Magic Johnson Discussion

I've said it before and I'll say it again: If you're trying to emulate the Golden State Warriors' system you are going to fail epically. The Warriors have the greatest shooting backcourt of all time and a third guy who is a hall of famer, and an elite defensive playmaker, and a 5th guy who is also a multiple-year all star. No other team in the league is equipped with those pieces, and it's stupid for teams to try and play like them. The Warrior's system is built for their personnel. If you're trying to beat them at their own game then you will get destroyed. Luke Walton was never the right coach for this team, because he only knows one way to do things- the Warriors way. This team was never properly equipped to run that system and when we decided to sign LeBron and surround him with "playmakers" we were even further unequipped to run that system. We should have surrounded LeBron with shooters and emulate the Cavs system, but we didn't (Luke's idea). So when we went in another direction it seems pretty obvious that Luke should have adapted the system to fit his players, but he didn't. As a matter of fact he tried to play LeBron James "off the ball". Why did we go get LeBron and try to utilize him in a way that is counterproductive to how he is most effective? I'll tell you why- it's because Luke has no clue what he is doing.

 

yeah, i still contend that nobody could have won 45 games with our roster and injury problems, neither of which can be pinned on luke.

and i think he knows things other than the warriors's system, but he's a believer in their general principles (ball and player movement, sharing the ball liberally, etc.). i think those are good principles that can work even without gs's personnel. it just works really great with theirs. there's no system that maximizes rondo/stephenson/beasley, because they suck hard. and our youth were injured and/or wildly inconsistent.

anyway, luke can go; i'm just not expecting a coaching change to do much. and i think luke will get another job in the future and probably fare better in a less dysfunctional organization. his dad warned him not to take this job, iirc.

 

the poor offensive #'s and advance stats can be linked to Luke tho

 

kudo my brotha....that bird is great representation of Magic the President, squaks loudly with very little to show for it.

 

If I'm Jeanie, I probably don't want to start over this summer with a new coach, GM, and PBO. Even more instability after a 6 year streak of change and failure? Realistically, LeBron and his camp will have a lot of pull in how this situation plays out, and LeBron is no stranger to instability. Only Lebron's Miami era was truly stable, and that's because you had a Don of an executive calling the shots.

So what does Jeanie do? Placate LeBron and his camp - hire a coach, GM and PBO to Klutch's liking? Does she double down on Luke and whoever she hires because Jeanie knows best and she's the boss? Regardless of what the best decision is for basketball, Jeanie has to worry about perception. What message are you sending to the league and free agents if you do LeBron's bidding? Storied owners and executives like Buss and Riley don't cave to pressure. Buss let Shaq walk when it was very unpopular, but it got us 2 rings and 3 finals appearances. Buss knew best, but the decision was lambasted at the time.

The Laker brand is at a turning point IMO. Regardless of the pressure to win now Jeanie needs to take the reigns and build a solid foundation. Build a team properly, the way it was done with showtime and the 3-peat era. Get the right players, coaches and executives regardless of what Klutch or anyone thinks. If it means LeBron demands a trade, so be it. The next several weeks will really determine Jeanie's DNA as an owner and executive.

 

I have zero faith in Jeanie. We are honestly doomed until she sells the team.

She's too emotional and I said this back then when she fired her brother...I HATED how that whole thing went down and how quickly she hired Magic and Rob.

She had a hit piece come out from Kevin Ding regarding Mitch Kupchak and it was the sorriest piece I'd ever read...jeanie was upset that Mitch didn't reach out to her for condolences when her DOG died...give me a fricking break Jeanie.

 

The Grizzlies just fired their coach and demoted their GM. They're looking for FO personnel. Jeanie better not take her sweet time or else the Grizz will grab potential hires before we do.

 

I see that as just one more landing spot for Luke and potentially Rob...

Jk...we're too stupid to realize this and will keep both and hire Isiah Thomas as our President of Bball ops...

 

Great post.

 

#hatersgotahate?

 

There are so many layers to this and so much we don't know...it's kept my head spinning since Tuesday night.

Ultimately I think he did us a favor. He wasn't cut out for this and has proved to be pretty bad in his short tenure. Best thing he did was get Bron, but most think he would've come here if the Lakers ball boy came to his door and pitched him. Bron isn't here for the Lakers, he's here for Hollywood and his son, Magic doesn't change that. The way it all happened and the whole circus that is our upstairs operations is rather harmful to the organization. The level of dysfunction wouldn't be coming out like this if Magic didn't leave. And the fact that there is so much still unknown results in more digging, more revaluations, rumors, and a bigger black eye on the organization. The fact that neither Jeanie or Rob has gotten out in front of this is embarrassing and shameful.

Magic is a salesman. A pitch guy. Flash a smile. Connect to the person. Shake a hand. Get a signature. He should have only been in an advisory role and FA pitch guy. I actually think Magic/Rob duo theoretically make for a great FA signing team. Rob knows the ins and outs from his days as an agent and Magic can close. Only they needed someone else above them making the moves, building the team, and sending them out on these "sales calls."

Magic never responded well to people not liking him or criticism. Quit as a coach and president. The criticism was well deserved and the moves deserve to be questioned. This roster has no chance of success.

I don't buy the Magic wanted to go back to being Magic line he tried to sell us. I'm sure that was a part of it. As was the part of this being too hard and that he's not cut out to fire his sister's adopted son. But there is a hell of a lot more behind the curtains. With speculation of recent disharmony between he and Rob and the TBA ESPN piece that's coming out, he realized he didn't need this. I wish he didn't do Jeanie the favor of becoming the president and rather a consultant and sat in on FA process, that would have us in a much better position today.

I also think Magic had issues with Klutch and their desire for power in this franchise. He had a 3 hour meeting with Bron and didn't give him any indication of this, I wonder how Bron feels about that.

Magic's line about us being 1 piece away and how great our chances were this summer of getting that piece...I call BS. I don't think he thinks we can get a 2nd star or at least that he could get a second star. Hopefully his replacement can. No way he leaves with an overall negative review as a president when netting that guy and being responsible to our return to glory would've drastically changed that narrative. That's a bit scary entering free agency. What did Magic know that we don't?

Walking out and having your sister/boss find out from reporters and twitter is a bad look. She probably expected it based on her and Magic's views for this team no longer aligning, but no one expected it like this and it reflects poorly back upon the team he loves so much.

 

his comments for quiting sounds like he had no clue the true nature of the job

 

You weren’t committed to anything that had to do with your job title. Go away and shut up.

 

more like committed to happiness and random moronic tweets

 

Again to the reasonable members here:

Bad books
Didn't get to pick his GM
Didn't get to pick his coach

I too didn't like how he bailed, but all things considered, with a full bball ops restructure, we're set up nicely moving forward (kept the best kid from the previous regime in BI, added more kids, added Bron/Klutch and an in to AD, added a 2nd full max slot...all after taking on books that had MozDeng).

Someone will eat off Magic's setup, like Mitch/Jimbo ate off Logo's.

 

From what i've read, it doesn't seem like a full FO restructure if Pelinka is still there and given even more power.

 

Have a big problem though with seemingly well acknowledged by NBA reporters Magic's part time approach and allegedly not putting in the work necessary and needed for that position. On top of the moves I personally did not like or think made sense if the playoffs and making some noise this year was the goal.