Leave it to T.J. Simers to get Jim Buss to admit what everyone has been saying for the past week. In a recent sit down with the notorious hardliner from the Times Buss told Simers that he should have contact Kobe Bryant prior to announcing the hiring of Mike Brown.
"“Looking back on it, we should have contacted Kobe”"
Ummm…yuh think?
Not exactly the kind of quote that builds much confidence in Young Buss’ ability to replace his iconic father. Of course calling him Young is a misconception as well being that the dude is 51. You’ll just have to excuse his Beach Bum look.
Another misconception Buss sought to dispel with Simers was the report that he only interviewed Brown for the open gig.
"“No truth to that whatsoever. My father, Mitch and I interviewed three candidates: Brian Shaw, Rick Adelman and Mike. All fantastic coaches. When the three of us talked later we all came back to Brown.”"
If true, it lends a little credence to the process but still doesn’t explain why the team felt some sense of urgency to pursue Brown. Certainly he had his share of suitors as Golden State was reported to be interested in Brown. However hoops logic dictates that any candidate for the Laker job would have to be patient while the process unfolds. Moving quickly to nab Brown leans a little on the side of inexperience but that argument seems null if in fact Dr. Buss and GM Mitch were involved in the process.
Overall this all goes back to the simple fact that KB24 was never involved in the coaching search.
Now I’m not saying Bryant should have been in every meeting nor should his opinion been valued over that of Kupchak or Dr. Buss. That’s just idiocy. No player should ever have that kind of a say in managerial decisions.
The basic problem is so much of what makes the Lakers who they are in this era is Kobe Bryant. He’s owed the courtesy of knowing before it appears on the lower third on SportsCenter. By not contacting Kobe Jim Buss has shown his inexperience.
It’s called a common courtesy. Something LeBron James and his brain trust failed to do one year ago prior to the epic fail that was The Decision. A move that reeked of immaturity.
Buss might be in his 50’s but his decision to not notify his top ticket seller is also a move of immaturity. Again, Bryant isn’t bigger than the Lakers but he is certainly as important to the franchise as Jim Buss is at this point in time.
The least Buss could have done was toss out a quick call to Kobe and let him know who his new coach is. But doing the least would require Jim Buss to do more than what he did in his coaching search. So I guess that’s just asking too much.