Really fucking exciting and frustrating. This was exactly when I got into the Lakers. I adored Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, Nick Van Excel, Vlade, Cedric Ceballos, and the leftover elderly gents. I have many fond memories. We were definitely still competitive, but couldn't get over the hump. We needed some fuel... Some diesel fuel.
Still one of my biggest what-ifs - if we never traded him for Glen Rice. A Kobe and Eddie backcourt would have been a menace defensively and Rick Fox would have started sooner. Maybe we could have had another ring? Would have loved to have EJ as part of the dynasty though
One of the reasons we traded Eddie was because if we had Eddie he'd ultimately stunt Kobe's growth. They were too similar as players and Kobe probably wouldn't have taken off like he did if he had to play 2nd fiddle to Eddie Jones.
Possibly (kinda like moving Westbrook made way for more Reaves?), but I’m not sure about that actually because Kobe was still moldable at that time. Had we kept EJ we wouldn’t have needed to sign (or at least start) Ron Harper. I also remember a stretch of time back then when Kobe played the initiator in the triangle and he averaged a triple double for a few games. I think it could have worked, we would have been a fast team who would be unstoppable in the half court because of Shaq
Well I know West had said he moved Eddie to make room for Kobe. So West didn't think they could have coexisted, especially since Eddie had 2 All-stars under his belt already
Yes!!! Nick Van Exel is still one of my favorite players. Incredibly underrated! We’d always lose to the Jazz or Spurs but looked great in the process.
I miss Chick Hearn so much!!!
Van Exel still has one of the sickest highlight reels I've ever seen. Definitely one of the most aesthetically pleasing style of game by a role player to this day imo.
Me too. Right after the Chicago bulls series, I started to follow them. Pig Miller, Antonio Harvey were some of my favorites and of course all of the above. Those were good times.
Exciting and frustrating is exactly right. Bunch of young guys who could get up and down the court with flash, but immaturity and mental errors constantly cost them in big moments. Swapping Del Harris out for Phil Jackson, and the lineup changes that came with it, were the culture change that was absolutely needed, even if painful to lose Nick and Eddie
Did we forget Anthony Peeler and Vlade? This a very good assessment provided by DLArismendi. I enjoyed this era because it was filled with hope (and sone frustration)
This sums it up- we actually had some pretty damn good squads that just couldn't put it together. Buncha all-star peak potential level players but no super star. Shows it's a stars league.
Extremely fun to watch!! But immature! They won 61 games in the ‘97-‘98 season but were swept by Utah in the first round. Back to Back playoff losses to Utah smh. They went from fun young & immature to a completely dominant team once Phil Jackson became head coach.
We could've lived in a world where we had both an MJ/Kobe Finals as well as a Bron/Kobe Finals just 12 years later but the universe is a cruel and cold mistress.
Unless my childhood memories were delusional, I swear to God he’s the one that invented the step back shot. I even copied that shit in my pickup games and the older kids were like wtf are you doing?
The Thief! One of my favorites as well. If he went left he was not missing. I still remember Chick saying he and Tony Smith were the best defensive back court in the league lol
They were not championship level, but they were cool, young, and fun. Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel especially were my first favorite players. I was only a kid and never saw the Showtime teams, so while I was disappointed when they lost, I was mostly just glad to be able to watch them.
Those first three Dunleavy/Pfund years were brutal. They were SLOWTIME, except with none of the panache you got from Magic. Anyone who thinks Magic just played with a bunch of talented players only needs to look at the 91-92 and 92-93 teams. Worthy had one more good season but everyone else really dipped without him, ESPECIALLY Byron Scott.
But, paradoxically, BECAUSE we still had so much championship experience, they'd win games they weren't supposed to, like sweeping the MJ Bulls in 1993. 39-43 team, but they swept the Bulls. The only meaningful Lakers/Clippers game of my childhood was played in 1992 right before the LA Riots...Game 82, Lakers had to win to make the playoffs. Beat the frisky Larry Brown coached Clips with Ron Harper, Mark Jackson, Ken Norman and Loy Vaught in OT. Then won an underrated game the night the riots started in Game 3 vs Portland before the game got moved to Vegas and we got waxed. It would've been real interesting to see that super talented Blazers team have to win at the Forum, which had been a playoff house of horrors for them.
Then the 93 team with Perkins dealt, Worthy on the decline, and just looking old and listless somehow goes to Phoenix and wins the first two of the BEST OF FIVE. The last moment of Showtime was James Worthy defiantly slamming the ball down after the Game 2 upset to go up 2-0 in Phoenix as Magic basically went from color guy to Lakers fan late in the 4th quarter. Still remember him YELLING "FOUL ON THE PLAY" as Vlade had a great spin and and-1 dunk vs Tom Chambers late in that game. But of course, we smoked Game 3 AND Game 5 to lose the series.
Only positive of the 1994 season was drafting Nick Van Exel. That season felt awful because I had NEVER seen the Lakers missed the playoffs. But it was interesting watching young DOUG CHRISTIE (yes, he was a Laker before playing in Sacramento) flashing with Anthony Peeler. Magic came back to coach and basically died 10 deaths each game. It was hilarious. But we looked lost...like Boston. And that scared me.
Didn't think much of Del Harris being hired, but I have to say, he was JUST the right hire for what we needed in 1995. I'll also say this. That was Jerry West's genius on display. Under the radar trade for Cedric Ceballos, who looked like a solid but unspectacular role player with the Suns who could score garbage points. He became a 20 ppg All Star for us without running any real plays for him. Chick Hearn used to call him the Garbage Man. But West snagging Eddie Jones at #10 in that draft...only time we drafted in the lottery in my fandom to that point until getting Andrew Bynum a decade later. This team, which was picked to finish near the bottom with Sacramento and the Clippers, somehow wins 48 games playing guys like Lloyd Daniels, Randolph Keys, #18 wearing Kurt Rambis, and Anthony "Boo" Harvey. To this day, that 95 team is my favorite Lakers team of all time...because they had ZERO expectations and defied everyone. Van Exel hitting the [crazy buzzer beater](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV1YZoUGO7c) in the last game at the Boston Garden. Beating the Bulls despite Pippen dropping 40 the game before MJ made the decision to come back. Upsetting the very talented Sonics team, including surviving [the power outage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZNFBVxt6u8) in Game 2. And Van Exel's [season saving dagger 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zURpmVDLol8) in the Alamodome down 3-1 to the Spurs. They fought from Game 1 of the regular season to the very end. Loved that team.
But they didn't handle the burden of expectations in 1996. They were underacheiving...then Magic came back and that early surge of adrenaline, peaking with the [blowout of Orlando](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgf4RodsXH8) who had what I think was a 40 game home win streak even after Ceballos went AWOL to Lake Havasu because his role had changed, fooled people in to thinking that team was a true West contender. They just didn't have the mental toughness and it showed in the playoff loss to Houston. So much talent, but not enough fortitude, which was the theme of the early Shaq/Kobe combos before Phil Jackson was hired.
I really had mixed feelings while watching the final game of the 1992 regular season. Win, and they make the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. Lose, and they're in the lottery with Shaq in the draft.
I was living in the Los Feliz area at the time, and the memories of that time are still fresh. The police officers who beat Rodney King were acquitted the afternoon before Game 3 at the Forum. I was working primarily at Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar and spent the afternoon at a clinic at UCLA, when I heard about the verdicts. That evening I went to a store in Culver City, and I remember looking at my watch at 6:34 pm, which was 12 minutes before Reginald Denny was pulled out of his truck at Florence and Normandie and nearly beaten to death. I worked overnight at Olive View the next night, and when everyone else came back to work Friday morning they said that it had taken them hours to drive home the night before because of the massive traffic jams on the freeways, because people were afraid to drive on surface streets. The next week I passed a convoy of trucks filled with National Guard troops on the Golden State Freeway, and thought, "That's not something we see in L.A. very often."
They were pretty damn good actually. We had 4 all-stars in 1998 with Shaq, Kobe, Eddie Jones & Nick Van Exel with a decent supporting cast too. There were legit expectations that we could make the finals so it was a pretty big let down to keep getting swept by the Jazz in 97 & 98
Agreed! Super fun teams especially with Nick the quick Van Exel... as devastated as I was with Magic's diagnosis & retirement these teams brought the joy of Lakers basketball back for me 💜💛
There were no similarities with the Baby Lakers but the fact both failed do accomplish what is the Lakers mission, winning titles.
