Rebuilding the Lakers: 7 Years of Work Led to Kobe-Shaq Titles
Rebuilding the Lakers is a five part series focusing on the Lakers efforts to regain championship glory. Part 1 is Jerry West’s creation of the Kobe-Shaq dynasty.
All great men start over and all great men build from scratch. It wasn’t what made Jerry West famous but it was what made Jerry West remembered. He took a small slice of a small world and remade it in his image. When that world was dead, when the beautiful, exhilarating, exciting world of Showtime was over, when it was buried, stabbed in the heart and the corpse was cold, when the unimaginable had transformed into the horrific, it was 1993. No one was thanking Jerry West for anything anymore. And yet, Jerry West knew one important thing. He knew the meaning of time. Time could not be held hostage. Time marched on. It waited for no one.
In 1993, Elden Cambell and Vlade Divac were the Lakers best players. They were good but not great, not what you build around. Both were first round draft picks. Campbell was a local kid out of Inglewood, a thin, athletic 6-11 big man who was expected, for some reason, to have the toughness of a dog, to have grit and spit nails. But, that wasn’t his nature. He was placid and average.
A seven footer from Serbia who survived the war and was now trying to survive the Lakers rebuilding project, Vlade Divac was a great teammate, a great friend, skilled with the basketball, a natural passer and scorer. Preternaturally happy and warm with gentle eyes and a lopsided smile, Divac introduced flopping into NBA.
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Elden Campbell and Valde Divac had been to the playoffs the year before. Their mediocre team had won 39 games, shook off the dust, and almost stunned a Phoenix Suns team. The Lakers hung in there and lost in 5 games.
In the offseason, it was Jerry West’s job to create something around Campbell and Divac.
West went the unconventional route, bringing in someone angry. Nick Van Exel joined the team in the 1993-94 season, drafted in the second round, even though he had first round and star talent. Van Exel was a clutch scorer and a good passer but had a huge chip on his shoulder created from a tough background that Van Exel could not forget nor forgive.
Van Exel was an 18 point, 5 assist player his senior year at the University of Cincinnati and they won 27 games with Van Exel leading them. He was a finalist for the Wooden Award but he also slept in his car. When it was time for the pre-draft beauty pageant, Van Exel went out of his way to annoy general managers, almost as if he was playing some sort of head game with them except he was the one injured by it all. Instead of running sprints, he jogged. He canceled some workouts altogether. G.M’s and head coaches shied away from his erratic behavior, fearing it would inhibit team chemistry and that he was uncoachable which of course would pan out to be true.
But, Jerry West overlooked all of the Van Exel baggage. West knew talent because he was one of the talented. He drafted Nick- who later would be known as Nick the Quick or Nick Van Excellent or Nick Van Smack– with the 37th pick even as Van Exel was a splashy, high risk- high reward personality.
Feb 1, 2014; Memphis, TN, USA; Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Nick Van Exel during the game against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Memphis defeated Milwaukee 99-90. Mandatory Credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports
Van Exel didn’t disappoint on opening night, November 5th. He had 23 points, 8 assists, 3 rebounds, shooting 69%. Divac poured in 18 points, 5 assists, 3 steals and 8 rebounds and the Lakers beat the same Suns team that had eliminated them from the playoffs a few months earlier, a team with Charles Barkley, Dan Majerle, Danny Ainge and Kevin Johnson. It was an encouraging start to what West hoped was the beginning of the Lakers rebuild, a few pieces here, a few pieces there.
Except, that Lakers win was an illusion. As the season continued, they were not a very good team. When they were 3-9 and losers of 5 in a row, it was obvious they were going nowhere. They were one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA. They didn’t get to the free throw line and they were a poor rebounding team. Wins were hard to come by, losses piled up, the blood of the team was cold, the fans were resigned.
In March of 1994, impatient for this rebuilding thing to kick in, Dr. Jerry Buss fired Lakers coach Randy Pfund and asked Magic Johnson to take his place, something Buss had been pining for since 1992-93, his favorite son in charge of his favorite team. Except Buss didn’t understand this one particular thing about iconic players. Their patience is thin and easily broken. They can’t grasp the player who is average or the player who is mediocre or the player who doesn’t want to practice or the player who is pissed off all the time. They only understand people like them, gym rats, workaholics, the compulsive and the talented.
