Jeanie Buss could not understand why the Los Angeles Lakers were signing Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov last offseason.
The Los Angeles Lakers‘ front office underwent a huge overhaul this past season. Right before the NBA Trade Deadline, Jeanie Buss decided to clean house in the front office.
It was something that could not have been an easy to do. Mitch Kupchak had been with the organization for 30 years. He was general manager for 17 years, taking over for Jerry West in 2000. Kupchak represented the longest-tenured for a front office in the NBA.
Gone with Kupchak was Jeannie’s brother, Jim Buss, was stripped of his title of Vice President of Basketball Operations. Firing a family member was definitely a difficult thing to do. Along with those two, John Black, the Vice President of Basketball Relations, was also fired.
Magic Johnson was hired as the President of Basketball Operations. Soon after, Rob Pelinka was named general manager. It was something that Jeannie Buss thought was best for the organization. The Lakers had plenty of great seasons with Kupchak at the controls, but it was time to go in a different direction.
"“Today I took a series of actions I believe will return the Lakers to the heights Dr. Jerry Buss demanded and our fans rightly expect. Effective immediately, Earvin Johnson will be in charge of all basketball operations and will report directly to me."
Buss said that Johnson, head coach Luke Walton, and the general manager, who was not named at the time, would establish the foundation for the next generation of Los Angeles Lakers greatness.
It is still very early in the process, but there is a lot of excitement surrounding the organization. With Johnson back in the fold, there is a new aura surrounding the team that hasn’t been here for a while. The Lakers are still transitioning away from the Kobe Bryant era and look to be in good hands.
Los Angeles Lakers
Johnson and Pelinka have not been on the job very long, but they have done well in their short time together. They look to have hit a home run in the 2017 NBA Draft.
UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball has the potential to be a star. Kyle Kuzma looked like a steal as the 27th pick as he dominated the Las Vegas Summer League. Josh Hart was selected 30th and Thomas Bryant was selected 42nd.
In free agency, the Lakers had a very clear plan. They did not want to add salary beyond this season, so they wanted to only hand out one-year balloon deals or 1+1 deals. Sticking to their guns ended up working.
The Lakers landed Kentavous Caldwell-Pope later on in free agency after he became an unrestricted free agent. They also retained Tyler Ennis on a two-year, minimum deal; the second year is a team option.
It was nice to see the Lakers stick to their plan in free agency. There were some fans unhappy with how slowly things developed, but it turned out to the for the best. Free agency is also where the Lakers made huge mistakes last year and was a big reason why the overhaul in February began.
During free agency in 2016, the Lakers inexplicably struck early. They handed long-term, lucrative deals to Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov. Deng signed for four-years, $72 million while Mozgov signed for four-years, $64 million. Jeanie Buss said recently that she didn’t understand why those contracts were offered.
"“I just didn’t understand what the thought process was,” she said, “whether our philosophies were so far apart that I couldn’t recognize what they were doing, or they couldn’t explain it well.”"
The thought process from Jim Buss and Kupchak’s view was that they wanted to get the Lakers closer to competing and thought this would do it. Jim Buss was on an unattainable timeline and thought signing veterans was the best way to achieve it. It has hurt the Lakers in the future, and almost crippled them in the present.
Imagine if the Lakers didn’t stay within the top-three of the 2017 NBA Draft and had to send their pick to the Philadelphia 76ers. Not only would they have missed out on the opportunity to select Lonzo Ball, they would have had to send their 2019 first round pick to the Orlando Magic.
The Lakers and their fans should be happy that the only thing they have truly sacrificed because of those signings was D’Angelo Russell, the No. 2 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. Things could have been much worse for the organization with the decisions that Jim Buss and Kupchak made.
Jeanie isn’t without blame either. It was partly her fault that those moves were made; Jim Buss and Kupchak were given the authority to run the team. But, Jeannie should also be applauded for realizing that a change needed to be made.
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Making a change of that magnitude at that time of the season is very rare. It worked out well for the Lakers and they now look to be in a better spot for it as a result.