Shows: 6.27.08 Hartford, CT/5.15.10 Hartford, CT/6.18.2011 Hartford, CT (EV Solo)/10.19.13 Brooklyn/10.25.13 Hartford
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
Sloan's a badass. It's the only thing missing from his career.
7/2/06 - Denver, CO
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
LOS ANGELES -- I grew up idolizing Magic Johnson. Before he even got to the league, he stole my heart from Dr. J with alley-oop passes to Greg Kelser and by foiling Larry Bird in the historic 1979 NCAA title game.
He also put together the greatest single-game performance in NBA history. Not only did he stack up 42 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists in Game 6 of the 1980 Finals to lead the Lakers to the championship over Philadelphia, but there's so much else to consider: the stakes, his youth and inexperience, his switch from point guard to center, the quality and star power of the opponent (The Doctor), the quality and star power of his injured teammate (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). And he did it all as a 20-year-old rookie.
Although I believe Michael Jordan is the best to ever play the game, I've often stated that Magic is the one player you could argue was better because he's the only player in league history who could have played each of the five positions at an All-Star level.
[+] EnlargeRonald Martinez/Getty Images
Time to pass the torch. Title No. 5 sealed Kobe's place atop L.A.
Magic, along with Bird, saved the NBA. Magic's charisma, Magic's smile, Magic's style made him so cool, so awesome, that you couldn't help but love him. To this day, he'll charm your socks off.
But I've got to be objective. I can't let my personal feelings get in the way. I can't let the fact that I watched Magic as a wide-eyed kid rather than as an adult who no longer idolizes basketball players affect the argument. I can't romanticize the past, making the heroes of my childhood larger than life, as we all have a tendency to do.
And when you take away those factors and subtract the off-the-court stuff -- the personalities, the cultural impact, the front-office brilliance (Jerry West) -- I'm faced with this conclusion: Kobe Bryant is the greatest Laker of them all.
After Kobe won his fifth title Thursday, Magic said on ESPN that Kobe deserves a statue next to his outside Staples Center. Later that night, Magic told me Kobe is now his equal, although not yet his superior.
"The great thing about the Lakers is that we judge by championships,'' said Magic, who -- along with Kareem, Kobe and crucial role player Derek Fisher -- has won a handful of rings with the Lakers. "So when Kobe gets that next one, then he'll be The Man; he'll be the greatest Laker. And I'll have no problem giving him that.''
In my heart, I agree with Magic, the starting point guard on my all-time first five. But when I judge Magic by the same standard that everyone in the post-MJ period is judged by, I have to, albeit grudgingly, put Kobe atop the Lakers pantheon.
Since Michael, superstars are judged by not only how many championships they win, but with whom they win them. One of the greatest arguments for Michael's supremacy is that, outside of Scottie Pippen, he built a dynasty with a roster full of role players (Dennis Rodman was a terrific one, to be sure, but still a role player). While guys like Ron Harper, Steve Kerr and Bill Cartwright deserve respect, they weren't in the same class as the championship teammates of Magic and Bird.
So since Kobe came after Michael, he had to hear the "he's never won it without Shaq'' refrain earlier in his career. But Magic never heard "he never won it without Kareem.'' Bird never heard "he never won it without Robert Parish and Kevin McHale.''
In each of Magic's five championship seasons, he had a top-50 player of all time (Kareem). Granted, Kareem, although still a big-time scorer, was 38, 40 and 41 years old for the final three titles. But by then, Magic had been joined by another top-50 teammate in James Worthy, who played on the Lakers' 1985, 1987 and 1988 title teams. That's not to mention other great Magic teammates such as Byron Scott, Jamaal Wilkes, Norm Nixon and Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo.
Kobe obviously had an all-time superstar for his first three titles in Shaq. But for his past two rings, he's had nothing close. Pau Gasol is a perennial All-Star, but he's not going to make anyone's top 50. If he and Kobe continue winning rings together, though, he's got a shot at the Hall of Fame.
The significance of Kobe's ability to start from scratch and build a second mini-dynasty with the Lakers can't be overstated, and gives him an advantage over many all-time greats.
