I'm a Lakers fan. Most people who know me, know this. I'm a fan of all sports, and I've got favorite teams in all the major leagues, most of whom I've grown up with. Spending the first 32 years of my life in South Carolina, you don't have the local sports team to automatically be a fan of, at least in regards to professional sports. So, I picked and chose based on who I saw on television, and didn't just go with the next closest team, for instance, the various Atlanta teams.
The NFL's New York Giants, winners of the Superbowl in the 1986 and 1990 seasons behind greats like Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor. The New York Rangers, with teams in the early 90s that had guys like Mike Messier, Adam Graves and goalie Mike Richter, who managed to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in 54 years in 1993. The Chicago Cubs, broadcast on the mighty WGN, with Harry Caray and Steve Stone, and guys like Ryne Sandberg, Shawon Dunston and Andre "The Hawk" Dawson. Those guys didn't win ANYTHING, but I still enjoyed seeing them play much more than the Atlanta Braves, who were just starting to go on their early 90s dynasty.
But as important as all those teams are, and now also recently "adopted" teams in the Chicago Bears and Blackhawks, none were ever the Lakers. I probably watch the NBA more than any other sport, with only college football coming close, and I've been a subscriber of the NBA League Pass PPV subscription since before I relocated.
I began watching basketball in the mid 80s, around 7 or 8, just as the Showtime era Lakers really kicked into high gear, winning the 1987 and 1988 championships and appearing in the Finals in 1989 and 1991. I remember my Dad giving me a hard time for liking the Lakers instead of their arch-rivals the Celtics, and being a white kid in the South, this was probably the more acceptable fandom, but I didn't care. All I knew was that I enjoyed watching Magic, Kareem, Worthy, AC and all the rest, and I didn't really care what my Dad or anyone else thought.
Jordan brought the Showtime era to a definitive end with a crushing victory in the in 1991 Finals. I remember going to the Sterling Sharpe football camp with my friend Nathan, and as we were out warming up for drills, one of the coaches thought it would be funny to bring this up in the morning, shouting out, "Hey, we got any Lakers fans out there? (waits a beat) Well, THEY LOST last night to the Bulls". It didn't exactly set a great tone for a day of sweating and running football drills in the sun at Spring Valley, I'll tell you that much.
With the end of Showtime, things changed in my NBA fandom. While I still liked the Lakers, and was very happy that they managed to get a great rookie prospect in Vlade Divac, it just wasn't the same. Part of that was just due to the fact that it was more difficult to follow teams back then, with no internet and the Cable TV footprint for show basketball games was much smaller. If you weren't one of the elite teams, your games probably weren't getting shown in Columbia, SC. During this time, the Charlotte Hornets began play, and with great, entertaining players like Muggsy Bogues, Larry Johnson and Dell Curry, I had my NBA fix satiated a bit. But it still was like having Five Guys, a solid, tasty product on it's own, when what you really wanted was a nice steak, just not quite the same.
In 1996, all that changed. NBA and just generally bigger than life superstar Shaquille O'Neal would sign with the Lakers, becoming the next all time big man to succeed Mikan, Chamberlain and Jabbar. With that signing, the Lakers were free to trade Vlade, who had become a great player in his own right the previous 5 years to the Charlotte Hornets. In return, the Lakers would get Kobe Bryant, a high school player from Philly who was all of 17 years old, While the Lakers the next few years with Shaq leading the charge were great to watch, it wasn't until Phil Jackson, the same coach that had ended the Showtime Lakers run previously with the Bulls was hired, that the Lakers truly became championship material again. Shaq, at this point was a finished product, a guided weapon in his prime that Phil knew would get the job done. But the Lakers also had Kobe waiting in the wings, and Phil, having coached a similar superstar in Michael Jordan, knew exactly how to unlock his potential.
However, to give all credit to Phil Jackson for Kobe eventually becoming KOBE isn't correct. He was simply the man who placed him on his path, and gave him the ability to go out and be the best player he could be. And Kobe did, winning 3 championships before egos and salary caps led to the dreary rebuilding years of the mid 2000s. Many people who discuss the greatness of Kobe, only discuss the championship years, or the MVP years. But I also remember favorably the 2005-2006 season, when Kobe, saddled with a truly awful starting lineup consisting of Smush Parker and Kwame Brown, still managed to drag the team to the playoffs. During this season, Kobe came under intense scrutiny to shoot less and pass more, but I ask, pass more to WHO?!? This culminated in a game 7 loss in the playoffs to the Phoenix Suns, a series that the Lakers had no business being in, except for being strapped to Kobe's back as he dragged them there kicking and screaming, only for Kobe to do as was asked, and become a pass first player. The result? The Lakers were blown out, and the game emphatically became an example of "Be careful what you wish for" to Lakers critics.
After that season, the Lakers, with changes in team management and collective maturation of egos, were able to return to the glory days, winning two more Championships with Kobe at the helm before 20 years of basketball took it's toll on his body, retiring with a bang in 2016, scoring 60 in a game I have on the hard drive of my computer, but I've never watched. I don't know why I never watched it, but I think it falls under the mindset that, as long as I don't watch it, it's not over, that era is still out there, somewhere.
After Kobe's retirement, the team had some more dreadful years in the darkness of 20 win, non playoff seasons, before signing another generational talent in LeBron James, and returning the glitz and glamor to Los Angeles' winning ways. Kobe would step away from basketball, focusing instead on multimedia avenues, winning a short film Oscar of all things, but I guess that's appropriate for someone who spent so much of their life in Tinsel Town. But he was never far from the game. Specifically, earlier this season, he was courtside at a game against the Mavericks, and playfully jeered at rising Dallas superstar Luka Doncic in his own language of Slovenian, while rooting his Lakers and LeBron onto victory.
And that's the way it was supposed to go. Whether they won or lost, Kobe was going to be around, somewhere, either appearing at games, making more films, or teaching young players and influencing another generation with the benefits of hard work and being driven to become the best player they could become. He'd be around for All Star Weekend, or bobblehead nights, or Hall of Fame enshrinements, or to watch his daughter play in the WNBA.
But, instead...he's gone, at a tragic age of 41, only one year older than me. And I can honestly say there will never be another like him. Kobe had his detractors, as any public figure does, and he certainly wasn't always a saint. But he was someone I spent half my life rooting for, half my life arguing about his place in the NBA all time hierarchy. His loss is not one I take lightly, and there is definite grief to be had today. But I'm thankful for the last 23 years that he was in our lives, and those memories will last a lifetime.
I think I might watch that last game now. Seems appropriate.
