Over the course of the past three decades, the NBA has played host to numerous Super teams. The Boston Celtics, the Miami Heat, and most recently the Golden State Warriors and the Brooklyn Nets. And while a great many of them have turned out to make for incredible success stories, some of them have wound up being costly failures. The 2003-2004 Los Angeles Lakers border on this standard of measurement. They literally added Karl Malone and Gary Payton to a Kobe-Shaq team.
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An NBA Finals appearance by no means is a catastrophic failure. However, given the star power the franchise possessed, a title was the basic expectation of the newly designed team.
Having won the coveted three-peat between 2000 and 2002, the Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant-led Los Angeles Lakers were by far the best franchise in the league. However, an abrupt loss to the San Antonio Spurs in 2003, meant their aspirations for a fourth championship had to be put to rest. For the time being.
As such, the Lakers hierarchy planned to revamp the roster in order to maximize the output and productivity between O’Neal and Bryant. Step forward, Karl Malone and Gary Payton!
The ‘All-Star duo was acquired by the franchise in 2003, with the intention of creating a super team. And while the players rejoiced and were in euphoria over their arrival, one man was not on board with the strategy: Phil Jackson!
Phil Jackson was against the signing of Gary Payton
The term serial winner epitomizes Phil Jackson. The 77-year-old is an 11-time NBA champion as a coach and a two-time NBA champion as a player, courtesy of the 1970s New York Knicks!
His extensive success is a testament to the wealth of knowledge he possesses about the game. It enabled him to lead three of the greatest basketball players to accumulate multiple NBA titles.
So when the former Lakers head coach expressed his desire to not sign Payton, the Lakers hierarchy refused to acknowledge his demand.
An excerpt from the Three Ring Circus, a book by Jeff Pearlman has provided valuable insight into the Los Angeles Lakers dynasty that governed the NBA from 1996-2004. Pearlman explained how the scenario unfolded:
“Phil Jackson never wanted Gary Payton to be a Laker. It’s true, and while Los Angeles’s coach greeted the veteran point guard’s signing with smiles and nods and a big thumbs-up, he had been around long enough to know that even the most smoothly run operation was always one bad apple removed from rot. In this acquisition, however, Jackson was granted no say. Shaquille O’Neal aspired to put together a super team.
Pearlman continued:
“Kobe Bryant aspired to put together a super team. Karl Malone aspired to join a super team, but not without Payton, his longtime rival/friend. So even though the triangle offense was no place for a score-first point guard with an ego and a love of the forever dribble, and even though Jackson considered Derek Fisher to be the perfect runner of the show, Jim Buss—Jerry Buss’s son and the team’s assistant general manager—insisted that Payton be signed. And now he was a Los Angeles Laker.”
Perhaps had Derek Fisher been awarded the opportunity to run the point, the Los Angeles Lakers could’ve possibly captured their fourth NBA championship.
Could the Lakers have won their fourth championship with Derek Fisher?
Often there comes a time when one must decide what the pivotal criteria are when it comes to building a championship-winning roster. It’s either complimentary pieces or a stockpile of credible stars.
There remains no guarantee which tactic might work, but more often than not, the former prevails, considering that there are players who are willing to sacrifice their game and style to match the team’s aspirations.
