Talk:Los Angeles Lakers/GA2

GA Review

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Hello. I will be doing the GA review for this article. Here are some issues I noticed, as well as some suggestions for improvement:

Completed tasks

• "The Lakers are notable for having" - You don't have to mention that something is notable...obviously it is or it wouldn't be included. Change to "The Lakers had"

Did i replace the word notable? BlueRed 19:28, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

• "The Lakers are generally regarded as one of the NBA's most successful franchises." - by who?
• Avoid contractions - I see at least a couple that need to be spelled out longhand

What contractions did you notice? BlueRed 08:00, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Didn't (twice), weren't...that was just a scan though, there may be more. Nikki311 16:09, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

• "Abdul-Jabbar broke his hand and was out for two months, the Lakers ended up winning 45 games." - there is a word missing in here somewhere
• The one section is entitled "Showtime" without making it 100% clear to what it is referring. Maybe change "By the 1984–85 season, the Lakers' "Showtime" era was in full swing" to "By the 1984–85 season, the Lakers' "Showtime" era, the most successful era in the team's history, was in full swing" - I'm just using that as an example, because I don't know exactly what the era means, but my phrase could be substituted with the appropriate definition.
• Headers: only the first word and proper nouns should be capital

Which words shouldn't be capitalized? BlueRed 08:00, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Dynasty (depending on if that's the proper name) and rivalry. Nikki311 16:09, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

• "Although Seattle won the first game, the Lakers responded with four straight wins, and taking the series." - two options to fix this sentence. "Although Seattle won the first game, the Lakers responded with four straight wins, taking the series." or "Although Seattle won the first game, the Lakers responded with four straight wins and took the series."
• Avoid POV terms like "Unfortunately"
• Avoid prepositions at the ends of sentences: "the team saw the emergence of their young center Andrew Bynum, whom the Lakers saw potential in." --> "the team saw the emergence of their young center Andrew Bynum, in whom the Lakers saw potential."
• Isn't a little too early to call the last section "Rebirth"? They could begin losing again at any moment, and although some great things happened (including getting to the finals), they didn't win them. I'd suggest merging the "2007–present" into the "Rebuilding section".

I merged it. BlueRed 19:30, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

• "The Lakers have a long and historic rivalry with the Boston Celtics, who met in the NBA Finals 11 times, the Lakers only won two of them (1985, 1987)." - this sentence is missing a word somewhere
• "One of the most memorable moments in the rivalry" - POV - Just say "During the rivalry"
• There is a lot of vernacular or informal phrases. For example, saying a team "fell" instead of lost or were defeated, as well as saying "ended up winning" instead of just "won" - a good copyedit may help eliminate some of the wordiness and informality

I removed all "ended up" phrasing.—Chris! _ct 06:34, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

• Some of the references are missing publishers, accessdates, etc.

Which ones? BlueRed 19:30, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Fixed—Chris! _ct 06:34, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

• I'm worried about the reliability of some of the sources, including LakersWeb.net, hoops4thesoul, greatsportsrivalries, and lakersuniverse. What makes these sites reliable?

• There is also some cases of improper comma usage throughout. Commas should be used to separate clauses that can stand independently of one another without the conjunction. So... "During the 1993–94 season the team ended up only winning 33 games, and missing the playoffs for the fourth time in franchise history." should be "During the 1993–94 season the team ended up only winning 33 games and missing the playoffs for the fourth time in franchise history."

Did i fix it, or are there still more? BlueRed 19:30, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

• The lead doesn't comply with WP:LEAD. The lead should be about three or four paragraphs summarizing all the main points of the article.

I'll give the authors of this article seven days to make improvements. Nikki311 16:37, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

Some work has been done, but I still see quite a few problems that have not been addressed from my list above. I'll give the article a few more days in the hopes that some fresh eyes will have a go at my suggestions. Nikki311 17:07, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

I put strikes through the ones I thought were completely taken care of. The ones without strikes still need some work. Nikki311 01:38, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

I've expand the lead and fix some comma issues.—Chris! _ct 23:53, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, I've been busy with some other projects. I'll check through the article again in the next couple of days. Nikki311 00:03, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Ok. I finally had a chance to look back through the article. I eliminated quite a bit of wordiness and peacock phrases. Keep an eye on new contributions to make sure wording is neutral. For example, saying a season was good is biased...just state the facts. I've decided to pass the article because I believe it now meets all the GA criteria. Great work! Nikki311 22:41, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks—Chris! _ct 22:48, 30 October 2008 (UTC)