[+] EnlargeRonald Martinez/Getty Images
Magic could do a lot of spectacular things, but he couldn't play defense like Kobe.
As for the other Lakers greats, Wilt Chamberlain and West won only one ring apiece, despite playing together for four full seasons. Elgin Baylor never won a championship despite playing most of his career with West. Shaq, of course, won three rings in his eight Lakers seasons. And Kareem falls prey to the same argument as Magic (his team was stacked much higher than Kobe's); Kareem never won a ring without Magic or Oscar Robertson.
On top of the quality-of-teammates argument, Kobe beats Magic decisively on defense. Kobe has been a great defender, earning first-team All-Defensive honors eight times and second-team twice. Magic was never an all-league defender.
Personally, for all his scoring prowess, I don't think Kobe's offensive numbers stack up to Magic's. Magic averaged 19.5 points, 11.2 assists and 7.2 rebounds while shooting 52 percent from the field and 85 percent from the foul line. Kobe is a career 25-point scorer, but he's averaged only 5.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists on 45 percent shooting.
But when you factor in the defensive end, Kobe -- the better shooter and scorer -- comes out ahead of Magic as an all-around player.
While some might hold Kobe's subpar performance in Thursday's Game 7 against him, he still had 15 rebounds and found a way to score 23 points, mainly by hitting 11 of 15 foul shots. Plus, other immortals have struggled in big moments. Magic had so many flubs in the Lakers' 1984 loss to Boston, including dribbling out the clock at the end of regulation in Game 2, that he was being called "Tragic'' Johnson. And Michael shot 6-for-19 and 5-for-19 in two of Chicago's Finals games against Seattle in 1996.
Of course, Magic and his terrific teammates faced stiffer competition than Kobe has. The Celtics teams they battled were heavy in Hall of Famers, too. But in 1989, Magic's Lakers were swept by a Detroit Pistons team that featured only one top-50 player, 6-foot-1 Isiah Thomas, and had no great big men. I'd also argue the Celtics teams Kobe lost to in 2008 and defeated in 2010 were better than any of the clubs Jordan defeated in the Finals.
But that's the only thing I'm giving Kobe over Jordan. He's not Jordan's equal, and I don't think he ever can be, let alone overtake him as the G.O.A.T. Michael averaged 33.6 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists on 48 percent shooting while never losing a Finals series. He dominated every Finals he played in ways Kobe has not come close to doing.
But this isn't about Michael and Kobe; it's about Kobe and Magic, the two greatest Lakers ever. We can call them 1 and 1A. Just make sure Kobe is mentioned first.
i post on the board of a band that doesn't exsist anymore .......i need my head examined.......
Didn't Bill Russell win like 13 of these in a row?
11 total, 8 in a row at one point.
for his career, he averaged a respectable 15.1 points per game and an off the chart 22.5 reboudns per game. :shock:
one of the most dominate players ever in basketball...albeit the game was totally different back then, Russell is still iconic.
7/2/06 - Denver, CO
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
Kobe Bryant has been many things over the course of his incredible career. Loved and hated. MVP and scoring champ. He's been a pitch man, a closer, a reluctant sidekick, an alpha male, and a global icon.
But Thursday night, as the Lakers clinched their second straight NBA title, and Kobe laid claim to his fifth in purple and gold, he was something we've never seen:
Christian Peterson/Getty Images
Nothing about Game 7 came easily for Kobe Bryant.
He was vulnerable.
It was, in a word, stunning.
Bryant, the game's great closer, the deadly Mamba, the man with ice water in his veins and a keen awareness of the moment, unraveled on the NBA's greatest stage.
It wasn't simply the six-of-24 performance from the field. It was also the out-of-character, anxious play. So off was his rhythm that even the simple act of dribbling escaped him on several occasions, as it did with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when, after the Lakers earned one of their 23 offensive rebounds, Bryant lost the ball off his leg trying to reset a new possession. There was no ball pressure against him, he just lost the handle. At the other end, hoping to make up for the miscue -- and no doubt the myriad others that came before it -- Bryant tried to draw a charge on Ray Allen and was whistled for a blocking call.
