Five “most important” Lakers historically

[Roy H.]

Jeanie Buss came up with:

Kobe Bryant
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
LeBron James
Magic Johnson
Phil Jackson

In other news, Jeanie Buss is an idiot.

It’s actually a hard question though, because they had a lot of great players.  I’d say...

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

If we were ranking best, I’d be tempted to leave Kobe off. But because it’s most important, he gets the nod.

(Sorry about the Lakers thread. I thought it was an interesting question, particularly in light of Jeanie Buss’ stupid answer.  Feel free to rank the five most important Celtics, as well.)

[nickagneta]

Jeanie Buss came up with:

Kobe Bryant
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
LeBron James
Magic Johnson
Phil Jackson

In other news, Jeanie Buss is an idiot.

It’s actually a hard question though, because they had a lot of great players.  I’d say...

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

If we were ranking best, I’d be tempted to leave Kobe off. But because it’s most important, he gets the nod.

(Sorry about the Lakers thread. I thought it was an interesting question, particularly in light of Jeanie Buss’ stupid answer.  Feel free to rank the five most important Celtics, as well.)

Recency bias much, Jeanie?

[knuckleballer]

To be fair, she answered the question off the cuff in an interview.

Naturally, she would say Lebron who is currently on the team and won a championship last season.  Phil was her boyfriend.

As to who was the five MIP, I like Roy’s list.

To side track the thread  , who are the 5 most important Celtics.

Russell
Red
Bird
Cousy

#5?  That’s tough. Havlicek maybe?  Others: Garnett, Ainge, Cowens, McHale, Pierce...

[hardlyyardley]

I agree with your choices

C's

Russell
Cousy
Havlicek
Bird
McHale

Second five

Pierce
Heinsohn
Cowens
Parish
S. Jones

[hardlyyardley]

Garnett = not enough years

Red would be first on the list but I included players only

[Roy H.]

Celts are even harder than Lakers.

Russell
Bird
Cowens
Havlicek
Cousy

I wanted to find a place for Pierce in there call mom but I had to put in the four league MVPs.  The fifth spot went to Hondo for bridging the cap between the Russell teams to the seventies title teams.

[nickagneta]

Regarding the Lakers 5, it's sad that their 3rd or 4th best player ever gets no love because he didn't win a title

Elgin Baylor was a transformative player and maybe one of the 2 or 3 best NBA players for over a decade. But no titles because he was going against the Celtics juggernaut and he gets little recognition.

[gouki88]

LeBron over West is an absolute blasphemy!

In terms of 'most important', whatever that means to an individual, I'd probably go:
1. Kobe
2. Magic
3. West
4. KAJ
5. Shaq

Kobe seems more important to Laker fans than any other player, rightly or wrongly.

For the Celtics, man. That's tough.
1. Russell
2. Bird
3. Cowens
4. Cousy
5. Hondo

Red would be there, but I limited it to players because it's hard to gauge that.s

[PhoSita]

Kobe
Shaq
Magic
Kareem
Jerry

(not in any particular order)


Lots of other names to mention, but I think in terms of the history of the league, those are the people who have had the biggest lasting impact and who are known primarily for their time on the Lakers.

[Csfan1984]

I'll opt for IMT (In my time)

Magic, Kareem, Kobe, Shaq, LeBron

[greg683x]

I think there should be a difference between ‘most important’ and ‘best’.  I think a lot of folks just named the 5 best players.

On a list of most important, Garnett has to make the list, without him this team would be roughly 35 years without a title or even a finals appearance.  If Garnett wasn’t long tenured enough for the list then you have to throw in Pierce.

My 5 most important Celtics:
1. Russell
2. Bird
3. Hondo
4.  Cowens
5.  Garnett

5 for the Lakers:
1. Magic
2. Shaq
3.  Kareem
4. Kobe
5.  Lebron

[gouki88]

I think there should be a difference between ‘most important’ and ‘best’.  I think a lot of folks just named the 5 best players.

On a list of most important, Garnett has to make the list, without him this team would be roughly 35 years without a title or even a finals appearance.  If Garnett wasn’t long tenured enough for the list then you have to throw in Pierce.

My 5 most important Celtics:
1. Russell
2. Bird
3. Hondo
4.  Cowens
5.  Garnett

5 for the Lakers:
1. Magic
2. Shaq
3.  Kareem
4. Kobe
5.  Lebron

How have LeBron's 184 games for the Lakers been more important than Jerry West's 1085?

[Kiorrik]

Magic
Kareem
Kobe
West

Russell
Red
Bird
Mike & Tommy

If your Celtics list doesn't start with Russell, it better be Red, otherwise, I'ma fite u :] I'd stop after Bird though. Anything after that is such a jump down that I'd just say Russell and Red again.

My thinking is that it has to go both ways.

So for example, I didn't put Shaq, Phil, Garnett etc in there because I can't think of those people as "Lakers". Sure they once were. Sure they might've had their most important years there. But they're definitely not synonymous with those franchises for me.

.edit: added a shared 4/5 spot for the Celtics.

[Roy H.]

Where does George Mikan fall here?  I think that we are all underrating his importance, since he accounts for five of their titles.

[gouki88]

Where does George Mikan fall here?  I think that we are all underrating his importance, since he accounts for five of their titles.

Not important enough to have his number retired