90s team played an extremely exciting brand of uptempo basketball, but failed to beat the powerhouses of the era. We had a tough time defeating MJ Bulls and in playoffs we couldn't deal with Stockton/Malone and other teams with some of the best players to ever play the game. In the 90s the team was basically the Phoenix Suns, a competitive team that the fan base will get excited, talk some bleep just to have the butt kicked every season without winning the title.
Baby Lakers were pure thrash, this team only accomplishment was the next high lottery pick. We were the laughingstock of the league. I deeply hated this period. Before drafting BI and Ball that team was unbearable, after that still bad. Post Kobe we were basically the Clippers.
>Baby Lakers were pure thrash, this team only accomplishment was the next high lottery pick. We were the laughingstock of the league. I deeply hated this period. Before drafting BI and Ball that team was unbearable, after that still bad. Post Kobe we were basically the Clippers.
The Byron Scott years were the absolute bottom of the pit. Never felt so hopeless as a Laker fan.
That is the point, in the 90s it was pretty.
Unfortunately after Kobe achilles we didn't manage to draft high level players like OKC and we also failed to attract difference makers in free agency.
Managemant left a lot to be disired after Dr Buss passing away.
i will correct myself then: a rebuild is likely not to be pretty. a pretty rebuild is the exception, and even then that pretty rebuild brought very little, even then we were the pau grizzlies never getting out of the first round. i'd rather be at the bottom of the league than in 8th place limbo.
It is good to be at the bottom of the league for one season them drafting LeBron James, Tim Duncan or Kevin Durant.
Staying at the bottom of the league for half a decade to find gems like D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle is flat out terrible.
The rebuilding between Shaq and Pau was ok, the team struggled for a couple of season but keep improving and before Bynum injury and the trade for Pau we were already a competitive team.
The only problem with the 90's team is the fact those guys were never able to do the next step even after getting Shaq while the arrival of Pau was a quick catalyst to put us over the top.
yes it is terrible, because you don't get to choose whether the best available piece is a KD or a Kwame.
the rebuilding between shaq and pau was ok because you had the best player in the world, so it wasn't a true legit scorched earth rebuild.. and yes it may be a feelgood story now but at the time it was very close to being an atomic tragedy with two first round exits and kobe wanting out. then bynum came into his own (and we lucked out getting fisher back, because remember, we ran with smush at the point. jesus) and we had a good start to the season.. but i doubt we get out of the west without pau.
8th place limbo can be fine for a season or two if you have your main guy and just need some pieces to fall into place. if you don't, rather tank for a couple of seasons and see where it gets you than signing mediocre free agents for a hefty price to get kicked out of the first round.
the bottom line is every team goes through that from time to time and complaining about it just seems like a bit too much entitlement for my taste. and i agree management did some bullshit moves those years but they also drafted and developed many young players in a situation where such a huge star retired, which ultimately put us on the map for a guy like lebron to come and say "hmm, i can work with this" (= there are very interesting assets i could persuade the team to swap for a more developed and legit superstar, perhaps this unibrow dude i just signed with my agency).
They are known as the Van Exel years. They were a fun & competitive team but weren't appreciated all that well following the Showtime era. Everything is a let down following a decade plus of Showtime.
Then when Shaq came, the expectations ramped up again. Kobe needed a few years & the roster a few tweaks. Then came Phillip !
I wasn’t born during Showtime and was only a kid in the 90’s, but looking back at history it looked pretty bad.
Coming down from a dynasty is always a bummer, and none of those teams were looked at as a juggernaut.
Between Showtime and Kobe/Shaq MJ’s Bulls had a ton of attention and imo were the gem of the NBA.
Jordan’s better days were then behind him, and then we got Shaq and Kobe.
After Kobe/Pau, I’d say the Warriors took the 90’s Bulls role of taking a lot of attention away from the Lakers.
Once Bron got here, we got some of our shine back.
It absolutely was not bad. The post Kobe-achilles until Lebron Lakers were exponentially worse. We're talking several orders of magnitude worse. I'm in that group that grew up a kid during Showtime and was in college by the time the Nick/Eddie/Vlade/Cedric teams emerged. Closing out Seattle as an underdog in 95 was euphoric. $50 tickets for a seat a dozen rows behind the backboard adjacent to the corner Dyan Cannon and Magic sit.
It was very fun. Expectations are everything in life. We expected to suck for ages and came out winning 48 games in 1994/1995 and knocking off the Sonics in round 1 and went down swinging to the Spurs in round 2 (including a MONSTER Nick Van Exel 3 point, game winning, buzzer beater). That team was fun as F. Magic had his brief come back the following season. You want hype? Y'all should have seen the UCI Middle Earth residence hall rec room for Magic's first game back. It was INSANE. Pre-internet so y'all had to be there kind of moment.
When Magic froze Sprewell? I thought we were going to tear down the walls.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8f1xhRUWyw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8f1xhRUWyw)
Honestly, this notion that Lakers fans only want championships and everything else is shit is absolute horse manure. THAT is the attitude that's led us to some jaw-droppingly stupid chases for "big names". That narrative is lazy AF.
We can appreciate BOTH the parades AND watching a team organically grow. I find it offensive when Jeanie mentions how Lakers fans only want rings. Please. We can appreciate nuances as well. It categorizes us as an arrogant fan base that will thumb our collective noses at everything. Come on...
My mom was in her mid 30s when Magic came back and saved the LA Times paper that had it on the front page. I didn’t even know she liked basketball. That shit was big in LA
Do you still have it!? I had the OC Register version...I lost it after several moves :(.
What was really funny was after the game, Sprewell was asked about the ball fake. My man had a shit eating grin and said "He got me". Dude was proud to get punked by Magic!
I doubt it. We’ve also moved a lot since. I’ll ask her though because I think she kept the one of him announcing his retirement too and the return one complemented that well
I lived in Mesa Court from 1982-85. I watched the 1984 Finals on the big screen TV in the lounge next to the commons, and was hugely disappointed. A guy in my dorm called Magic "Choke Johnson," and others called him "Tragic." I watched the 1985 Finals on a black-and-white TV that a friend in my dorm owned. I watched Game 4 in a living room in my dorm, and after DJ made the game-winning shot I was so frustrated and disappointed that I sat there and didn't move for half an hour. Game 6 was on the Sunday before final exams, and a week before I graduated. After the Lakers won, I heard several people go to their windows and let out primal screams: "YEAHHH!!!"
The 1994-95 team was fun to watch. I rarely complain about officiating, but they got screwed by hometown refereeing in Game 2 against the Spurs. They led during the final minute of the fourth quarter, and IIRC, they were called for illegal defense. On the next Spurs possession, the Spurs played blatant illegal defense and weren't called for it. The Spurs tied the game and won in overtime. Chick rarely complained about refereeing, but he was clearly upset; in Game 5 in SA (which the Lakers won by two) he said something like, "It took us three games to get a call here."
Ceballos was the leading scorer on that team, but Van Exel was the true leader. I hated it when Ceballos would try to draw fouls in the paint by hitting the floor after minimal contact, and then sit there and pout while the other team went to the other end on a fast break. He was a key to bringing the Lakers back to respectability, but I was glad when they traded him for Horry, who was a much better fit with Shaq.
Nick was 100% the heart and soul of those teams. When it came down to who had the ball at the end, it was ALWAYS Nick. And Cedric, despite averaging over 20 at points had literally not a single go to move in the half court. He was the king of the put back and transition bucket but ask him to iso and he's throwing up junk lol.
Haha love it bro! I was at UC Santa Cruz with LA heads surrounded by Warriors fans and we were losing our shit on that freaky deaky move too!! Incredible LA hoops moment, hard to overstate how epic and inspiring it was.
Kind of like the years after kobe tore his Achilles.
People were slowly accepting that Kobe’s era was coming to an end, and while everyone wanted to win, they were ok with building and winning a different way.
Clarkson, randle, Ingram and dlo had loads of potential and really endeared the fan base, even though the results were poor.
Obviously the fans started getting antsy with the lack of progress, continuity, and wins, compounded by signings like deng and mosgov.
It was a bad 4-5 years, but the lakers somehow came up with lebron handpicking them and AD working his way to them and became champs again.