With Magic holding the whip, the Lakers won a home game against Milwaukee, giving him coaching win number one. It was comforting having his former teammate, Vlade Divac, deliver. Divac had 18 points and 19 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals. George Lynch poured in 30 points. It was a short honeymoon, though. After winning 5 out of 6 games, the Lakers lost 10 games in a row to end the season. It put to bed Magic Johnson’s short stint as a NBA coach, a farewell that was a permanent one as he admitted he couldn’t connect with the new brand of NBA player, the Nick Van Exel’s of the world.
In one year, the Lakers had achieved absolutely nothing, except usher Magic Johnson into a final retirement. For the first time in their history, the Lakers were in the Draft Lottery.
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The best player in the 1994 draft was Grant Hill. The Duke forward could do it all, score, rebound pass, create for himself and others. He was hyper intelligent, attractive, well spoken. His mother, a lawyer, was Hillary Clinton’s college roommate. His father was a former professional football player. Hill was supposed to fill in the void as 31 year old Michael Jordan was on break from the NBA.
The NBA pegged Hill as the up and coming face of the league. But, Hill wasn’t the first player drafted in 1994. That was Glen Robinson, otherwise known as Big Dog, a tough and physical power forward out of Purdue. Jason Kidd (Cal) was the second pick. Hill was the third. The Lakers picked 10th and selected Eddie Jones.
Jones was a tough kid developed by a tough coach (John Chaney) in a tough program (Temple). He had a solemn face and large round eyes. Jones was a small forward who could shoot on the inside and outside but more importantly he was a skilled defender. He became a Laker in July 1994.
In September, Jerry West added someone else. He traded a first round pick to the Phoenix Suns for a pure scorer, Cedric Ceballos. The Lakers suddenly had two things they had been missing. They had an extroverted player who wanted the ball in his hands, who could create off the dribble and finish, who could get to the line. And they had a talented rookie, skilled in defense, but one who could also make plays on offense.
Jerry West hired Del Harris to coach the team. Harris coached the Houston Rockets when they went to the Finals in 1981, losing to the Boston Celtics in four games. Moses Malone was on that team for three years until he left in free agency. Harris was fired the next season and became an assistant coach for George Karl in Milwaukee and then the head coach and Vice President of Basketball Operations once Karl left for Seattle.
No one expected much out of the Lakers in 1994-95, certainly not a winning record. But, in their first 20 games they were 13-7. Ceballos was a gifted scorer and a limelight seeker. 20 point games were natural for him and he loved the attention and the Lakers atmosphere. He embraced the Lakers bubble, the distractions, the media, the pressure. He averaged 22 points and 8 rebounds his first year with the Lakers. Nick Van Exel averaged 17 points and 8 assists. Vlade Divac pulled down 10 rebounds a game and scored 16 points. They were they foundation of the Jerry West rebuild: scoring, rebounding, ball movement.
A lottery team the year before, the Lakers won 48 games in 1994-95. They played in the second round of the playoffs. Del Harris won Coach of the Year. Jerry West was Executive of the Year as he pulled off a miracle.
But, even Jerry West, as skilled and as successful as he was as an architect, as great as he was at assessing talent, as sharp as his intellect was, Jerry West was totally clueless about one particular thing. He couldn’t see around the corner. He didn’t know the future, that in thirteen months everything about his life and his franchise was going to drastically change.
Oct 16, 2014; Anaheim, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) and coach Byron Scott during the game against the Utah Jazz at the Honda Center. The Jazz defeated the Lakers 119-86. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Youth may be wasted on the young but in late April of 1996, a 17 year old was dressed for a media press conference. He was tall and thin, smart and arrogant, attired in a suit, a paisley tie and white shirt, with sunglass perched atop his head. He was cavalier but his eyes were extremely serious. Precocious and with a perfect smile, Kobe Bryant announced to the cameras filming this event in a gym that he was forgoing college to enter the NBA Draft.
