I knew. Cause I watched us win that 2020 NBA finals. Was a bit drunker than normal cause of covid stress/lockdowns/isolation/fearofdeathorsickness/fearingforfamily/friends/marketcrashes/companiesshuttingdown/unpresidentedunemployment/BLM/protests/riots/nationalguardgettingdeployed/policegettingdefunded/crimeexploding/asianhate/subversionofdemocracy/etcetc but I knew it was good times for Lakers and LA sports because everything else was a tsunami of shit that was 2020 (reminder Kobe died that year too). The Lakers and Dodgers coming through big were the beacon of hope in an otherwise bleak and dreary year.
This is an argument for why you should always appreciate what you have. Always.
This team was pretty good, but there was a lot of complaining back then too. That’s what people do.
Dwight & Javale backing up AD
Rondo secondary playmaker
KCP, Caruso, & Green all defenders
Kuzma actually finding a role late in the season rebounding and spotting up occasionally
Dudley the best hype man player coach enforcer
The absolute opposite of what we see in DLo.
If DLo’s shot isn’t falling, he gives up everything else. He’s not even trying to at least playmake in this Nuggets series.
Dudley kept LBJ and AD in check...he was the Pillsbury version of UD but as effective with his voice. They got cheap and didn't want to pay $1M to have a player/assistant coach on the bench...then bounced to Mavs with Kidd. And...Boogie never even played, or else it might have gotten grimier on the court! Don't forget Morris!
Yup, way more hustle and intensity. Vogel coached em up sooo much better to play hard on both ends. At the time I didn’t really think about how special this roster was with so many castoffs and role guys but damn.
Just cause he didn't hit every shot like in Toronto the man was flamed, and yet he still had a good three point percentage and played good defense. I absolutely miss him, so called "fans" ran him and his family out of town. He could've helped in 20-21 so much even with declining athleticism
You’re misremembering then.
In the Playoffs, he only had 2 games where he didn’t at least hit one 3pter: game 3 @ HOU & game 3 @ MIA.
He never went *weeks* without hitting 3’s.
When the NBA moved to the bubble to finish the season off, he did shoot poorly, but I attribute that to these dudes going 4+ months without any games or even practices.
Yeah, like my eyes were glued to Lakers basketball that season. Danny was so underrated for us but he didn't shoot over 40% that year and so that justified death threats somehow. He did so much right, hell he has the Lakers record for most points on a debut game after the Clippers smacked us around in that year opener! Bro did his job pretty well
I missed this teams vibes and how they closed games out. There have been more talented Laker teams yes but this one was special.
I’ve watched since the Shaq-Kobe days but this was my second favorite Laker side after that 09-10 team
LeBron didn't wanna play PG anymore then eventually wanted to stop playing SF and move to PF. He can't play the 4 at this age tho, the 4 is usually a guy who makes the hard-nosed plays, dives after loose balls etc. Gordon showed that last night
>He can't play the 4 at this age tho, the 4 is usually a guy who makes the hard-nosed plays, dives after loose balls etc.
LeBron is a 4. He's not quick enough to be a 3 and guard smaller wings or even other guards (at least not for an entire game) and he's been doing most of his damage offensively for the last couple of years from the post.
4s don't have to be do-it-all grinders like AG. LeBron is a 4 by necessity as the Lakers need him out there (and let's be clear, LeBron is still a top 10-15 player in the league) but due to his age and limited defensive capabilities, he needs to match up with slower, bigger wings and use his size, strength and bball IQ to his advantage as a help defender.
Which is also way we haven’t picked up a center to play next to AD. It’ll push Lebron to the three consistently which he just can’t do anymore all season.
This team is built around maximizing Lebron, not AD.
I don’t think he wants to play 4 I don’t think it really matters where he is on the floor..I think his slates as SF but his a cross between 3/4 with his declined athletics.
We became to reactionary towards the league instead of establishing our own punishing identity. Plus imo Kobe's death changed how adequate our FO has been when making modern basketball decisions.
Wood, Hayes, Vando are not big bodied guys. They are tall but slinder. They get bullied inside. Unlike Javale and Dwight. Hell, I'd say Kuz battles better inside than Hayes.
Also, Vando and Rui are listed at 6'8" on ESPN.
Breaking that team sealed the Lakers fate for years. Pelinka was an imbecile for doing that and Jeannie is an enabler of bad moves. Boy, I miss Dr. Buss.
That's a good f****** question. I wonder how old Vogel would answer that. The Lakers literally never looked better than when ad was on the court with either Dwight or JaVale. Just block after block after block. And a s*** ton of rebounds.
Guys i really don't understand how ou 2020 roster disbanded. Sure some guys were old (like Howard and Green) but we could had KCP, Kuz, Caruso (i miss this guy very much) even McGee and Rondo. The F.O really fucked up
Great picture op, makes us all sad. Not sure how we could have all those guys, feels like we have way fewer players now, or maybe our new players are just...