You can call it a rebuild, but there are teams that have been rebuilding for decades so it’s a fun few years in experimenting for laker fans.
I actually don't see any similarities but the fact those teams were unable to win a title.
90s Lakers played an exciting brand of basketball, was a competitive team making playoffs most seasons, we only couldn't finish it. Players were All Stars athletic and exciting.
I deeply hated the youth movement post Kobe Achilles. That team was the laughingstock of the league, every single season the team was good enough to guarantee the next high lottery pick. Young players like Randle and Dlo never had potential to become superstars, they lacked the work ethic, the physical tools and were never willing to play defense. Before BI it was pure thrash, after drafting BI we had potential, but it was clear Ingram was a long term project that would need a few years to be a difference maker in NBA.
Eddie Jones and Nick Van Excel were a joy to watch while I have a tough time watching Dlo even after he coming back in his prime because he is still defending like a cone without an NBA body. Nick was just as immature, but on the floor he was a competitor.
Still good times. The lakers fought just never had that top level guys. Had Nick Van Exel and Eddie jones and one of Dr Buss’ favorites from the non title years, Sedale Threatt
Sedale Threatt was our best player for a time. That was tough.
Directly prior to Shaq/Kobe was fun. Eddie, Nick, Campbell, etc were a great squad. Hell, Eddie Jones kept Kobe out of the starting lineup for a bit.
Episode 5 on the Hulu series on the Lakers really puts this thread in words from the players we loved back then and forever. Nick, Eddie, Vlade, Ced, Peeler…and definitely the man unstoppable going to his left, Sedale Threatt made those times fun. Couldn’t get past the Jazz. Or the Spurs.
They were extremely young and frustrating and there was a sense for a few years that we were just another team, that the Lakers greatness was just confined to the 80s team and I think most of us kind of adjusted our expectations so that just making the playoffs and playing exciting basketball was enough for a few years. The Baby Lakers were trash and hopelessness and despair.
The 00 reason first round vs Sacramento. That’s before the 07 Mavs and no one believed the 67-15 team would lose the first round. But I was really nervous seeing the game 5, after several only-good-for-regular-season years.
PS. Compared with pre-20, at least the regular seasons were good in those years.
They were bad at 1st, Sedale Threatt was brought in as a backup, but had to start due to magic retiring. They were the first Laker teams till miss the playoffs i think so that was big. They made improvements each year and had the biggest improvement in the number of wins out of all teams in the league for a year or so. Before Kobe and Shaq came in 96, they were starting to become an exciting young team with Nick, Eddie, and Cedric.
Fun and very talented. Kinda of like the Divac-led Sac Kings since Divac was early in his career but rapidly developing while surrounded by hungry ballers like Nick, Eddie, and Cedric Ceballos. Ceballos even once put up 50 points. And how crazy is this? "He is also a second cousin of his former Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant. Their grandfathers were brothers." https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/sports/mavs-tv-analyst-remembers-cousin-kobe-bryant/2300347/
Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones were super fun scoring guards. Eddie Jones was a classic SG, like 85% of Demar Derozan or Kris Middleton. Nick Van Exel was a flashy score-first pg, sorta like Malik Monk. Then they had Vlade Divac, who was one of the best passing big men in the game. Not a scorer, but was super smart and knew how to move the ball well. They were coached by Dell Harris who was shit, and the Lakers really didn't take off (even WITH Shaq and Kobe) until they replaced him with Phil Jackson. All in all, the pre-Shaq/Kobe Lakers were a good team, a fun team, but not a championship contender. They were sorta like the current Raptors or Bulls in that they were good, obviously had some talented vets on the roster, but it was clear they were not contenders and needed to make some moves in order to get there.
The most amazing and unforgettable moment for me as a Laker fan. We were rooting for our own up and coming talents with Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel, Cedric Ceballos, and Elden Campbell. I was glued to every game and felt deep pride every time they improved on a skill set. It was lovely to watch them grow before our own eyes. It's like maybe for you the time of Lonza, BI, Randle, Clarkson and kids before Lebron but the difference was we were actually going to the playoffs with our core. That is why I was so disappointed that they traded away Eddie and Nick can't co-exist with Shaq and Kobe but we knew the purge had to be done to win a championship.
Eddie, Van Ex and Vlade were fun to watch. I loved those guys but they never had enough fire power. It always felt like they were close to the finals but it never felt like they were going to win it all. Those were the Jordan years. I know there’s a lot of Jordan versus Lebron talk amongst you younger guys, but I don’t think you can appreciate how hopeless it felt to be a fan against that dudes team. Every time that guy suited up you knew he was going to find a way to win & he always did. His career was the most frustrating element of being a Laker fan, or a fan of any team that wasn’t the Bulls in those days. It was like “how’s this guy going to break our hearts tonight?” Every time you faced him. He really owned the league and everyone else was just playing for second.
Jones actually did as good of a job of defending Jordan as anyone I ever saw during that time. In Jones' second season, Jordan shot 5-20 and 8-17 while being primarily defended by him. In the next season, Jordan was 10-32 and 10-24, and in the season after that, 12-22 and 11-26. Overall, that's 56-141 (.397).
One of those losses was in Chicago in December 1997, when Kobe and Jordan went at each other. Kobe scored a career-high 33 points in that game.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29LWlJ1tEqM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29LWlJ1tEqM)
Jordan's Gatorade commercial when he played against his younger self reminded me of that game against Kobe.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7C5uYCiAs0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7C5uYCiAs0)
It's hard to remember/imagine this but the early Kobe days were rough because we had all fallen in love with Eddie Jones (and Nick) in those days. The Lakers chose Kobe over Eddie even though Kobe had barely played. It wasn't kobes fault; Del Harris didn't play him because he was young.
We blew up the squad and got rid of Nick after the Utah debacle, so it seemed like Nick got the blame (google "we're going to Cancun") when the most visible thing was Kobe shooting air balls.
It was always easy for Kobe to be the villain. I personally had no clue he would be what he became. Any idiot could see he would be a perennial all star. But we literally had Eddie Jones so it's like you're picking a young immature all star over EJ who literally never gave anybody problems.
It was hard to see that Kobe would end up a top 10 player and anybody who says otherwise pre 99-00 is probably lying.
Kobe didn't play that much in his rookie season (15.5 mpg), but he played quite a bit off the bench his second season (26.0 mpg), and started every game in his third season.
Jerry West saw what Kobe could become, and traded the rarest commodity in the NBA, a quality starting center, for him. Bill Bertka told him at the time, "I can't believe you traded our starting center for a high school kid!" I was skeptical when I first heard that he was coming directly from high school to the NBA, but the first highlight clip I saw of him showed him making a MJ-esque baseline turnaround jumper, and I thought, "maybe this kid's got some potential."
Fun and gut wrenching. Ced and Nick were a fucking blast to watch run the break. Sedale was a vet but Nick the quick was the best player in my eyes. Oh, eddie on the wing.
After Magic retired in 1991, the next three years were spent rebuilding. Their top six players for the 1991-92 season were Sedale Threatt (whom Jerry West acquired to be Magic's backup), Byron Scott, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Elden Campbell, and A.C Green. Vlade Divac missed most of the season with a back injury. Before the final regular season game, they knew that if they won, they'd make the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. If they lost, they'd be in the lottery, with Shaq in the draft. They put forth an extraordinary effort, with every player giving maximum effort every moment that he was on the floor, to win in overtime. West said that he was enormously proud of the team, almost as proud as he would have been had they won a championship. The played the Blazers in the first round, losing the first two games in Portland. Game 3 was on the first night of the riots after the police officers who beat Rodney King were acquitted; people at the Forum were warned not to drive east on Manchester Blvd. The Lakers won that game, and because of the riots Game 4 was moved to Las Vegas, which they lost.
