None of these guys may actually " be in line " to take the job. I could see LAL pulling the trigger on this just by virtue of helping create excitement for viewership going forward. They can't just rely on a draft pick to create buzz and fill the hole that Kobe left. They have to hit a certain mark in ratings, it's in their contract with TWC, so the combination of a new coach/new draft pick/new free agent signings could help them out in that regard. Potential free agent targets will possibly have input in regards to who the next coach is.
My point was more about the Buss kids and their hubris than hiring Thibs in particular. Although I blame Jeannie more, collectively they've been a shit show and should take a long look in the mirror
They've been handling day to day ops since 2005, overseen 2 championships, drafted an all-star center, made landmark acquisitions, etc. They're fine. No team just wins forever and ever and ever. Dr. Buss had to rebuild too, Dr. Buss had deals blow up in his face too, like the Worthy for Barkley trade after Magic left. Shit happens and Lakers rebound.
Again, Dr. Buss was only there in name and designation, he turned ops over to them and just acted as the final say/thumbs up/thumbs down guy from '05 until his death, he was completely done worrying with day to day ops. His final act was making sure that Kobe re-signed back when Phil and Shaq left, so yeah he also oversaw the fall of Kobe/Shaq, which fans still moan about because there was no perfect/happy ending to that era. But he legitimately gave Jim and Jeanie on the job training years before passing away, not leaving the team in inexperienced hands...a successful business man's approach, shocker, I know. The only things showing right now are the effects of New Orleans' ridiculous ownership situation and what happens when you win 5 championships behind the most popular icon in the sport since Michael Jordan.
Byron was kinda dickish as a player. But he and kobe had a good relationship. Im sure he was always going to be fired after the last kobe/tank season. And that a hardass would not be the type of coach they hired next
League got together and took a shit on it's best asset. Like Stern said, the best NBA Finals possible would be Lakers vs. Lakers. Jim did his job a little too well I suppose. They wanted the Lakers to cut cost and to come back to the pack in terms of spending, Jim cuts a deal to shave like 30MM in costs and gets Chris Paul to boot. Lol Jim basically said " here's an L " and the league said " fuck that L, we'll take our ball and go home. " Hah We'll be back
Guessing, I'd say no. It's not like the Lakers really needed any saving, they lost to the eventual champion Mavs after making 3 Finals appearances in a row, things weren't all that bad. It definitely was a shot to their rebuild on the fly model, but they still had a piece or two. I'd say it probably had more to do with the move itself and what it signified right after they'd held CBA talks that specifically targeted the Lakers and how to create more competitive balance. IMO, the following facial would sum up what happened when the CP3 deal was agreed to and the news broke...Jim Buss/Lakers = Paul George, the league = Birdman...
Yeah that's the other thing, if we believe in the strength of Dr. Buss' influence then the belief in Jim and Jeanie should be there. Not that Dr. Buss' influence was infinite, again, the Barkley/Worthy trade blew up in his face as well as not being able to patch it up with Shaq late in that run, etc. Still, he got it done much of the time. There is no worst part of the CP3 debacle, it was all bad. The fact that league decided it was cool for it's outwardly racist owner to land Chris Paul...the league chose poorly. Ruined a man's career to some extent, CP3 would probably have a ring by now and now he'll never get one, at least not with the Clippers. One of the things that stood out during Kobe's farewell tour was how CP3 embraced it and opened up about the vetoed trade and some other stuff regarding Kobe/Lakers, you could tell why he's the president. Every time I saw CP3 talk about the veto fiasco, it looked like he was thinking to himself " what if I didn't land in this shithole Clips' org? " Just bad timing, and now with a broken hand here's another year down the drain for CP3
That proposed trade was Worthy for Mark Aguirre. Either way a bad idea. http://articles.latimes.com/1986-10-14/sports/sp-3222_1_james-worthy
Worthy was headed to Philly for Barkley as well http://articles.philly.com/1992-01-12/sports/26034152_1_trade-los-angeles-lakers-worthy "I got traded to the Lakers one day and the Sixers retracted the deal," Barkley told SI.com. "The Sixers back out. It was going crazy for two weeks so I knew it would come down to Portland, [the] Lakers or Phoenix," he continued. "So I get a call from my agent one morning and he said, 'Philly has traded you to the Lakers.'" But yeah the Aguirre/Worthy deal fell apart as well. Dr. Buss wasn't perfect, couldn't make everything happen because shit just happens in business, but he was still the greatest.
Forgot about that one. Remember Aguirre because he was tight with Magic. Agree on Doc. He was the best we've had in LA.
I always remember the failed Barkley trade because the next rebuild was supposed to be centered around him, the post-Magic era, not getting him was somewhat of a setback, they had to wait and pounce on Shaq years later instead. It's similar to the CP3 thing in that way since he was supposed to be the lead dog post-Kobe.
Rather rebuild around a great PG than an undersized power forward. Thanks to Stern and Co. we never got see how that would work.
UConn coach Kevin Ollie is interested in the Lakers’ coaching opening, a source close to the situation told SNY.tv. “Of course he is interested,” the source said. “He is from Crenshaw.”
Don't you think that's a risky hire? It seems like a pure Durant play. But not sure what his strengths and weaknesses are as a NBA coach.
