You silly Laker fan. You keep talking badly about Shaq. Which is mainly why you are not being well received with your comments in this thread. What are you, a fan of the Laker or a fan of LSU? The Laker won't win anything with Kobe. The Laker is a doomed team.
They almost got out of the first round with him this year. I think "The Laker" (cute, by the way :hihi: ) will have post season success with Kobe.
okay... well this is the whole story... i loved the lakers... i loved showtime... Magic, Scott, Worthy, etc... but then they all retired right around the time Diesel came into the league, so i LOVED him... The Magic soon became my favorite pro sports team like ever... I signed up to every newsletter, etc... Then when Shaq was a free agent, he promised in the middle of the year that he would stay in orlando, and orlando offered him 15 mill more than the lakers, b/c NBA salary cap dictates that team you are currently with can offer more to keep stars grounded, and he stabbed orlando in the back, and ever since then, i really didn't like him much... That's just my own bias against him though... I know he is the best in the league and probably the most dominant ever...
I am a Magic fan by the way and have been since the early playing days of Catledge, Skiles, and Scott there. As you can imagine, I was elated when they were able to draft Shaq in '92. The success they had with him was great to see. However, they were having a difficult time of holding that team together. Usually a business decision is not about the short term, but the long term. In Shaq's case, he made his decision accordingly. Take a look at how his career progressed. You can not really find any error in his decision. So Orlando offered him 15 million more than the Lakers? Yeah, well how about all those lucrative contracts Shaq has gotten since then..... In the meantime, I've continued to watch the Magic get great players and then fail to retain them under new contracts. Overall, the organization is just not serious about winning championships. But hey, they are the team I grew up following and I am going to keep on doing so. Serious about winning championships.......... That is what the Lakers were all about when Shaq went there. GREAT decision on his part. Just as his decision to leave the Lakers was great too. When a franchise throws their support behind an admitted adulterer, one who's tried to smear the name of a couple couple key teammates via police interviews (Shaq being one of them), one who's publicly feuded with one of the NBA's greatest players ever (Karl Malone), one who made a point of boosting his value by entering contract discussions with multiple teams, the list goes on and on and on..... In the meantime, Shaq quietly worked on a deal of his own. Where did he go this time? You guessed it --- to a franchise that is now serious about winning championships -- the Miami Heat, managed by Pat Riley. PS: Wanna see my old Orlando Magic Starter jacket? :rofl:
If you consider winning a playoff series or two a year, then sure the Laker will have success. If you're talking winning conference chamipinships and NBA championships, then no the Laker will not have any success.
Clair, do you live under a rock? The reason Shaq left was because The Magic's front office told him they'd never pay him more than the 'future of the franchise' Penny Hardaway... The contract he signed with the Lakers was a NBA record setting $120 million contact.. Where do you come up with this stuff? It's well known... btw, Shaq was on the cover of a basketball program his frosh year at LSU. He was wearing Lakers shorts and is quoted as saying "One day I'll play for the Lakers" anyway, the contract offered to Penny was more than the one offered to Shaq... 3 rings later I think Shaq made the right decision... I guess now we know why you're such a T-Mac fan... What's wrong with Orlando? No super-stars want to stay there.....
never in my post did I say that they offered him more or less than penny, but Orlando DID offer more than the lakers, and if you would know anything about the salary cap in the NBA, you would know that... the only reason the # in LA was record breaking is b/c the length of the deal was so big...
