Los Angeles Lakers: Is Jeanie Buss failing the organization?

The Los Angeles Lakers are currently in the worst stretch in their franchise history. Is Jeanie Buss at blame for it?

The Los Angeles Lakers offseason has been just as action packed as their regular season, with Magic Johnson stepping down as President of Basketball Operations, Marco Nunez being let go as head athletic trainer and now head coach Luke Walton mutually parting ways with the Lakers.

Walton wasn’t without a job long, as he is taking the reigns of the Sacramento Kings. It is not totally an unexpected outcome given how he was basically mere hours away from being fired last Tuesday night pre-Magic Johnson press conference.

With general manager Rob Pelinka the final cog of the previous regime left standing, one question for me comes to mind. How much of what is going on with the Purple and Gold is Jeanie Buss’ fault?

Now I can’t fully slate Jeanie Buss. As a businesswoman, she is second to none. On the business side of the Lakers, she has taken the Lakers brand from strength to strength and has done so in a male-dominated industry.

She has had to put up with the condescension from numerous owners who saw her as little more than daddy’s little girl and she has become one of the most respected, liked and powerful owners not only in the NB, but in professional sports.

In that regard she is every bit of Dr. Jerry Buss’ daughter.

However, there is the basketball aspect of the business. While she admits to not having a great knowledge of this side of the industry, it seems that she has never been interested in learning the nuances of basketball operations.

She has been working with the Los Angeles Lakers in some capacity since 1995 and 24 years later she still doesn’t have the sufficient basketball acumen to make important decisions that are blindingly obvious to those who study or follow basketball on a daily basis.

She did relieve long time general manager, Mitch Kupchak, and her brother, Jim Buss, from President of Basketball Operations in the Spring of 2017. It was a decision that was met with unanimous approval.

However, this decision only came after Jim Buss had put himself under a deadline to sign a max free agent which he failed to do so. But, his firing came far too late in the day as the damage had already been done by Kupchak and Buss when they signed NBA journeymen Timofey Mozogov and Luol Deng to four-year deals which would cripple the Lakers in more ways than one.

Her next move was to install Lakers legend and close personal friend Earvin “Magic” Johnson into the role of President of Basketball Operations and also had a hand in appointing Kobe Bryant‘s agent Rob Pelinka as general manager.

While Lakers fans as a whole were happy to see Magic back were he belongs, many questioned the hire of Rob Pelinka. A more experienced front office member would have made significantly more sense as Magic was a relative novice when it came to front office dealings and Pelinka, while adept at dealing with front office executives from the other side of the table, had no previous front office experience.

They were offered a lifeline by another former Lakers legend in Jerry West, who is widely considered to be one of the greatest executives in league history. West offered to be a consultant to the team in a similar capacity to the job he was holding with the Golden State Warriors.

However, both Magic and Jeanie declined West, which boggled many fans minds. Why would you turn down one of the most experienced front office executives in the league for no reason?

The reasoning might be simple. Jerry West had admitted in the past to having problems with former coach Phil Jackson and Jeanie Buss being in a relationship together and was very critical of Phil Jackson for many years after their working relationship had ended. In his book West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life Jerry West is quoted as saying:

“Phil and I had no relationship,” West writes. “None. He didn’t want me around and had absolutely no respect for me–of that, I have no doubt.”

As Jackson’s long term girlfriend and fiancee, Jeanie Buss would have sided with Jackson and would have developed a dislike for West, which makes it slightly understandable to not have West as part of the staff. But, on the other hand, West’s son, Ryan, is the director of player personnel, a key cog in the Lakers front office. I digress.

The current and most longstanding objection that is pointed in Jeanie Buss’ direction by fans and press members alike is the Lakers continuing to be run like a Mom and Pop shop and rarely straying away from the Laker Tree. The Lakers being this narrow minded is shutting them off to untold and untapped possibilities.

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The Lakers were once considered to be one of the most innovative organizations in basketball. Fast forward to modern day and while the likes of the Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets are playing chess, the Los Angeles Lakers are playing checkers.

The Lakers have the means at their disposal to go out and get the best talent available across the league. They could easily update their analytics department and have it be on par with the best in the league. They have the means to get the best executives to come to LA and work to bring them back to championship contention and they could have their pick of any available head coach across the league.

With Rob Pelinka seemingly in control of the basketball aspect of the business, Jeanie Buss finds herself in an unfamiliar position. She is now, for the first time in her Lakers career, responsible if things go wrong on the basketball side. By potentially sticking by Rob and not hiring a President of Basketball Operations to be the figure head and the lightning rod for if things go wrong, she will now paint a target on her back for criticism.

She is sticking by Pelinka, a man who has terrible relationships with some NBA agents, is despised by numerous NBA front offices, openly and repeatedly pointed out the absence of his former boss Magic Johnson and has a history of lying to his players.

If Pelinka fails, Jeanie fails. Whilst Jeanie will get to keep her job, she will receive the full brunt of the criticism and she will have nowhere to hide.

I hope that she makes the right decisions for the Lakers moving forward. I hope she brings in the best staff she can in order to help the Lakers reach the promise land once again. I pray that her faith in Rob Pelinka does not blow up in her face.

We will all have to wait and see. Here is hoping that Jeanie can pull this off. I would love nothing more than for Jeanie Buss to succeed. I want her to raise another banner in Staples and dedicate it to Dr Buss. She has given much of her life to this organisation and I truly want to see her dedication to this organisation repaid.