[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

This is kind of a random post but it’s a slow time for basketball news and I felt like reminiscing a bit. If your a fan of a certain team you know that you remember certain years a lot more fondly than others. The seasons that you remember the best aren’t necessarily the ones where your team had the most overall success. One of my favorite lakers team to watch was actually the 94-95 lakers, even though they were only modestly successful compared other lakers teams before and since. 

The 95 lakers weren’t expected to be good, which is probably a major reason why it was such a fun team to watch. The only real expectation going into the season was that it was going to be a rebuilding year. The team had been steady declining and aging for years, and the last remaining pieces from the showtime years were gone. The had fully committed to a youth movement. But when the season started, they quickly found out the young guys were a lot more ready than anyone thought. Nick van exel emerged as a fearless player, really the engine of the team, hitting several big shots and buzzer beaters throughout the season. Cedric ceballos had a career year and was selected to the all-star team. Vlade divac had arguably the best season of his career. Rookie Eddie Jones was a revelation, and stepped in and was an impact player right off the bat. Del Harris was named coach of the year. The lakers managed to win 48 games and snag the fifth seed in an absolutely loaded west. They took down the heavily favored Sonics 3-1 in the first round of the playoffs and put a serious scare into a 62 win spurs team in the semis in a very entertaining series. 

The reason this team gets largely forgotten is that it wasn’t built to last. Not in a city like Los Angeles with a fan base like the lakers had. The following season magic came out of retirement mid-season. They actually won more games than the year before but the chemistry wasn’t the same and they lost in the first round of the playoffs. The following summer they signed shaq in free agency and traded for Kobe. Than they gradually traded away every player from the 1995 team for role players that fit better around the shaq-Kobe tandem. By the time they started winning championships again, every player from the 95 team was gone. But in a strange way, that 95 team was kind of the foundation for them to get back to winning titles. 

So if your a fan of a particular team, can you think of any teams that would fall into this category for you. Keep in mind it’s not necessarily the teams that had the most overall success but the teams you enjoyed watching the most, for whatever reason.

[Evan_MilbergParticipant]

The ‘04-05 Suns come to mind, and I’m not even a Subs fan. This was beginning of the “Seven Seconds or Less” era with Nash, Marion, Stoudemire, Barbosa and Joe Johnson. I think it was also Nash’s first season back with them after a few years in Dallas. Going into the season they weren’t expected to be a big threat in the West, but they won 31 of their first 35 games and looked really good doing it. They lost to the Spurs in the WCF, but their style play really set the tone for what the NBA is now.

[frogmanParticipant]

Love them but they are not really a historically forgotten team.  They are reguarly brought up in most entertaining team to watch conversations.  You’re right though they started shifting the league to what we see now.

[RUDEBOY-Participant]

Lakers were still trying to regroup after the news of Magic Johnson’s HIV announcement in 1991. James Worthy retired in 1993. Byron Scott was traded that same year(but resigned in 1996. Their best player was Cebric Caballas. And Sam Bowie & Kurt Rambis were on the team. Lol

[BlueRivers25Participant]

The Kings with Webber, Vlade, Peja, Bibby, Bobby Jackson, Christy. They lost the Lakers with Shaq and Kobe in the Conference Finals that year. 

Went to a playoff game in Arco area when they played the Mavs with Nash, Dirk, Finley, Nick Van Excel. 

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

Not sure if they qualify as historically forgotten but that was a great team. Started with them trading Mitch Richmond for Webber in 1998 and drafting Jason Williams. One of the few bright spots in an otherwise pretty awful era of nba basketball. They gradually got better and added more pieces and 2002 was kind of the culmination of their run. That 2002 series against the lakers was one of most entertaining (and controversial) series I ever remember watching. They might have been even better the following season but Webber’s knee injury in the 2003 playoffs effectively ended their run. It’s a shame how quickly it all disintegrated from there. 

[kazamParticipant]

 I was a big fan of the 03-04 Mavericks squad that had Nash, Finley, Dirk, Antawn Jamison and Antoine Walker. Plus two fun rookies in Marquis Daniels and Josh Howard. That team in 2019-2020 would be a blast to watch with the floor spaced and that level of wing depth.

[llperez]

I remember that Lakers 94’95 team well. That was easily as fun as any team I ever watched. Van exel, Eddie Jones, Cedric ceballos, Anthony peeler, vlade divac, Elden Campbell, George Lynch…

The game vs the spurs where van exel hit the game winning 3 at the buzzer was one of the most awesome things ever in my life

[The GoatParticipant]

 The first 8 seed to beat a 1 seed – the Nuggets with Mutombo – they rate a mention. So do the Hornets in Alonzo Mourning’s rookie year, with Muggsy, Kendall Gill, Dell Curry, Zo and LJ. 

The Portland team with Stoudamire, Steve Smith, Pippen, Sheed and Sabonis was pretty good too. 

[HobbyOGParticipant]

 One of my favorites was the Clippers when they had Brand, Odom, D Miles, Q Rich, Andre Miller…etc. was historic on a winning aspect but they were fun to watch and started to change the face of the Clippers…

Also The Sonics when they had GP, Shawn Kemp, Hershey Hawkins, Detlef Shrimpf….I loved that team.. Bring back the Sonics!! 

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

The 2005-2006 clippers were actually sneaky good. Brand was a force that season averaging 25 and 10. People tend to forget how good he was before the Achilles injury. They had an aging but still effective backcourt in Sam cassel and cuttino Mobley with a very young pre-injury Shaun Livingston off the bench. Corey maggette and Vladimir radmonovich on the wings. Chris Kaman at center. Won 47 games and took the suns to 7 games in the west semis. But like so many other clipper teams that have shown promise over the years, they just failed to build anything substantial out of it. 

[dcaseParticipant]

I’ve been a Laker fan since the mid 1980s, but another team I enjoyed watching besides the lakers was the New Jersey Nets of the early 1990s.  Derrick Coleman, Kenny Anderson and Drazen Petrovic were some of my favorite players in the league at the time. Although they never made it past the first round of the playoffs, they were super fun to watch.

[dmo21Participant]

Been a life long Raptors fan, but a team I also enjoyed watching were the Nuggets from 2004 to 2008. Coached by George Karl, they had Carmelo scoring at will. Andre Miller at point with Boykins backing him up. Really liked the big man combo of Kenyon Martin, Nene and Camby. Later on they added Iverson and JR just to make things crazier. Sprinkle in some Najera and Kleiza and you had a fun team.

[TravelinTravParticipant]

 I know they’re not a forgotten team but my favorite would be the 93/94 Rockets, the Dream, Drexler, Horry, Sam Cassel, Kenny Smith, Mario Eli etc. They played against some great teams to win their 2nd title. I’ve watched the game 1 VS Orlando at least 50 teams via VCR. 

[Author]

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