Hey Darth. Just getting excited about NBA again... been a long time. Last time was the Lakers team 2000-2002. Never forgave the Kobe and the Lakers for dumping Shaq. Now Kobe's gone and Lebrons in town... Exciting times ahead.
But when I really liked NBA was the 80s with the Magic/Bird rivalry. They used to show it on Channel 4 in the UK. Was always a huge fan of the Magic man, Kareem, Worthy, Cooper, Green and the Showtime Lakers.
I hear you man. I grew up in the 90's so the glory days of 1980's NBA was before my time but I've seen plenty of videos and replays of games and those guys were amazing.
I never liked Kobe that much, his rank is highly overrated by many. There are many fans, former players, and analysts that think he is up there with Jordan and ahead of everyone else and I'd say they're off their rocker.
And yes, he screwed the franchise over by basically saying it's him or Shaq. They could've won another couple rings together before Shaq became washed up. But with that said Kobe was a great, great player and he helped keep the league somewhat interesting when MJ retired, and it was really the end of an era when he retired, moreso than anyone since MJ retired from the Bulls (the second retirement).
I'm excited to see how LeBron does with LA mostly because it is going to be a huge adjustment for him. He now has two very very very true point guards in Ball and Rondo so it seems he is serious about playing off the ball significantly more. And also, somewhat related to that, the Lakers do not have a lot of shooters and they are very young, so it's going to be a much different ball game than the last 15 seasons. And to top things off LeBron probably can't coast for large parts of the season without risking the Lakers missing the playoffs. Realistically even he knows they can't compete with Golden State this year without another star on the team.
