COMMENTARY
Can Kobe, Phil get their due?
Itook a great deal of pleasure writing this column. Having grown up a Los Angeles Lakers fan, it was with extreme joy that I watched them dispatch the Orlando Magic to capture another NBA championship.
The Lakers hadn’t tasted sweet success since their three-year title run ended in 2002. The seven-year itch has been scratched!
I’m not happy just for myself and the legion of Laker fans around the world. I’m also pleased to see Kobe Bryant finally shed the notion that he couldn’t win it all without Shaquille O’Neal.
There are a lot of people who dislike Bryant. Much of the blame is pointed at his role in running Shaq out of town and thus breaking up one of the great dynasties in NBA history.
Whether Bryant admits it or not, he needed this championship to be validated as an all-time great. Now that he has it, is there any doubt that he is the greatest player of this generation? Besides Michael Jordan, can you name a better two guard than Bryant?
Some people say it’s absurd to put Bryant in any discussion with Jordan. I say it’s absurd not to. I’m not crazy enough to think Bryant is better than Jordan, but he’s the closest thing to Jordan that we have seen and might ever see.
LeBron James is the most gifted talent in the game today, but he’s not yet at Bryant’s level of greatness. Only when King James strings multiple championships will he measure up to Bryant.
As for Lakers coach Phil Jackson, can he finally get some credit? All I’ve ever heard from Laker haters was Jackson is overrated and that anyone could have won championships with Bryant and O’Neal, or Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
Funny, no one ever said that about Red Auerbach, whose Boston Celtics teams dominated the 1960s with a roster full of Hall of Famers like Bill Russell, Bill Sharman, Bob Cousy, Sam Jones, Tom Heinsohn and John Havlicek.
What makes Jackson and Auerbach special is their ability to manage egos and convince superstars to sacrifice individual success for team glory. No one ever did it better than those guys.
Actually, Jackson had a bigger challenge because he has coached in the era of free agency, where teams change from year to year.
In the Chicago Bulls’ two three-peats, Jackson won with two distinctly different supporting casts around Jordan and Pippen. It was the same way in Los Angeles, which won three straight titles with Bryant and Shaq surrounded by the right pieces and again this year with Bryant getting a lot of help from his friends.
Another guy who deserves to take a bow for this Lakers championship is General Manager Mitch Kupchak. I often wondered if he would ever match what predecessor Jerry West did in putting together a winning team.
But Kupchak pulled off several personnel coups, starting with fleecing Memphis to obtain All-Star power forward Pau Gasol in a midseason trade last year. Trading Shaq to Miami allowed the Lakers to get Lamar Odom, the most versatile power forward in the game.
Kupchak got quality perimeter defender and scorer Trevor Ariza for a song from Orlando and added veteran point guard Derek Fisher, who returned to L. A. after a couple of years playing elsewhere. Kupchak also wisely resisted the temptation to trade Andrew Bynum when so many people, including Bryant, called for Kupchak to deal the young center for a proven veteran.
Can the Lakers repeat next year? That depends on whether Odom and Ariza resign and Jackson doesn’t retire. But that’s a concern for another day. Now is a time for celebration as the Lakers wear the NBA crown. It’s fitting, too. After all, purple is the color of royalty.
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