The ongoing debate with championship favorites in the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets are whether they are too old to win a ring at the end of the season. New Lakers forward Carmelo Anthony has spoken about the detractors, and many Lakers in general have brushed off the idea on age being an issue.
While many focus on getting younger, the Lakers put their effort towards getting experienced players and believe that will pay off in the end. Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal is absolutely on board with that and supported the thoughts of the new Laker.
O’Neal appeared on ESPN’s First Take with Stephen A. Smith and completely agreed with everything Anthony had to say about age not being a factor for the Lakers, also agreeing that it’s championship or bust this season:
“The great Carmelo Anthony was absolutely correct. I have no rebuttal, I have nothing to say, he’s absolutely correct. You know a lot of people always talks about age but when you show me a young team that dominates, listen, young teams always make noise but when they get to the playoffs, what do you always say? ‘Oh they don’t have enough experience.’ When it comes to the most experience, the Brooklyn Nets and the Lakers have the most experience when it comes to age. I’m not worried about all that young talk. The game is different now anyways, everybody’s always just picking and popping anyway so whoever plays the hardest the team that’s gonna make it. If both teams stay healthy, I would like to see those teams in the Finals. But I like Carmelo, he was raised by us. Westbrook was raised by us, LeBron was raised by us. So you know when they get angry, they play very well. So now they’re angry, everybody’s doubting them. They’ve built this little super team, Carmelo is absolutely correct, it’s a championship or bust.”
O’Neal makes an excellent point about how important age and experience is once the playoffs come around. Rarely if ever do very young teams make deep playoff runs as the game changes once the postseason begins and franchises must go through their trials across multiple years before finding that success.
It is also interesting that O’Neal pointed out that Anthony, Russell Westbrook and the Lakers as a whole are angry because so many are doubting them. The desire to prove people wrong and bring home that championship could be exactly what the Lakers need to sacrifice and do whatever they can to accomplish that goal.
Anthony believes Lakers must win a championship this season
Despite some doubters, the expectations for the Lakers this season is a championship and Anthony himself is leaning into that. Anthony says that the Lakers have to win a championship this year, basically outlining that anything less would be a failure for the season.
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