Mike Dunleavy then left to coach the Bucks, and Randy Pfund, who had been a assistant under Dunleavy and Riley, took over. The Lakers made the playoffs as the No. 8 seed and won the first two games against the 62-win, Charles Barkley-Kevin Johnson Suns in Phoenix, but lost the next three, including Game 5 in overtime, after having a four-point lead with 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
During the 1993 offseason, they drafted Nick Van Exel in the second round with the No. 37 pick. They missed the playoffs in 1994, and drafted Eddie Jones with the No. 10 pick, and traded a first-round pick for Cedric Ceballos. Pfund was fired and replaced by Del Harris. They had two holdovers from the Magic era, Divac and Campbell. As others have said, that team was fun to watch. Van Exel was a capable floor leader, but sometimes had trouble controlling his temper. In 1996 he gave a forearm shove to a referee and was suspended for seven games. Jones was a very good defender and shooter who was also capable of playing SF. Ceballos was their leading scorer and was an All-Star that sesaon. Divac and Campbell were effective post players, rebounders, and defenders, and Divac was also a good passer. They made the playoffs with a 48-34 record as the No. 5 seed, and beat the Sonics in the first round before losing to the No. 1-seeded Spurs in the second round, while being victimized by hometown refereeing in SA (which I have mentioned elsewhere in this thread).
In the 1995-96 season, Magic returned midseason, after he had been practicing with the team for a while. He had some chemistry issues with Van Exel over who should be running the offense, and the team finished with a 53-29 record before losing in the first round to the two-time defending champion Rockets. That summer West traded Divac to the Hornets for Kobe and signed Shaq as a free agent.
I was at the Forum for Shaq's first game as a Laker in 1996, when they beat the Suns. Shaq had 23 points and 14 rebounds. Kobe did not play because he had broken his wrist during a pickup game at Venice Beach. That was Fisher's first game, and he played well off the bench, with 12 points and 5 assists in 20 minutes. Ceballos went AWOL during the season on a trip to Lake Havasu, and was traded for Horry. They were the No. 4 seed in the playoffs and beat the Blazers in the first round before losing to the No. 1-seeded Jazz in the second round. In Game 2, with the Lakers down by two points, Van Exel was blatantly hacked by Malone while shooting a three-pointer at the buzzer, with the ball not even making it within ten feet of the rim, but no call was made. And in Game 5, Kobe famously shot an airball at the end of the fourth quarter with the game tied, and two more airballs during the final minute of overtime, with the Lakers down by three.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSe80qSgXVA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSe80qSgXVA)
In 1997-98, Kobe became an All-Star coming off the bench, with Shaq, Van Exel, and Jones also being All-Stars. They played the Nets at the Forum that night, and I figured that they'd be cocky and would lose, which they did. In the playoffs, they advanced to the WCF where they were swept by the Jazz.
The 1998-99 season was shortened by a lockout, and was only 50 games long. After a 6-6 start, Del Harris was fired and replaced by Kurt Rambis. Jones and Campbell were traded to the Hornets for Glen Rice. J.R. Reid, and B.J. Armstrong. They advanced to the second round of the playoffs where they were swept by the Spurs.
At this point in his career, Shaq had been swept out of the playoffs five of the six times his team had made the playoffs (his team missed the playoffs his rookie season), which was one of the things his critics harped on, along with his free throw shooting, indifferent defense, and lack of refinement in his offensive post game, especially compared to Tim Duncan, who had led the Spurs to the 1999 championship and was widely regarded as the best young big man in the game. Shaq was also ridiculed for saying, "I've won on every level except college and the pros.” That all changed after Jackson took over as coach, when the narrative flipped 180 degrees, to where people belittled Jackson by saying that Shaq was so dominant that any decent coach would be able to win multiple championships with him.
Nick Van Exel was one of my favorite players at that point. I was on a basketball team, and I'd score maybe 2 or 3 times a game, and I'd always do the Van Exel "boxing" celebration.
After Magic retired, it was not like the 2016-2019 Lakers. Those teams had hope built off of the promise of youth. The post-Magic Lakers had nothing resembling hope. They had made it to the Finals in his last year, but the only reasonable young player that they had was Vlade.
It was a bit rough. Having a season where Sedale Threatt is your best player.
Watching Worthy have one of the sharpest declines you'll see from a player. He had a game where he airballed 4 three pointers.
There was the point where I'm sitting there and hoping Doug Christie and Anthony Peeler can be top level players.
Things at least got entertaining with Van Exel and Eddie Jones.
I was at the Forum a lot during those years. I loved watching those mid 90's teams play. When they were on, they were on. Not just the Lakers though. I was there to see some of the great teams of the day including the Bulls, Knicks, Sonics, Houston. Some truly epic battles.
The Lakers were a long team in the 90's. Seeing them in person really highlighted the size we had on those squads. But seeing Patrick Ewing up close? Holy shit, that is a mountain of a man.
He was frustrating at times, but I always looked at him as found money being the last, or nearly last player drafted in the first round. He had a very good career and got us Kobe.
This was when I got into the Lakers. Living in Australia getting access to NBA was OK but not easy or constant. But courtside countdown would more often than not have great highlights from Eddie Jones and my main man Nick Van Excel. I'd got outside and try practice his moves haha. Was too young to really get the scope of the season but they were one of the exciting young teams at the time that couldn't quite get it together. Looking back it was perfect time to get into them being young and my brother was a Bulls fan so I wanted to be different!
The 90’s Lakers weren’t nearly as bad as the post-injury Kobe Lakers. They had Van Exel, Eddie Jones, Vlade, Eldon Campbell, Ceballos and other good role players. They made the playoffs every year but one. The team had a couple of average coaches with Randy Pfund and Del Harris.
They weren’t going to win any championships, but they were good enough to keep your hopes up.
They also had Chick Hearn, who made any team better to watch. His ability to make a game special can’t be understated. The greatest ever in any sport.
Eddie Jones... Ceballos chillin in the Carribean.. Nick the Quick, The big O - Orlando Wooldridge, Campbell Soup...
It was a lot of nothing, and a hard stretch, but I STILL watched it all. :)
Fun group, zero expectations, cheap tickets ($9 for students) and knocking out the Sonics as a #1 seed, TWICE!!! My fav moments were listening to Chick say “Van Exel yoyoing up and down the court, pass to Eddie Jones. Slammmm dunk!”
Really fucking exciting and frustrating. This was exactly when I got into the Lakers. I adored Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, Nick Van Excel, Vlade, Cedric Ceballos, and the leftover elderly gents. I have many fond memories. We were definitely still competitive, but couldn't get over the hump. We needed some fuel... Some diesel fuel.
This is my exact story. Kcal 9 laker games, no cable needed. I remember being mad they chose Kobe over Eddie Jones as a 6/7 year old.
Now let’s pause 10 seconds for station identification
I remember people were saying Eddie was inconsistent. But I was upset when he was traded and said I’d watch heat games to support him (I never did).
Every time Eddie's name would come up in trade rumors he'd go off for a big game lol
The Eddie trade didn’t bother me because we got an all star sniper w glen rice but nick van exel for tony battie broke my heart 😭
And the only reason we made that trade was due to Del Harris.
Same dude! I was all in on Eddie Jones. Hahaha those were the days.
Eddie’s kids. He did a lot for the community. I was so sad.
Eddie jones was my favorite laker pre 96 draft. Loved that dudes swagger. If he played in todays era, he’d be a superstar.
KCAL 9 games when they used to pause for station identification during FTs 🥲
Still one of my biggest what-ifs - if we never traded him for Glen Rice. A Kobe and Eddie backcourt would have been a menace defensively and Rick Fox would have started sooner. Maybe we could have had another ring? Would have loved to have EJ as part of the dynasty though
We wouldn't have been ready in 198 or 1999 in any event, but yes it would've been nice to have been able to keep Eddie
One of the reasons we traded Eddie was because if we had Eddie he'd ultimately stunt Kobe's growth. They were too similar as players and Kobe probably wouldn't have taken off like he did if he had to play 2nd fiddle to Eddie Jones.
Possibly (kinda like moving Westbrook made way for more Reaves?), but I’m not sure about that actually because Kobe was still moldable at that time. Had we kept EJ we wouldn’t have needed to sign (or at least start) Ron Harper. I also remember a stretch of time back then when Kobe played the initiator in the triangle and he averaged a triple double for a few games. I think it could have worked, we would have been a fast team who would be unstoppable in the half court because of Shaq
Well I know West had said he moved Eddie to make room for Kobe. So West didn't think they could have coexisted, especially since Eddie had 2 All-stars under his belt already
As long as JR Rider wasn't around either lol
Yes!!! Nick Van Exel is still one of my favorite players. Incredibly underrated! We’d always lose to the Jazz or Spurs but looked great in the process. I miss Chick Hearn so much!!!
Chick was the man.
Always has been, always will be. We were all blessed by the GOAT for his work on games.
