I'd be more interested in Jeanie's comments in regards to Jim firing Phil in 2004, hiring Rudy T, Mitch trading Gary and Shaq, etc.
According to Jeanie herself, that was Jerry Buss and not Jim Buss.
Jeanie Buss wrote:
When Shaq got traded, that was really hard. I tell the story about how my dad made the decision because he couldn't pay Shaq the money that he could earn under the collective bargaining agreement, so a trade was coming up. At the end of the season. Phil (Jackson) went to meet my father. He went in and said, 'you can't trade Shaq, he's the most dominant player in the league. You can't trade him.' My dad said, 'well, I am gonna trade him and it won't matter to you because you're not coming back as coach either. That's not your problem.'
Phil of course would then rage after the season was over, writing a tell all book, where he piled it on Kobe and the organization. If we go back further than that, we know the organization was well aware of his shenanigans in the Jordan Rules. I also recall a quote when he was asked about Jeanie and Phil's relationship early on and he said he thought she could have done better. We also know that Phil had retired from coaching, and never coached again after that. That he had GM aspirations. And that it would put Jim and Mitch in rough spot after Dr. Buss' demise.
Then you add into that the Nash factor. Nobody knew Nash was done at that point. He was an All-Star the season before. He was injured at the very start of the season, but little did anyone know that was pretty much a wrap on his career. They had just invested in the guy for the next three seasons.
Triangle Offense was outdated by then as a primary concept.
MDA's style was about to take over the league.
The Lakers wound up 3 years behind the rest of the league by firing MDA and hiring Byron Scott.
Phil wasn't going to even travel road games and it would have just added to more ridiculousness over the season.
Mitch got plenty of unjust hate for it.
Instead of pissing and moaning about Phil, more people should focus on the fact Mike Brown was unjustly fired.
Jeanie has to learn to let crap go and not be petty for once in her life. Her pettiness has cost the franchise too but nobody wishes to call her out on it.
exactly, not bagging on Kobe, but for someone his statue and his basketball skillset, he could easily embrace the MDA system, and the rest of the team would follow suit.
Oh I'll never bag on the Mamba.
But the nostalgia for the 'triangle' or something like the 'triangle' cost the Lakers that season.
Remember.. when Mike Brown first started, he was trying to run the twin towers Spurs offense with Pau and Bynum as well as 4 out 1 in on occasion.
This would have worked perfectly well with Pau and Dwight. But during the off-season, Kobe floated the idea to Mike Brown that he really wanted to run something close to the Triangle Offense, and suggested the Princeton.
Mike Brown went with this, and changed up his entire staff in order to run the Princeton Offense in order to try to maximize both Kobe and Pau in it as that was the request. It was a disaster as Mike had never taught it before nor was he too familiar with it and our offense suffered. Then Mike Brown was fired right around the time Kobe said they were starting to understand it. Then Bickerstaff came and they played well under him and then D'Antoni came because Jerry Buss knew the direction the league was headed.
However it comes back to that Summer Decision to run the Princeton that cost us big time. If Mike Brown had stuck with the Twin Towers and 4 out 1 in offense he ran with Bynum and Pau and instead substituted Dwight for Bynum, I think it would have ran extremely well, especially with Steve Nash.
But unfortunately that didn't happen, and Nash's health was compromised early because Isaiah Thomas decided to bulldoze Nash in pre-season for no freaking reason, and then Lillard broke his leg. That was what really hurt our season tbh. And it all started cause Isaiah Thomas decided to be extra during the darn pre-season.
First Half is probably the only time we ever got to see what a healthy version of this team may have looked like, Thomas bulldozing Nash for no freaking reason during a darn pre-season game in the 3rd (at around 13:20) effectively screwed over our season. Nash was building chemistry with Pau in the pick and roll out of the Princeton and had options galore. But he was never the same after being crashed into this game, and then Lillard breaking his leg finished that off. He came back and did what he could on effectively one leg but that was the swan song for his career as he'd never be "Steve Nash" again after that. _________________ How NBA 2K18 failed the All-Time Lakers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxMBYm3wwxk
All times are GMT - 8 Hours Goto page Previous1, 2
Page 2 of 2
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
