Is Magic Back To Run The Show Again? (Ramona Piece)

I GREATLY encourage you guys to read this column. It's extraordinarily revealing.

The biggest bit I took from that is that Mitch is out of touch with the realities of FA and what agents are looking for. I appreciate that Mitch is an upstanding person, but if he's incapable of relating to agents and players then he has no business being our GM. I'm sorry. I know he's done a lot for us, but Ramona came up with a pretty great list of candidates right there for replacements.

Amazing.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/trade-guide-can-the-lakers-continue-to-rebuild-163559020.html

Woj being brutally honest about our approach to FA.

 

Agreed, realdeal, that was a great read. Bottom line here for me is that Jeannie stepped up in her department as head of the biz portion of the Lakers in bringing Magic on board. Whether or not folks think it's fair, it's a business, and Jim hasn't been close to delivering on the results he promised. We are vying for last place in the conference not first. No one put a gun to his head when he made that public promise to bring us back to contention or he'd step down. He put himself in this position and he and Mitch have kept Jeannie deliberately out of their basketball decision making. That's not happening any more. I'm glad she did what she did. They have to be accountable.

I'm torn because I do like Kupchak and I thought he did a great job putting and keeping together contending teams surrounding Kobe. But I'm not sure Mitch has the right salesmanship to deliver us another world class talent FA the way that Jerry West did when he got us Shaq.

I think Jim should be gone, either by firing or resignation. I don't see what his vision ever was - he always just seems to be flying by the seat of his pants. If he had a vision it didn't work out, obviously, because we've been at the bottom for a number of years now. His time has run out. Whether he gets to hold on as a figurehead or not remains to be seen. I've never been impressed with him and he's where he is because of his dad, not some brilliant basketball mind. I thought he might deserve some more time if we could come close to the playoffs but I don't see that happening.

 

You were scoffed at?

I was skeptical before of replacing Mitch, but after reading this I think his time has come to a close. We're so far behind on current FA practices, it's laughable. It's no wonder guys like Woj have been s***ing on the franchise from afar. Mitch is a great guy, but if he's this out of touch then he needs to go too. Maybe he can stay on as an adviser.

The shuffle should be: Magic as President of Basketball Ops (or a replacement that he and Jeanie can find), Mitch as an adviser, Jerry West as an adviser, Weaver or another young GM, and Ryan West as assistant GM.

Jim Buss as part owner who has no power in decision making.

 

Well a few years changes a lot of perspectives.

After reading that report, I'm all in on a complete overhaul. I like Mitch, but we need new blood.

 

I enjoyed this Shelburne article. It was neither a hit piece or a fluff story. It's good to read that Johnson and Buss will try to forge a working relationship. The criticism of Kupchak is a concern. That "deliberate" approach leaning on the allure of past glories is not a recipe for success.

 

The kids are being given the reins on the floor. The same thing should be done with the kids in the front office.

 

All this may be true about Mitch, but what makes me nervous about moving on from Mitch is because he is great at evaluating talent both in college and the pros and if we lose him I fear that could hurt us in that department. As good as Jesse Buss and Ryan West are I fear this.

I felt a little pride of the part in the article that said agents can't believe that Mitch waits till 9:00PM PST (start of FA) to begin talking instead of going up against the line of tamporing. Mitch does it by the books for good or worse.

I'm not totally against going with someone different but its the fear of change and looking at all the good things he has done and continues to do that scares me

 

That's part of why I'd like Mitch to stay on in and adviser role. He's a good man and he's got a good eye for basketball, but he's antiquated. Fear of change can prevent necessary growth.

We're too far behind in FA talks and that's unacceptable. I love someone with his sort of ethical and moral fortitude, but there's ways to fudge the line that absolutely need to happen. We need to be reaching out years and months in advance. The Lakers should already have a relationship with players right now before they reach out this summer to ask them to join the team. The Warriors were working on Durant months before the Playoffs started, let alone Free Agency. LeBron, Wade, and Bosh were talking for years before their move. This is the way the NBA works now and we need to be a part of it.