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yinoma2001
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 Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 7:29 am Post subject: Let Us Reminisce: Vlade Divac |
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1989-1996 (plus 15 games in 2004-05).
Lakers average: 12.5ppg/8.7rpg/2.6apg/1.6bpg/1.2apg.
I really loved Vlade with Magic and then as part of the LakeShow crew with guys like Nick Van Exel.
Obviously was traded as part of the Kobe deal, but I think people forget about how nice Vlade was as a Laker, and that he had nearly 7 seasons in a Lakers uniform.
What are your memories of Vlade?
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yinoma2001
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 7:30 am Post subject: |
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I think Vlade being a member of the Sacto Kings made people forget about his longer stint as a Laker. I feel Vlade doesn't get the love he deserves.
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GOODRICH25
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 8:19 am Post subject: |
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I remember him more for his int. career, but in the NBA mostly as a SacKing and that brief stint with us in 2005, so not much positive (from a Lakers fan perspective). His timing was off, joined a dynasty on its last legs snd spent the rest of his Laker career on a non contender, otherwise there could be a case made for #12 to be retired.
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AshesToAshes
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 9:05 am Post subject: |
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I was too busy figuring out who and then being excited for Kobe.
Didn't last too long as the Shaq announcement was a dancing moment IIRC.
I actually gave in that day and borrowed his rap CD from my buddy that was a huge shaq fan. lol
Think about Vlade less than Eddie Jones or even Caron Butler later on. Plus, screw the Queens.
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yinoma2001
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 9:34 am Post subject: |
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| GOODRICH25 wrote: | | I remember him more for his int. career, but in the NBA mostly as a SacKing and that brief stint with us in 2005, so not much positive (from a Lakers fan perspective). His timing was off, joined a dynasty on its last legs snd spent the rest of his Laker career on a non contender, otherwise there could be a case made for #12 to be retired. |
The 1990s were my teenage years and I really loved Magic/Vlade and then that Lakeshow crew with Vlade and NVE/Jones and company. Vlade did make the HOF and had 7 seasons with the Lakers, but doubt they retire his jersey.
Would have been great if he could have joined the Magic team a few years earlier.
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ViolaMB
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 12:02 pm Post subject: |
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if anyone hasn't already watched the ESPN 30 for 30 'Once brothers' should really do so. i saw it 3 times already and it's fantastic. it's about his basketball youth in Yugoslavia, the serbia-croatia war, drazen petrovic, and then going to LA where Magic helped him a lot at the start...
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oasisdude77
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 12:24 pm Post subject: |
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Vlade was my favorite Laker during that time period. I loved how goofy he was and Chick always seemed to rib him all the time.
I’ll never forget how mad I was that Jerry West had the audacity to trade our starting center (remember this a few weeks before Shaq signed) for some 17 year old high school kid (I was only 14 and couldn’t see the bigger picture). Obviously I got over it really quick 
But Vlade was definitely a great Laker, imo.
But that whole ‘Lake Show’ era was so much fun. Vlade, Elden Campbell, Ced Ceballos, Nick the quick, Eddie Jones, Anthony Peeler. |
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kwase
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 12:28 pm Post subject: |
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2 things stand out to me when it comes to Vlade. His rookie year and we're playing the Blazers in the Conference Finals. Magic hits him with a sweet pass right under the basket, and instead of dunking it he decides to lay it in softly and misses. Magic had the look of death on his face and yells at him "Dunk that MF'er"!!!! LMAO!
The second was when we traded him to clear cap space for Shaq and he was so distraught he threatened retirement. I thought the guy was suicidal after that. But hey, he loved the Lakers so I'll always have a soft spot for him. |
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non-player zealot
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 12:58 pm Post subject: |
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| kwase wrote: | 2 things stand out to me when it comes to Vlade. His rookie year and we're playing the Blazers in the Conference Finals. Magic hits him with a sweet pass right under the basket, and instead of dunking it he decides to lay it in softly and misses. Magic had the look of death on his face and yells at him "Dunk that MF'er"!!!! LMAO!
