Fan 6

Who would make, like magic, everybody around him better. Also... He scouted for the Lakers afterwards. He did. He coached the Lakers during the time that you're talking about Kareem getting there. Not well, but he coached. They actually did okay. They actually did okay. They didn't have a great team, but they did, like, I think they got the Western Conference Finals at least once.

And then he stepped aside, and when Buss wanted to hire Riley, because Magic pushed Westhead, right? Out, yep. Buss tried to make them co-coaches, and West and Riley, and West right afterwards said, that's not the case. It's Riley's team.

And he's a badass, like, in that way. And he put together Showtime. He put together Shaq and Kobe. He... He helped Memphis have a team at all.

I'm sorry. It was quiet leadership. But he had Elgin, who was charismatic, who was like Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan. And West won the MVP of the finals, only person, I think. On a losing cause. On a losing cause. That's how great he was.

Also, to be the greatest Laker ever doesn't mean you're the greatest Laker player ever, necessarily.

So he's the only one that was great as a player, great as a scout, I think good as a coach, great as a GM, great as an advisor, great as a logo for the entire NBA the whole time. He didn't ever do anything wrong.

Jerry West would have been fine. He would have been like Byron Scott or better, right?

Like Russell did in his own way. But I didn't think, I didn't realize that compellingness was part of what made somebody the greatest Laker ever. I thought it was like scoring. Well, leadership.

I think that Magic Johnson is one of the greatest Lakers of all time, but because he had a shortened career, unfortunately.

12 years, but not 20, like Kareem, like Kobe, like LeBron. But I'm going to go a little off path here. I'm going to argue that the logo was the greatest Laker of all time. He only won one. But he had to play against the greatest dynasty in the history of the sport. He had to play against the greatest leader in the history of the sport, I think. Bill Russell. Bill Russell.