It was one of many sequences making Bryant's experience in Game 7 one of the most fascinating things I've ever witnessed.
He experienced the newness of this kind of failure the way a baby giraffe experiences its first gangly steps, all at once confused and frustrated, but also with a dogged determination to get some stability in his legs.
The clearest window into Bryant's plight came when he went to the line late in the fourth quarter. Clearly exhausted and on the edge of something disastrous both practically (Game 7 of the NBA Finals was in serious jeopardy) and mentally, Bryant's eyes widened, his pace slowed, his movements became incredibly deliberate.
So much physical and mental energy spent, not on splitting a double team in the paint or rising for a fadeaway jumper with a hand in his face, but on a free throw, an act he's completed successfully probably 100,000 times or more in his lifetime.
Even more incredible was the honesty Bryant displayed at the trophy presentation ceremony after the game was over. There was no pretense, no attempt to make us believe we had seen something different than we had.
"Tonight, it got the best of me," he said candidly. "I wanted it so bad, and sometimes you want something so bad it slips away from you."
Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images
How the Thursday night impacts Kobe's legacy is an open question, but no matter how it shakes out, he'll always have five NBA titles.
At his postgame press conference, Bryant went further. "The more I tried to push, the more it kept getting away from me. I'm just glad that my teammates really got us back in the game," he said. "It was a tough one."
Knowing he was struggling to score, Bryant made a concerted, desperate effort to contribute in some other way in Game 7. He finished with 15 rebounds, easily his high mark for the postseason. His defensive effort was frantic and relentless. "I had to do something," he said. "I mean, I had to rebound the ball. Whatever it takes to win the game. You've got to do whatever it takes. That's my job. Sometimes shots aren't going to fall, but you've got to figure out something to help your team win."
It's a cliche, but it's also a simple statement of fact. He had to do something positive to mitigate the damage he was doing elsewhere, and he did, even through a level of fatigue likely impossible for the rest of us to comprehend.
Popping around different radio broadcasts and podcasts this morning ("Lakers blogger" is a popular guy the day after a championship), I've been asked multiple times about the impact of this game on Kobe's legacy. Honestly, I don't know the answer. He has won his fifth title and his second Finals MVP, and will have opportunities to win more. Statistically, he has a shot to reach air even more rarefied than the climbs he already occupies.
On the other hand, he laid down a near-disastrous performance in the biggest game of his career Thursday night.
I suspect those who believe Kobe should be elevated above Michael Jordan and/or other legends will gloss over Thursday night to focus on his newest ring and the incredible playoffs he had in getting the Lakers to the Finals again. Or they'll point to how, despite all the struggles, he hit eight of his nine fourth quarter free throw attempts.
Meanwhile, those in the Jordan camp will focus on the 18 missed shots in 24 tries, the four turnovers, and the admission the moment got the better of him.
Fpr me, the most enduring aspect of Game 7 will be how it humanized a player who works so hard to appear impenetrable. Everything, all his game, all the window dressing of his persona, was stripped away Thursday, leaving only a guy incredibly desperate to achieve his most important goal, working as hard as he could to make it happen, but often unable to stay out of his own way.
It was the first time I've ever really felt able to identify with him, and I doubt I'm the only one.
Lakers fans would just as soon he leave the in-game failure part by the wayside in future championship-clinching games, but it's the vulnerability he showed Thursday night, in what could have been his greatest nightmare, that makes him more appealing than he has ever been.
GREAT ARTICLE
i post on the board of a band that doesn't exsist anymore .......i need my head examined.......
i read he partied in the club after the game still in uniform sick fuck
man i wish i could go back to the lasalle days and smok a fatty with him after a game
good times ...who would have thunk 20 years later he would be on the lakers winning rings :shock:
i post on the board of a band that doesn't exsist anymore .......i need my head examined.......
Comments
FRAUD.
zing :roll:
the sixers will be back one day
"Becoming a Bruce fan is like hitting puberty as a musical fan. It's inevitable." - dcfaithful
Still waiting for The Jazz to win... :roll:
Sloan's a badass. It's the only thing missing from his career.
