What History Tells Us About Doubting Los Angeles Lakers During Kobe Bryant Era

July 30th, 2013 by Josh Martin Leave a reply »

We've still got two months of basketball doldrums through which to slog until the opening of NBA training camps and nearly three months until the 2013-14 regular season tips off, and already the Los Angeles Lakers have been written off by people left and right.

Yours truly included, and not without reason. Dwight Howard's gone. Kobe Bryant's working his way back from a torn Achilles. Pau Gasol's old and coming off surgery on both of his knees. Steve Nash is even older. Metta World Peace is gone. The title of "Biggest Summer Signing" in LA is currently split between Chris Kaman and Nick Young.

Other than that, everything looks just peachy for the Lakers...

Dire straits of this nature, while uncommon in the history of the league's marquee franchise, are far more familiar within the narrower scope of Kobe's career. In 2004, the Lakers parted ways with another superstar center (Shaquille O'Neal), albeit willingly and amidst threats that Bryant might play for the Los Angeles Clippers if such changes weren't made.

Not surprisingly, the season that followed was a tumultuous one. The Lakers missed the playoffs for jus ...

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