russell and other commentators mention this. They also added power forwards Jim Chones, Spencer Haywood and Mark Landsberger. Haywood had problems with Westhead and fell out of favor particularly during the playoffs, but it's clear they had a lot more size to help out Kareem, and to no surprise, the Lakers went from a horrendous -3.3 rpg in '79 to a very solid +2.2 rpg in '80. Another difference is that Kareem was playing out of the high post far more in '79 than at any other point in his career, and being used as a facilitator, but the main point is that Chaney and Washington could have really helped their two primary weaknesses. I'm not sure they'd have beaten Seattle, but those 2 might be enough for them to compete.

As for '81, well, that was another one of those mini-series so again, I'm hesitant to say whether anything changes, but it came down to a final shot with Magic having arguably the worst series of his career, so with it that close, you could argue any little thing could have been the difference. If you just eliminate the mini-series, the Lakers may have repeated anyway.

[ceiling raiser]

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