Los Angeles Lakers: Top Five Lakers In The Post-Shaq Era
When the Lakers are this bad, sometimes, all we can do is just sit back and reminisce about the days when the Lakers had the most dominant one-two punch in the NBA, in the early 2000s. Now, we have Ryan Kelly and Wayne Ellington.
Shaquille O’Neal leaving was a heartbreak for Laker fans even though it seemingly had to happen at some point. The Lakers easily still had a few championships left in them, but instead, a few tough years went by until the Lakers were contenders again.
Yes, the brilliant move that Mitch Kupchak pulled in the middle of the 2007-2008 season to acquire Pau Gasol began the second Lakers dynasty in ten years, but with a whole new core. In the Post-Shaq era of the last ten years, I am counting down the best Lakers since the Big Diesel was shipped away to Miami.
Honorable Mention:
Dwight Howard– I’m sorry Lakers fans, I don’t like him either but in the last ten years it is hard to say that there were eight Laker players that were better than Howard. It has to be worth something that the Lakers had the best center in the league for a season, and even though he only played one year for the Lakers, he put up better stats than pretty much everybody besides Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum (2012) since Shaq left. Howard led the league in rebounds, was fifth in blocks, and finished second in double-doubles. He is only the third Laker to start on the All-Star team in the last ten years.
I was very happy when Howard left in the summer of 2013. His attitude sucked, his post-game was overrated, and he and Bryant were the worst possible combination in the NBA. However, I would like you to find a player on an individual level that should get the nod over Dwight.
Trevor Ariza– Although Ariza only played for the Lakers for two years, he played a huge role in the 2009 championship team that beat Orlando. Ariza made huge strides in his second season as a Laker, improving his scoring average from 6.5 to 8.9, and improving his steals average from 1.1 to 1.7. As for the playoffs, Ariza averaged 11.3 points per game, and led the team in three-point makes, including an impressive 47.6% percentage from downtown.
Where we really see Ariza’s impact is in the advances statistics category. Ariza was a glue-guy for the 2009 Lakers team, and like most other glue-guys, his impact on the game can’t be analyzed from just the basic statistics. Ariza led the team in steals percentage, and finished third in defensive plus minus (DJ Mbenga finished first but did not receive much playing time).
Ron Artest/Metta World Peace– His name may be Metta now, but we remember him as Ron Artest, the one who gave us nightmares in the 2009 playoffs while playing for the Rockets, and hit one of the biggest shots in Lakers history in Game 7 against the Celtics. Artest was huge in the 2010 Finals, averaging 10.6 points (third on the team), and hitting 11 threes (second on the team). Artest’s biggest impact on the series however was his defense on Celtics star Paul Pierce. Artest held Pierce, who had just torched the Lakers in the finals two years ago, to 18.0 points per game on a low 43.9% from the floor.
Artest ended his Lakers career on a bad note as he was a part of the 2013 Lakers team that began the miserable downfall that has continued to this day. But none of that matters when looking at Artest’s Laker legacy. This shot makes up for any wrong he could have possibly done wearing the purple and gold:
You all know that your heart stopped as Artest let the ball fly because most of the time, it wasn’t a good result, but in this case, the shot couldn’t have been prettier.
Next: 5. Derek Fisher