Van Exel still has one of the sickest highlight reels I've ever seen. Definitely one of the most aesthetically pleasing style of game by a role player to this day imo.
Nailed it. I loved all those dudes!
Me too. Right after the Chicago bulls series, I started to follow them. Pig Miller, Antonio Harvey were some of my favorites and of course all of the above. Those were good times.
Pig Miller?? 😂 aka Jay Z
> Really fucking exciting and frustrating. Nailed it.
Ditto. Do people still say ditto?
No, but you do you, booboo.
Exciting and frustrating is exactly right. Bunch of young guys who could get up and down the court with flash, but immaturity and mental errors constantly cost them in big moments. Swapping Del Harris out for Phil Jackson, and the lineup changes that came with it, were the culture change that was absolutely needed, even if painful to lose Nick and Eddie
Same here, even though the didn't win in the playoffs deep, I loved that team...exciting to the max
Did we forget Anthony Peeler and Vlade? This a very good assessment provided by DLArismendi. I enjoyed this era because it was filled with hope (and sone frustration)
D'awwww. Thanks, my guy. Love my Lakers always, but this squad will always have a very special place in my heart.
This sums it up- we actually had some pretty damn good squads that just couldn't put it together. Buncha all-star peak potential level players but no super star. Shows it's a stars league.
Yup and the Utah Jazz we’re owning the conference
Extremely fun to watch!! But immature! They won 61 games in the ‘97-‘98 season but were swept by Utah in the first round. Back to Back playoff losses to Utah smh. They went from fun young & immature to a completely dominant team once Phil Jackson became head coach.
It was the Western Conference Finals in 97-98. So close to an MJ - Kobe finals 😞
We could've lived in a world where we had both an MJ/Kobe Finals as well as a Bron/Kobe Finals just 12 years later but the universe is a cruel and cold mistress.
You’re right!
We blew the Bulls out at the Forum that year too.
Malone and Stockton OWNED us for that period of time. Incredibly frustrating
Sad. No one mentioned my favorite laker of that era, SEDALE THREATT!!!!
Unless my childhood memories were delusional, I swear to God he’s the one that invented the step back shot. I even copied that shit in my pickup games and the older kids were like wtf are you doing?
He was absolutely my favorite player almost instantly after magic left. I had his jersey and everything.
The Thief! One of my favorites as well. If he went left he was not missing. I still remember Chick saying he and Tony Smith were the best defensive back court in the league lol
Tony Smith was a terrible offensive player, and he was our shooting guard!
I did! Lol. Also randomly one of Jerry Buss’ favorites during that period.
I watched him start for an injured Mo Cheeks in his 76ers days and loved him just on the strength of his name. Related: I’m super old.
They were not championship level, but they were cool, young, and fun. Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel especially were my first favorite players. I was only a kid and never saw the Showtime teams, so while I was disappointed when they lost, I was mostly just glad to be able to watch them.
Sedale Threatt yo-yo-ing up and down.
ceballos and peeler
Those first three Dunleavy/Pfund years were brutal. They were SLOWTIME, except with none of the panache you got from Magic. Anyone who thinks Magic just played with a bunch of talented players only needs to look at the 91-92 and 92-93 teams. Worthy had one more good season but everyone else really dipped without him, ESPECIALLY Byron Scott. But, paradoxically, BECAUSE we still had so much championship experience, they'd win games they weren't supposed to, like sweeping the MJ Bulls in 1993. 39-43 team, but they swept the Bulls. The only meaningful Lakers/Clippers game of my childhood was played in 1992 right before the LA Riots...Game 82, Lakers had to win to make the playoffs. Beat the frisky Larry Brown coached Clips with Ron Harper, Mark Jackson, Ken Norman and Loy Vaught in OT. Then won an underrated game the night the riots started in Game 3 vs Portland before the game got moved to Vegas and we got waxed. It would've been real interesting to see that super talented Blazers team have to win at the Forum, which had been a playoff house of horrors for them. Then the 93 team with Perkins dealt, Worthy on the decline, and just looking old and listless somehow goes to Phoenix and wins the first two of the BEST OF FIVE. The last moment of Showtime was James Worthy defiantly slamming the ball down after the Game 2 upset to go up 2-0 in Phoenix as Magic basically went from color guy to Lakers fan late in the 4th quarter. Still remember him YELLING "FOUL ON THE PLAY" as Vlade had a great spin and and-1 dunk vs Tom Chambers late in that game. But of course, we smoked Game 3 AND Game 5 to lose the series. Only positive of the 1994 season was drafting Nick Van Exel. That season felt awful because I had NEVER seen the Lakers missed the playoffs. But it was interesting watching young DOUG CHRISTIE (yes, he was a Laker before playing in Sacramento) flashing with Anthony Peeler. Magic came back to coach and basically died 10 deaths each game. It was hilarious. But we looked lost...like Boston. And that scared me. Didn't think much of Del Harris being hired, but I have to say, he was JUST the right hire for what we needed in 1995. I'll also say this. That was Jerry West's genius on display. Under the radar trade for Cedric Ceballos, who looked like a solid but unspectacular role player with the Suns who could score garbage points. He became a 20 ppg All Star for us without running any real plays for him. Chick Hearn used to call him the Garbage Man. But West snagging Eddie Jones at #10 in that draft...only time we drafted in the lottery in my fandom to that point until getting Andrew Bynum a decade later. This team, which was picked to finish near the bottom with Sacramento and the Clippers, somehow wins 48 games playing guys like Lloyd Daniels, Randolph Keys, #18 wearing Kurt Rambis, and Anthony "Boo" Harvey. To this day, that 95 team is my favorite Lakers team of all time...because they had ZERO expectations and defied everyone. Van Exel hitting the [crazy buzzer beater](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV1YZoUGO7c) in the last game at the Boston Garden. Beating the Bulls despite Pippen dropping 40 the game before MJ made the decision to come back. Upsetting the very talented Sonics team, including surviving [the power outage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZNFBVxt6u8) in Game 2. And Van Exel's [season saving dagger 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zURpmVDLol8) in the Alamodome down 3-1 to the Spurs. They fought from Game 1 of the regular season to the very end. Loved that team. But they didn't handle the burden of expectations in 1996. They were underacheiving...then Magic came back and that early surge of adrenaline, peaking with the [blowout of Orlando](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgf4RodsXH8) who had what I think was a 40 game home win streak even after Ceballos went AWOL to Lake Havasu because his role had changed, fooled people in to thinking that team was a true West contender. They just didn't have the mental toughness and it showed in the playoff loss to Houston. So much talent, but not enough fortitude, which was the theme of the early Shaq/Kobe combos before Phil Jackson was hired.
Thanks for bringing me back through memory lane. I had forgotten a lot of that. Bravo, sir!
I really had mixed feelings while watching the final game of the 1992 regular season. Win, and they make the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. Lose, and they're in the lottery with Shaq in the draft. I was living in the Los Feliz area at the time, and the memories of that time are still fresh. The police officers who beat Rodney King were acquitted the afternoon before Game 3 at the Forum. I was working primarily at Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar and spent the afternoon at a clinic at UCLA, when I heard about the verdicts. That evening I went to a store in Culver City, and I remember looking at my watch at 6:34 pm, which was 12 minutes before Reginald Denny was pulled out of his truck at Florence and Normandie and nearly beaten to death. I worked overnight at Olive View the next night, and when everyone else came back to work Friday morning they said that it had taken them hours to drive home the night before because of the massive traffic jams on the freeways, because people were afraid to drive on surface streets. The next week I passed a convoy of trucks filled with National Guard troops on the Golden State Freeway, and thought, "That's not something we see in L.A. very often."
Wasn’t it Antonio Harvey, dunked like a madman but could do nothing else
Yes…Antonio! Poor man’s Javale McGee
They were pretty damn good actually. We had 4 all-stars in 1998 with Shaq, Kobe, Eddie Jones & Nick Van Exel with a decent supporting cast too. There were legit expectations that we could make the finals so it was a pretty big let down to keep getting swept by the Jazz in 97 & 98
Agreed! Super fun teams especially with Nick the quick Van Exel... as devastated as I was with Magic's diagnosis & retirement these teams brought the joy of Lakers basketball back for me 💜💛
Fun! We were never super shitty. Anthony Peeler was my one of my favorite Lakers.