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
He also put together the greatest single-game performance in NBA history. Not only did he stack up 42 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists in Game 6 of the 1980 Finals to lead the Lakers to the championship over Philadelphia, but there's so much else to consider: the stakes, his youth and inexperience, his switch from point guard to center, the quality and star power of the opponent (The Doctor), the quality and star power of his injured teammate (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). And he did it all as a 20-year-old rookie.
Although I believe Michael Jordan is the best to ever play the game, I've often stated that Magic is the one player you could argue was better because he's the only player in league history who could have played each of the five positions at an All-Star level.
[+] EnlargeRonald Martinez/Getty Images
Time to pass the torch. Title No. 5 sealed Kobe's place atop L.A.
Magic, along with Bird, saved the NBA. Magic's charisma, Magic's smile, Magic's style made him so cool, so awesome, that you couldn't help but love him. To this day, he'll charm your socks off.
But I've got to be objective. I can't let my personal feelings get in the way. I can't let the fact that I watched Magic as a wide-eyed kid rather than as an adult who no longer idolizes basketball players affect the argument. I can't romanticize the past, making the heroes of my childhood larger than life, as we all have a tendency to do.
And when you take away those factors and subtract the off-the-court stuff -- the personalities, the cultural impact, the front-office brilliance (Jerry West) -- I'm faced with this conclusion: Kobe Bryant is the greatest Laker of them all.
After Kobe won his fifth title Thursday, Magic said on ESPN that Kobe deserves a statue next to his outside Staples Center. Later that night, Magic told me Kobe is now his equal, although not yet his superior.
"The great thing about the Lakers is that we judge by championships,'' said Magic, who -- along with Kareem, Kobe and crucial role player Derek Fisher -- has won a handful of rings with the Lakers. "So when Kobe gets that next one, then he'll be The Man; he'll be the greatest Laker. And I'll have no problem giving him that.''
In my heart, I agree with Magic, the starting point guard on my all-time first five. But when I judge Magic by the same standard that everyone in the post-MJ period is judged by, I have to, albeit grudgingly, put Kobe atop the Lakers pantheon.
Since Michael, superstars are judged by not only how many championships they win, but with whom they win them. One of the greatest arguments for Michael's supremacy is that, outside of Scottie Pippen, he built a dynasty with a roster full of role players (Dennis Rodman was a terrific one, to be sure, but still a role player). While guys like Ron Harper, Steve Kerr and Bill Cartwright deserve respect, they weren't in the same class as the championship teammates of Magic and Bird.
So since Kobe came after Michael, he had to hear the "he's never won it without Shaq'' refrain earlier in his career. But Magic never heard "he never won it without Kareem.'' Bird never heard "he never won it without Robert Parish and Kevin McHale.''
In each of Magic's five championship seasons, he had a top-50 player of all time (Kareem). Granted, Kareem, although still a big-time scorer, was 38, 40 and 41 years old for the final three titles. But by then, Magic had been joined by another top-50 teammate in James Worthy, who played on the Lakers' 1985, 1987 and 1988 title teams. That's not to mention other great Magic teammates such as Byron Scott, Jamaal Wilkes, Norm Nixon and Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo.
Kobe obviously had an all-time superstar for his first three titles in Shaq. But for his past two rings, he's had nothing close. Pau Gasol is a perennial All-Star, but he's not going to make anyone's top 50. If he and Kobe continue winning rings together, though, he's got a shot at the Hall of Fame.
The significance of Kobe's ability to start from scratch and build a second mini-dynasty with the Lakers can't be overstated, and gives him an advantage over many all-time greats.
[+] EnlargeRonald Martinez/Getty Images
Magic could do a lot of spectacular things, but he couldn't play defense like Kobe.
As for the other Lakers greats, Wilt Chamberlain and West won only one ring apiece, despite playing together for four full seasons. Elgin Baylor never won a championship despite playing most of his career with West. Shaq, of course, won three rings in his eight Lakers seasons. And Kareem falls prey to the same argument as Magic (his team was stacked much higher than Kobe's); Kareem never won a ring without Magic or Oscar Robertson.
