February 21st, 2017
Nothing much is happening with the Lakers these days right? I guess just a complete change in leadership and a trade of their leading scorer on Tuesday. Other than that, nothing much.
We knew it was coming, but just didn’t know when or how. It happened on Tuesday. Magic Johnson replaced Jim Buss as head of Basketball Operations, and fired Mitch Kupchak as General Manager. They also let go of long time publicist John Black. It was all orchestrated by Jeanie Buss, who didn’t hide behind Magic. The moves didn’t stop there. The Lakers acted swiftly, hiring NBA player agent, Rob Pelinka as their new General Manager. They also traded leading scorer Lou Williams to Houston for Corey Brewer and a 1st round pick in 2017.
Let’s start with the leadership change. You have to give Magic credit. He has guts. He had a good relationship with Mitch Kupchak, yet concurred with Jeanie that it was time for a new vision. It was time to stop reaching into their past to try and fix the future. You all thought that’s what was going to happen with Magic, but he ended up making a completely out of the box hire in Rob Pelinka.
I feel terrible for Kupchak. He has been part of the Lakers organization for the last 30 years, and spent the last 17 years as their General Manager. He also helped assemble the last five Laker Championship teams. He probably lost his job because Jim Buss proclaimed that the Lakers would be competitive within three years. That never happened. Kupchak has made some sensational trades over the last 15 years. Trading for Pau Gasol, finding gems like Trevor Ariza before anybody knew who he was, and signing Metta World Peace to a below market contract. He traded for Chris Paul and saved the Lakers $20 million along the way before the league vetoed it. Contrary to the nonsense you might hear, he’s draft well over the last three years too. However, his downfall was letting Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol walk away without compensation.
Then there’s Jim Buss. Nobody really feels bad for Jimbo. Even though he gets removed from Basketball Operations, he still retains his piece of ownership of a franchise that is worth over $3 billion. Still, Buss isn’t the buffoon that most of you think he is. His basketball acumen is actually very good, but he let his ego get in the way. Most notably when he didn’t re-hire Phil Jackson as head coach in 2012, and instead went through a series of poor coaching choices: Mike Brown, Mike D’Antoni, and Byron Scott. He also naively believed that the top free agents of the last few years would just sign with the Lakers simply because of their history and location. Buss had the resources around him to succeed, but refused to leverage them because of his ego.
The tension between Jim and Jeanie heightened after the Phil Jackson debacle, and has remained. The communication between Jeanie and the Basketball Operations department has only gotten worse. They never even told her about the Byron Scott hire a few years ago. Nor did they mention to Magic or Jeanie their recent attempts to acquire DeMarcus Cousins. No organization can succeed without communication between its top leaders, and a unified vision from them. The Lakers have that now with a new regime in the front office.
On one hand, had the Lakers waited to hire a GM, they might have had a number of options from existing executives around the league, and some good ones. It’s also a little disappointing to know that Jerry West isn’t going to be coming back, even as an advisor. However, Rob Pelinka is a forward-thinking hire, who understands the complex new CBA. He has a number of relationships with players around the league. That’s going to help when it comes to free agency. Drafting and scouting is going to be critical however, so he’ll have to rely on what remains of the Laker front office for that. Nevertheless, you have to appreciate the decisiveness the Lakers acted with in hiring Pelinka, in the same forward thinking way they hired Luke Walton.
In addition to all this chaos, Magic somehow kept things together and the team even managed to pull off a good trade today. Lou Williams needed to be traded, and the 1st round pick was much needed. I’m nit picking here, but I would have rather seen a much higher first round pick in this years draft from a team like Charlotte or Indiana. I would also have rather seen a few expiring contracts like KJ McDaniels and Nene Hilario come back in the trade instead of Corey Brewer, who is due $7 million next year. Still, the most important aspect of the trade is that the Lakers improved their chances of keeping their top 3 protected pick, and opened up more playing time for D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson.
Hopefully the Lakers aren’t done yet and can find a way to trade Nick Young as well before Thursdays trade deadline. Either way, the Lakers new leadership is bold and exciting. Let’s just hope it brings them back where they belong.
