The 1985 Lakers- Champions Forever

Mark Heisler's column today made me smile.

"A lot can happen in 20 years, the Lakers said Monday.

Whether it was nostalgic or heartbreaking, what may have been the greatest Laker team came home in the midst of one of the Lakers' most disappointing seasons, when the 1985 champions were honored at halftime of the 2005 team's otherwise meaningless game.

They don't make 'em the way they did in 1985 anymore. It was early enough in the NBA's salary cap era that the Lakers could stockpile former MVP and three-time scoring champion Bob McAdoo, five-time all-defense first-teamer Michael Cooper and rugged Mitch Kupchak, just to come off the bench.

Six of them would make All-Star teams (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, McAdoo, Jamaal Wilkes and Byron Scott). Three — Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson and Worthy — were named to the NBA's top 50. As then-General Manager Jerry West noted, they were an All-Star team.

And if you don't believe they were great, ask them.

"It's too bad we couldn't line up with this Laker team," said Johnson, a Laker minority owner, breaking up the pregame news conference.

"Matter of fact, we'd probably take 'em out, anyway. At this age."