LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 18: (L-R) Magic Johnson, Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss attend Kobe Bryant’s jersey retirement ceremony during a game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Golden State Warriors at Staples Center on December 18, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)
When my Lakers signed LeBron James last year, no one was happier about the occurrence than yours truly. I was straight up “Peacocking” the purple and gold! I even wrote a piece for War Room Sports on the subject:
“10 Reasons Why LeBron and the Lakers Make Sense”
I was never under any illusions that they were ready to challenge the mighty Warriors, however, I at least expected respectability and it looked promising early.
Today it looks anything but promising.
My Lakers look like the New York Knicks west. In fact, over the past 6 years the two franchises have lost the exact same number of games.
So why was I so wrong?
I have concluded that the basic answer to this is that I assumed that my Lakers had a minimal level of organizational competence. It is clear now that this does not exist. Oh how I long for the days of the great Jerry West at the helm or even the Mitch Kupchak era.
In addition, let us be clear: the organization did not pick LeBron. LeBron picked the organization. So I am not sure if it deserves any credit for that either.
Meanwhile, the missteps are too many to list, but let us just list a few:
- After missing the playoffs a grand total of only 5 times in its illustrious history, my Lakers have now missed 6 straight years;
- Failure to replace Magic Johnson’s position, which either validates the dysfunction or proves it was little more than ceremonial public relations to begin with;
- Offering NBA title-winning coach Tyronn Lue an embarrassing 3-year deal and dictating to him whom he should have on his staff, when 5 years, and allowing a coach to hire his own staff is the accepted professional way of doing business; and
- The Anthony Davis trade debacle.
All of this has happened under the ownership of Jeanie Buss.
This is where the #MeToo angle comes in and it is delicate.
At least one commentator implied that she is not capable of running the team because she is female.
That is just garden-variety sexism. Unfortunately, there are, and perhaps always will be people who will exploit any available platform to make an “I told you so” pronouncement about the capacity of women to manage, especially in venues that have been dominated by men.
After ferreting out this mindset and candidly assessing her stewardship of the team, there is only one conclusion: YOU ARE WHAT YOUR RECORD SAYS YOU ARE! In the 6 seasons since the death of the late Dr. Jerry Buss, her father, the team is 163-329. That is terrible for a man, a woman, or a mongoose. I get the sense that in the current climate, there is some hesitancy on the part of male commentators to call Buss out for this record.
In fairness to her, she allowed her brother to run the team for a few of these years, and to her credit, admits she should have let him go long ago. Firing your brother cannot be easy for anyone. In addition, she inherited the team from one of the greatest owners in the history of sports. That’s not an easy act to follow. Most who are given the keys to the castle know little about how the castle actually is run. They simply do not come up through the ranks, which is how they might learn.
With that said, we should not feel sorry for Jeanie Buss. The #MeToo movement is long overdue for women having to deal with sexual advances and even worse on the job. The overwhelming number of these women are working class, poor, immigrant, and/or of color. Jeanie Buss is none of those things and thus her performance, as Lakers owner, does not warrant the protection of the movement. If Magic and general manager Rob Pelinka are fair game for the current sorry state of my Lakers, so too is Jeanie Buss.
