You have Celtics as 3rd greatest, AND on the overrated list? haha
The Lakers are easily the greatest franchise in the NBA, all-time.
They are usually always competitive, except for the 90's after Magic left (they came around in the late 90's and were LOADED roster wise, Jordan and the Bulls would've spanked them anyway)
But look at their championship teams. They have teams in seemingly every decade battling.
Look at this list of ALL TIME LEGENDS who have played for them
Magic
West
Bryant
Baylor
Worthy
Gasol
Chamberlain
Jabbar
O'Neal
The Lakers are easily the greatest franchise in the NBA, all-time.
The problem with this is that franchises are different than players of specific teams. For franchises, the only thing that matters is championships. There are absolutely no other factors to be considered. You have to give it to Boston. They have 17. All in Boston, and more importantly, all in the NBA. They don't try to add on titles from other leagues. They're legit 17 time NBA champions.
The Los Angeles Lakers truly have 11 NBA championships. I just can't count the Minneapolis titles for a couple of reasons. First being that 2 of them aren't NBA titles. The Minneapolis Lakers have 4 NBA titles, the last of which being in 1954. A couple years later the franchise was sold, moved to LA.
If for some reason the Lakers moved to Kansas City and became the Kansas City Lakers, and 17 years later, still in KC and haven't won a single championship, how would you feel about Kansas City claiming to be 15 time NBA champions? It would be bullshit, right?
What about the Oklahoma City Thunder? Do you consider them the former champions? Of corse not. The idea is ridiculous.
Now, in the modern sports era, the Los Angeles Lakers are EASILY the greatest franchise of ANY SPORT. It's not even remotely close. Since Jerry Buss bought the team, we've been in 1/2 of all the finals and won 1/3 of the championships. That's completely ridiculous. At this point, the Yankess are the Lakers of baseball.
BUT...... All time NBA. You gotta give it to Boston. They have 17.
Even as a NY fan, the most overrated is the Knicks.
I thought about this a while ago and our teams history more closely resembles the Pistons than any of the legendary franchises like LA or BOS.
Although the Knicks have had some real legendary moments in NBA history, more so than probably any team other than the Lakers, Bulls, or Celtics. Larry Johnson 4 point play to beat the Pacers, Allan Houston last second teardrop off the front rim to beat Miami, benches cleared fight with Van Gundy hanging off the leg of Alonzo Mourning, Willis Reed coming down the tunnell after tearing his quad 2 games before in the NBA finals, Clyde Frazier 36 points 15 assists to win game 7 of the finals, etc.
Last edited by NewYorkNoPicks : 02-28-2012 at 11:33 PM.
The Lakers all time are easily the greatest franchise in all of sports. I believe I read that they have less than 10 losing seasons in franchise history. If that is true then that is amazing considering how old the franchise is. Boston has to be number two, and the Bulls third. I can't call the Celts first simply because they have had a lot of bad years. Fourth would be SAS, and fifth would be a tie between Houston, NYK, and Detroit imo.
As for the most overrated easily the Knicks no question.
Greatest/Most Overrated Franchises?
