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Los Angeles Lakers: Building the all-time “second best” squad

By Jason Reed

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 03: Anthony Davis #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers at Staples Center on March 03, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 03: Anthony Davis #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the second half against the Philadelphia 76ers at Staples Center on March 03, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by: Ken Levine/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by: Ken Levine/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

While the NBA is at a standstill we have been getting creative with the Los Angeles Lakers all-time team builds. Today, we are bringing you the all-time team build full of second-best players.

The rules are simple: we are building the best starting five we possibly could full of players that never were the best player on the Lakers, in any season. How did we determine this?

From 1973 in beyond, we looked at Value Over Replacement Player (VORP), which is a somewhat similar statistic to Wins Above Replacement in baseball. If a player led the Lakers in any given season in VORP then they were automatically out of contention.

For years prior to 1973, we used total win shares. Win shares can be a flawed stat, but VORP only goes back so far. VORP definitely is not a perfect stat either and is not an end-all say-all statistic, but we had to draw the line in the sand somewhere.

The all-time Los Angeles Lakers “second best” starting five:

PG: Byron Scott

Byron Scott was never the Lakers’ leader in VORP and for most of his career did not even crack the top-three in the team for VORP because he played on the Showtime Lakers.

Scott would be an excellent point guard on this team as he is someone who displayed that he could fit whatever mold that the Lakers needed him to fit.

Scott could score when he needed to, indicative by his 1987-88 season where he averaged 21.7 points per game and he can facilitate as well. His assists numbers never were that high, in large part due to Magic Johnson.

Scott may have been a two-guard for most of his career but he absolutely could be this team’s starting point guard and not skip a beat.

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