No sure if it has anything to do with position. It has everything to do with the player. When Clippers are missing Paul, they are like a .500 team...something like 9-10 Dwight's last 3 seasons with Magic, they were like .400 w/o him and .700 w/ Dwight. People forget about that Magic was a contender (3 best in EC) before Dwight went down. After he was out for the season, Magic became the weakest team in the playoffs. Magic Johnson was a PG and he was the biggest reason Lakers won 5 rings under his era: Before Magic, Lakers hadn't won WC for 7 years. During Magic, Lakers won 9 WC out of 13 years and 5 championships. After Magic (not courting his comeback 5 years later), Lakers didn't win WC for 9 straight years. Lakers won Finals on Magic rookie year! The impact of a championship caliber player is immediate to his teams. It's not just about the position. Paul had a horrendous record in the post season. You certainly don't need 8 years to determine Chris Paul is NOT that player.
Dwight Howard easy... last season we did not have any inside threat at all... every time asik sits we see a huge drop off on defense... I also think that the lack of a big man is the reason why our half court game sucks... lets face it... does not matter how good you pg is, if Asik is your best big man down low, your half court offense will suck... if you look at all the teams, all good point guards have excellent bigs they can throw the ball to... rose has noah deron has lopez parker has duncan cp3 has blake conley has gasol and randolf
What did Kareem do before arrival of Magic? Worthy was no so worthy after Magic's prematured retirement.
How about Dwight, Paul, Asik, Harden, and Parsons? If we get Dwight and Paul wants to come, we're gonna try to trade for him without including Asik. Just Lin a rookie contract, possibly 2, and some other junk contracts.
Kareem joined the Lakers and Lakers immediately became western contenders and always reaching deep in the playoffs before the arrival of Magic... After Kareem retired in 89, no more championship for LA despite magic playing for 2 more years... After magic retired in 91... DPOY Michael Cooper also left.. no Kareem the whole team was a shell of itself... hence james worthy's drop off... James worthy was a perfect teammate for Magic as he can rebound... run...pass... defend... shoot midrange and finish with the best of them (the perfect glue guy)... but he cannot carry a whole team... besides he was quite old at that time, 30 yrs old + injuries...
Aren't we the top 2 teams for Offense? We need to upgrade for Defense and therefore Howard. Howard > CP3 for Defense.
Perhaps you missed this part: Before Magic, Lakers hadn't won WC for 7 years. During Magic, Lakers won 9 WC out of 13 years and 5 championships. After Magic (not courting his comeback 5 years later), Lakers didn't win WC for 9 straight years. Everyone thought the Lakers were done in '80 Finals after Kareem went down with a bad sprain in game 5. Magic played Center/PG and went to have one of the greatest performances by any player in the Finals. What was more amazing? He was only a rookie! Magic playoffs winning percentage: insane 0.740 CP3 playoffs winning percentage: 0.317 Jordan: 0.665
Chris Paul, to my eyes Howard has too many question marks via his injury situation and his drama making.
Asik+Howard+Lin >>>> CP+Asik+Lin Basically, my argument is that you weaken Lin by having CP3, but you add to both Asik and Howard on the same squad.
Chris Paul is the best point guard in the game of basketball hands down. Constant mismatch and isn't the drama queen Howard is. Plus our current center is better than our current point guard.
CP3 was the better player last season, but I can't stand watching the guy flop and whine constantly. He's also a worse fit for our team. If an Asik pick and roll with our back court is this effective, imagine how it'd be with Dwight.
I did not miss anything, just replying to your question I was just pointing out that pre-Magic Johnson, lakers where already contenders, adding Magic just completed the Lakers Championship quest and when lakers won the championship when kareem went down, that was only 1 game of no kareem... also people seem to forget at that game Jamal Wilkes was on fire scoring 37 points and 10 rebounds... no kareem for whole season, lakers wont even reach the finals... kareem and cooper were the defensive anchor of lakers... without them opposing team will score at will... we all know magic can't defend... the point I'm trying to make is Superstar without fitting supporting cast = no WC Superstars need people around them that fit his style of play. our team fits Howards play almost perfectly that's why I voted Howard.
It was abosolutely boring watching the Lakers pre-Magic. They basically had one play; dump-it-to-Kareem. It was easily defendable and Kareem was easily rattled if he didnt get the whistles. Before Magic, Kareem had a terrible playoff record for the first 9 years of his career. Never reached the Finals as a Laker, with only one title as a Buck. He had Silk, Nixon, Dantley, and Cooper and still got eliminted early. I wouldn't call them a contender when they hadn't reached Finals for so long. This is like calling Nuggets or Clippers contenders. Yes they had an outside shot, but was never a true contender. A lot of time, people said Magic was great because he played with HOF's Kareem and Worthy, but perhaps, just perhaps Worthy became a HOF because of Magic? The idea of point-forward didn't started recently. Magic was the first forward-sized player who ran the point. The idea was so new that coach Westhead couldn't accept a 6'9" Magic could run the point better than a 6'2" Nixon. His belief got him canned. After Westhead, Showtime was born. I agree that superstars need their robins, but in the case of Kareem, he was the robin. Jerry Buss signed Magic to, what seemed like humongous amount at the time, a $20M, 20-year contract but never signed Kareem to more than a few years.
