PPL dogging Rambis but: He has 5 NBA rings. Magic Johnson loved him; Kareem Abdul Jabbar loved him; James Worthy loved him; the crowd loved him. And I remember in 2019, I went home to see me parents in the hood. I had on a Rambis Jersey and all the black dudes came over to see my Jersey like "Where in the hell did you get that bro? That Rambis jersey is fire!" They all loved it. The neighborhood went crazy just to see a Rambis jersey. I mean, they could have given two shits if I wore a Jordan or James jersey. But when they saw that Rambis jersey everyone faces lit up and we all start sharing beer, having good times, and all the old folks started talking about Magic Johnson, Jabbar, Worthy, and the team and fan favorite KURT RAMBIS! You know you are a beast when Magic Johnson and Kareem praise you!
I was a kid living in LA area with Lakers. I used to joke when I missed my shots that they gave it to Rambis. Had no idea I to later life his talent. As a kid I just saw him as the random white guy.
as a 70 year old grandpa and former coach I would have loved to have all my 4 childrem and my 7 grand children play with the heart, determination, defense, and ability to rebound that my man Kurt exhibited. Best team player ever.
Rambis didn't have stats, but he worked his ass off and did the dirty work that other players wouldn't do - play tough defense, dive for loose balls, fly into the crowd to save an errant pass, be an annoyance on defense, or rebound quickly to start the fast break with a long chest pass. The finesse Lakers needed a guy like him who wore a hard hat to the job. Sometimes, when something bad happens, like when 6'10 Mitch Kupchak's knee blew out, and the Lakers were desperate for a replacement, Providence steps in, and you find a diamond in the rough. Rambis was that uncut diamond for the Lakers. That's him in the hardhat down there at the end of the bench with the open lunch pail, devouring a bologna sandwich, waiting for the call to go to work. He won't get a statue, but he'll get my salute. He was the prototype role player. They're easy to overlook, but necessary for success.
I so agree with this comment. Rambis was lucky to have great players like Magic, Kareem, and Worthy as teammates but he did work his ass off and had a knack of being in the right place at the right time. It doesn't hurt having Magic who had eyes everywhere though.
From watching Rambis play as a kid, one attribute that is overlooked about Rambis was his ability to start the fastbreak after a made basket. Rambis would practically pull the ball from the net, step out of bounds and pass the ball in to Magic so fast.
Yep. He did a lot of little things that wont make the highlight real, but gets noticed by other players and coaches. There was a reason he was in the league for so long. Longer than a lot of guys more skilled.
Correct, he would pull out like you said. I remember the Celtics caught on to that the first time they played them when we lost the series. They were grabbing the ball from the net and giving it to the referee to slow things down. We still came back and one more. I miss those days and am glad I got to watch them, and yes, the Celtics play those games. It's weird, when the Lakers were not in Finals, I wanted the Celtics to win. I know that is weird since they are arch rivals but I did respect the Celtics starting five. Not Kev Maxwell or that other fat fool, the loud one.
I would of loved Rambis to play for my Celtics in the 80s, I respected the hell out of this guy and Id imagine the Celtics did too. Great player and very underrated.
Kurt rambis is one of my fav players all time! My biggest idol when come to basketball. I wear glasses like he did and even tho I'm not the best player on the court I'd do my best and play my heart out like rambis said. This is man is a big inspiration
Growing up in San Francisco, and eventually attending University of San Francisco I went to USF games when I was a kid in the late 70s, Kurt was a beast for Santa Clara. He was the best player in the WCC when USF had some greate teams back then. Wore those same glasses then, as well....
He's in my top 3 favorite of that era. Kareem, Magic and Kurt Rambis. He played his heart out, got mistreated by others but his teammates had his back!
I grew up in Chicago in the late 70s, 80s. Until 1988, the Bulls were hard to watch..so I was a Lakers fan, just in awe of Magic and Kareem. I loved Kurt Rambis. That guy worked his ass off. He just went in there and did everything he was asked to do and more. Give the Captain a rest...put up a few points, get some rebounds, block a shot.... maybe foul someone so Kareem didn't get into foul trouble. I'll take a Kurt Rambis on my team. I love that he had his own fan club.
not to many kurt rambis's in the nba today what people don't know that he was a great offensive player out of santa clara and great rebounder his records just recently broken
I was born in 1073 in Seattle, where I grew up. Sonics and Blazers fan. Japanese-American (showing HOW I grew up). I did NOT know, that Tom Rambis could do a two-handed alley-oop! He seemed to dunk a lot against the SPURS! Even Black teammates and Lakers fans loved him! That's so awesome, because it reminds me of how even Caucasian and Black fans liked Ichiro and Apollo Ohno.
That was a classy move by the lakers doing the ring ceremony when they played the hornets. The did it so Kurt could be apart of it. He was the veteran leader of that expansion team and lead them to a solid record. He started 75 games that year averaging 9.4 rebounds and 11.1 points per game. His veteran leadership and toughness helped them to a 20-62 record that year. Pretty damn good for a new franchise in its first year. A classy tough man who was the ultimate overachiever and team first guy.
You can make a lot of arguments about Kurt Rambis. But one thing no one can argue is this: Kurt Rambis was one of the three best white players on the 85 Lakers... Want to argue?
So it's a trick question? Kinda like the Covid Vaccine isn't really a vaccine by the definition of what the word represents ? If they didn't make it a thing it wouldn't be a thing and why do we need a vaccine for something that's treatable? Because your brainwashed .. They Lie... That's what they do .. that's all they do...
As a teen in those days I always cheered for Superman. For the first time in 37 years I'm not a Laker fan . Thanks Lebron, should've stayed wherever you were. Leave the Lakers please. Nothing but a glorified ring chaser.
nobody worked harder than Superman Rambis. He was only 6'8 but he got more reboun dsn per minutes than any forward in] the league one year behind just Barkley, Rodman, and McHale. He worked his ass off
James Worthy gave him the ultimate compliment. James said after winning the NCAA championship in 82’ he thought he was bad ass & no one could stop him. First day @ Lakers training camp Kurt made a “believer” out of James.
The '' White Dennis Rodman ''. Kyriakos Rambidis the ..... GREEK Basketball Legend (He played for AEK GREECE Im jokking for the Greek player). One of the best defensive players ever in my opinion !!!! His game was 100% full of heart and passion!!!
Don't forget Rudy LaRusso. He was "Rambis" to Elgin Baylor and Jerry West - and when he got out of their shadow and was traded to San Francisco, he became an offensive threat, too. The Laker always had plenty of shooters, so they didn't need much offense from LaRusso. They needed guys like LaRusso and Rambis to provide muscle and rebounding. Kurt did more in the trenches, though. He scrambled for everything. And remember, they knew when Kupchak went down with a bad leg that they would be lucky if they could fill that big hole in the line-up. They were lucky to get a fired up guy like Kurt. They've had a lot of Power Forwards who provided very little. What Rambis brought most was heart and fire. When the Lakers started going through the motions and losing ground to an opponent, they'd usually bring in Kurt, or the harassing Cooper to snap them out of it - bring energy.
Every team has a Rambis. The guy who got there from hustle alone doing things the statistics don't count. Either way if you made it to the NBA your a bad ass.
