Hollinger Declares Lakers Best Franchise of All Time

[Rondo_is_better]

The Lakers are the best franchise.  They have played in half of the NBA Finals (all time - 31 total) and have missed the playoffs just 5 times in their 62 years of existence (and lost in the first round just 7 times).  In otherwords, in 50 of their 62 years the Lakers have won at least one playoff series. 

They're the most consistent, but I don't agree that they're the best.

Most playoff appearances.  Most wins.  Best win percentage.  Most Finals appearances (and only 1 less title overall).  

If you asked this question to any non-Celtic or non-Laker fan, 99% would say the Lakers are the better franchise.  

Unless they realized that its basically 90% determined by the number of championships you have, and that everything else is more or less filler.

[Dchuck]

Clearly they are the top two teams in history.

Forget all the useless statistical non-sense Hollinger is spitting out.  Yeah sure the Lakers may have had more "flashier" names but they still didn't win as many Championships.  I'll take rings over names any day.

In addition the only two stats that should matter are...

Number of championships and Head to head championships.

We lost last week but last I checked we're still 9-3 in the finals against them.  We own them Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.es!

[Moranis]

The Cleveland Browns have 8 championships, 2 more then the Steelers and 3 more then the Cowboys, but does anyone actually consider the Browns to be a better franchise?

It is 17 to 16, it isn't 17 to 10.  You guys are all being utterly ridiculous. 

[Donoghus]

The Cleveland Browns have 8 championships, 2 more then the Steelers and 3 more then the Cowboys, but does anyone actually consider the Browns to be a better franchise?

It is 17 to 16, it isn't 17 to 10.  You guys are all being utterly ridiculous.  

I agree that the contention that its 17-10 is a falsehood (sorry people, its 17-16) and I certainly haven't don't hold that belief and it seems only a few have raised that sentiment.

However, what exactly makes it "utterly ridiculous" to make the claim that, a team that has more world championships (albeit only one more now) and holds a 9-3 edge in championship matchups against the only other team in contention for the distinction, is the more successful franchise?  

The only thing that is "utterly ridiculous" is to be so quickly dismissive of those who make that arguement.  

[misha]

The Cleveland Browns have 8 championships, 2 more then the Steelers and 3 more then the Cowboys, but does anyone actually consider the Browns to be a better franchise?

It is 17 to 16, it isn't 17 to 10.  You guys are all being utterly ridiculous. 

I agree that the contention that its 17-10 and not 17-16 is a falsehood and I certainly haven't don't hold that belief and it seems only a few have raised that sentiment.

However, what exactly makes it "utterly ridiculous" to make the claim that, a team that has more world championships (albeit only one more now) and holds a 9-3 edge in championship matchups against the only other team in contention for the distinction, is the more successful franchise? 

The only thing that is "utterly ridiculous" is to be so quickly dismissive of those who make that arguement. 

+1 tp

[Cman]

I don't care.


Head to Head, the Celtics have beaten the Lakers more.  


That's what I care about.  Not Hollinger's opinion.

Agreed.
And let me also offer the following salve:
Both teams are 0-0 in games for the 2010-11 season.  Which is what counts now.

[Greenbean]

The Lakers are the best franchise.  They have played in half of the NBA Finals (all time - 31 total) and have missed the playoffs just 5 times in their 62 years of existence (and lost in the first round just 7 times).  In otherwords, in 50 of their 62 years the Lakers have won at least one playoff series. 

They're the most consistent, but I don't agree that they're the best.

Most playoff appearances.  Most wins.  Best win percentage.  Most Finals appearances (and only 1 less title overall).  

If you asked this question to any non-Celtic or non-Laker fan, 99% would say the Lakers are the better franchise.  

99% of people would say, who has the most titles?

It's simple.

[celts60]

LA closed the gap by pulling two very lopsided deals in the last 20 years.  First, they obtained Shaq without having to compensate Orlando (if memory serves me right). And then more recently of course, acquiring Gasol without having to shake up their core.  Of  course earlier than both those trades, the Bias tragedy swung at least one championship from Boston to LA.

[PosImpos]

The Lakers are the best franchise.  They have played in half of the NBA Finals (all time - 31 total) and have missed the playoffs just 5 times in their 62 years of existence (and lost in the first round just 7 times).  In otherwords, in 50 of their 62 years the Lakers have won at least one playoff series.  