The second was when we traded him to clear cap space for Shaq and he was so distraught he threatened retirement. I thought the guy was suicidal after that. But hey, he loved the Lakers so I'll always have a soft spot for him. |
Driving layup in Gm3 vs CHI, tho we lost, was a good Vlade moment. Went over to Magic like a child looking for a parent's approval, Magic hugged him. By 96, I think LA, fans and media alike, were tired of playing the encouragement game with him. He needed someone in his face constantly to make him play hard and aggressively. Gasol was like that, too, but Pau had a higher ceiling than Vlade, imo. Vlad did dumb, unaware, cavalier sh every other night. It was grating at times. EG, I'm gonna say 96 at ORL (iirc), a Magic player missed a shot at the end of the quarter and Vlad gets the board and casually walks out of bounds before the buzzer sounded. ORL got the ball back and Dennis Scott hit a 3 at the actual buzzer. Stuff like that. Mostly small, but annoying in aggregate. I went to a game at the Sports Arena in 93/4 where we blew a 17 pt lead and the end was Vlade shooting two treys and missing. They truly flubbed whatever Randy P drew up, if anything. Randy P was close to the end then.
Nother Vlade moment was in Gm2 at SA in 95 where I think we coulda won the game if Vlad hit 2 FTs and he bricked both of course. He supposedly cried in the locker room because he would've known 0-2 was Refrigerator against the Spurs.
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jonnybravo
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 1:17 pm Post subject: |
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People forget that the year we upset Seattle, he was a 16/10/4 centerwith 2 blocks a game. After he missed those clutch free throws against the Spurs, it seemed to me like he was never quite the same. He shot 77% from the line in 94-95 and shot about 10% worse on average for the reset of his career.
He was really, REALLY good.
I remember him blocking Kobe on a break. That was Frobe version 1.0 too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CFlaVVUT_k
Kobe even mentioned later (laughingly) that he was determined to pay Vlade back for that.
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Cutheon
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 3:06 pm Post subject: |
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| jonnybravo wrote: | People forget that the year we upset Seattle, he was a 16/10/4 centerwith 2 blocks a game. After he missed those clutch free throws against the Spurs, it seemed to me like he was never quite the same. He shot 77% from the line in 94-95 and shot about 10% worse on average for the reset of his career.
He was really, REALLY good.
I remember him blocking Kobe on a break. That was Frobe version 1.0 too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CFlaVVUT_k
Kobe even mentioned later (laughingly) that he was determined to pay Vlade back for that. |
Boy did he |
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LakerLanny
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:13 pm Post subject: |
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Despite his relentless flopping as a Sacramento Queen, I have nothing but love for Vlade.
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gristmill
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:16 pm Post subject: |
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| non-player zealot wrote: | | kwase wrote: | 2 things stand out to me when it comes to Vlade. His rookie year and we're playing the Blazers in the Conference Finals. Magic hits him with a sweet pass right under the basket, and instead of dunking it he decides to lay it in softly and misses. Magic had the look of death on his face and yells at him "Dunk that MF'er"!!!! LMAO!
The second was when we traded him to clear cap space for Shaq and he was so distraught he threatened retirement. I thought the guy was suicidal after that. But hey, he loved the Lakers so I'll always have a soft spot for him. |
Driving layup in Gm3 vs CHI, tho we lost, was a good Vlade moment. Went over to Magic like a child looking for a parent's approval, Magic hugged him. By 96, I think LA, fans and media alike, were tired of playing the encouragement game with him. He needed someone in his face constantly to make him play hard and aggressively. Gasol was like that, too, but Pau had a higher ceiling than Vlade, imo. Vlad did dumb, unaware, cavalier sh every other night. It was grating at times. EG, I'm gonna say 96 at ORL (iirc), a Magic player missed a shot at the end of the quarter and Vlad gets the board and casually walks out of bounds before the buzzer sounded. ORL got the ball back and Dennis Scott hit a 3 at the actual buzzer. Stuff like that. Mostly small, but annoying in aggregate. I went to a game at the Sports Arena in 93/4 where we blew a 17 pt lead and the end was Vlade shooting two treys and missing. They truly flubbed whatever Randy P drew up, if anything. Randy P was close to the end then.
