Story of Rudy G's departure, now working a food truck

I believe it was in one of Ding's or another LA beat writer that had said that in their blog posts...still trying to track it down...but Berger did have this as a follow up to what was initially reported:

Note that I did not include the Lakers in the list of five organizations that could be headed for turmoil. According to a person directly involved in the Lakers' decision-making, speculation that GM Mitch Kupchak is on the way out is premature. Privately, Kupchak is said to be seething over the Lakers' decision to unceremoniously dismiss assistant GM Ronnie Lester and nearly all the scouts who worked under him. But there have been no indications that Kupchak, a shrewd architect of the Lakers' run of championship success, is angling for a departure.

^Ok. Thanks for posting that. I never read that. Berger is a credible source. In or around that time, it was reported that Mitch could be looking at other options. I remember that. Additionally, I did see an interview when Mitch was out of town at a college game scouting because of the dismissal of Lester & and the scouts on the Lakers staff. So, a lot of those responsibilities fell on Mitch along with his other day to day duties.

I could see Mitch being upset over something like this & and the way it being handled. I don't think he would leave over that very reason, though. It would have to take something a lot bigger then Lester's departure. Mitch's contract is up soon, though. So, it will be interesting to see if he re-signs given all the rampant speculation of working with Jim and his buffoonery. I know I wouldn't want to work with my boss if was anything close to what Jim Buss is reported as being as incompetent as he has been in the media.

IMO, Mitch wouldn't work for anybody who kept interfering with his decisions and improperly handled delicate matters . Either way, this situation could have been handled differently with Lester, but it wasn't. I just don't get putting this on all Jim, yet. We'll see if Mitch re-signs. That should tell us what we need to know.

Two weeks after he heard of Brown's impending hire, Shaw said he received a voicemail from Jerry Buss.

"Dr. Buss did call and leave a message saying that his son is in control now, and he has to let him make whatever decisions that he makes, that I was still one of his favorites, and that he was sure that I would be OK going forward," Shaw said.

"You think of the Lakers and you think they are a great organization," Lester said. "But if you work inside the organization, it's only a perception of being a great organization. It's probably not a great organization, because great organizations don't treat their personnel like they've done."

"They've done a great job for us and it's just sad that the organization is letting people go without communicating with these people during the course of the [lockout] situation," Lester said. "It affects people's lives. Not only those scouts, but they have families too and it affects their lives. That's what is so depressing about it, so sad about it."

"I don't want anybody to lose their jobs," Lester said. "But I am curious about something. Why is it just the basketball operations people losing their jobs? That's what I want to know."

Of course there are other Phil advocates that are screaming bloody foul, but there is just too much evidence indicating that Jimmy has corrupted the environment here. I feel that Jerry allowed his good name to be dragged into the mud cause he was only trying to protect and deflect the criticism that Jimmy was getting. The truth is that any knowledgeable fan that followed the team, noticed that there was a polarity in the organization's decision making and that coincidentally overlapped when Jimmy was coming into power.

dwighthowardsdad wrote:^Ok. Thanks for posting that. I never read that. Berger is a credible source. In or around that time, it was reported that Mitch could be looking at other options. I remember that. Additionally, I did see an interview when Mitch was out of town at a college game scouting because of the dismissal of Lester & and the scouts on the Lakers staff. So, a lot of those responsibilities fell on Mitch along with his other day to day duties.

I could see Mitch being upset over something like this & and the way it being handled. I don't think he would leave over that very reason, though. It would have to take something a lot bigger then Lester's departure. Mitch's contract is up soon, though. So, it will be interesting to see if he re-signs given all the rampant speculation of working with Jim and his buffoonery. I know I wouldn't want to work with my boss if was anything close to what Jim Buss is reported as being as incompetent as he has been in the media.

IMO, Mitch wouldn't work for anybody who kept interfering with his decisions and improperly handled delicate matters . Either way, this situation could have been handled differently with Lester, but it wasn't. I just don't get putting this on all Jim, yet. We'll see if Mitch re-signs. That should tell us what we need to know.

I never claim inside info, as I'm not an insider and I'm not usually anywhere close to that kind of knowledge.

However, I did have it on good authority close to the source that the rumor of Mitch's readiness to depart near the end of last year actually did have legs. Lazenby had reported it and I guess so did Berger.

