Jeanie has appeared on multiple shows today on ESPN including First Take and The Herd. Definitely provided some insight on the organization and Kobe. Two things that stood out in my mind are 1. Jim and Mitch appear to have a 3 year time frame to turn around the Lakers beginning this year. 2. She defended Kobe and his contract multiple times and made it clear that if she finds out who in the front office leaked comments to Abbott, they will be fired. Overall, I thought she handled herself well. Especially with Colin Cowherd who was clearly being...well...himself. http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...resident-jeanie-buss-defends-star-kobe-bryant
"Any free agent that would be afraid to play with Kobe Bryant is probably a loser, and I'm glad they wouldn't come to the team," Buss said during a "SportsCenter" interview Thursday. It was definitely nice to see someone come out swinging and defending Kobe for a change.
I hope she calls out Abbott and call him and whatever sources he used, a coward. I mean, a 4th grader using Wikipedia has better sources than that idiot does.
I enjoyed her on Numbers Never Lie as well. She kept asking who the Lakers should have spent their money on, who these great free agents were. She said they had enough room for Melo, but he chose NY and that's ok. She also brought up that talents like Kobe and Melo are rare, and not every team gets one, "maybe 10-12 in the league". I thought that was a decent point. They went after Melo, and missed, but they did go after him, and without Kobe, reportedly that meeting doesn't even happen. The rest of the time on NNL, they asked her personal questions, mostly about Phil, and she was candid and it was pretty funny.
Good for her for going to bat for Kobe. I don't think it's what her father would have done exactly, but it's definitely a nice thing to do. The Lakers will continue to build their reputation for being a PLAYER'S organization. Especially star players... I'd have preferred if she said,"I doubt the validity of Mr. Abbot's 'sources', but if there are any and I find out who they were there'll be actions taken against them." Helps discredit Abbot a bit more and doesn't come off quite so heavy handed, but what she did was alright.
HAHAHAHA!! Got all of them Laker Girl.... way to do it. This is brilliant what she did and how she worded it. "Afraid to play with Kobe" All around the league starting with Dwight.... Uhuh ....wasn't me wasn't me, and then freaking loved the and "we wouldn't want them here" Did Abbot actually say "afraid" somewhere in the FA's bleep he was spreading?
^^^ Didn't think of that, realdeal, that's kinda funny. I can now see Abbot coming out with a new short blog, "see, you can't speak badly of Kobe, he has the Lakers organization held hostage. They even have to come on tv to defend him and threaten employees when the truth is revealed!".
Definitely not Doc's style, but then again, you never really heard much from Jerry unless it was something critically important from the franchise. This day and age, where information and (social) media tend to dictate the image that is portrayed, I think what Jeanie is doing is appropriate. An article came out to attack not only Kobe, but devalued the Lakers franchise. Jeanie should go guns out on ESPN for such a disrespectful article.
Sure but there's no overt connection she is firing at them, rather at jackhole Abbot. I love that her comments were that aggressive as Abbot deserved it. It's his stupid slandering article. Conspiracy theory here but a warm fuzzy one...... Would not be surprised if she did not, or if maybe she and Phil talked about the best way to handle. Certainly could have happened but in no way do I think she had to have ANY help.
Jeannie did great. Did exactly what I thought she would and I commend her for it. While the great Jerry B. wouldn't have necessarily appeared on TV, he would've made a statement refuting the claims of that imbecile posing as a journalist and of that I'm absolutely sure. He always defended Kobe. Even after Kobe's absurd parking lot tirade, Jerry B. kept cool and humored Kobe's tantrum and exploration of a trade to Chi town. Jerry B never said a bad word about Kobe before or after. Ultimate class. Jeannie is loyal and she backed her player. If that idiot Howard had signed here she would have his back, too, because she's just like that. But he ran away just like she intimated. Anyway, kudos to her. And if somehow this ends up going back to Jim's mouth I hope she fires him. Not saying it did, not saying he WOULD say it. But if he did he should get canned. Lord knows he's canned some of our long term employees for a lot less. But again, I'm not trying to sow any seeds of conflict or further any rumor mills. I'm just giving my opinion.
I want so bad to put a "like" on your post TIME, but really, I hope it was not just because it would be sad for the Lakers org and Buss family if he did in fact say those things. But part of me does not so secretly agree with you.
