The Tale of Two Franchises (LA and Boston) - Part I

From when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird entered the NBA, the Lakers and the Celtics dominated the NBA. During the 12 seasons starting in November 1979, the Lakers won 72% of their games and Boston 71%. The Lakers and Celtics won 8 NBA championships in that stretch and one of the two teams was in 11 of the 12 NBA Finals.

However, dynasties don't last forever. When Magic Johnson announced his retirement on Nov. 7, 1991, the Lakers went from being a championship contending team to a bad, old team. Their PG Sedale Threatt, their SG Byron Scott, their SF James Worthy and their PF Sam Perkins were all 30 years old. Their C Vlade Divac was the only young starter at 23 years old. Threatt was a journeyman, Scott needed to be set up to be effective, Worthy's knees had reduced him to a shadow of his former self, Perkins would be traded in mid-season and the cigarette-smoking Divac was inconsistant. Their bench wasn't much better with sixth man 28 year old AC Green, the young-and-raw Elden Campbell and the 31-year old Terry Teagle. The Lakers finished 6th in their division that season with a 43-39 record. It was a team that would have to be blown up before it could ever compete for a championship again.

The Boston Celtics, on the other hand, were midway through their transistion from an old team to a new team. They had their 3 veteran all-stars in Bird (34), McHale (33) and Parrish (38). But they also had a young all-star in their 25 year old SG-SF, Reggie Lewis. They had a lot of other young talent in Dee Brown (22), Brian Shaw (25), Rick Fox (22) and Kevin Gamble (25). The Celtics finished 1st in their division with a 51-31 record and all they needed was to acquire a young PF and C for them to be completely reloaded.

But it was the Lakers who quickly reloaded, 4 seasons later breaking the 50 win mark and 4 seasons after that winning three championships in a row. For the Celtics, the 91-92 season was a high point and they have never won that many games since. Theirs is a story of what to do and what not to do when rebuilding an NBA team, a tale of two franchises.

'91 to '94 - Misery In LA, heartbreak in Boston
West is probably the greatest GM of all time, but he did a terrible job the first few years after Magic retired. Coach Dunleavy did a good job of coaching minimal talent and wound up the season 43-39. The Lakers went to the playoffs, but lost in the first round. Despite the fact that he had a bad, old team, West didn't make any off-season moves. He drafted Anthony Peeler with the #15 pick. Peeler had been rated more highly, but a rape charge had made his stock plummet. Peeler was too small for a SG and not good enough of a ball handler to be a PG, so he had never was better than a quality backup SG. West took Peeler over Doug Christie, Tracy Murray, Jon Barry and Latrell Sprewell. Dunleavy got a tremendous offer from the Milwaukee Bucks to be club president, so he left. West promoted long-time assistant coach Randy Pfund to coach. Pfund was a disaster and was fired after less than two seasons.

The '91-'92 season was a good one for Boston, with Reggie Lewis having an All-Star season and rookie Rick Fox playing well. Brian Shaw had never fit in well after he came back from playing in Italy during the '89-'90 season, so the Celtics traded him to Miami for another young PG, Sherman Douglas. Bird and McHale had injury problems, but Boston was so deep that it didn't effect them. Second year coach Chris Ford continued to effectively blend the young players with the veterans. Boston finished first place in their division with a 51-31 record, won the first round and in the second round, lost a heartbreaking 7th game to Cleveland. The Celtics made a good draft choice, picking Jon Barry with the 21st pick. Larry Bird retired that off-season after only playing 45 games during the '91-'92 season. To shore up their aging frontcourt, the C's signed 29-year old free agent Xavier McDaniel to a big contract. The X-man had flourished as an undersized PF in Seattle, but had played so-so in his previous season in New York.

