Bill Sharman and the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers

Part 1

To the casual fan of professional basketball, the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers might seem like an easy puzzle to crack. The team won a record 33-straight games on the way to their first NBA title in Los Angeles. How'd they do it? Easy, the basketball novice might say. You add Wilt Chamberlain to a line-up that already includes Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, and wah lah! You have yourself a championship.

Sounds good to me.

But it isn't true.

Yes, Wilt Chamberlain was added to the Lakers' lineup, but that was back before the 1968-69 season started, a season that ended in defeat for the purple, with their arch nemesis, the Boston Celtics prevailing in 7 games to win their 11th championship in 13 years. Yes, the Lakers still had Elgin Baylor on the roster when the 1971-72 season started. But Baylor only played the first nine games before being urged to retire because he was too slow and too selfish.

Yes, Jerry West was on the Lakers' roster. But he was just coming off knee surgery and was a question mark to start the season. Speaking of question marks, the entire Laker team was a question mark. The Lakers had lost in the Finals eight times since 1959, seven of the losses coming at the hands of the dreaded GREEN, the Boston Celtics. Acquiring Chamberlain was a move the Lakers expected to put them over the top. But all the Lakers did was continue to wilt.

During the 1969-70 NBA Finals, the Lakers managed to lose in seven games to a New York Knicks team whose best player was limping around the floor after tearing a thigh muscle. The next season, Lew Alcindor won league MVP, and the Milwaukee Bucks easily dispatched the Lakers in 5 games during the WCFs.

Meanwhile, the Lakers were getting old. No Laker starter was younger than 30, Gail Goodrich, and he was 29. Chamberlain was 35, Jerry West was 33, Elgin Baylor was 37, and reserves LeRoy Ellis and Flynn Robinson were 31 and 30, respectively. The huge salaries that owner Jack Kent Cooke had guaranteed to Baylor, West, and Chamberlain prevented the Lakers from revamping their roster. As a result, most pundits predicted that the Lakers would begin a free fall decline, while the Bucks and Knicks would fight it out for top dog.

Enter Bill Sharman. and KC Jones.