My Hunt for the Roster
Okay, so the other day, I got this random urge, you know? Started thinking about old-school basketball, specifically the Lakers from way back. The year 1978 popped into my head. Why 1978? Can’t exactly pinpoint it, maybe saw something flicker past on TV, or maybe it was just one of those things that lodges in your brain.
So, first thing I did, naturally, was hop onto my computer. Didn’t do anything fancy, just typed something like “Los Angeles Lakers 1978 roster” into the search bar. Pretty straightforward, right?
Got a bunch of results back, mostly sports stats sites and historical basketball pages. Started clicking through a few. Some sites just gave a list of names, others had a bit more detail, like positions or jersey numbers. It’s funny how you remember some names instantly, like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, obviously. Hard to forget the Captain.
But then there were names I hadn’t thought about in ages. Adrian Dantley, yeah, he was there. Norm Nixon, too, before the Magic Johnson era really kicked off. It was like digging through an old box in the attic, finding stuff you forgot you had.
I wanted to be sure, though. Sometimes these online lists can be a bit off, maybe missing a guy who only played a few games or including someone from the year before or after. So, I cross-referenced a couple of different sources. Looked at maybe three or four different web pages just to see if the names matched up consistently.
Getting the Final List Together
After poking around for maybe 10-15 minutes, I felt pretty confident I had the core group nailed down. It wasn’t rocket science, but it took a little bit of comparing notes, you could say.
So, for anyone else curious, this is what I pieced together for that 1977-1978 Lakers squad. Keep in mind, rosters shifted a bit back then too, but these were the main guys:
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Adrian Dantley
- Norm Nixon
- Jamaal Wilkes (Silk!)
- Charlie Scott
- Lou Hudson
- Don Ford
- Earl Tatum
- Kenny Carr
- Dave Robisch
- Tom Abernethy
- Brad Davis (Played just a few games, I think)
Just Thinking Back
Looking at that list brings back memories. That team was interesting. They had Kareem, a superstar, and some really solid players like Dantley and Wilkes. They actually had a pretty good season, won their division. But yeah, it was right before the Showtime era really exploded with Magic’s arrival the next year. It feels like a transition period team, solid but just on the cusp of something legendary.
Anyway, that was my little trip down memory lane, figuring out who was wearing the purple and gold back in ’78. Just a bit of fun digging into basketball history.
