It’s easy to look back at the 2005-06 NBA season and just see the 81-point game. We remember Kobe Bryant in that white home jersey, looking like he was playing a different sport than everyone else on the floor. But if you actually sit down and look at the 2006 Los Angeles Lakers roster, you start to realize something kind of terrifying. Aside from number 8 (soon to be 24), this team was basically a skeleton crew.
Phil Jackson had just come back after a year of "retirement" and writing a book where he called Kobe uncoachable. The vibes were weird. The talent was thin. Honestly, it’s a miracle they even made the playoffs.
Most people remember the highlights, but they forget the struggle of watching Chris Mihm and Brian Cook try to anchor a defense in the Western Conference. It was a weird, transitional era. Shaq was gone. The "Big Three" era in Boston hadn't happened yet. The Lakers were stuck in this strange middle ground where they had the best player on the planet and… not much else.
Who was actually on this team?
Let’s be real for a second. If you aren't a die-hard Laker fan, names like Laron Profit or Smush Parker probably don't ring many bells. But these guys were playing heavy minutes.
Smush Parker was the starting point guard. He played all 82 games. Think about that. In a league with Steve Nash, Tony Parker, and Baron Davis, the Lakers were rolling out a guy who had spent time in the CBA and Greece just to get a shot. To his credit, Smush actually had his best professional year in 2006, averaging 11.5 points. But the chemistry between him and Kobe? Non-existent. Kobe famously said years later that Smush shouldn't have even been in the NBA.
Then you had Lamar Odom.
Lamar was the Swiss Army knife before that was a cool thing to be. He was the only other person on the 2006 Los Angeles Lakers roster who could consistently create his own shot or make a play for someone else. He averaged 14.8 points and nearly 10 rebounds. Without Lamar’s ability to handle the ball as a 6'10" forward, the Triangle Offense would have completely evaporated. He was the glue. If Kobe was the engine, Lamar was the transmission, the tires, and the steering wheel all at once.
The rest of the rotation was a revolving door of "who's that?" guys.
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Kwame Brown.
The name alone still makes Lakers fans twitch. After being the #1 overall pick for the Wizards and failing to live up to the hype, he was traded to LA for Caron Butler. It was a move that, looking back, was pretty disastrous for the Lakers' talent depth, but they desperately needed size. Kwame was what he was: a decent post defender with hands that seemed to be made of literal butter. Catching a pass was a 50/50 proposition at best.
The 81-point context
When you look at the box score from January 22, 2006, against Toronto, you see the 81 points. What you don't see—unless you were watching live—is that the Lakers were actually losing that game.
They were down by double digits to a mediocre Raptors team. Kobe didn't just score 81 because he felt like a ball-hog; he scored 81 because if he didn't, they were going to lose to Jalen Rose and Mo Peterson. That was the story of the entire season. The 2006 Los Angeles Lakers roster was built in a way that forced Kobe into a high-usage stratosphere we haven't seen since Wilt Chamberlain.
Supporting Cast Breakdown
- Chris Mihm: He was actually a decent starting center before his ankles gave out. He averaged about 10 points and 6 boards. Nothing flashy, just a big body.
- Brian Cook: The ultimate "stretch four" before the league knew what that was. He could shoot the three, but defense was... optional.
- Luke Walton: A high-IQ guy who Phil Jackson loved. He couldn't jump over a phone book, but he knew where to stand.
- Devin George: One of the last remaining links to the three-peat era. A solid wing defender, but his offensive game was mostly gone by '06.
- Sasha Vujacic: "The Machine." He was young, annoying to opponents, and could hit a free throw under pressure.
It's sort of wild that this group won 45 games. That’s purely the Phil Jackson tax and the Kobe Bryant factor.
The Phoenix Series and what it proved
If you want to understand why this specific roster matters, you have to look at the first-round playoff series against the Phoenix Suns. The Suns were the "Seven Seconds or Less" juggernaut. Steve Nash was the MVP.
