Top 3 Lakers Peaks?

[LAL1947]

Just going off eye test (watching all of the games), peak Kobe was way better than LeBron 2020, sorry.

Obviously I can't prove this, but we're talking about an all time great at their peak vs. an all time great at age 35/36.

LeBron figured out how to game the stats, but he's obviously a shell of his former self and not anywhere near a peak Kobe GTFOH

Peak Kobe would literally dunk on 35/36 year old LeBron.

IKR, lol. That GIF perfectly captures my expression when seeing people compare Lebron 2020 vs younger Kobe.

[LAL1947]

That one absolutely needs a permasterisk IMO. Apart from poor Phoenix not being allowed to win their 1st and only ring... it's one of the legs people use to artificially prop Duncan over Kobe, as y'all use it to say Duncan has 5 titles too.

That's not really a subjectively-rooted post, and we all know this, man. They won the title. They won all the games they needed to win. Amare missed one game and was back in game 6. They still lost.

Sorry, just cannot agree with this. The "one game" was a pivotal game 5, a home game, and Suns had the momentum. They would have gone 3-2 up against a team not known for comebacks. Then even if they still lost game 6 in Texas, the Suns had home court for game 7. That was plain daylight robbery and I'm never going to change my mind about that. Amar'e wasn't the only one suspended too, Boris Diaw was as well.

Anyway... think about it, if the Spurs don't win in 2006-07 and their last title in the 2000s was 2004-05... and Duncan doesn't win again until 9 years later in 2013-14 because the Spurs put together another great playoff roster... how would the All-Time narrative change?

How about the best trio narrative? Now Duncan/Parker/Manu have the same number of titles as Bird/McHale/Parish, Jordan/Pippen/Rodman, Steph/Klay/Dray. So there are other ramifications as well.

[Dupp]

Well LeBron is obviously not in. Not a knock on LeBron, it's just the Lakers have so many chips.

Wilt was past his prime with the Lakers, so I'll pass on him. Same for Kareem.

I think you give one to Magic (84-85), one to Shaq (2000), one to Kobe (2008-2009).

Past prime doesn’t seen worse than other players. All had better laker peaks than Kobe.

[Dupp]

Read on Twitter

Shots taken?

Was 06 even Kobe peak, nope.

Was he ever he best player I the league in 06, debatable.

[TheBobster]

My top 5:

1. 1977 Kareem
2. 2000 Shaq
3. 1952 Mikan
4. 1987 Magic
5. 1966 West

HM: 2008 Kobe, 2020 LeBron, 1972 Wilt

Also 1961 Baylor, 2010 Gasol

[CodeBreaker]

My top 5:

1. 1977 Kareem
2. 2000 Shaq
3. 1952 Mikan
4. 1987 Magic
5. 1966 West

HM: 2008 Kobe, 2020 LeBron, 1972 Wilt

this right here is the correct answer

[tsherkin]

Sorry, just cannot agree with this. The "one game" was a pivotal game 5, a home game, and Suns had the momentum. They would have gone 3-2 up against a team not known for comebacks. Then even if they still lost game 6 in Texas, the Suns had home court for game 7. That was plain daylight robbery and I'm never going to change my mind about that. Amar'e wasn't the only one suspended too, Boris Diaw was as well.

If Phoenix was good enough to win, they would have. They dropped Game 1 at home, split in San Antonio. I don't buy the narrative. They weren't winning that series, and I'm a big Nash fan.

[Dutchball97]

2000 Shaq and 1977 Kareem are the clear top 2 for me but the 3rd spot gets difficult. To be fair the Lakers as a franchise simply have the highest amount of elite peaks between them. Off the top of my head Baylor would probably be on every other team's top 5 but isn't even really in the running for the Lakers.

That said my 3rd spot would go to 1987 Magic. Mikan has the highest peak relative to his competition but his competition was pretty bad so I don't think it's fair to take him over guys like Magic, Kobe and LeBron who were also the best in the league in their respective years but against much tougher competition. Kobe's biggest problem is probably how nobody can agree on his peak. Is it 06, 08 or 09? All have something going for them but are any of them as complete as Magic's 87 season? I personally don't think so. LeBron has a strong season in 2020 but AD next to him was almost as impactful and both guys benefitted a lot from the bubble. I guess West is in the same tier as these guys so he deserves a honoroble mention too.

[dhsilv2]

True... but the 2006-07 daylight robbery needs a permasterisk.

Nah, even that. A footnote in Phoenix conversations but even that, man. Normalize just dealing with the results.

That one absolutely needs a permasterisk IMO. Apart from poor Phoenix not being allowed to win their 1st and only ring... it's one of the legs people use to artificially prop Duncan over Kobe, as y'all use it to say Duncan has 5 titles too.

There's ONE title and ONLY one title you need an asterisk with, and that is 2020 due to WHEN it was played and WHERE it was played. An asterisk does NOT devalue a title btw. It is used to make note of how different it was than other titles.

[dhsilv2]

That one absolutely needs a permasterisk IMO. Apart from poor Phoenix not being allowed to win their 1st and only ring... it's one of the legs people use to artificially prop Duncan over Kobe, as y'all use it to say Duncan has 5 titles too.

That's not really a subjectively-rooted post, and we all know this, man. They won the title. They won all the games they needed to win. Amare missed one game and was back in game 6. They still lost.

Devaluing 2020 isn't nonsense though. It was a legitimate playoffs. Season should have been cancelled

It is nonsense, it's just fans kvetching when their team didn't win or their guy doesn't get the pub they want him to have.