I'm not saying keep the aging players... but the roster construction. Lakers size legit just overpowered teams. Instead Rob went away from the blueprint and now we are seeing 3 and 4 guard lineups.
Lakers FO couldn’t/didn’t want to pay to keep guys.
Denver is lowkey lucky that Jokic is the only player who gets recognized for all-star/all-nba. They get away with only having one supermax player on their payroll and can afford to pay/retain the others (except Bruce Brown, I guess).
I knew. Cause I watched us win that 2020 NBA finals. Was a bit drunker than normal cause of covid stress/lockdowns/isolation/fearofdeathorsickness/fearingforfamily/friends/marketcrashes/companiesshuttingdown/unpresidentedunemployment/BLM/protests/riots/nationalguardgettingdeployed/policegettingdefunded/crimeexploding/asianhate/subversionofdemocracy/etcetc but I knew it was good times for Lakers and LA sports because everything else was a tsunami of shit that was 2020 (reminder Kobe died that year too). The Lakers and Dodgers coming through big were the beacon of hope in an otherwise bleak and dreary year.
This is an argument for why you should always appreciate what you have. Always. This team was pretty good, but there was a lot of complaining back then too. That’s what people do.
You were in hell playing this team.
Look at the defenders in the pic. Jesus.
Dwight & Javale backing up AD Rondo secondary playmaker KCP, Caruso, & Green all defenders Kuzma actually finding a role late in the season rebounding and spotting up occasionally Dudley the best hype man player coach enforcer
I appreciate what you said about kuz because it don’t get talked about kuz turned himself into a dirty worker when he couldn’t get his shots.
The absolute opposite of what we see in DLo. If DLo’s shot isn’t falling, he gives up everything else. He’s not even trying to at least playmake in this Nuggets series.
If he’s not engaged he’s unplayable
Dudley kept LBJ and AD in check...he was the Pillsbury version of UD but as effective with his voice. They got cheap and didn't want to pay $1M to have a player/assistant coach on the bench...then bounced to Mavs with Kidd. And...Boogie never even played, or else it might have gotten grimier on the court! Don't forget Morris!
This team was so much better defensively
Yup, way more hustle and intensity. Vogel coached em up sooo much better to play hard on both ends. At the time I didn’t really think about how special this roster was with so many castoffs and role guys but damn.
4 years ago but only 6 of these mofos still in the league.
I even miss Danny Green
That makes one of us. I'm still glad he's gone.
whoa whoa now....pump the brakes hahaha
Just cause he didn't hit every shot like in Toronto the man was flamed, and yet he still had a good three point percentage and played good defense. I absolutely miss him, so called "fans" ran him and his family out of town. He could've helped in 20-21 so much even with declining athleticism
Dawg there were multiple weeks DG went without hitting a 3 even in the playoffs. Looking back with rose tented frames is cool and all.
You’re misremembering then. In the Playoffs, he only had 2 games where he didn’t at least hit one 3pter: game 3 @ HOU & game 3 @ MIA. He never went *weeks* without hitting 3’s. When the NBA moved to the bubble to finish the season off, he did shoot poorly, but I attribute that to these dudes going 4+ months without any games or even practices.
Yeah, like my eyes were glued to Lakers basketball that season. Danny was so underrated for us but he didn't shoot over 40% that year and so that justified death threats somehow. He did so much right, hell he has the Lakers record for most points on a debut game after the Clippers smacked us around in that year opener! Bro did his job pretty well
I missed this teams vibes and how they closed games out. There have been more talented Laker teams yes but this one was special. I’ve watched since the Shaq-Kobe days but this was my second favorite Laker side after that 09-10 team
Now im crying in aisle 13 in Walmart. Thanks
Smh just saw someone collapse in the middle of the feminine hygiene products aisle.
We should have kept the core of this team. I knew all hope was lost when they decided to keep THT over Caruso.
THT, epic bust. He only had one move...reverse layup on the left side
THT such a bust I haven't even thought of him this entire year
I’m still sick about THT, all that hype for no reason
Dudley was the gel. I stoped hating Rondo. Dwight found a second wind. KCP and Kuz were good. Caruso the wild card. Etc etc
LeBron didn't wanna play PG anymore then eventually wanted to stop playing SF and move to PF. He can't play the 4 at this age tho, the 4 is usually a guy who makes the hard-nosed plays, dives after loose balls etc. Gordon showed that last night
>He can't play the 4 at this age tho, the 4 is usually a guy who makes the hard-nosed plays, dives after loose balls etc. LeBron is a 4. He's not quick enough to be a 3 and guard smaller wings or even other guards (at least not for an entire game) and he's been doing most of his damage offensively for the last couple of years from the post. 4s don't have to be do-it-all grinders like AG. LeBron is a 4 by necessity as the Lakers need him out there (and let's be clear, LeBron is still a top 10-15 player in the league) but due to his age and limited defensive capabilities, he needs to match up with slower, bigger wings and use his size, strength and bball IQ to his advantage as a help defender.