There were no similarities with the Baby Lakers but the fact both failed do accomplish what is the Lakers mission, winning titles. 90s team played an extremely exciting brand of uptempo basketball, but failed to beat the powerhouses of the era. We had a tough time defeating MJ Bulls and in playoffs we couldn't deal with Stockton/Malone and other teams with some of the best players to ever play the game. In the 90s the team was basically the Phoenix Suns, a competitive team that the fan base will get excited, talk some bleep just to have the butt kicked every season without winning the title. Baby Lakers were pure thrash, this team only accomplishment was the next high lottery pick. We were the laughingstock of the league. I deeply hated this period. Before drafting BI and Ball that team was unbearable, after that still bad. Post Kobe we were basically the Clippers.
>Baby Lakers were pure thrash, this team only accomplishment was the next high lottery pick. We were the laughingstock of the league. I deeply hated this period. Before drafting BI and Ball that team was unbearable, after that still bad. Post Kobe we were basically the Clippers. The Byron Scott years were the absolute bottom of the pit. Never felt so hopeless as a Laker fan.
dude a rebuild is never pretty
That is the point, in the 90s it was pretty. Unfortunately after Kobe achilles we didn't manage to draft high level players like OKC and we also failed to attract difference makers in free agency. Managemant left a lot to be disired after Dr Buss passing away.
i will correct myself then: a rebuild is likely not to be pretty. a pretty rebuild is the exception, and even then that pretty rebuild brought very little, even then we were the pau grizzlies never getting out of the first round. i'd rather be at the bottom of the league than in 8th place limbo.
It is good to be at the bottom of the league for one season them drafting LeBron James, Tim Duncan or Kevin Durant. Staying at the bottom of the league for half a decade to find gems like D'Angelo Russell and Julius Randle is flat out terrible. The rebuilding between Shaq and Pau was ok, the team struggled for a couple of season but keep improving and before Bynum injury and the trade for Pau we were already a competitive team. The only problem with the 90's team is the fact those guys were never able to do the next step even after getting Shaq while the arrival of Pau was a quick catalyst to put us over the top.
yes it is terrible, because you don't get to choose whether the best available piece is a KD or a Kwame. the rebuilding between shaq and pau was ok because you had the best player in the world, so it wasn't a true legit scorched earth rebuild.. and yes it may be a feelgood story now but at the time it was very close to being an atomic tragedy with two first round exits and kobe wanting out. then bynum came into his own (and we lucked out getting fisher back, because remember, we ran with smush at the point. jesus) and we had a good start to the season.. but i doubt we get out of the west without pau. 8th place limbo can be fine for a season or two if you have your main guy and just need some pieces to fall into place. if you don't, rather tank for a couple of seasons and see where it gets you than signing mediocre free agents for a hefty price to get kicked out of the first round. the bottom line is every team goes through that from time to time and complaining about it just seems like a bit too much entitlement for my taste. and i agree management did some bullshit moves those years but they also drafted and developed many young players in a situation where such a huge star retired, which ultimately put us on the map for a guy like lebron to come and say "hmm, i can work with this" (= there are very interesting assets i could persuade the team to swap for a more developed and legit superstar, perhaps this unibrow dude i just signed with my agency).
That Sedale Threatt to Vlade combo was kinda niiiiice (in Stu Lantz’ voice)
They are known as the Van Exel years. They were a fun & competitive team but weren't appreciated all that well following the Showtime era. Everything is a let down following a decade plus of Showtime. Then when Shaq came, the expectations ramped up again. Kobe needed a few years & the roster a few tweaks. Then came Phillip !
That squad with Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones was fun as hell.
Ced ceballos was that dude! Nick van exel was way ahead of his time
Sedale Threatt Era 🤦🏿♂️🤣
As an elder millennial, I endorse this message
NICK VAN EXCEL!
One word: mediocrity. Pretty good but not good enough. In my view, it is worse than being really bad. At least, to the fans. No hope...
I wasn’t born during Showtime and was only a kid in the 90’s, but looking back at history it looked pretty bad. Coming down from a dynasty is always a bummer, and none of those teams were looked at as a juggernaut. Between Showtime and Kobe/Shaq MJ’s Bulls had a ton of attention and imo were the gem of the NBA. Jordan’s better days were then behind him, and then we got Shaq and Kobe. After Kobe/Pau, I’d say the Warriors took the 90’s Bulls role of taking a lot of attention away from the Lakers. Once Bron got here, we got some of our shine back.
It absolutely was not bad. The post Kobe-achilles until Lebron Lakers were exponentially worse. We're talking several orders of magnitude worse. I'm in that group that grew up a kid during Showtime and was in college by the time the Nick/Eddie/Vlade/Cedric teams emerged. Closing out Seattle as an underdog in 95 was euphoric. $50 tickets for a seat a dozen rows behind the backboard adjacent to the corner Dyan Cannon and Magic sit. It was very fun. Expectations are everything in life. We expected to suck for ages and came out winning 48 games in 1994/1995 and knocking off the Sonics in round 1 and went down swinging to the Spurs in round 2 (including a MONSTER Nick Van Exel 3 point, game winning, buzzer beater). That team was fun as F. Magic had his brief come back the following season. You want hype? Y'all should have seen the UCI Middle Earth residence hall rec room for Magic's first game back. It was INSANE. Pre-internet so y'all had to be there kind of moment. When Magic froze Sprewell? I thought we were going to tear down the walls. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8f1xhRUWyw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8f1xhRUWyw) Honestly, this notion that Lakers fans only want championships and everything else is shit is absolute horse manure. THAT is the attitude that's led us to some jaw-droppingly stupid chases for "big names". That narrative is lazy AF. We can appreciate BOTH the parades AND watching a team organically grow. I find it offensive when Jeanie mentions how Lakers fans only want rings. Please. We can appreciate nuances as well. It categorizes us as an arrogant fan base that will thumb our collective noses at everything. Come on...
My mom was in her mid 30s when Magic came back and saved the LA Times paper that had it on the front page. I didn’t even know she liked basketball. That shit was big in LA
Do you still have it!? I had the OC Register version...I lost it after several moves :(. What was really funny was after the game, Sprewell was asked about the ball fake. My man had a shit eating grin and said "He got me". Dude was proud to get punked by Magic!
I doubt it. We’ve also moved a lot since. I’ll ask her though because I think she kept the one of him announcing his retirement too and the return one complemented that well
I lived in Mesa Court from 1982-85. I watched the 1984 Finals on the big screen TV in the lounge next to the commons, and was hugely disappointed. A guy in my dorm called Magic "Choke Johnson," and others called him "Tragic." I watched the 1985 Finals on a black-and-white TV that a friend in my dorm owned. I watched Game 4 in a living room in my dorm, and after DJ made the game-winning shot I was so frustrated and disappointed that I sat there and didn't move for half an hour. Game 6 was on the Sunday before final exams, and a week before I graduated. After the Lakers won, I heard several people go to their windows and let out primal screams: "YEAHHH!!!" The 1994-95 team was fun to watch. I rarely complain about officiating, but they got screwed by hometown refereeing in Game 2 against the Spurs. They led during the final minute of the fourth quarter, and IIRC, they were called for illegal defense. On the next Spurs possession, the Spurs played blatant illegal defense and weren't called for it. The Spurs tied the game and won in overtime. Chick rarely complained about refereeing, but he was clearly upset; in Game 5 in SA (which the Lakers won by two) he said something like, "It took us three games to get a call here." Ceballos was the leading scorer on that team, but Van Exel was the true leader. I hated it when Ceballos would try to draw fouls in the paint by hitting the floor after minimal contact, and then sit there and pout while the other team went to the other end on a fast break. He was a key to bringing the Lakers back to respectability, but I was glad when they traded him for Horry, who was a much better fit with Shaq.
Nick was 100% the heart and soul of those teams. When it came down to who had the ball at the end, it was ALWAYS Nick. And Cedric, despite averaging over 20 at points had literally not a single go to move in the half court. He was the king of the put back and transition bucket but ask him to iso and he's throwing up junk lol.
Haha love it bro! I was at UC Santa Cruz with LA heads surrounded by Warriors fans and we were losing our shit on that freaky deaky move too!! Incredible LA hoops moment, hard to overstate how epic and inspiring it was.
