The 04 Lakers played some beautiful ball when healthy

[Kblaze8855]

https://youtu.be/PwCdfFAVKnU

All 4 stars working. I’ll excuse the brutal non pass by Kobe on the break at 5:30 because of a couple other nice passes and the lovely post moves.

[Smoke117]

Kobe stains talking about LeBron forming super teams when Kobe was doing it years before.

[Axe]

Kobe stains talking about LeBron forming super teams when Kobe was doing it years before.
Yeah, should have stayed with the charlotte hornets instead.

[Kblaze8855]

Another good one. Shaq put in work:

https://youtu.be/V5h8ratROL4

[Kblaze8855]

Gary had his moments too:



https://youtu.be/N5whwHTSBkc

[Kblaze8855]

https://youtu.be/bQuCj9Brdbk

[pandiani17]

I like Payton, but his season on the Lakers was his decline year, he had a bad season. His best moment was his scuffle with Speedy Claxton in a game against the Warriors, it was real funny:roll:

[rawimpact]

Kobe stains talking about LeBron forming super teams when Kobe was doing it years before.

When did Kobe take a paycut to allow for another allstar caliber player to sign?

[jayfan]

I would have loved to have seen a healthy, happy Lakers team v. Detroit in that '04 Finals. I still think Detroit wins, but it would have been an epic series.



.

[Clifton]

I remember Malone being good, and I remember thinking they would have killed the Pistons if he had been fully healthy all season. He was either hurt, or coming back from injury, or something. I don't remember anymore.

Anyway, I also remember Payton basically never doing anything. I would watch them and there was a clear Big 3, and then there was this point guard who couldn't shoot or score at all. And with that and all their dysfunction, they still nearly won the title. And I don't want to hear about how the Pistons were a "way better team." yes they won in 5 but sometimes things start going south and they snowball, especially when a team has personnel issues.

I loved that Pistons team, too.

How come the Lakers were never able to really add roleplayers? Shaq and Kobe; always third-rate role players. Fisher was the greatest third-rate role player of all time, but a starter-quality player probably would've made a lot of his clutch shots unnecessary. Remembering that season, it was like Malone being a *decent* #3 was the main benefit of bringing those two on.

[EllEffEll]

So much wasted potential. Probably the single most disappointing season for me as a Laker fan because, even though Malone and Payton were declining, they could have ran the table if the franchise wasn't melting down internally.

[Stanley Kobrick]

2004 and 2013 were very disappointing seasons in lakers history. so much talent and potential