Meantime, 2020 was a more legit season than 99 or 12. It was 11 games shorter than usual and it still took 16 wins to take the title.

In 2020 the season was ended! Players took months off before they abruptly had a playoffs. You can't compare a strike to that!

[tsherkin]

Nah, even that. A footnote in Phoenix conversations but even that, man. Normalize just dealing with the results.

That one absolutely needs a permasterisk IMO. Apart from poor Phoenix not being allowed to win their 1st and only ring... it's one of the legs people use to artificially prop Duncan over Kobe, as y'all use it to say Duncan has 5 titles too.

There's ONE title and ONLY one title you need an asterisk with, and that is 2020 due to WHEN it was played and WHERE it was played. An asterisk does NOT devalue a title btw. It is used to make note of how different it was than other titles.

No, that's very much wrong. Common usage of the asterisk is to diminish and devalue a title.

[dhsilv2]

That one absolutely needs a permasterisk IMO. Apart from poor Phoenix not being allowed to win their 1st and only ring... it's one of the legs people use to artificially prop Duncan over Kobe, as y'all use it to say Duncan has 5 titles too.

There's ONE title and ONLY one title you need an asterisk with, and that is 2020 due to WHEN it was played and WHERE it was played. An asterisk does NOT devalue a title btw. It is used to make note of how different it was than other titles.

No, that's very much wrong. Common usage of the asterisk is to diminish and devalue a title.

That is not what an asterisk is for.

a symbol (*) used to mark printed or written text, typically as a reference to an annotation or to stand for omitted matter.

The 1999 SEASON for example along with 2012 in a history book should get an asterisk. The 2020 playoffs, obviously need one as well.

Just because trashy people and phil jackson want to push these weird alternate takes on reality doesn't mean we have to accept their idiotic attempts. That said to me the 2020 season had no champion or playoffs. The nba had a tournament that year too just for funs and the lakers were tourney champs. Is that a lesser title? Not really, but it sure as hell wasn't an nba title as we know them.

[tsherkin]

There's ONE title and ONLY one title you need an asterisk with, and that is 2020 due to WHEN it was played and WHERE it was played. An asterisk does NOT devalue a title btw. It is used to make note of how different it was than other titles.

No, that's very much wrong. Common usage of the asterisk is to diminish and devalue a title.

That is not what an asterisk is for.

a symbol (*) used to mark printed or written text, typically as a reference to an annotation or to stand for omitted matter.

The 1999 SEASON for example along with 2012 in a history book should get an asterisk. The 2020 playoffs, obviously need one as well.

Just because trashy people and phil jackson want to push these weird alternate takes on reality doesn't mean we have to accept their idiotic attempts. That said to me the 2020 season had no champion or playoffs. The nba had a tournament that year too just for funs and the lakers were tourney champs. Is that a lesser title? Not really, but it sure as hell wasn't an nba title as we know them.

you can argue all day about the intent of the punctuation but common usage on these boards is another thing entirely. People have been using that word to crap on titles for 20 years.

[Narigo]

77 Kareem
00 Shaq
87 or 90 Magic

[Ballerhogger]

In my life time ?
2000 Shaq 29.7 13.8 3.6
2006 Kobe 35.4 5.3 4.5
People won’t like this but oh well
Lebron 2020 25.3 10.2 ast 7.8
Lebron bubble championship run was pretty great
Avg 27.6 10.8 trb and 8.8 ast . Run away finals mvp .

[Ballerhogger]

Historically speaking we talk about impact and what it means today but these numbers are ridiculous regardless
Elgin Baylor 1962* 38.3 Pts 18.6 TRB 4.6 AST
Magic Johnson 87* 23.9 pts 6.3 trb 12.2 AST
Shaq 2000 29.7 13.8 3.6

[JN61]

Lebron's Disney ring was not even a legit championship.

Warned for derailing

Yikes hit the nerve.

Read on Twitter

Worth nothing that its significantly easier to achieve this in slow pace era where you do scoring for your team than on high pace era because obviously less taxing style of play per minute. Same principle as scaling numbers up of player who has huge usage on low 15-20 min per game minutes compared to player who plays 42 minutes nightly basis on same usage. When people use per36 for example.

[JN61]

1. Kobe
2. Magic
3. Kareem
4. West
5. Shaq

Have you checked these other players peak...? Kobe peaked highest in Lakers cast has no other supporting measurement than late millennial fandom on these forums.

[Blazers-1977]

1. 2000 Shaq
2. 1987 Magic
3. 1977 Kareem

[dhsilv2]

No, that's very much wrong. Common usage of the asterisk is to diminish and devalue a title.

That is not what an asterisk is for.

a symbol (*) used to mark printed or written text, typically as a reference to an annotation or to stand for omitted matter.

The 1999 SEASON for example along with 2012 in a history book should get an asterisk. The 2020 playoffs, obviously need one as well.

Just because trashy people and phil jackson want to push these weird alternate takes on reality doesn't mean we have to accept their idiotic attempts. That said to me the 2020 season had no champion or playoffs. The nba had a tournament that year too just for funs and the lakers were tourney champs. Is that a lesser title? Not really, but it sure as hell wasn't an nba title as we know them.

you can argue all day about the intent of the punctuation but common usage on these boards is another thing entirely. People have been using that word to crap on titles for 20 years.

Wrong is wrong is wrong.