Lakeshow24 wrote:It's amazing that after the Lakers were swept by Dallas, the eventual champions, and the same team that mopped the floor with LeBron James and Co, that Jimmy Buss hit the panic button and blew everything up. I didn't feel good at that time about him panicking.
He should have just kept the team and coaching staff intact and went after revenge. Damnit.
In Jim's defense though I understand why he wanted to move both LO and Gasol for Pau. Both of them were no shows in the playoffs. While it was a risky move, a bold move, I think you have to applaud him for going for it. Now, the bad part is that he went for it when all of the forces of the NBA were against us. He tried to sneak it through right after Stern and Company had been publicly dead-set against the Lakers SPECIFICALLY landing more superstars. The timing was a big FU to the other owners and to Stern. That's why he slammed down with Basketball Reasons. The other owners said, "But Stern, this is what you said wouldn't and couldn't happen any more - and here the Lakers are doing it again."
So ultimately you could argue that it might not have been the best move because of that timing. But it was legal. And it was a high risk high reward move that might have set us up for the next several years.
In all of the dialogue about Jim Buss, I think he has NOT been given enough credit for his work on personnel. In that regard I think he's done a very good job. Look at his track record: he kept Bynum until he could turn him into Dwight (still a good move no matter how many people are looking back at Bynum with rose colored glasses), he was instrumental in getting Jordan Hill, Ramon Sessions (who I thought was a good find, but wasn't in the right system and didn't have the experience to help get us over in the playoffs), and of course he made that move for Chris Paul.
Where he's failed now three times is in the coaching hire department. I think Jim Buss' fault is that he is trying to have his hand in too many pies. Jerry was brilliant in that he deferred a lot of the basketball decisions. Jim wants to be involved in personnel and that's not necessarily bad. But he NEEDS DESPERATELY to stop trying to hire coaches. Just let Mitch hire the coach from now on.