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ESPN: How did the Lakers get here? The inside story of the Buss drama

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T

Tripon

Member
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...geles-lakers-owner-jeanie-buss-tough-decision

Lakers franchise is a mess.

THE CHILLY RELATIONSHIP only got worse when Jackson left to become president of the Knicks. Jeanie blamed her brother for forcing her to choose between the Lakers and the man she loved.

Long distance was far more of a strain on Buss' and Jackson's relationship than either of them anticipated, particularly because, due to the NBA's policy against conflicts of interest, the couple couldn't discuss anything related to their teams. And if they ever decided to marry, the other NBA owners would have to approve it.

Each year that went by, Buss and Jackson grew further apart. Although Jeanie could've resigned her post as Lakers president to live with and marry Jackson in New York, that was never going to happen. She was far too proud of her career for that, and she always saw the Lakers as a civic treasure for which she was responsible.

The breakup in the fall of 2016 was hard on Jeanie. It brought back to the surface her resentment toward Jim and served as a reminder of just how much her relationship with her brother and Kupchak had been poisoned by mistrust.
Click to expand...
 
D

Dr.Acula

Banned
Jackson should have just retired. He's old. He's accomplished everything. What does he even do in New York?
 
K

Kickz

Member
Meh the league is fine without them, afterall the Knicks who are in the biggest market have been dogshit since their inception
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
I imagine (and hope) they eventually sell the team. The Buss family (mostly the good Dr.) have done great things for the franchise but now they are in over their heads for the modern NBA. Sell to a corporation, take your $4 billion and ride off into the sunset.
 
T

Tripon

Member
Ninja Scooter said:
I imagine (and hope) they eventually sell the team. The Buss family (mostly the good Dr.) have done great things for the franchise but now they are in over their heads for the modern NBA. Sell to a corporation, take your $4 billion and ride off into the sunset.
Click to expand...
I think AEG would want to keep their stake in the Lakers to keep the Lakers at the Staples center for as long as possible.
 
T

Temp_User

Member
Can't help but have that Imogen Heap song playing on my head while reading through the ESPN article.

I hope for the sake of the Lakers and their fans, this gets fixed soon. Also may i suggest to take a page from the McMahon family and do a Fatal Four-way Elimination Match between the Buss siblings to settle this.
 
J

Jacce

Banned
Ninja Scooter said:
I imagine (and hope) they eventually sell the team. The Buss family (mostly the good Dr.) have done great things for the franchise but now they are in over their heads for the modern NBA. Sell to a corporation, take your $4 billion and ride off into the sunset.
Click to expand...

After Jeanie fired everyone and brought in Magic and the new GM that really isn't going to be on the cards for a while. They will give that a number of years to work before rethinking anything again.

Not to mention I think Jeanie and the Buss clan are too proud to ever sell it regardless.
 
T

True Savior

Member
jjqg1tX.jpg


It was fun indeed.
 
W

WascallyWabbit

Member
Great read, thanks OP
Looks like after being a mess for these last few years (though i'm honestly not sure how much they could have done given Kobe's declining years and the league veto-ing that CP3 trade) Jeanie seems to be righting the ship

Good to see a woman in charge of an NBA team as ownership now

Also, it almost seems appropriate that the Lakers have this drama behind the scenes, kinda goes with the whole LA thing
 
K

Kill3r7

Member
Kickz said:
Meh the league is fine without them, afterall the Knicks who are in the biggest market have been dogshit since their inception
Click to expand...

Define fine? The Knicks still sellout and carry their fair share of the market but if they were actually good the NBA would be doing much better ratings wise. There is a reason why every sport covets the big TV markets.
 
E

EazyWeazy3

Member
I grew up rooting for the Niners and Lakers.

These past few years have been brutal to say the least.

Two historic franchises and it all came crashing down so quickly.

Thank goodness for the Giants.
 
S

Sandfox

Member
All of these hit pieces from Jeanie's mouthpieces in the media and annoying. They are also starting to get contradictory.

Also, it makes no sense to blame Jim for Jeanie and Phil not working out because they both clearly picked their jobs over each other.
 
C

Cels

Member
lakers aren't doing shit until mozgov/deng are off the books. does any other team have a single worse pair of contracts?

i had no idea linda rambis (wife of noted great ass daily fan and kevin mchale clothesline victim kurt rambis) is a lakers executive



even the tank commander himself knew what was up, that's how you know it's bad

In the two years that Byron Scott was coach of the Lakers, he says, "I never talked to Jeanie. It just felt like it'd be a betrayal of Mitch and Jim."

