Skip Bayless
speaker
259 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard May 2025
last heard May 2025
Skip Bayless’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
you realize that he lucked into playing into the worst division in football over his seven years because if i look at the raiders over those seven years they have the sixth worst record the broncos oh my god we could talk about this i mean oh let's let's talk about the uh what was that pass against oakland
I'm Skip Bayless. I've been a sports commentator for many years on ESPN and on Fox. Now I host the Skip Bayless Show on YouTube. Right now, I am surrounded by 20 NBA and NFL super fans, and I wish each and every one of you the best of luck today because you're going to need it. My first claim is, Magic Johnson is the greatest Laker of all time.
Look, I take nothing away from Kobe's ability to score buckets, get buckets because nobody was greater in the history of the game. Magic did transform the franchise because remember Kareem had been a Laker for four years doing next to nothing until Magic walks in the door in 1980
and turns them around and gets them all the way to a game six at Philadelphia in the finals in which Kareem could not go. And I believe Magic Johnson that day at Philadelphia that evening played the greatest NBA game of all time, greatest playoff game because he goes as a rookie for 42, 15 and seven with three steals. He makes 14 or 23 shots in all 14 of his free throws.
and lifts the Lakers over Dr. Jay Sixers to a championship and he's off to the races. Now let's look quickly at Kobe. Again, no disrespect, but I feel like Kobe was obviously Robin to Batman in the three-peat with Shaq because Shaq dominated those three finals the way no players ever dominated an NBA finals to me, including Jordan. That's why I think Shaq is the second greatest Laker of all time.
And in those finals, Kobe was good, but he wasn't close to the production that Shaq was equaling. So then Shaq, they fall apart, they lose to the Pistons, obviously. 2004 and he's gone traded way to Miami. And here we go. So Kobe without Shaq misses the playoffs the first year. Then they lose to the Suns in the first round and he has the pout game in game seven.
And it was hard for me to forgive him for that. And then they lose to the Suns in the first round the next year. And then they lose to Boston in the finals in the closeout game six. Kobe is horrible in that game. They lose by 39 points at Boston. I can't defend that. They broke through and beat Dwight Howard's Magic. It was supposed to be LeBron's Cavs. So I thought that was a little overrated.
And then even when they did beat Boston and get over the hump, in game seven, Kobe was six of 24 in that game. So I... I don't know, I agree with your big picture, but when I go little picture of playoff performance without Shaq, I'm sorry.
Kobe's mystique was bigger than Magic's, but... If you look at Magic's productivity, how he changed a culture that both Shaq and Kobe benefited from piggybacking that culture, I'm going slightly Magic over Shaq, Shaq over Kobe.
Good job, Jack. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. All right. Thank you. Way to go.
But when you watch- It feels like you grew up more on COVID, right?
of Kobe in LA. Okay, so you're making the case that Kobe is dearer to your heart than Magic was. He has a bigger place in your heart. And I'm making the case that Magic had greater impact consistently than Kobe had because Magic was the driving force of the Showtime Lakers and Kobe was not the driving force of the three-peat, right?
Okay, so you're okay with Kobe pouting in a game seven at Phoenix against Rajah Bell?
He did, but he bounced right back the next year in 85, and he shoots a baby hook shot. And Kobe bounced back the next year by going to the finals. Okay, he did. Yeah, after the...
In terms of LA and LA- Okay, but if you look at Shaq's numbers in those three finals, and I give you that the big men, the Tim Duncans, were over on the other side of the bracket, right? But he goes 38, 17, and two in their first finals. 33, 16, and five, and 36, 12, and four. Look at the assists. He's averaging five assists a game in the NBA finals.
Listen, those three years, and I've been doing this a long time, I was actually covering the Kareem Lakers pre-magic out here in LA.
They dominated those teams. Because you had the greatest offensive force I've ever seen, including Jordan, where he was unrefereeable at that point because I never knew whether it's offense or defense, you know, on the foul.
Yeah. He was big. That was the greatest achievement of his career. Yeah. Yeah. Good job.
We haven't, all right? Let's look hard at Kareem's career. So he wins his first ring in Milwaukee, helped by Oscar Robertson kind of at the end of his career. So that's 1971. Then he goes four more years in Milwaukee and nothing really, they were pretty good, but they weren't great. Then he comes to LA in 76, his first year with the Lakers. And again, there's no magic yet, obviously.
And they miss the playoffs the first year. The second year they get swept by Portland in the conference finals. The third year of Kareem, no magic. they lose in the first round to Seattle and the fourth year, Kareem, no magic, they lose in the conference semifinals to Seattle. So they're floundering with Kareem because he was a follower and not a leader.
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