It was a stunning moment for the NBA. No high school guard had ever passed on college. Was this precedent setting? Could it actually work? Immediately the doubters and critics went into overdrive, ridiculing not just Kobe but his parents, Pamela and Joe, for allowing him to make a decision that could ruin his basketball career.
But, the closer draft day came, the more the experts were divided on where Kobe Bryant would be drafted. Some had him in the top 5. Others had him in the second round. But, this much was clear. Kobe Bryant was not like Jerry West at all. Kobe Bryant could see his future clearly.
Far west of Pennsylvania, former number 1 draft pick, Shaquille O’Neal, didn’t watch the Pennsylvania press conference of Kobe Bryant, the high school phenom. Shaq was in a Detroit hotel room, preparing to play the Pistons.
Increasingly unhappy in Orlando, Shaq battled with coach Brian Hill. Hill couldn’t make up his mind who he wanted to run the offense through, O’Neal or Penny Hardaway. As a result, free agent Shaq began looking around. One more thing was true too: Shaq wanted a big payday. He wanted to be the highest paid player in the league, something the fans in Orlando were against and loudly criticized him for. The more the fans considered him greedy, the more Shaq wanted to escape small town Orlando for a place that would give him more freedom.
Jerry West knew what a great NBA player looked like. He played with Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain. He was friends with Oscar Robertson. He played against and lost to Bob Cousy and John Havlicek and Bill Russell. He built the Showtime dynasty. But Jerry West was speechless as he watched the pre-draft workout of Kobe Bryant. Paired against Michael Cooper at the Inglewood YMCA, Bryant was electric, confident, athletic and incredibly ruthless.
Jerry West knew one thing. He had to have him. He had never seen a workout like the one Kobe put on, his competitiveness and innate aggression on full display as if to say: this is me. Brashness and determination and relentlessness were characteristics West recognized. They were traits of a once-in-a-generation player. They were traits that belonged to him.
On draft night, West had a deal with Charlotte. Charlotte would draft whoever the Lakers told them to draft and then trade him to the Lakers. The Lakers would then send Charlotte their All-Star Center Valde Divac. But at the last minute, Bob Bass, the Hornets General Manager, got cold feet. He had heard that Vlade was going to retire, that if he wasn’t playing for the Lakers he wasn’t going to play for anyone. West had to convince Bass that was not the case and pray he didn’t just tell a lie.
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But, before the pick would drop to Charlotte at 13, the New Jersey Nets had to be talked out of drafting Kobe. The Nets who had the 8th pick were desperate for a shooting guard. Kobe’s agent at the time, Arn Tellem, had to convince the Nets brass Kobe didn’t want to be there. Even Kobe’s parents convinced the Nets he’d be unhappy. Finally convinced, the Nets passed on Bryant, and selected Kerry Kittles, a shooting guard out of Villanova. It cleared the way for Kobe Bryant to be drafted by Charlotte and then traded.
On July 11, 1996 Kobe Bryant was a Los Angeles Laker.
With Kobe wrapped up, the deal for Shaquille O’Neal lingered on. The stress sent Jerry West to the hospital, treated for exhaustion. The endless phone calls and the clearing of cap space so Shaq could receive $120 million, $5 million more than Alonzo Mourning, was made possible by the trading of George Lynch and Anthony Peeler to the Vancouver Grizzlies. On July 18th, Shaquille O’Neal said goodbye to Orlando as he became a Los Angeles Laker and an instant star in Hollywood.
"“Shaquille and Kobe could play, they could really play, and that ultimately, is what mattered. We were rebuilding a franchise that needed an infusion of star power because that is what the league is based on, has always been based on. Star power means you have someone who can be the foundation for a team, someone you can build around. We had a lot of really good pieces to start with in Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel and Cedric Ceballos but getting Kobe and Shaquille meant that we could put some glamour back into the franchise.” (Jerry West- West by West, My Charmed Tortured Life)"
The Lakers also drafted an unheard of guard with the 24th pick out of Arkansas- Little Rock. Derek Fisher was an afterthought, a name no one could remember come training camp of that year when Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Cedric Ceballos, Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones started the season.