Although Scott had known Jeanie Buss for decades, as both a player for the Lakers in the 1980s and as a coach, he says, he always got the vibe from Kupchak and Jim Buss that "they would look at that as me not being loyal to them."
Click to expand...
 
P

Pastry

Banned
WascallyWabbit said:
Great read, thanks OP
Looks like after being a mess for these last few years (though i'm honestly not sure how much they could have done given Kobe's declining years and the league veto-ing that CP3 trade) Jeanie seems to be righting the ship

Good to see a woman in charge of an NBA team as ownership now

Also, it almost seems appropriate that the Lakers have this drama behind the scenes, kinda goes with the whole LA thing
Click to expand...


The CEO of Spurs Sports & Entertainment is female also, wife of the former CEO.
 
J

jwhit28

Member
It's David Stearns's fault. "Basketball reasons" put the Lakers in this position. If they were winning Phil would have never come into the picture and this Game of Thrones power struggle never happens.
 
Goro Majima

Goro Majima

Kitty Genovese Member
I'm not sure if I see a problem unless you require your marquee franchises to be dominant for decades on end in a league where 20 out of 30 franchises haven't won a title for 20 years or more.
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
I don't know how much I trust Jeanie but at the very least there will hopefully be some stability now, and the Pelinka hire seems like a smart one.
 
S

SamuelSupreme

Banned
Sandfox said:
All of these hit pieces from Jeanie's mouthpieces in the media and annoying. They are also starting to get contradictory.

Also, it makes no sense to blame Jim for Jeanie and Phil not working out because they both clearly picked their jobs over each other.
Click to expand...


Did you forget the whole Phil might come back only to get sideline for Mike Fucking D'Antoni? Aka Pringles?
 
C

Cels

Member
SamuelSupreme said:
Did you forget the whole Phil might come back only to get sideline for Mike Fucking D'Antoni? Aka Pringles?
Click to expand...

it's not really about the fact that dantoni got hired (he's a good coach) but about the process:

clearly there was miscommunication between jeanie and jim leading to phil's interview and how phil felt that he had a few days to decide even though they shocked him by informing him they were going with dantoni. that's what makes kupchak/jim look really bad here.
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
Cels said:
it's not really about the fact that dantoni got hired (he's a good coach) but about the process:

clearly there was miscommunication between jeanie and jim leading to phil's interview and how phil felt that he had a few days to decide even though they shocked him by informing him they were going with dantoni. that's what makes kupchak/jim look really bad here.
Click to expand...

The bungling of that process was hiring and keeping Mike Brown in the first place.
D'Antoni is a great coach, but he's not the kind of guy you bring in during the season without time to install his system, and with two new stars (Dwight and Nash) on the roster.
 
K

kIdMuScLe

Member
The lakers were already going on the downhill cuz of Kobe so it wouldn't matter who was coaching at the time. Kobe final years did more damage to the franchise than "basketball reasons " did
 
F

friskykillface

Banned
Wasn't the trade

Pau
Odom
Insert player name here
Insert player name here
Picks?

For
Chris Paul

Lakers would have had Kobe, old ass Fish, future RIP Bynum and garbage players + CP3
CP3 isn't that good, you can win without him, it's happened his entire career

lolakers
 
I

Into the Light

Banned
Ninja Scooter said:
I imagine (and hope) they eventually sell the team. The Buss family (mostly the good Dr.) have done great things for the franchise but now they are in over their heads for the modern NBA. Sell to a corporation, take your $4 billion and ride off into the sunset.
Click to expand...

As always, Ninja hits with the truth.
 
J

jwhit28

Member
friskykillface said:
Wasn't the trade

Pau
Odom
Insert player name here
Insert player name here
Picks?

For
Chris Paul

Lakers would have had Kobe, old ass Fish, future RIP Bynum and garbage players + CP3
CP3 isn't that good, you can win without him, it's happened his entire career

lolakers
Click to expand...

I was only half serious but you have to admit it would be easier to attract big free agents if CP3 had been there as the bridge through Kobe's retirement.
 
K

kIdMuScLe

Member
friskykillface said:
Wasn't the trade

Pau
Odom
Insert player name here
Insert player name here
Picks?

For
Chris Paul

Lakers would have had Kobe, old ass Fish, future RIP Bynum and garbage players + CP3
CP3 isn't that good, you can win without him, it's happened his entire career

lolakers
Click to expand...

THhey already had a deal to get Howard at the same time but got voided from "basketball reasons "
 
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