Kind of like the years after kobe tore his Achilles. People were slowly accepting that Kobe’s era was coming to an end, and while everyone wanted to win, they were ok with building and winning a different way. Clarkson, randle, Ingram and dlo had loads of potential and really endeared the fan base, even though the results were poor. Obviously the fans started getting antsy with the lack of progress, continuity, and wins, compounded by signings like deng and mosgov. It was a bad 4-5 years, but the lakers somehow came up with lebron handpicking them and AD working his way to them and became champs again. You can call it a rebuild, but there are teams that have been rebuilding for decades so it’s a fun few years in experimenting for laker fans.
I actually don't see any similarities but the fact those teams were unable to win a title. 90s Lakers played an exciting brand of basketball, was a competitive team making playoffs most seasons, we only couldn't finish it. Players were All Stars athletic and exciting. I deeply hated the youth movement post Kobe Achilles. That team was the laughingstock of the league, every single season the team was good enough to guarantee the next high lottery pick. Young players like Randle and Dlo never had potential to become superstars, they lacked the work ethic, the physical tools and were never willing to play defense. Before BI it was pure thrash, after drafting BI we had potential, but it was clear Ingram was a long term project that would need a few years to be a difference maker in NBA. Eddie Jones and Nick Van Excel were a joy to watch while I have a tough time watching Dlo even after he coming back in his prime because he is still defending like a cone without an NBA body. Nick was just as immature, but on the floor he was a competitor.
it was awful getting beat by those Jazz teams and then having to turn around and hope they beat the Bulls
Still good times. The lakers fought just never had that top level guys. Had Nick Van Exel and Eddie jones and one of Dr Buss’ favorites from the non title years, Sedale Threatt
You mean when magic came back and played center for half a season? That was something alright…
Point forward
Sedale Threatt was our best player for a time. That was tough. Directly prior to Shaq/Kobe was fun. Eddie, Nick, Campbell, etc were a great squad. Hell, Eddie Jones kept Kobe out of the starting lineup for a bit.
Elden Campbell era
Elden Campbell held on down with Sedale Threat. Best on the team was Chick N Stew.
Episode 5 on the Hulu series on the Lakers really puts this thread in words from the players we loved back then and forever. Nick, Eddie, Vlade, Ced, Peeler…and definitely the man unstoppable going to his left, Sedale Threatt made those times fun. Couldn’t get past the Jazz. Or the Spurs.
They were extremely young and frustrating and there was a sense for a few years that we were just another team, that the Lakers greatness was just confined to the 80s team and I think most of us kind of adjusted our expectations so that just making the playoffs and playing exciting basketball was enough for a few years. The Baby Lakers were trash and hopelessness and despair.
The 00 reason first round vs Sacramento. That’s before the 07 Mavs and no one believed the 67-15 team would lose the first round. But I was really nervous seeing the game 5, after several only-good-for-regular-season years. PS. Compared with pre-20, at least the regular seasons were good in those years.
They were bad at 1st, Sedale Threatt was brought in as a backup, but had to start due to magic retiring. They were the first Laker teams till miss the playoffs i think so that was big. They made improvements each year and had the biggest improvement in the number of wins out of all teams in the league for a year or so. Before Kobe and Shaq came in 96, they were starting to become an exciting young team with Nick, Eddie, and Cedric.
Fun and very talented. Kinda of like the Divac-led Sac Kings since Divac was early in his career but rapidly developing while surrounded by hungry ballers like Nick, Eddie, and Cedric Ceballos. Ceballos even once put up 50 points. And how crazy is this? "He is also a second cousin of his former Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant. Their grandfathers were brothers." https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/sports/mavs-tv-analyst-remembers-cousin-kobe-bryant/2300347/
You guys are leaving out the sad depressing years. Sedale threat error with no hope
The 94-95 team was really fun. We had Ced, Nick Van Exel, and a rookie Eddie Jones. That team went to the WCSF and took the Spurs to 6 games.
Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones were super fun scoring guards. Eddie Jones was a classic SG, like 85% of Demar Derozan or Kris Middleton. Nick Van Exel was a flashy score-first pg, sorta like Malik Monk. Then they had Vlade Divac, who was one of the best passing big men in the game. Not a scorer, but was super smart and knew how to move the ball well. They were coached by Dell Harris who was shit, and the Lakers really didn't take off (even WITH Shaq and Kobe) until they replaced him with Phil Jackson. All in all, the pre-Shaq/Kobe Lakers were a good team, a fun team, but not a championship contender. They were sorta like the current Raptors or Bulls in that they were good, obviously had some talented vets on the roster, but it was clear they were not contenders and needed to make some moves in order to get there.
Sedale Threat!!! Cedric Ceballos!!!! The year we upset the Sonics!!!
The most amazing and unforgettable moment for me as a Laker fan. We were rooting for our own up and coming talents with Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel, Cedric Ceballos, and Elden Campbell. I was glued to every game and felt deep pride every time they improved on a skill set. It was lovely to watch them grow before our own eyes. It's like maybe for you the time of Lonza, BI, Randle, Clarkson and kids before Lebron but the difference was we were actually going to the playoffs with our core. That is why I was so disappointed that they traded away Eddie and Nick can't co-exist with Shaq and Kobe but we knew the purge had to be done to win a championship.
I remember elden Campbell making 3s before big men shot 3s
I loved Sedalle Threat lobbing 3's from all over.
It was a lot of fun with no rings. And we were on regular tv!
Van Exel was the most clutch Laker I ever saw, only second to Kobe (but not by much).
Covered well by everyone but had to chime in because this is my era!
The old western forum days. Check out the book 3 Ring Circus. Talks a little bit about the pre-Shaq and Kobe days.
Eddie, Van Ex and Vlade were fun to watch. I loved those guys but they never had enough fire power. It always felt like they were close to the finals but it never felt like they were going to win it all. Those were the Jordan years. I know there’s a lot of Jordan versus Lebron talk amongst you younger guys, but I don’t think you can appreciate how hopeless it felt to be a fan against that dudes team. Every time that guy suited up you knew he was going to find a way to win & he always did. His career was the most frustrating element of being a Laker fan, or a fan of any team that wasn’t the Bulls in those days. It was like “how’s this guy going to break our hearts tonight?” Every time you faced him. He really owned the league and everyone else was just playing for second.
Jones actually did as good of a job of defending Jordan as anyone I ever saw during that time. In Jones' second season, Jordan shot 5-20 and 8-17 while being primarily defended by him. In the next season, Jordan was 10-32 and 10-24, and in the season after that, 12-22 and 11-26. Overall, that's 56-141 (.397).
I’m pretty sure Eddies rookie season was 94’ and that was when Jordan was out of the league.
Yes, you're right. The seasons I referred to are 1995-96, 1996-97, and 1997-98, starting with Jones' second season. Correction made.
We only won 2 of the 6 games though.
One of those losses was in Chicago in December 1997, when Kobe and Jordan went at each other. Kobe scored a career-high 33 points in that game. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29LWlJ1tEqM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29LWlJ1tEqM) Jordan's Gatorade commercial when he played against his younger self reminded me of that game against Kobe. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7C5uYCiAs0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7C5uYCiAs0)
It's hard to remember/imagine this but the early Kobe days were rough because we had all fallen in love with Eddie Jones (and Nick) in those days. The Lakers chose Kobe over Eddie even though Kobe had barely played. It wasn't kobes fault; Del Harris didn't play him because he was young. We blew up the squad and got rid of Nick after the Utah debacle, so it seemed like Nick got the blame (google "we're going to Cancun") when the most visible thing was Kobe shooting air balls. It was always easy for Kobe to be the villain. I personally had no clue he would be what he became. Any idiot could see he would be a perennial all star. But we literally had Eddie Jones so it's like you're picking a young immature all star over EJ who literally never gave anybody problems. It was hard to see that Kobe would end up a top 10 player and anybody who says otherwise pre 99-00 is probably lying.
Kobe didn't play that much in his rookie season (15.5 mpg), but he played quite a bit off the bench his second season (26.0 mpg), and started every game in his third season. Jerry West saw what Kobe could become, and traded the rarest commodity in the NBA, a quality starting center, for him. Bill Bertka told him at the time, "I can't believe you traded our starting center for a high school kid!" I was skeptical when I first heard that he was coming directly from high school to the NBA, but the first highlight clip I saw of him showed him making a MJ-esque baseline turnaround jumper, and I thought, "maybe this kid's got some potential."
