When Hanna Storm questioned Lakers boss Jeanie Buss regarding Carmelo Anthony and other NBA stars declining to sign with the Lakers the incredulous Buss replied, "What has that to do with Kobe?" - (ESPN screen shot photo)

After Jeanie Buss drained the Lakers executive swamp she chose Magic Johnson to lead the organization to dry land and become winners again - (Game changers screen shot)

After taking the job Magic expressed interest in having Kobe Bryant involved in rebuilding the shattered Lakers franchise - (Keith Allison photo)

SPORTS NOTES - LAKERS JEANIE BUSS… DRAINING THE SWAMP?

James Loving/National Radio Text Service

What is the relationship between Magic Johnson and Jeanie Buss that makes her trust the Magic Man so much to run, what was once a prized franchise turned into ruins and the laughing stock of the league on her watch, and turn it around to be a winner once again?

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

LAKERS DIE NASTY….. AGAIN!

Let's be real once again the LAKERS DIE NASTY. Lakers top peanut Jeanie Buss stood by her word that she would fire her brother, Jim if he failed to deliver on his promise that if he was unsuccessful in putting together a winning team within three years he would leave his post.

Jimbo failed to deliver and his sister did what shocked the NBA world when she fired her brother Jim as the team's executive vice president of basketball operations, GM Mitch Kupchak and PR director John Black. In their place she hired former Laker great Magic Johnson to be the President of Basketball Operations. Now that the ball is on Magic's court it's time to see if he is a winner or whiner is his new role.

As the saying goes WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND and it's the Lakers time to DIE NASTY AGAIN.

Signs of the embattled franchise poor decision making surfaced when Buss signed Kobe Bryant to a two year $48.5 MILLION contract. The question was raised in the media WHY? Was this for his history of productivity?

Bryant was coming off a surgery limiting him to playing in only six games during the 2013-14 season. In two seasons he only played in 101 of 164 regular season games. His presence seemed to be more in the way than positive. The bottom line is he was a shadow of himself.

Since Buss's father passed away and she has been in charge of the organization the team has had record setting losing seasons of 27-55 (2013-14), 21-61 (2014-15) and a franchise record low 17-65 last season (2015-16).

The Lakers recent explosion sparked an 18-year-old story that we wrote abut the team that was not in our active records. Search engine information revealed the lose story which examined the mentality of the Lakers dysfunctional organization that exists today.

The story titled LAKERS TIME BOMB from March, 1999 noted that the addition of DENNIS RODMAN has turned the Lakers from LOSERS to winners. The question is how long will it last? - During the Sonics-Lakers game Friday March 5, ESPN reported that there was tension between SHAQUILLE O'NEAL and KOBE BRYANT over Bryant's shot selection - The pressure of rumored trades involving EDDIE JONES, ELDEN CAMPBELL and DEREK FISHER still looms. Can team harmony exist when the rug may be pulled from under their feet and job security doesn't exist? Does constantly having to look over your shoulder create TEAM harmony?

Yes it's true the Lakers have had a tremendous amount of success from its inception. They were the strongest NBA franchise during the George Mikan era of the early 50's as the Minneapolis Lakers.

They moved to Hollyweird and had strong teams as the best in the West. The problem was they had an evil daemon in the name of the Boston Celtics who defeated them time and time again. It seemed as if whenever the Lakers faced the Celtics they were chasing Celtics ghosts and came out the loser. The golden boys made the NBA Finals six times in the 1960s, but lost each series to the Celtics.

During the 70's the Lakers were a decent team but by far, not the best. In 1973 they won the NBA title with what could be argued as being the best ever Laker team for a season led by Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich. That team set an NBA record of 33 straight wins that stands today.

The Lakers made the master stroke of signing a very young Magic Johnson after his sophomore season at Michigan State University to compliment Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Jamaal Wilkes and Norm Nixon.

With Magic slowly taking charge of the team his authority came to fruition in game six of the 1980 NBA finals against the Philadelphia 76ers. Jabbar went down with an injury in game five and returned to LA for medical treatment. Magic assured the team in what seemed to be a brash statement, "Have no fear Magic is here."

That was the turning point of MAGIC TIME as the 6'9" point guard played ALL POSITIONS in game six and turned in one of the most amazing performances in NBA history by scoring 42 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals in a 123-107 win for the NBA title. Johnson became the only rookie to win the NBA Finals MVP award.

Now this is where the drama gets deep, thick and heavy. At that time Magic was only 20-years-old. Jeanie Buss was an 18-year-old college student at USC best known for alumnus O.J. Simpson. During that time she was being tutored by her father Jerry to be involved in sports management after she moved in with him and lived at his residence at Pickfair.

Jeanie had some beauty credits after she won the title of Miss Pacific Palisades. That carried over when she posed nude for Playboy in 1995. Basically this action reveals the real personality of the Lakers boss as being too full of herself.

Let's be clear….WE KNOW MAGIC, BUSS and the OVERRATED Lakers organization who apparently envision themselves to be the royalty of NBA franchises, now the reality is setting in they aren't royalty at all in the REAL WORLD.

To his credit Johnson has been successful in the business world and has made good decisions and helped rebuild rundown black neighborhoods by establishing businesses and creating jobs. There is a great bio about his business success available on You Tube. It is in the Game Changers series that was televised originally on the Bloomberg Financial channel.

The question is can he make good player acquisition decisions and establish good relationships with the players. His previous record as a Lakers coach was not successful.

During his retirement, that came about when he had the HIV virus, he returned at the end of the 1994 season to replace Randy Phund as coach. Phund had a 27-37 record Johnson finished out the season with 5 wins and 11 losses.

One statement that Johnson made back in the day was, "You're supposed to beat the Clippers." Well now that remains to be seen under his Lakers watch.

The questions are and remain… what is dominate, Buss's business skill or her massive ego. She envisions herself as a business woman but is she applying beauty queen thinking in her business dealings? To Buss, the Hollyweird environment is a selling point when negotiating with free agents to sign with her dysfunctional Lakers organization.

What is the relationship between Johnson and Buss that makes her trust the Magic Man so much to run, what was once a prized franchise turned into ruins and the laughing stock of the league on her watch, and turn it around?

To be continued…

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