On top of the quality-of-teammates argument, Kobe beats Magic decisively on defense. Kobe has been a great defender, earning first-team All-Defensive honors eight times and second-team twice. Magic was never an all-league defender.
Personally, for all his scoring prowess, I don't think Kobe's offensive numbers stack up to Magic's. Magic averaged 19.5 points, 11.2 assists and 7.2 rebounds while shooting 52 percent from the field and 85 percent from the foul line. Kobe is a career 25-point scorer, but he's averaged only 5.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists on 45 percent shooting.
But when you factor in the defensive end, Kobe -- the better shooter and scorer -- comes out ahead of Magic as an all-around player.
While some might hold Kobe's subpar performance in Thursday's Game 7 against him, he still had 15 rebounds and found a way to score 23 points, mainly by hitting 11 of 15 foul shots. Plus, other immortals have struggled in big moments. Magic had so many flubs in the Lakers' 1984 loss to Boston, including dribbling out the clock at the end of regulation in Game 2, that he was being called "Tragic'' Johnson. And Michael shot 6-for-19 and 5-for-19 in two of Chicago's Finals games against Seattle in 1996.
Of course, Magic and his terrific teammates faced stiffer competition than Kobe has. The Celtics teams they battled were heavy in Hall of Famers, too. But in 1989, Magic's Lakers were swept by a Detroit Pistons team that featured only one top-50 player, 6-foot-1 Isiah Thomas, and had no great big men. I'd also argue the Celtics teams Kobe lost to in 2008 and defeated in 2010 were better than any of the clubs Jordan defeated in the Finals.
But that's the only thing I'm giving Kobe over Jordan. He's not Jordan's equal, and I don't think he ever can be, let alone overtake him as the G.O.A.T. Michael averaged 33.6 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists on 48 percent shooting while never losing a Finals series. He dominated every Finals he played in ways Kobe has not come close to doing.
But this isn't about Michael and Kobe; it's about Kobe and Magic, the two greatest Lakers ever. We can call them 1 and 1A. Just make sure Kobe is mentioned first.
kobe's great, one of the best all time...but ask me what player i want to lead my team, i'd take magic or bird over kobe any day
it was like a championship fight and the irish just wore down until boom knock out in the 15th round!!
Please don't equate the Irish w/the Celtic's, or Boston for that matter, we would like to disavow any assoc.
i think magic was better than jordan
like the article said magic could play every position and dominate
also fewer teams. in theory, that alone should lead to each team having better players.
ps - love how kobe is only holding up four fingers in that pick. haha.
so will your home town's team
totally agree with both of you.
michael was better than magic though "neil"
we can't agree on anything today, i'd take jordan over just about anybody. the only other players i would even consider are wilt and kareem.
yep...expansion has ruined all pro sports
jordan is the absolute best.
jordan is the absolute best.[/quote]
+1
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Journey Ends:
11 total, 8 in a row at one point.
for his career, he averaged a respectable 15.1 points per game and an off the chart 22.5 reboudns per game. :shock:
one of the most dominate players ever in basketball...albeit the game was totally different back then, Russell is still iconic.
6/12/08 - Tampa, FL
8/23/09 - Chicago, IL
9/28/09 - Salt Lake City, UT (11 years too long!!!)
9/03/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 1
9/04/11 - East Troy, WI - PJ20 - Night 2
Happy Father's Day :? :wave:
gotta love it
But Thursday night, as the Lakers clinched their second straight NBA title, and Kobe laid claim to his fifth in purple and gold, he was something we've never seen:
Christian Peterson/Getty Images
Nothing about Game 7 came easily for Kobe Bryant.
He was vulnerable.
It was, in a word, stunning.
Bryant, the game's great closer, the deadly Mamba, the man with ice water in his veins and a keen awareness of the moment, unraveled on the NBA's greatest stage.