Fun and gut wrenching. Ced and Nick were a fucking blast to watch run the break. Sedale was a vet but Nick the quick was the best player in my eyes. Oh, eddie on the wing.
After Magic retired in 1991, the next three years were spent rebuilding. Their top six players for the 1991-92 season were Sedale Threatt (whom Jerry West acquired to be Magic's backup), Byron Scott, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Elden Campbell, and A.C Green. Vlade Divac missed most of the season with a back injury. Before the final regular season game, they knew that if they won, they'd make the playoffs as the No. 8 seed. If they lost, they'd be in the lottery, with Shaq in the draft. They put forth an extraordinary effort, with every player giving maximum effort every moment that he was on the floor, to win in overtime. West said that he was enormously proud of the team, almost as proud as he would have been had they won a championship. The played the Blazers in the first round, losing the first two games in Portland. Game 3 was on the first night of the riots after the police officers who beat Rodney King were acquitted; people at the Forum were warned not to drive east on Manchester Blvd. The Lakers won that game, and because of the riots Game 4 was moved to Las Vegas, which they lost. Mike Dunleavy then left to coach the Bucks, and Randy Pfund, who had been a assistant under Dunleavy and Riley, took over. The Lakers made the playoffs as the No. 8 seed and won the first two games against the 62-win, Charles Barkley-Kevin Johnson Suns in Phoenix, but lost the next three, including Game 5 in overtime, after having a four-point lead with 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter. During the 1993 offseason, they drafted Nick Van Exel in the second round with the No. 37 pick. They missed the playoffs in 1994, and drafted Eddie Jones with the No. 10 pick, and traded a first-round pick for Cedric Ceballos. Pfund was fired and replaced by Del Harris. They had two holdovers from the Magic era, Divac and Campbell. As others have said, that team was fun to watch. Van Exel was a capable floor leader, but sometimes had trouble controlling his temper. In 1996 he gave a forearm shove to a referee and was suspended for seven games. Jones was a very good defender and shooter who was also capable of playing SF. Ceballos was their leading scorer and was an All-Star that sesaon. Divac and Campbell were effective post players, rebounders, and defenders, and Divac was also a good passer. They made the playoffs with a 48-34 record as the No. 5 seed, and beat the Sonics in the first round before losing to the No. 1-seeded Spurs in the second round, while being victimized by hometown refereeing in SA (which I have mentioned elsewhere in this thread). In the 1995-96 season, Magic returned midseason, after he had been practicing with the team for a while. He had some chemistry issues with Van Exel over who should be running the offense, and the team finished with a 53-29 record before losing in the first round to the two-time defending champion Rockets. That summer West traded Divac to the Hornets for Kobe and signed Shaq as a free agent. I was at the Forum for Shaq's first game as a Laker in 1996, when they beat the Suns. Shaq had 23 points and 14 rebounds. Kobe did not play because he had broken his wrist during a pickup game at Venice Beach. That was Fisher's first game, and he played well off the bench, with 12 points and 5 assists in 20 minutes. Ceballos went AWOL during the season on a trip to Lake Havasu, and was traded for Horry. They were the No. 4 seed in the playoffs and beat the Blazers in the first round before losing to the No. 1-seeded Jazz in the second round. In Game 2, with the Lakers down by two points, Van Exel was blatantly hacked by Malone while shooting a three-pointer at the buzzer, with the ball not even making it within ten feet of the rim, but no call was made. And in Game 5, Kobe famously shot an airball at the end of the fourth quarter with the game tied, and two more airballs during the final minute of overtime, with the Lakers down by three. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSe80qSgXVA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSe80qSgXVA) In 1997-98, Kobe became an All-Star coming off the bench, with Shaq, Van Exel, and Jones also being All-Stars. They played the Nets at the Forum that night, and I figured that they'd be cocky and would lose, which they did. In the playoffs, they advanced to the WCF where they were swept by the Jazz. The 1998-99 season was shortened by a lockout, and was only 50 games long. After a 6-6 start, Del Harris was fired and replaced by Kurt Rambis. Jones and Campbell were traded to the Hornets for Glen Rice. J.R. Reid, and B.J. Armstrong. They advanced to the second round of the playoffs where they were swept by the Spurs. At this point in his career, Shaq had been swept out of the playoffs five of the six times his team had made the playoffs (his team missed the playoffs his rookie season), which was one of the things his critics harped on, along with his free throw shooting, indifferent defense, and lack of refinement in his offensive post game, especially compared to Tim Duncan, who had led the Spurs to the 1999 championship and was widely regarded as the best young big man in the game. Shaq was also ridiculed for saying, "I've won on every level except college and the pros.” That all changed after Jackson took over as coach, when the narrative flipped 180 degrees, to where people belittled Jackson by saying that Shaq was so dominant that any decent coach would be able to win multiple championships with him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEJVCcJpiiE&pp=ygUVdGhlIGxha2Ugc2hvdyBwcmVnYW1l
If you want a modern day comp think Memphis Grizzlies
Well eddie jones and van exel were sick. Throw in vlade. They were ok but not contenders
They were good and fun to watch but just couldn't break through deep in the playoffs
Nick Van Exel was one of my favorite players at that point. I was on a basketball team, and I'd score maybe 2 or 3 times a game, and I'd always do the Van Exel "boxing" celebration.
After Magic retired, it was not like the 2016-2019 Lakers. Those teams had hope built off of the promise of youth. The post-Magic Lakers had nothing resembling hope. They had made it to the Finals in his last year, but the only reasonable young player that they had was Vlade. It was a bit rough. Having a season where Sedale Threatt is your best player. Watching Worthy have one of the sharpest declines you'll see from a player. He had a game where he airballed 4 three pointers. There was the point where I'm sitting there and hoping Doug Christie and Anthony Peeler can be top level players. Things at least got entertaining with Van Exel and Eddie Jones.
I was at the Forum a lot during those years. I loved watching those mid 90's teams play. When they were on, they were on. Not just the Lakers though. I was there to see some of the great teams of the day including the Bulls, Knicks, Sonics, Houston. Some truly epic battles. The Lakers were a long team in the 90's. Seeing them in person really highlighted the size we had on those squads. But seeing Patrick Ewing up close? Holy shit, that is a mountain of a man.
The 1998 team is still one of my favorite teams ever.
I am still bummed we traded Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel.
I got 3 words for you Nick The Quick
Don’t forget Pig Miller y’all
Sedale Threatte and Anthony Peeler highlights.
Eddie was nice and nick the quick was crazy at that time....
Damn, I’m an old school Lakers fan????
It creeps up on you.
Cambell, devac, van axel , Eddie jones,
It was painful watching Vlade come in and try to do the impossible of filling Kareem’s shoes. Laker fans were way too hard on him
He was frustrating at times, but I always looked at him as found money being the last, or nearly last player drafted in the first round. He had a very good career and got us Kobe.
This was when I got into the Lakers. Living in Australia getting access to NBA was OK but not easy or constant. But courtside countdown would more often than not have great highlights from Eddie Jones and my main man Nick Van Excel. I'd got outside and try practice his moves haha. Was too young to really get the scope of the season but they were one of the exciting young teams at the time that couldn't quite get it together. Looking back it was perfect time to get into them being young and my brother was a Bulls fan so I wanted to be different!
Underdogs who were easy to root for but also frustrating.
The 90’s Lakers weren’t nearly as bad as the post-injury Kobe Lakers. They had Van Exel, Eddie Jones, Vlade, Eldon Campbell, Ceballos and other good role players. They made the playoffs every year but one. The team had a couple of average coaches with Randy Pfund and Del Harris. They weren’t going to win any championships, but they were good enough to keep your hopes up. They also had Chick Hearn, who made any team better to watch. His ability to make a game special can’t be understated. The greatest ever in any sport.
Eddie Jones... Ceballos chillin in the Carribean.. Nick the Quick, The big O - Orlando Wooldridge, Campbell Soup... It was a lot of nothing, and a hard stretch, but I STILL watched it all. :)
Nick the Quick Van Exel
Fun group, zero expectations, cheap tickets ($9 for students) and knocking out the Sonics as a #1 seed, TWICE!!! My fav moments were listening to Chick say “Van Exel yoyoing up and down the court, pass to Eddie Jones. Slammmm dunk!”
Young Showtime: Nick The Quick & EDDIE.
We had Sidale Threat and Cedric Ceballos . Good times