Nother Vlade moment was in Gm2 at SA in 95 where I think we coulda won the game if Vlad hit 2 FTs and he bricked both of course. He supposedly cried in the locker room because he would've known 0-2 was Refrigerator against the Spurs. |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mhbQ4UlN5Q
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oasisdude77
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:20 pm Post subject: |
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| jonnybravo wrote: | People forget that the year we upset Seattle, he was a 16/10/4 centerwith 2 blocks a game. After he missed those clutch free throws against the Spurs, it seemed to me like he was never quite the same. He shot 77% from the line in 94-95 and shot about 10% worse on average for the reset of his career.
He was really, REALLY good.
I remember him blocking Kobe on a break. That was Frobe version 1.0 too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CFlaVVUT_k
Kobe even mentioned later (laughingly) that he was determined to pay Vlade back for that. |
Oh man, those two missed free throws! All he needed was one for us to steal game 2. And that was the series we took them to 6 games with Nick hitting that running 3 pointer almost at the buzzer to force game 6. And if we won that series, we would've then played the Rockets in the WCF, who we, oddly, owned that season. |
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JUST-MING
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:42 pm Post subject: |
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| oasisdude77 wrote: |
Oh man, those two missed free throws! All he needed was one for us to steal game 2. And that was the series we took them to 6 games with Nick hitting that running 3 pointer almost at the buzzer to force game 6. And if we won that series, we would've then played the Rockets in the WCF, who we, oddly, owned that season. |
Nick hit two clutch threes in game 5.
For the tie https://youtu.be/svyVRbRcPaI?t=8m32s
For the win https://youtu.be/aY-yoFNvP_E?t=3m18s
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Last edited by JUST-MING on Wed Apr 01, 2020 5:08 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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activeverb
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:52 pm Post subject: Re: Let Us Reminisce: Vlade Divac |
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| yinoma2001 wrote: | 1989-1996 (plus 15 games in 2004-05).
Lakers average: 12.5ppg/8.7rpg/2.6apg/1.6bpg/1.2apg.
I really loved Vlade with Magic and then as part of the LakeShow crew with guys like Nick Van Exel.
Obviously was traded as part of the Kobe deal, but I think people forget about how nice Vlade was as a Laker, and that he had nearly 7 seasons in a Lakers uniform.
What are your memories of Vlade? |
Divac was a good, all-around center who played in an era filled with great centers. He was a finesse guy who played soft. Great passer who flopped a lot.
Never close to making an All-Star team or winning any postseason awards while he was with us. At his best, he was probably the 7-10th best center in the league.
He kind of symbolized our down period between showtime and the Shaq Kobe era: good but not quite good enough, so he left you a little frustrated. |
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jonnybravo
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:55 pm Post subject: |
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| oasisdude77 wrote: | Vlade was my favorite Laker during that time period. I loved how goofy he was and Chick always seemed to rib him all the time.
I’ll never forget how mad I was that Jerry West had the audacity to trade our starting center (remember this a few weeks before Shaq signed) for some 17 year old high school kid (I was only 14 and couldn’t see the bigger picture). Obviously I got over it really quick
But Vlade was definitely a great Laker, imo.
But that whole ‘Lake Show’ era was so much fun. Vlade, Elden Campbell, Ced Ceballos, Nick the quick, Eddie Jones, Anthony Peeler. |
That wasn't how it went down exactly. Vlade wasn't mad, he was completely distraught because of how much he loved being a Laker and the situation he was in. He was ready to quit the NBA and go back to Europe. As usual, West saved the day when he convinced Vlade that it was for the overall good of the team after which Vlade came off the ledge and the rest is history. I'll always have a soft sport for him.
I think the 91 series would have been different (not saying we would have won) if Magic had the 94-95 version of Vlade at his disposal. Vlade would have feasted.
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JUST-MING
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LakerLanny
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 5:04 pm Post subject: |
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I was at that game in literally the top row at the Sistine Chapel of Basketball, the house that Kobe and Shaq built.
I will never forget it. Thanks for refreshing the memory.
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oasisdude77
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 5:44 pm Post subject: |
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| jonnybravo wrote: | | oasisdude77 wrote: | Vlade was my favorite Laker during that time period. I loved how goofy he was and Chick always seemed to rib him all the time.
I’ll never forget how mad I was that Jerry West had the audacity to trade our starting center (remember this a few weeks before Shaq signed) for some 17 year old high school kid (I was only 14 and couldn’t see the bigger picture). Obviously I got over it really quick
But Vlade was definitely a great Laker, imo.
