Oral History of the 2003-2004 Los Angeles Lakers

[Da_Realist]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2468658-an-oral-history-of-the-2003-2004-los-angeles-lakers-the-first-super-team

Hadn't read it yet. It's probably interesting...

[ArbitraryWater]

I read alot of stuff, comments from West/Phil/etc back at the time but this looks new.. :cheers:

[ArbitraryWater]

this is very good

would love some dates on those quotes though

[Rake2204]

Thanks for posting. I was going to mention this story earlier. Some of my faves:

Luke Walton on Karl Malone (who Walton later insists was a great teammate, this part aside):

Karl paid like $15,000 to make me his personal rookie for the year.

We would get to cities like Milwaukee—I remember Milwaukee specifically because it was snowing outside—and Karl was like, "I need a pair of these certain type of headphones." So I called all around and nobody had them and I was like, "Karl, all I could find were these $20 headphones in the store across the street." He’s like, "Well, if you think I’m a $20 player, if you think that’s all I’m worth, go get those." I was like, "No, seriously, Karl, if I get you these ones…" And he’s like, "No, do what you want, you make the call." So I had to take this 30-minute taxi ride to some suburb in the snow to get him these nice $100 pair of headphones and the next day we’re getting off the plane and I see them just sitting in his chair. He’s already off the plane. ... So he sent me to get more headphones.

Some Pistons stuff because that's my team...

Phil Jackson, Lakers coach, 1999-2004, 2005-2011: When I was sitting down with the players, I said, "You just don’t understand this. You don’t have a chance in hell against Detroit. All the emotional momentum is for Detroit. The Comeback Team. The underdogs. They had the shot block at the end of the Indiana game—Prince blocked Reggie Miller’s shot and saved the ballgame. They won a seven-game series. So it’s gonna be a huge emotional thing."

Chauncey on essentially using Kobe Bryant's pride against him:


Chauncey Billups, Pistons point guard, 2002-2008, 2013-14: Our game plan was very calculated. We knew we were going to play Shaq straight-up. We knew there was no way we could stop Shaq straight-up. And there was also no way we could stop Kobe straight-up. But, if we’re going to play Shaq straight-up, [the Lakers'] eyes are going to get big, which means they’re going to keep throwing it down there. We’re telling Ben the whole time, "Take fouls when you need to, but don’t get yourself into foul trouble. You need to give up a layup, cool, we’re going to get what we want on the other side." But what’s going to happen is Mr. Bryant is going to get a little discouraged with getting no touches and now the second half comes around…now he’s pressing. He’s going to start coming down and just breaking the offense. When you do that, you’re done—you’re playing right into our hands. Even if you start making those shots, you’re finished.


Kobe Bryant: Honestly Detroit played extremely well. They were a well-oiled machine, man—on both ends of the floor. They were sharp as s--t. Extremely sharp, extremely crisp, extremely methodical and it was well deserved.

And for fans of the Kobe/Shaq controversy:

John Black: Mostly it was Shaq and Kobe didn’t like each other, but it didn’t affect them on the court. They would say something about the other, on or off the record, but it didn’t become confrontational more than two or three times over the eight years. When Kobe gave the statement to Jim Gray where he went off calling Shaq fat and lazy, that was one of the times. There was one really bad one, early on. Brian Shaw had to pull them apart. Shaq threatened to murder Kobe.

Mark Heisler: There was this exchange in the papers between Shaq and Kobe right before the season started. One of the greatest exchanges I’ve ever covered. Shaq zinged Kobe and then Kobe zinged Shaq. It came to a head the last practice before the regular season, and they sent them both home. I think it was Karl who said, "This is over now, trust me." That afternoon, Kobe loaded up Jim Gray with all this stuff about Shaq coming to camp fat and out of shape and not being a leader. That’s how they started the season.

[buddha]

it's a shame Shaq was so fat and lazy, he could have had a been a dominant player for a few more years.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Kobe really ****ed that team over by publicly dissing and outing Shaq. lol. Didn't help that Karl couldn't go in the finals either.

Just a bizarre season for the Lakers that year.

[ArbitraryWater]

I wanna know when Kobe said this...

[QUOTE]Kobe Bryant: I wasn

[Jacks3]

yes, he really played differently in 01 when he was taking 20+ shots a game and scoring 28-30 a night.

[ArbitraryWater]

yes, he really played differently in 01 when he was taking 20+ shots a game and scoring 28-30 a night.

your reading comprehension is lacking, understand 'played it' in context, refering to the previously mentioned style/role... thats why 'it'.

[dreamwarrior]

wow, so it was Shaq who was the colluder, calling up Karl and Gary to come on board. But he did it because he was too lazy to get into shape so he went and recruited help...

[T_L_P]

Kobe really ****ed that team over by publicly dissing and outing Shaq. lol. Didn't help that Karl couldn't go in the finals either.

Just a bizarre season for the Lakers that year.

Didn't Rick Fox say Malone was good to go, but he didn't play in gm 5 because he thought the Lakers were gonna lose anyway?