"Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty" is back for season 2 and attempts to pack and foreshadow all the storylines we'll see play out in 70 minutes of the first episode: "One Ring Don't Make a Dynasty".
This is exactly where we leave off - a high of winning the NBA championship - which quickly turns to some off the court personal issues the young Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah) must deal with in the Summer of 1980.
The Lakers, now talking dynasty, need to figure out how to capitalize on their amazing season, and identify what steps need to be taken to improve an already talented roster. Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly) has a speculative idea to try to get ahead of the new free agency rules which turns off the rest of his management team - and might even get some help from an incoming President in the White House. Sports Business remains an underlying theme in this series.
Training Camp is back in the Desert and the uncomfortable relationship between Magic and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Solomon Hughes) spills both on and off the court as parenthood becomes a theme - For Dr. Buss, Kareem, and maybe not so surprisingly, Magic himself.
All is well as the season starts until Magic begins the year with a gruesome injury, and the Front Office has some questions to answer. Will Magic come back during the season? If he does, will he be the same player that helped the Lakers win, or a shell of his former self? Do the Lakers trade for someone in the meantime?
The Lakers need to adjust quickly, and with questions of Kareem slowing down a bit, Coach Westhead flexes his coaching brain to fix the team and fix it quick. One of the more fun storylines of season one - the Larry Bird/Magic rivalry is teased to let us know that the rivalry is far from over.
"One Ring Don't Make a Dynasty" is a great episode to foreshadow the themes of Season 2. Isaiah, Reilly, and Hughes are back in midseason form as well as the vintage 1970s-era video cameras to continue to produce the classic look where the cinematography shines. However, with so much to comprehend in just one episode, it leaves the viewer struggling with where to focus their attention.
With these storylines likely spreading out through the new season and hopefully giving us a bit of breathing room, we have a lot to look forward to - sports and non-sports fans alike.
This is exactly where we leave off - a high of winning the NBA championship - which quickly turns to some off the court personal issues the young Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah) must deal with in the Summer of 1980.
The Lakers, now talking dynasty, need to figure out how to capitalize on their amazing season, and identify what steps need to be taken to improve an already talented roster. Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly) has a speculative idea to try to get ahead of the new free agency rules which turns off the rest of his management team - and might even get some help from an incoming President in the White House. Sports Business remains an underlying theme in this series.
Training Camp is back in the Desert and the uncomfortable relationship between Magic and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Solomon Hughes) spills both on and off the court as parenthood becomes a theme - For Dr. Buss, Kareem, and maybe not so surprisingly, Magic himself.
All is well as the season starts until Magic begins the year with a gruesome injury, and the Front Office has some questions to answer. Will Magic come back during the season? If he does, will he be the same player that helped the Lakers win, or a shell of his former self? Do the Lakers trade for someone in the meantime?
The Lakers need to adjust quickly, and with questions of Kareem slowing down a bit, Coach Westhead flexes his coaching brain to fix the team and fix it quick. One of the more fun storylines of season one - the Larry Bird/Magic rivalry is teased to let us know that the rivalry is far from over.
"One Ring Don't Make a Dynasty" is a great episode to foreshadow the themes of Season 2. Isaiah, Reilly, and Hughes are back in midseason form as well as the vintage 1970s-era video cameras to continue to produce the classic look where the cinematography shines. However, with so much to comprehend in just one episode, it leaves the viewer struggling with where to focus their attention.
With these storylines likely spreading out through the new season and hopefully giving us a bit of breathing room, we have a lot to look forward to - sports and non-sports fans alike.