But that whole ‘Lake Show’ era was so much fun. Vlade, Elden Campbell, Ced Ceballos, Nick the quick, Eddie Jones, Anthony Peeler. |
That wasn't how it went down exactly. Vlade wasn't mad, he was completely distraught because of how much he loved being a Laker and the situation he was in. He was ready to quit the NBA and go back to Europe. As usual, West saved the day when he convinced Vlade that it was for the overall good of the team after which Vlade came off the ledge and the rest is history. I'll always have a soft sport for him.
I think the 91 series would have been different (not saying we would have won) if Magic had the 94-95 version of Vlade at his disposal. Vlade would have feasted. |
Nah man, you misunderstood what I wrote. I was mad Mad that the Lakers were trading away my favorite player for some unknown high school kid. Again, the naivety of youth |
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All_Star_Laker
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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| LakerLanny wrote: |
I was at that game in literally the top row at the Sistine Chapel of Basketball, the house that Kobe and Shaq built.
I will never forget it. Thanks for refreshing the memory. |
I was working as a Lifeguard in high school at a community pool and listening to the game on a handheld radio in the lifeguard tower. I started yelling like a crazy person and alarmed a couple people at the gated community pool. I could have cared less.
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jonnybravo
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 6:51 pm Post subject: |
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| oasisdude77 wrote: | | jonnybravo wrote: | | oasisdude77 wrote: | Vlade was my favorite Laker during that time period. I loved how goofy he was and Chick always seemed to rib him all the time.
I’ll never forget how mad I was that Jerry West had the audacity to trade our starting center (remember this a few weeks before Shaq signed) for some 17 year old high school kid (I was only 14 and couldn’t see the bigger picture). Obviously I got over it really quick
But Vlade was definitely a great Laker, imo.
But that whole ‘Lake Show’ era was so much fun. Vlade, Elden Campbell, Ced Ceballos, Nick the quick, Eddie Jones, Anthony Peeler. |
That wasn't how it went down exactly. Vlade wasn't mad, he was completely distraught because of how much he loved being a Laker and the situation he was in. He was ready to quit the NBA and go back to Europe. As usual, West saved the day when he convinced Vlade that it was for the overall good of the team after which Vlade came off the ledge and the rest is history. I'll always have a soft sport for him.
I think the 91 series would have been different (not saying we would have won) if Magic had the 94-95 version of Vlade at his disposal. Vlade would have feasted. |
Nah man, you misunderstood what I wrote. I was mad Mad that the Lakers were trading away my favorite player for some unknown high school kid. Again, the naivety of youth |
Ah gotcha. Dude, me and my buddy felt the EXACT same way. KG didn't exactly set the league on fire the season prior so we were PISSED that we gave up a legit starting C for a gangly 17 year old guard.
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C M B
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 10:58 pm Post subject: |
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never cared for him, not a fan
I'll always be pleased with his value as currency
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Steve007
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| Posted: Wed Apr 01, 2020 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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Vlade made up for those missed free throws seven years later (in 2002). He missed 2 very late in the game, and shortly after that Horry hit a 3 to beat the Kings and tie the series up at 2-2 (and as someone here mentioned, Vlade tipped the ball to Horry).
Speaking of missed free throws against the Spurs, even Kobe missed a couple of huge free throws in game 2 in 1999. But Kobe wasn’t going to let that stop him. |
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non-player zealot
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| Posted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 12:06 am Post subject: |
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| kwase wrote: | | 2 things stand out to me when it comes to Vlade. His rookie year and we're playing the Blazers in the Conference Finals. Magic hits him with a sweet pass right under the basket, and instead of dunking it he decides to lay it in softly and misses. Magic had the look of death on his face and yells at him "Dunk that MF'er"!!!! LMAO! |
https://youtu.be/51FEZEm_BDw?t=535
4th Qtr LA comeback in Gm 1 of that series, Vlade played well in this game, too. This is how we beat Porty in 2000 and Sac in 2002. Nab that 1st game while the opp is sleeping. By Game 7, that 1st game you coughed up will haunt you more than it did the day you lost it. Vlade always got under Duckworth's skin. You could tell Duck hated him. Magic's pass across court over a double team with 15 secs to go...no one in the league could make that pass then but him.
https://youtu.be/B9QxtUC-r98?t=436
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