It was actually real. Luckily, he and Jim/Jerry seemed to have worked that out, and I think he's happier now. It would take a lot for Mitch, as loyal a guy as there is, to consider moving on. But thankfully he did not.

Now if Jim is going to keep any credibility as an owner himself the very first thing on his radar this summer should be re-signing Mitch. Without Mitch, this would be a sinking ship. With Mitch locked down we should be in pretty darn good hands. Now if he'd only delegate the coaching hires to Mitch, too, I'd be really stoked.

^^^I completely agree with you again LJ....let Mitch handle basketball operations from personnel to coaching. Jimmy just needs to come in when they need a majority vote on a split decision.

Well Vash, I don't think you're going to see Jimmy let go of working with Mitch on personnel. That one he relishes and I dare say, I think it's his strength. I'm talking strictly about Player personnel though. That's the one area I haven't minded Jim's input and I will defend him. I think he has a decent feel about players. He picked Bynum over Sean May, he wanted Sessions who I liked as well, he liked Jordan Hill which was a good call. He was also behind trading Pau and LO for Chris Paul. At the time I was on the fence because we were giving up two bigs, but he had the insight to move Pau for a big time player in Chris Paul. It was bold, and perhaps unwise given the rest of the owners and Stern calling for our heads that summer of the CBA - and then us turning around and doing what they didn't want to see. But still I think he had the right idea. And then when he finally agreed to trade Bynum it was to get Howard which was another good move. I also liked the Nash signing. So I don't hate him having a hand in player personnel. I think he's had success there. That's what he trained to do under West.

However coaches? Hell no. Please stop. He's embarrassed himself three times now. Delegate to Mitch immediately.

I wouldn't give that much credit to Jimmy on personnel though. I think Mitch is a very advantageous GM. If something becomes available and its an absolutely need, he'll move in and knows how to talk to the opposing team to make the deal work.

Without Drew going down, we don't get Gasol. But Mitch knew he was available and made the blitz once he knew that Drew was no longer a viable option going forward, especially on the heels of Kobe wanting to get traded to Pluto.

CP3 and David West wanted out of NO since there was no ownership and no real title aspirations. Its a no brainer to entertain dealing for CP3 especially when that was our biggest need at the time and you know that Kobe is nearing the end of his run. Trading Pau and LO for CP3 was bold, but part of that move was to shed cap. I think leaving LO out of it wouldn't have nixed that deal in the least. But then of course, it does get nixed, so then we move on to plan B which was Sessions and with him in, Fish gets dealt out. Again, you miss all the boards that we would have had with LO off the bench, so you go for a guy like Jordan Hill, especially when you have the Rockets on speed dial from the previous CP3 activity.

But one thing is for sure, he did pick Drew in the draft....but his desire was to make him the future and obviously as we can see now, that just wasn't the right direction...especially since it seems like Drew's number one priority doesn't appear to be basketball...but that's a whole other topic.

Trading Drew for Dwight again isn't some mastermind stroke...but Jimmy did finally give up on his pet project and kudos to him for realizing it, but again in terms of personnel I think its primarily Mitch doing the heavy lifting.

Vasashi17 wrote:This isn't about feeling sorry for Rudy. He wanted a food truck, while he was with the Lakers...so I'm happy for him that he got his business up and running.

Like Misti and many have already said in this thread, what is rotten about this story is the unceremonious way they dropped him and many other loyal and tenured staff. It was reported that Mitch was irate at the way Lester was handled and even contemplated resigning.

Shaw didn't even get an interview and lets say he becomes one of the better coaches in the league, will he ever consider returning to us? Will he ever recommend the Lakers with his peers and any free agents that he comes across (ie Paul George)? It's bad business no matter how you look at it. Magic knew it, which explains his departure from the Lakers to join Dodgers ownership. The Logo knew it, when he left and didn't even consider rejoining us after his stint in Memphis...instead choosing to go up north. Something is rotten around these parts and most of us (including loyal Laker legends) know it.

This shouldn't be the Laker way...period!

From a collective point of view, yeah I do get what you're saying.

I just don't think the way they dealt with a guy who slings undies and jerseys is necessarily reflective of anything but when you look at it from a more holistic point of view, how they treated the top guys all the way to the bottom guys, I understand how that can be viewed as bad for business.

^^^^^^^^
Jim Buss' style so far is to pull power plays and rub it in people's face when letting them go just so he can.