Los Angeles Lakers: Comparing this season’s team to the 2003-04 Lakers
Once upon a time in 2003-04, the Los Angeles Lakers had their own super team. It sure was an interesting and talented roster led by head coach Phil Jackson and players such as Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’ Neal, Karl Malone, and Gary Payton. Four of the greatest players in NBA history.
It may not have ended how we Laker fans wanted but they did make it to the NBA Finals that season only to lose to the Detroit Pistons.
We fast forward to this upcoming season and once again the Lakers have put together a super team. Like the team in 2003-04, a lot will be expected of them this season as they shall be one of the heavyweights in the NBA. Let us compare and contrast the two teams.
Differences between the two Los Angeles Lakers teams:
The NBA game
The NBA is not the same as it was back in 2003-04. Back then, the big men still dominated the game but there was no doubt that the game was going in another direction. The league still had big men doing damage like Shaq, Kevin Garnett, Ben Wallace, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Jermaine O’Neal, Zach Randolph, Pau Gasol, and Yao Ming.
That being said, the game was slowly changing as players such as Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Baron Davis, Paul Pierce, and a very young LeBron James were taking things to another level. The game itself was getting faster paced and we now had players with dynamic talent who could slash and shoot and take control of the game.
Dirk Nowitzki was a seven-footer who could rebound inside and kill you from outside with his three-point shot. Yes, things sure were changing.
The Big 3 vs. The Big 4
For one, the Los Angeles Lakers in 2003-04 had the big 4 in Shaq, Kobe, Payton and Malone. This current team has more of a big 3 in LeBron, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook. At the time, the Lakers were able to get Payton and Malone to sign for league minimums in hopes that they could put together a championship run.
This current squad is led by LeBron, Westbrook and Davis as they are the main three players that the team shall focus around. The 2003-04 team had players that were more solidified at their positions such as Gary Payton being a pure point guard and Karl Malone being a pure power forward.
This current team consists of three main players that, when you think about it, can play various positions such as Anthony Davis who can be a power forward or a center and can shoot the long ball. Westbrook does play more like a point guard at times but he has so much talent that we have seen him dominate in other areas such as rebounding and of course the same can be said for the great LeBron James.
The team in 2003-04 had a lot of power down low with both Shaq and Malone. Payton was an outstanding all-around player and would serve as the team’s distributor and defensive juggernaut. Kobe Bryant of course was the jack of all trades with his endless unlimited ability.
Roster Depth
Both teams were extremely different when it came to depth within their rosters. After all, the Lakers of 2003-04 were built largely around their main four players. The rest of the roster was made up of players such as Derek Fisher, Rick Fox, Horace Grant, Byron Russell and Luke Walton.
A fine mix of NBA all-stars, well-seasoned and solid veterans and some good young talent. That being said, the bulk of the team’s scoring came from the main four players as Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and Payton led the team in scoring, rebounding, and assists.
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In fact, Stanislav Medvedenko was the fifth leading scorer for the team averaging 8.3 points per game after Karl Malone’s 13.2, Payton’s 14.6, O’Neal’s 21.5, and Kobe’s 24.0. This current team has the three main integral pieces in James, Davis, and Westbrook, but also has other talented players such as Malik Monk, Kendrick Nunn, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, and Talen Horton-Tucker.
If you look closely at both rosters you will see that the team in 03-04 had four Hall of Famers as compared to this current team that has five possible future Hall of Famers in LeBron, Westbrook, Davis, Carmelo, and Dwight Howard. (Could it be six with Marc Gasol?)
Head Coaches
There is no doubt that Phil Jackson will go down as one of the greatest coaches in sports history and could very well be the best there ever was. That being said, there is a huge difference between him and current head coach Frank Vogel.
For one, Jackson was more of no-nonsense type of person who was a deep thinker and a true believer in the practice of meditation. (Hence be his nickname, The Zen Master.) Jackson was an extremely cerebral person who saw the game a certain way as well as the way in which players should approach it.
He left his mark on the NBA and the game itself and was a key reason why not only the Lakers, but the Chicago Bulls were dominant throughout the league. For neither of these teams could have won for the most part without Jackson’s leadership, expertise, and wisdom.
Frank Vogel, while being a very cerebral coach as well seems to be quite different from Jackson. For one, he has more of a laid-back type of approach and has more of a different repour with his team much different from Jackson. Phil was once a player in the NBA himself so he could connect with the players on that level as well. Vogel was not.
That being said, he has spent various years as an assistant coach under head coach Jim O’Brien for teams such as the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and the Indiana Pacers. Frank Vogel became coach of the Indiana Pacers in 2010-11 after O’Brien had been fired.
Quickly, he helped the team turn things around as he coached them to four consecutive winning seasons in which they made the playoffs and even made it to the Eastern Conference Finals two years in a row in 2012-13, 2013-14 where they were knocked out by the Miami Heat in both years.
Under Vogel, the Pacers had five out of six winning seasons. He did of course endure two rough years with the Orlando Magic from 2016-2018 before arriving in Los Angeles where he helped lead the Lakers to a title in 2019-2020.
Phil Jackson never had a losing season as a head coach and never not made the playoffs. Not easy shoes to fill but then again, Vogel is not Jackson as he is his own man. His own type of head coach and has done a very good job so far.
Controversy
Every true and hardcore Lakers fan knows what went on between Shaq, Kobe, Phil Jackson and the front office in 2003-04. It first started in the Lakers camp before the season. Gary Payton had never been involved with the triangle offense and therefore he didn’t care for it.
Phil Jackson had never had a point guard such as Payton who was very used to being the commander of the offense. This obviously would lead to a problem for the team. Then, of course, was the ongoing feud between Shaq and Kobe.
There was a lot of tension between both of them that also rubbed off on the team as both players were fighting for leadership. After all, this had been Shaq’s Lakers in the years previous to this but Kobe did not want to abide and wanted his own kingdom.
There was also Bryant’s legal troubles as they caused him to miss 20 games that season. All this combined causes massive amounts of tension for the team and made it very hard for them to succeed.
This current Lakers team does not seem to have any real controversy between them or around them. Hopefully, things remain that way and together, they can put all of their energy and focus on winning a title this year.