The Lakers hardly knew each other but they were 13-7 in the first 20 games. It was the 21st game that mattered to Shaquille O’Neal. Orlando was in town and Shaq was out for revenge. He played 41 minutes. He had 25 points and 18 rebounds, 5 steals and 7 blocks. He made 70% of his free throws. His message to his former team was clear: you’ll never, ever get over me. The win was the Lakers 14th. They had 7 losses.
On Christmas Day, at Phoenix, the Lakers won their 20th game of the year. Shaquille O’Neal had 26 points and Eddie Jones had 24 points to lead the team. Kobe Bryant played 5 minutes and didn’t score.
Even as Kobe and his parents were upset at his lack of playing time, the Lakers had a bigger problem and so did the Phoenix Suns. With the development of Eddie Jones as a scorer, Cedric Ceballos role was greatly diminished, something he didn’t take well. Phoenix, who was coached by Danny Ainge, had a player in mutiny as well, Robert Horry.
Horry was unhappy with how he was being used and he just couldn’t stand Danny Ainge. Incredibly frustrated during a January game, Horry, fully aware the cameras were watching, threw a towel in Ainge’s face. The Suns bit. They immediately put Horry on the trade market. Jerry West swooped in, offering up Ceballos in return for Robert Horry.
If Jerry West was skilled at one thing it was knowing what cards to play. The Lakers lost in the second round of the playoffs in 1997, at Utah. In overtime, in game 5, Kobe shot an air ball that ended the Lakers season.
Nov 30, 2014; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks head coach Derek Fisher holds a ball against the Miami Heat during the third quarter at Madison Square Garden. The Heat defeated the Knicks 86-79. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
In August, Jerry West signed Rick Fox to a minimum contract. Fox, who was trained by Dean Smith at North Carolina, had been drafted by the Celtics and toughened up by Larry Bird and the Celtics system. He was a natural defender, a small forward who could drive the ball to the rim and stop his man from scoring.
Fox desperately wanted to be in L.A. He wanted a television career but he also believed the Lakers needed a defensive specialist. If he showed them his ability to defend and exhibited toughness and played a complimentary role to Shaquille O’Neal, he knew they would sign him to a long term deal.
Talent seeped out of this Lakers team but there was still a question mark. How long will maturity take? When will they develop into an unselfish group? Do they have the drive and the toughness to overcome adversity ?
Kobe Bryant spent the summer of 1997, not filming He Got Game with Spike Lee which was his original intention, but working on his jump shot and his conditioning. When the 1997-98 season started, he saw his minutes and opportunities increase. He played in 79 games his second year, averaging 15 points. He was an All-Star.
The Lakers in 1997-98 won 61 games. Besides Kobe’s All-Star nod, three other Lakers were All-Star’s too: Shaquille O’Neal, Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel. That season, Shaq averaged 28 points a game. Eddie Jones was good for 16 points a night. Nick Van Exel averaged 14 points and Rick Fox averaged 12 points. But for the second year in a row, the Lakers lost to Karl Malone and John Stockton in the playoffs, this time in the Western Conference Finals.
In June of 1998, Jerry West broke his own heart. He traded Nick Van Exel. West had become particularly attached to Van Exel. West had a troubled background with an abusive father and understood the toll of a wretched past, of memories that won’t go away. But, West couldn’t change Van Exel, he could not make him less combative, he could not shrink that huge chip on Van Exel’s shoulder which never quite disappeared, even as he was adored by Lakers fans.
The last straw was at the end of practice just before an elimination game- the Lakers were about to be swept. In the huddle Van Exel began chanting, “1,2,3… Cancun”, a reference to the vacation that was soon to be foisted upon him, a signal he was ready to quit.
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The next season, Del Harris and his fate were on thin ice. He had yet to take this talented Lakers team over the hump and into the promised land of the NBA Finals. Harris’ cautious nature meant that Kobe Bryant played less than 20 minutes. Kobe was 19 years old. What was he saving him for?
When the Lakers started the season 6-6 after the lockout was resolved, Jerry West fired Del Harris. It was a tough thing to do. Del Harris won 48 games, 53 games, 56 games and 61 games. Every year he coached the Lakers, he delivered them to the playoffs. But, this Lakers team needed a coach who could do more that take them to the second round of the playoffs. They needed a leader who could make them champions.
