Who is your favorite Laker from the 48-49 championship season?

[Kilroy]

Those teams in Minnesota are disgrace to the Laker name. They were racists and bigots, and frankly should be eradicated from the Lakers history book.

Racism and Bigotry is a human condition that will exist in some form as long as we do... Until Racism gets classified as a performance enhancing drug, the achievements should stand. Red Auerbach made Donald Stirling look like Nelson Mandela, but he also deserves a lot of credit for pushing the integration of the sport and eventual black player dominance...
Point being, the context of time should not be ignored when trying to vilify figures from the past.

[LakersDynasty14]

Those teams in Minnesota are disgrace to the Laker name. They were racists and bigots, and frankly should be eradicated from the Lakers history book.

Racism and Bigotry is a human condition that will exist in some form as long as we do... Until Racism gets classified as a performance enhancing drug, the achievements should stand. Red Auerbach made Donald Stirling look like Nelson Mandela, but he also deserves a lot of credit for pushing the integration of the sport and eventual black player dominance...
Point being, the context of time should not be ignored when trying to vilify figures from the past.

But how can you celebrate an achievement by a team of all white players in a league of all white players? Those teams were clearly not competing against the best competition available, and therefor, their accomplishments are null and void.

[Marionettetc]

Hey homeboy, if you think the point of this thread is to "celebrate" the accomplishments of a bunch of 90 year old racists - you need to get a grip.

[FreakMaster]

Did they even televise games back then? Did they even have television back then? Wow! This has to be the weirdest thread ever.

[Kilroy]

Those teams in Minnesota are disgrace to the Laker name. They were racists and bigots, and frankly should be eradicated from the Lakers history book.

Racism and Bigotry is a human condition that will exist in some form as long as we do... Until Racism gets classified as a performance enhancing drug, the achievements should stand. Red Auerbach made Donald Stirling look like Nelson Mandela, but he also deserves a lot of credit for pushing the integration of the sport and eventual black player dominance...
Point being, the context of time should not be ignored when trying to vilify figures from the past.

But how can you celebrate an achievement by a team of all white players in a league of all white players? Those teams were clearly not competing against the best competition available, and therefor, their accomplishments are null and void.

They were by definition, completing against the best competition available. It may not be aesthetically or emotionally pleasing but it WAS. And it was the end of an era because Earl Floyd happened the next year.
Embrace the past, as the past. Don't try to rewrite it because in doing so, you take it out of the past and make it part of the present. We need to learn from it, not deny and relive it.

Look at how far the NBA has come... The pendulum swung back the other way by the 80s and 90s when it seemed like if you weren't black, you didn't get a contract, and back to a middle ground today when I think there's a healthy cross section of all races represented. That process had to have a starting point... That starting point was when the Minni Lakers won the championship in 49. It all began to change after that. I think degrading their feats is the same as diminishing the accomplishments that have happened since.

Is it right that the racial environment in America at that time was so dysfunctional? Of course not. But it happened. And it's not the fault of a successful basketball team from that time. They were a symptom of the times, not the cause.

I think people need to worry more about perfecting the future than manufacturing outrage for the past.