During the '92 to '93 season, West made his first big personnel move - trading Sam Perkins to Seattle for Doug Christie and Benoit "the human boat anchor" Benjamin. Christie had been holding out on the Sonics and Perkins was a big contributor for Seattle for 5 1/2 years, so it is amazing that West didn't get more out of Seattle. Despite a 39-43 record, the Lakers managed to make the playoffs and won the first two games against Phoenix in Phoenix. Phoenix won three in a row to end the Lakers' painful season. The Lakers had the #12 pick in the draft, but there was virtually no talent available after the first 11 picks. West picked George Lynch, knowing that he would probably never be a starter. Lynch would never do well as a Laker. West picked in the second round Nick Van Exel, a talented PG who fell so far in the draft because of his bad attitude during work outs. Van Exel was a huge steal and would be the Lakers point guard for years. West's only off-season trade was to send Benoit Benjamin to New Jersey for Sam Bowie.

The '92-'93 season started bad for the Celtics and ended worse. The Celtics lost 8 of their first 10 and had a 12-17 record at New Years. In December, the Celtics traded their draft pick Jon Barry (who hadn't played yet) and a '95 second round draft pick for Alaa Abdelnaby. After New Years, they went 36-17 to finish with a 48-34 record, good for second place in the Atlantic division. In game 1 of the playoff series against Charlotte, Lewis collapsed on the court. He was later diagnosed with arrhythmia (an irregular heartbeat), a condition that brought tragic results in the offseason. On July 27, 1993, while shooting baskets at Brandeis University in Boston, the 27-year-old Lewis collapsed again. He was found by paramedics in complete cardiac arrest and died shortly thereafter. McDaniel and Douglas weren't playing anywhere near well enough to justify their big contracts. Rick Fox regressed and only played two-thirds of the minutes he played as a rookie. Abdelnaby was a bust and would only play 67 more games in the NBA. The C's still didn't have anyone at center to take the place of now 40 year old Robert Parrish. Boston with the #19 pick drafted Acie Earl, who was a bust and only played 4 seasons in the NBA. Parish's back up, Joe Kleine, went to Phoenix as a free agent. Kevin McHale retired. Boston did have one success that off-season, signing their second round pick from 1989, Dino Radja. This was when signing Euro players was rare and it took that long to reach mutually agreeable terms.

The ’93-’94 season for the Lakers had flashes of promise, but ended badly. Nick Van Exel quickly established himself as the Lakers PG of the future. Elden Campbell broke through to be an effective starter. But Christie and Lynch were underwhelming, Worthy’s knees restricted him to 20 mpg and Peeler missed most of the season because of injuries. When the Lakers were 27-37, Coach Pfund was fired and eventually replaced with Magic Johnson. Under Magic, the Lakers won 5 of their first 6 games and then lost their last 10. After the season, Magic ripped the players in the press.

During the ’93-’94 season, the Celtics collapsed. Their front court was so pitiful that the 40 year old Parrish led the team in rebounding. Dee Brown was their leading scorer, but at 6’1” was tremendously undersized at SG. McDaniel’s game continued to go downhill. Dino Radja was the only bright spot on the team and his play earned him a berth on the NBA All-Rookie Second Team. The Celtics ended the year with a 32-50 record, the worst the Celtics' worst season since 1978-79, the year before Larry Bird's debut in the NBA.

Looking back over these seasons, it is surprising to me how ineffective West was. His two draft picks were busts. He only made two trades, one of which he was robbed on and the other was passing the trash. He didn’t sign any major free agents. Pfund was a bad choice as coach. If Van Exel had not fallen to the 37th spot, he would have nothing of value to show for those years. The one good thing he did was free up minutes for Campbell to develop into a starter PF.

If the Lakers’ moves were unproductive, then Boston’s moves were counterproductive. Douglas didn’t fit Ford’s run-and-gun style. Signing McDaniel was a bust. Trading for Abdelnaby hurt the team. Earl was a worthless draft pick. Rick Fox would eventually develop into a starting SF, but the C’s were unable to capitalize on his promising rookie year.

Another thing that stands out is the importance of luck. The Lakers were unlucky to have the 12th pick in a draft were the talent was all gone after 11 picks and that Worthy’s knees went bad so early, but they were lucky that Van Exel was still available at 37. Boston was hugely unlucky when Lewis died.

Posted here at LG.net