Kurt Rambis was a decent interim coach. He won 24 games and didn’t inhibit the development of Kobe Bryant who was turning out to be everything Jerry West thought he would be. Bryant was developing at a faster rate than anyone expected. He needed more playing time, he needed not to have Eddie Jones waiting in the wings, looking over his shoulder.
So Jerry West did a Jerry West thing in March of 1999. He traded his second best player, Eddie Jones, along with Elden Campbell, to Charlotte for sharpshooter Glen Rice. The Lakers made it to the second round of the playoffs that year and in a familiar story, were swept again, this time by the San Antonio Spurs.
Shaquille O’Neal was angry. He came to Los Angeles for the money and he came to Los Angeles for the fame and the limelight and the attention and he came to Los Angeles because of the history of big men that graced the Forum court and he came to Los Angeles because he wanted to be known as someone great.
O’Neal was tired of losing. He met with Dr. Buss and demanded a coach who could deliver the Lakers a title, who could put him in the conversation of great NBA big men. Specifically, O’Neal wanted Phil Jackson. Jackson had 6 rings from his Bulls days but had been out of the NBA for a year after a public dispute with the Bulls General Manager, Jerry Krause, over money. The hiring of Jackson meant lots of cash but it also meant turning the page, going from good to great.
Feb 23, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw during the first half against the Brooklyn Nets at Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
In the 1999 NBA draft, Jerry West drafted Devean George an unheard of small forward out of Augsburg College in Minnesota. In October, he signed veteran guards Brian Shaw and Ron Harper.
When the Lakers met in Hawaii for training camp, Jackson made several observations. One was in regards to Kobe Bryant. He saw a natural gift for passing. He commented to Tex Winter that it was too bad Kobe wanted to be a scorer. He thought he’d have a Hall of Fame career as a point guard. Jackson also noticed how undisciplined and immature the Lakers were as a team. The entire team had trouble focusing and he instantly understood why they had so many playoff failures. They lacked mental toughness. If any team needed his Zen meditational tribal mythology, this team was it. He couldn’t help but compare the immature Lakers to his businesslike, disciplined Bulls teams; this Lakers squad fell far short. Jackson wasn’t sure what he could accomplish that first year.
But the Lakers took off right out the gate.
They were 15-5 in their first 20 games. Midway through the season they were 33-8. Shaquille O’Neal averaged 30 points a game. Kobe Bryant averaged 23 points a game. Glen Rice added 16 points a game. The Lakers won 67 games, the second most in franchise history, and entered the playoffs as the team that Jerry West built from scratch.
In 1993, the Lakers won 39 games. Amazingly, in 2000, they were in the Western Conference Finals against the Portland Trailblazers, in a game 7. Win and go to the NBA Finals. Lose and suffer humiliation.
But, the players who Jerry West believed in showed up in the 4th quarter when the Lakers were trailing by 13, when their reputations were all on the line. The kid no one thought should bypass college led the Lakers in scoring, rebounds, assists and blocks. The player that dominated the NBA had a defining lob dunk to seal the victory. The journeyman guard who provided the Lakers with stability, and the guy who threw the towel in Danny Ainge’s face made huge three pointers to cut into the deficit.
They were not going to be denied, and at the end, when it was all over, when Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal and Brian Shaw and Robert Horry celebrated, Jerry West didn’t gloat or take credit. He didn’t pat himself on the back. He didn’t take ownership of the moment the way others would have done for making something out of nothing.
Jerry West created a dynasty from scratch. This Lakers team would stay in tact and win three titles in a row. But, Jerry West didn’t need people to tell him what he achieved, what seven years of work had brought, what agony was and what ecstasy awaited. This team was extraordinarily gifted and they were the product of luck, work, skill, and maneuvering. They were an extension of the man who put them together, they had his fingerprints. They belonged to their families, of course they did, but they also belonged to Jerry West.
Part 2, Rebuilding the Lakers: Showtime Wasn’t Broken So Why Did Jerry West Change it?”
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