Jeanie Buss-Jackson reveals she has the final world in Los Angeles
Over the last few years, Jeanie Buss has seen huge support from Laker Nation in taking control of the purple and gold empire in comparison to her older brother Jim Buss – who hasn’t been a fan favorite for their personnel moves. Ms. Buss stopped by ESPN 2 earlier today to give a state of the Lakers address on First Take with Stephen A. Smith, Cari Champion and Skip Bayless. 27 months ago when the Los Angeles Lakers first acquired Dwight Howard, the Buss family were initially making strides to make the NBA’s most prominent franchise a title contender once again. Two years prior, the team had just won their second consecutive championship and made significant changes to their team when former head coach Phil Jackson left due to health issues.
During the 2013 season, Jeanie’s companion the Zenmaster was initially being targeted to return to the team as head coach for a third time, but was only given 24 hours to answer them with a yes or no. While the team decided to go with Mike D’Antoni, that put a huge hindrance on their relationship with Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol (both first ballot hall-of-famers), and their usage with the newly appointment coach. With Kobe Bryant not ready to hand over the torch (see: Laker history), the team would soon see an implosion, starting with D’Antoni focusing on the unsuccessful run-and-gun style of no defense with Steve Nash; with the Mamba taking the final shot.
Last summer, Los Angeles made a late surge to acquire Carmelo Anthony before he returned home to the New York Knicks, but most have cited playing with Kobe Bryant and the lack of a true authority as reasons why he didn’t have LaLa land aspirations. Jeanie defended Bryant throughout the conversation saying he deserved every penny and the team is still looking to build onto what they have with fresh new talent arriving this year.
She did confirm her brother Jim Buss would step down in 3 years if the Lakers still aren’t title contenders – and judging by the Mamba’s contract taking up space within the organization as well as coaching question – the next few seasons will be rough for their nation of loyalists. In comparison to throwing her authority over the team, Jeanie has taken a step back to let the front office of brother Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak make all basketball decisions. While Ms. Buss feels she doesn’t have the proper knowledge for the game like Jim and Mitch, there’s many free agents that and coaches that would feel confident with her in control of basketball related matters.