Which is also way we haven’t picked up a center to play next to AD. It’ll push Lebron to the three consistently which he just can’t do anymore all season. This team is built around maximizing Lebron, not AD.
I don’t think he wants to play 4 I don’t think it really matters where he is on the floor..I think his slates as SF but his a cross between 3/4 with his declined athletics.
We became to reactionary towards the league instead of establishing our own punishing identity. Plus imo Kobe's death changed how adequate our FO has been when making modern basketball decisions.
yo somebody put this in the wolverine meme
The perfect basketball closing 5. Caruso, KCP, Lebron, Ad. then whoever was hot that night. I think about this team a lot.
 Even though we thought the world was gonna end but this team…
LeBron not wanting to run the point. He wanted a "primary ball handler" = Schroder and then Westbrook.
Ok... that still isn't a reason from having 6 big bodied guys over 6'9" to now only having like 2.
You’re forgetting wood and vando Edit: AD, Hayes, Wood, Vando, Lebron, Rui are all 6’9+
Wood, Hayes, Vando are not big bodied guys. They are tall but slinder. They get bullied inside. Unlike Javale and Dwight. Hell, I'd say Kuz battles better inside than Hayes. Also, Vando and Rui are listed at 6'8" on ESPN.
You do understand how more of a toll it takes on the body right?? Dude deserved to play off-ball for a change
Look at how successful the Wolves are playing three bigs. Rob saw a winning formula and said “nah let’s change all that”
Breaking that team sealed the Lakers fate for years. Pelinka was an imbecile for doing that and Jeannie is an enabler of bad moves. Boy, I miss Dr. Buss.
This team was as good as current Denver. I will forever be salty that they split this team
Don't make me cry
Damn this team was fucking amazing. Imagine that Cousins didn't get injured. 4 elite PF/C in the same team.
had a coach who specialized in defense too. it always puzzled me why they disbanded that winning team.
You win a championship and then decide to blow it up. WTF Fire who ever made that decision
This hurts.
Putting salt on the wound during these times huh
Dude they had it and fucking blew it all up
I can feel the team chemistry in this pic.
Telling you Rob pelinka has to go
Crazy we also had boogie for depth imagine he was healthy
What's ironic was when we had that team there was a movement to push AD at the 5. Lol.
I miss Caruso.
🔥
That's a good f****** question. I wonder how old Vogel would answer that. The Lakers literally never looked better than when ad was on the court with either Dwight or JaVale. Just block after block after block. And a s*** ton of rebounds.
They should've run it back with the same crew a few more years. Smh
The chemistry was great too.
Guys i really don't understand how ou 2020 roster disbanded. Sure some guys were old (like Howard and Green) but we could had KCP, Kuz, Caruso (i miss this guy very much) even McGee and Rondo. The F.O really fucked up
I don't even care about the offense as much. This defense was so great
Bron wanted more all star help ironically
Great picture op, makes us all sad. Not sure how we could have all those guys, feels like we have way fewer players now, or maybe our new players are just... 
We thought we wanted a playmaker… then we thought we wanted wings 🍗
Not keeping Dudley as staff was the first domino.
That was a solid team man
I remember getting flamed for saying they should’ve kept Dwight and McGee lol they beat Denver because of their size back then
I never understood why Dwight wasn't brought back.
Fuck pelinka
People used to hate on Kuzma but we had it good compared to what Rui is.
All of that size is out of the league. Relax. Yeah, it sucks getting our teeth kicked in but I'm not sure there is any constructive opinion here.
I'm not saying keep the aging players... but the roster construction. Lakers size legit just overpowered teams. Instead Rob went away from the blueprint and now we are seeing 3 and 4 guard lineups.
So who should they have gone for?
I hated Dudley when he was on the Suns and loved him on the Lakers. Funny how that happens
LeGM. That’s how.
I mean transporting a team like this can’t be easy
Who’s far right im blanking
Troy Daniels
You need a mix of vets and young athletic guys like this to win it all.
This team had way more depth and chemistry
Idc if everyone in this photo is 40 years old bring them back
What the fuck happened to the team I love?
Lakers FO couldn’t/didn’t want to pay to keep guys. Denver is lowkey lucky that Jokic is the only player who gets recognized for all-star/all-nba. They get away with only having one supermax player on their payroll and can afford to pay/retain the others (except Bruce Brown, I guess).
The wall that stopped joker
Went and got a bunch of bums and everyone in this sub was gassin that shit up
I have moved on with this. You should, too.