The Los Angeles Lakers now have a roster with a powerful starting lineup. While starters are subject to change, could this Lakers roster for the 2019-2020 season be historic for the franchise?
The current starting five for the Los Angeles Lakers looks like it might be LeBron James, Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, Kyle Kuzma and Danny Green. One significant change from last season, is the possibility of LeBron James playing point guard. For the extent of his 16 season career, James has played forward. His leadership ability goes without question, but the transition to point guard will still take some time.
Furthermore, Davis, Cousins and Green are all new additions to the Lakers family. Taking all of this into consideration, it begs to question the parallels with this Lakers’ roster and the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls roster.
In ‘95 the Bulls‘ starters were Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Luc Longley and Ron Harper. While Jordan and Pippen had played together, and Pippen, Longley and Harper had spent a season or two together, it was relatively fresh team.
This is similar to the current Lakers. Davis and Cousins were teammates for a season in New Orleans, and Kuzma and James spent the last season together in Los Angeles. If the success of the additions to the Bulls are any indication of the Lakers’ potential chemistry, then Los Angeles should be excited.
Next, with the rumors of James playing point guard, it indicates that the Lakers will be running a relatively large lineup. Most likely the starting lineup will consist of Green at shooting guard, Kuzma at small forward, Davis at power forward and Cousins at center.
When Head Coach Phil Jackson and the Bulls decided to protect Ron Harper during the 1995 NBA expansion, they were making a conscious effort to play big. At the time, Shaquille O’Neal and the Orlando Magic were the Bulls’ biggest threat, literally. O’Neal’s size played a major role in the Magic beating the Bulls in the 1995 conference semifinals, and Jackson was unwilling to let that happen again.
The current NBA climate asks for consistent shooting from the perimeter and athletic bigs. With the addition of Davis and Cousins, just like the Bulls added Longley and kept Harper, playing big will be an advantage for the Lakers as well.
Then there are the intangibles. While eccentric, Rodman was known for bringing an intensity and hunger to that game Cousins exhibits as well. There is also, of course, the life long debate of MJ vs LBJ. Regardless of who is considered the G.O.A.T., they both contribute extremely high talent and competition to the game.
Lastly, there are the statistical similarities. All five starters on both teams shot above 45.5 FG%. Rodman is alone in his ability to rebound so dominantly, but while Longley relied on mid-range shooting, Cousins has proven to find the hoop from beyond the arc when needed.
As long as the Lakers can stay healthy, they stand a chance to repeat history, or get close. The Bulls went on to win the 1996 NBA Championship, even after blending skills and personalities. At a time when the NBA has its talent more distributed across the league than in recent years, the Lakers stand to be at least deep in the playoffs.
While Luke Walton didn’t want to run the triangle offense, maybe Frank Vogel should give it a try. That might just be the last key to repeating the success of the 1995-1996 Bulls.