The Lakers went up 3-1.
How? Because Phil Jackson convinced Kobe to stop shooting 30 times a game. He told Kobe to trust the system. In Game 4, Kobe hit the iconic walk-off jumper in overtime, but it was the defense and the rebounding from guys like Kwame Brown and Luke Walton that kept them in it.
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But then, the talent gap finally showed.
The Suns realized the Lakers had no depth. Raja Bell started getting under Kobe's skin. Tim Thomas hit a miracle three in Game 6. By Game 7, the Lakers were gassed. Kobe famously stopped shooting in the second half of Game 7—some say to prove a point that his teammates couldn't score, others say he was just following the game plan. Either way, they got blown out. It was a heartbreaking end to a season that felt like it was overachieving every single day.
The weirdness of the mid-2000s Lakers
We often talk about the Lakers as this perennial powerhouse. But from 2004 to 2007, they were basically the Cleveland Cavaliers of the West—one superstar carrying a pile of role players.
The 2006 Los Angeles Lakers roster didn't have a secondary All-Star. Lamar Odom was close, but he never quite made the cut. This was the peak of "Solo Kobe." He led the league in scoring at 35.4 points per game. He had a month where he averaged 43 points.
Think about that. 43 points over a whole month.
You only do that if you don't trust the guy standing next to you to make a layup. And honestly, can you blame him? When your backup guards are Tierre Brown and Jim Jackson (who was 35 and on his 12th team), you take the shot yourself.
Why we should care today
Looking back at this roster is a lesson in team building—or the lack thereof. It shows how much a coach like Phil Jackson matters. He took a group that probably should have won 30 games and had them one defensive rebound away from upsetting the best team in the league.
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It also highlights the patience required in the NBA. Two years after this roster struggled to get past the first round, the Lakers traded for Pau Gasol. Suddenly, all those role players who looked "bad" in 2006 (like Sasha and Luke) looked like "genius signings" because they were in the right roles.
Analyzing the stats
If you dive into the advanced metrics, the 2005-06 Lakers were 8th in Offensive Rating but 15th in Defensive Rating. They were a middle-of-the-road team that relied entirely on out-executing you in the half-court. They didn't run. They didn't have the athletes for it. They just played the Triangle, fed Kobe, and hoped for the best.
It’s also worth noting that Andrew Bynum was a rookie on this team. He was 18. He barely played (about 7 minutes a game), but you could see the flashes of what would eventually become the championship center of 2009 and 2010. But in 2006? He was just a kid who looked lost half the time.
Practical takeaways for basketball fans
If you're ever debating Kobe's legacy or how hard it is to win in the NBA, keep the 2006 Los Angeles Lakers roster in your back pocket. It’s the ultimate "what if" season.
- Appreciate the role players: Even if Smush Parker wasn't an All-Star, he played a role in a specific system. It’s a reminder that fit matters more than raw talent sometimes.
- Coaching is a floor-raiser: Phil Jackson’s return was the only reason this team didn't bottom out. A great coach can make a bad roster look mediocre, and a mediocre roster look good.
- Contextualize scoring: High scoring numbers often come from necessity. Kobe’s 35.4 PPG wasn't just ego; it was a mathematical requirement for the Lakers to stay competitive.
The 2006 season was a fever dream. It was frustrating, exhilarating, and weirdly domestic. It was the year the Lakers became Kobe's team, for better or worse. It’s a roster that deserves to be remembered not for what it won, but for how hard it fought with so little.
To really get the full picture of this era, go back and watch the full Game 4 against the Suns from 2006. Don't just watch the highlights. Watch the possessions where Stanislav Medvedenko has to make a decision. Watch how the Lakers scrambled on defense. It puts everything Kobe did that year into a whole new perspective. Most "great" teams are remembered for their hardware. This one is remembered for the sheer force of will it took to keep the Purple and Gold relevant.