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NBA NOTES - AGAIN - ARE THE LAKERS THAT GOOD OR IS THE NBA THAT BAD?

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

The Lakers were the first to qualify for the NBA playoffs this season but the question is do they have the talent to win the title? - The main man responsible for orchestrating the Boston Celtics title winning team last season was forgotten. - Though being slight of build for a center at that time RED KERR was a hard worker. He had to go up against some of the best centers who ever played the game including Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell.

Sunday March 29, 2009

LAKERS FEARSOME TO NBA?

We asked it before and we'll ask it again are the Lakers that good or is the NBA that bad? The Lakers were the first to qualify for the NBA playoffs this season but the question is do they have the talent to win the title? Overall the NBA is a much weaker league due to every expansion diluted the talent pool. The result being due to the ghetto style hot dogging play many International players who play more disciplined basketball are now in the league.

The Lakers won three consecutive NBA titles 2000, 2001, 2002 with a team that was so weak that it defied logic. The aftermath was a number of the games were fixed by NBA referees. With that experience behind them can that happen to the NBA again? The Lakers Derek Fisher said he wasn't going to give his championship rings back such as Olympic Gold medals being returned by teams tainted with drug abusers. But with the Lakers continued success it raises a question are they really that talented?

It was mentioned by a NBA stat man that a great team takes three stars to make it happen. The Lakers have one in Kobe Bryant and a potential star in Pau Gasol who needs more time in the league to receive the superstar status. Last seasons champion Boston Celtics filled that criteria with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. No other NBA team has three super star players.

The Chicago Bulls of the 90's had Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Hoarse Grant for their first three titles with a strong supporting cast. Dennis Rodman was the third big wheel during their last three titles.

The Lakers champions of the 80's had Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Jamal Wilkes and Norm Nixon for the first two titles. They were complimented for the final three 80's titles with James Worthy as well as a supporting cast including New Orleans Hornets coach Byron Scott, Michael Cooper and A.C. Green. Those teams had depth.

The Lakers 21st Century three peat teams had Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal who is one of the NBA's all time great players and a certain selection for the NBA Hall of Fame. The current Lakers do have a great coach in Phil Jackson but really now� are the current Lakers that good or is the NBA competition THAT BAD?

LONG WAIT

After the Boston Celtics won the NBA title last season there was a lot of talk about how long it took Kevin Garnett to win a title. That's all true as Garnett played 1071 NBA games including playoffs before earning the title ring. But the main man responsible for orchestrating the title winning talent was forgotten. That man is coach Doc Rivers.

As a player Rivers played 13 seasons and 945 games that resulted in winning zero titles. When you add the 667 games he coached his 1612 total far exceeds Garnett's or Ray Allen's 926 games played before winning an NBA title.

RED KERR THE FIRST IRON MAN

When former NBA star Red Kerr passed away last month it brought back my recollections of the man known as the Gentle Giant. Kerr was the first NBA Iron Man which is recognition for the player who played the most consecutive games.

Kerr had a string going of playing in 844 consecutive games when his then coach Paul Seymour informed him that he wasn't going to play in a game. Kerr said he wasn't injured and the record books indicate that his performance was consistent. He was simply told by Seymour that the streak had to end.

Though being slight of build for a center at that time 6'9"/230lbs (2.05/104.3) he was a hard worker. He had to go up against some of the best centers who ever played the game including Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. He may be best known as the player who indirectly replaced Chamberlain in Philadelphia when the Warriors moved to Sam Francisco and the Syracuse Nationals relocated to Philadelphia and changed their name to the 76ers in 1963.

Chamberlain was later traded to the 76ers January 15, 1965 thus becoming the teams starting center replacing Kerr. Kerr was later traded September 22, 1965 to the Baltimore Bullets. I didn't know it at the time of our interview but Kerr was traded to the Bullets for a former teammate of mine Wali Jones.

After averaging 11.0 points and 8.3 rebounds for the Bullets during the 1965-1966 season, Kerr was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Expansion Draft. However, Kerr voluntarily retired so that he could become the coach of his hometown's new basketball team. He ended his career with respectable totals of 12,480 points and 10,092 rebounds, and the then NBA record for most consecutive games played (844) until 1983 when he was surpassed by Randy Smith.

Kerr coached the Bulls for two seasons and led the expansion team to the playoffs each of those seasons. The Bulls became the first expansion team to win a playoff berth in its inaugural season. For this accomplishment, Kerr was rewarded the NBA Coach of the Year Award. He went on to compile regular season records of 33-48 (1966-67) and 0-3 in the playoffs 29-53 (67-68) and 1-4 in the playoffs. Kerr then coached the Phoenix Suns for the 68-69 and 69-70 seasons and finished with an overall NBA coaching record of 93-190.

Kerr then turned his knowledge of the game for a thirty-three year career as a television color commentator for the Chicago Bulls. He made occasional appearances as a half-time commentator during the first half of the 2008-09 season, but his struggles with prostate cancer gradually limited his involvement. Kerr passed away February 26th, at the age of 76.

The irony of the story is that Seymour the Baltimore coach that stopped the Iron Man streak was a Kerr's teammate on the Syracuse Nationals for six seasons (1954/55 to 1959/60) that included the 1955 NBA title winning team during Kerr's rookie season in the league.