It wasn't simply the six-of-24 performance from the field. It was also the out-of-character, anxious play. So off was his rhythm that even the simple act of dribbling escaped him on several occasions, as it did with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when, after the Lakers earned one of their 23 offensive rebounds, Bryant lost the ball off his leg trying to reset a new possession. There was no ball pressure against him, he just lost the handle. At the other end, hoping to make up for the miscue -- and no doubt the myriad others that came before it -- Bryant tried to draw a charge on Ray Allen and was whistled for a blocking call.
It was one of many sequences making Bryant's experience in Game 7 one of the most fascinating things I've ever witnessed.
He experienced the newness of this kind of failure the way a baby giraffe experiences its first gangly steps, all at once confused and frustrated, but also with a dogged determination to get some stability in his legs.
The clearest window into Bryant's plight came when he went to the line late in the fourth quarter. Clearly exhausted and on the edge of something disastrous both practically (Game 7 of the NBA Finals was in serious jeopardy) and mentally, Bryant's eyes widened, his pace slowed, his movements became incredibly deliberate.
So much physical and mental energy spent, not on splitting a double team in the paint or rising for a fadeaway jumper with a hand in his face, but on a free throw, an act he's completed successfully probably 100,000 times or more in his lifetime.
Even more incredible was the honesty Bryant displayed at the trophy presentation ceremony after the game was over. There was no pretense, no attempt to make us believe we had seen something different than we had.
"Tonight, it got the best of me," he said candidly. "I wanted it so bad, and sometimes you want something so bad it slips away from you."
Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images
How the Thursday night impacts Kobe's legacy is an open question, but no matter how it shakes out, he'll always have five NBA titles.
At his postgame press conference, Bryant went further. "The more I tried to push, the more it kept getting away from me. I'm just glad that my teammates really got us back in the game," he said. "It was a tough one."
Knowing he was struggling to score, Bryant made a concerted, desperate effort to contribute in some other way in Game 7. He finished with 15 rebounds, easily his high mark for the postseason. His defensive effort was frantic and relentless. "I had to do something," he said. "I mean, I had to rebound the ball. Whatever it takes to win the game. You've got to do whatever it takes. That's my job. Sometimes shots aren't going to fall, but you've got to figure out something to help your team win."
It's a cliche, but it's also a simple statement of fact. He had to do something positive to mitigate the damage he was doing elsewhere, and he did, even through a level of fatigue likely impossible for the rest of us to comprehend.
Popping around different radio broadcasts and podcasts this morning ("Lakers blogger" is a popular guy the day after a championship), I've been asked multiple times about the impact of this game on Kobe's legacy. Honestly, I don't know the answer. He has won his fifth title and his second Finals MVP, and will have opportunities to win more. Statistically, he has a shot to reach air even more rarefied than the climbs he already occupies.
On the other hand, he laid down a near-disastrous performance in the biggest game of his career Thursday night.
I suspect those who believe Kobe should be elevated above Michael Jordan and/or other legends will gloss over Thursday night to focus on his newest ring and the incredible playoffs he had in getting the Lakers to the Finals again. Or they'll point to how, despite all the struggles, he hit eight of his nine fourth quarter free throw attempts.
Meanwhile, those in the Jordan camp will focus on the 18 missed shots in 24 tries, the four turnovers, and the admission the moment got the better of him.
Fpr me, the most enduring aspect of Game 7 will be how it humanized a player who works so hard to appear impenetrable. Everything, all his game, all the window dressing of his persona, was stripped away Thursday, leaving only a guy incredibly desperate to achieve his most important goal, working as hard as he could to make it happen, but often unable to stay out of his own way.
It was the first time I've ever really felt able to identify with him, and I doubt I'm the only one.
Lakers fans would just as soon he leave the in-game failure part by the wayside in future championship-clinching games, but it's the vulnerability he showed Thursday night, in what could have been his greatest nightmare, that makes him more appealing than he has ever been.
GREAT ARTICLE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGTHUiDyxnA
and artest ..thise pants are awesome
i read he partied in the club after the game still in uniform
man i wish i could go back to the lasalle days and smok a fatty with him after a game
good times ...who would have thunk 20 years later he would be on the lakers winning rings :shock: