 The Laker LegacyJun 15 2009 3:36PM
By Darryl Howerton #21
The Lakers are the greatest franchise in NBA history. Phil Jackson is the greatest coach in NBA history. And Kobe Bryant has certainly cemented his legacy as one of the 10 best players in NBA history. These facts were solidified Sunday after the Los Angeles Lakers won the 2009 NBA championship. This is not my opinion talking. These are simply the facts. BEST FRANCHISE EVER
ESPN.com’s John Hollinger wrote an extensive piece illustrating how the Los Angeles Laker franchise is the best in NBA history. The only team that can make a counter-claim is the Boston Celtics, who won 17 championships to the Lakers’ 15. But Boston trails L.A. in every other main category (wins, playoff wins, series wins) as the feature points out, so it’s easy to see why Los Angeles deserves top-dog status. Main reason: the Lakers never had as much downtime in between championship seasons as the Celtics have.
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BEST COACH EVER Phil Jackson’s 10th NBA championship as a head coach finally gives him the symbolic nod over Red Auerbach, who had nine titles. But truth be told, Phil had already passed Red, simply by tying the Celtic architect with his ninth championship in 2002. Auerbach had no titles in his first 10 years of coaching and when he got nine rings in his next 10 years, it was mainly because of Bill Russell. Jackson, meanwhile, won 10 titles on teams led by three different MVPs—Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. And Phil showed he could work wonders when he was missing his top talent too—leading the ’93-94 and ’94-95 Bulls to 55- and 47-win seasons and second-round playoff finishes, even though Jordan only played 17 regular-season games those years. And Phil also took the Shaq-less Lakers of ’04-05 from a 34-win non-playoff season to a 45-win playoff season upon his return to the Laker franchise. No matter whom he coached, Phil made them all better, and he helped turn Michael, Shaq and Kobe into champions after his predecessors could not.
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TOP 10 ALL-TIME
There are only 10 players in NBA history who have the credentials that these all-timers have (multiple championships, regular-season and Finals MVPs, double-digit All-NBA awards). So with apologies to ’50s greats George Mikan and Bob Cousy, who weren’t eligible for such accolades, these 10 men stand out from their Hall-of-Fame peers as the most accomplished players in NBA history. And now, Kobe Bryant, even at the relatively young age of 30, easily has the numbers to make him fit seamlessly as one of the 10 best to ever play the game.
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Key: Titles = championships won; MVP = regular-season MVPs awards (from ’55-56 to present); Top 5 = Top 5 in MVP voting (from ’55-56 to present); Russell = Finals MVP awards; All-NBA = All-NBA first-, second- and third-team awards (from ’46-47 to present); All-D = All-Defensive first- and second-team awards (from ’68-69 to present); All-Star = All-Star Games (from ’51 to present, with the exception of ’99 when there was no All-Star Game); PER = regular-season Player Efficiency Rating; p-PER = playoff Player Efficiency Rating; Years = seasons played. + player may have won more awards, but this accolade was not given out during all of his career * blocks and steals not kept until ’73-74 season, while turnovers not kept until ’77-78 season  |
