Get To Know Our Owners Better…Meet the Buss’s

LA Times: In the mind of their patriarch, the Lakers were always a family affair, even if only his sons and daughters, who stood to inherit what Dad had wrought, took it seriously.

Even in recent years, as Jerry Buss named Jim assistant general manager of the Lakers, handed the business side to Jeanie and the Sparks to Johnny, speculation about an eventual sale never stopped.

In the ’90s, the prevailing rumor had the Lakers going to Sony for a then unheard-of $500 million. More recently, speculation centered on Rupert Murdoch. Then it was Philip Anschutz, their Staples Center landlord, who bought 25% of the club along with a right of first refusal, should the team be put up for sale.

However, Jerry Buss never wavered. Last season it became clear that he was preparing for a succession, not a sale. Jim moved into decision-making at the highest level as his father put it squarely: “He’ll replace me.”

“I envisioned me getting to the point where I am now and I’m very happy that it happened,” he said recently. “It’s the way to learn. Having all these guys, Jerry West, Mitch [Kupchak, the general manager], Ronnie [Lester, assistant general manager], you’re surrounded by all these guys who are great teachers.

“I’ve had eight years of teaching and I’m learning every day. When I hear somebody say, ‘Are you qualified?’ I’m like, ‘If you had eight years of Jerry West, plus Mitch Kupchak and all the talented scouts working on a daily basis tutoring you, I don’t know what other credentials you could have.’ ”

When Riley asked point-blank for guidance, Buss said he told him of a talk he’d had with one of his sons. His son had asked why he hadn’t kicked him through college but he replied that wasn’t his way. “If I didn’t do it for my own son,” Jerry Buss said he told Riley, “I’m not going to do it for you.”

“I think that’s how he is with all of us,” Jim says. “It could have been me but he’s just been a super father all the way through.

“At the time, you don’t know it, but later on, wow, he was there for me. He didn’t push me in the wrong direction or force me to do anything. He let me find myself and I appreciate that.”

So what do all of you think about Dr. Jerry Buss handing down our Lakers team to his kin? Do you think Jimmy will do more good then bad for the franchise, or are you concerned for the Lakers franchise’s future? Sound off on our CL.com Forums!