They're the most consistent, but I don't agree that they're the best.

Most playoff appearances.  Most wins.  Best win percentage.  Most Finals appearances (and only 1 less title overall).  

If you asked this question to any non-Celtic or non-Laker fan, 99% would say the Lakers are the better franchise.  

99% of people would say, who has the most titles?

It's simple.

On the contrary, I think the vast majority of people would say.. "You talkin' about Pierce and Bird and the Celtics?  How about Magic?  Kareem?  Shaq?  Kobe? No comparison man.  The Lakers win like, every year.  Before '08 the Celtics sucked for like a really long time."

[Donoghus]

The Lakers are the best franchise.  They have played in half of the NBA Finals (all time - 31 total) and have missed the playoffs just 5 times in their 62 years of existence (and lost in the first round just 7 times).  In otherwords, in 50 of their 62 years the Lakers have won at least one playoff series.  

They're the most consistent, but I don't agree that they're the best.

Most playoff appearances.  Most wins.  Best win percentage.  Most Finals appearances (and only 1 less title overall).  

If you asked this question to any non-Celtic or non-Laker fan, 99% would say the Lakers are the better franchise.  

99% of people would say, who has the most titles?

It's simple.

On the contrary, I think the vast majority of people would say.. "You talkin' about the Pierce and Bird and the Celtics?  How about Magic?  Kareem?  Shaq?  Kobe? No comparison man.  The Lakers win like, every year.  Before '08 the Celtics sucked for like a really long time."

I'd say the later generations would probably agree with this sentiment.  There's a long gap from Big 3 to New 3.  People also seem to be more caught up in the present and are sometimes too quick to dismiss the past. 

If you ask this question 20-25 years ago, its not really much of a debate. 

[Mike-Dub]

Who cares what Hollinger says.  We have the championships to prove that we're the better franchise. 

Last time I checked 17 is more than 16*.

And I give the Lakers 16 an asterisk because we all know who the real champions were this year and that we would have won had Perk been healthy and not out for two games.

[guava_wrench]

Discounting the city relocation, I think the Lakers edge out the Celtics at this point. The Lakers have had more consistent excellence and there is only a 1 title difference. It is impressive that they have been so consistent in recent decades while the league has been so much more competitive than 50 years ago.

Having Shaq and Kobe really put them over the top. We could really use a dominant elite player like that in their prime.

Wherever you stand on this issue, it is quite ridiculous to not be able to appreciate the arguments for either the Lakers or Celtics.

[Donoghus]

Wherever you stand on this issue, it is quite ridiculous to not be able to appreciate the arguments for either the Lakers or Celtics.

I totally agree with that.

[Mike-Dub]

Wherever you stand on this issue, it is quite ridiculous to not be able to appreciate the arguments for either the Lakers or Celtics.

I totally agree with that.

Never will I appreciate anything about the Lakers.

[Moranis]

The Lakers are the best franchise.  They have played in half of the NBA Finals (all time - 31 total) and have missed the playoffs just 5 times in their 62 years of existence (and lost in the first round just 7 times).  In otherwords, in 50 of their 62 years the Lakers have won at least one playoff series.  

They're the most consistent, but I don't agree that they're the best.

Most playoff appearances.  Most wins.  Best win percentage.  Most Finals appearances (and only 1 less title overall).  

If you asked this question to any non-Celtic or non-Laker fan, 99% would say the Lakers are the better franchise.  

99% of people would say, who has the most titles?

It's simple.

On the contrary, I think the vast majority of people would say.. "You talkin' about the Pierce and Bird and the Celtics?  How about Magic?  Kareem?  Shaq?  Kobe? No comparison man.  The Lakers win like, every year.  Before '08 the Celtics sucked for like a really long time."

I'd say the later generations would probably agree with this sentiment.  There's a long gap from Big 3 to New 3.  People also seem to be more caught up in the present and are sometimes too quick to dismiss the past.  

If you ask this question 20-25 years ago, its not really much of a debate.  

well of course 25 years ago it wasn't much of a debate, the Lakers had 6 less championships then the Celtics after 1985 concluded.  A bit different when they closed the gap by 5 championships and the Celtics went through 20 years of being a pretty p--- poor franchise.