Lakers vice president of player personnel Jim Buss appeared on 710 ESPN Radio's Mason and Ireland Show on Thursday, expressing disappointment with his team's season (link via Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com). While conceding that he's never happy if the club fall short of a championship, Buss said he was "very disappointed" with the Lakers' season, and thought they "were a better team than this." Jerry Buss' son weighed in on a number of other topics as well, including the head coach, the draft, and star center Andrew Bynum. Here are a few of Buss' comments:
The Thunder advanced to the Western Conference Semifinals last night, sending the Lakers to their second consecutive second-round exit. Despite the loss, Kobe Bryant vowed after the game that L.A. would be back in contention next season: "This is not one of those things like where the Bulls beat the Pistons and the Pistons disappeared forever."
Before the team returns to the court for the 2012/13 season, the Lakers will have a number of roster moves and decisions to make. Here's the latest on a few of the issues facing the club:
- Andrew Bynum told reporters last night, including Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com, that he's not sure what his future in Los Angeles holds. According to Bynum's agent David Lee, the ball is in the Lakers' court when it comes to talking about a contract extension for the young center.
- Brian Kamenetzky of ESPNLosAngeles.com looks at eight questions facing the Lakers as the team prepares for the offseason. Within the piece, he suggests that coach Mike Brown won't be fired, and wonders whether Ramon Sessions will pick up his player option after a poor postseason.
- Over the luxury-tax threshold and with only the 60th pick in the draft, the Lakers will have to make trades if they hope to improve their roster, writes Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times.
- Pau Gasol's time as a Laker will likely end soon, since he's their only logical trade chip, says Sean Deveney of the Sporting News.
- Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune tweets that he expects the Timberwolves to get involved in Gasol trade discussions again.
- Gasol should be the first domino to fall, but the Lakers will be faced with other decisions too, writes McMenamin.
- For his part, Gasol doesn't think the Lakers need to significantly overhaul the roster, as he tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Gasol, Bynum, and Bryant all suggested that a full training camp would've helped the Lakers, who were adjusting to Brown's system.
Magic Johnson recently made waves by saying that Mike Brown would be fired if the Lakers lose tonight's Game Seven against the Nuggets. The Lakers issued a statement that Magic's comments on Brown "in no way reflect the feelings of (Lakers) management," according to a tweet by Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com. The statement also indicated that the organization is in full support of Brown as the head coach.
Royce Young of CBS Sports had the complete transcript:
“The opinion expressed yesterday by Magic Johnson regarding Mike Brown was his personal opinion and was made in his role as a TV analyst. His words were not made on behalf of the Los Angeles Lakers, and in no way do they reflect the feelings or position of team ownership or management. We are fully committed to and supportive of Mike Brown as head coach of the Lakers.”
Mike Trudell of KCAL-9 and Dave McMenamin of ESPN LA were also among the first to tweet about the statement.
With a bunch of big-name coaches who aren't under contract for next year and the season coming to a close, there should be plenty of news on the coaching front for a while. Here's the latest:
- Warren LeGarie, the agent for Lakers coach Mike Brown, feels confident his client will return to the bench next season after LeGarie spoke with GM Mitch Kupchak about comments former minority owner Magic Johnson made suggesting Brown would be fired if the team didn't win tonight, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links). Spears also tweets that the Lakers are expected to release a statement in support of Brown, and pointed out that Brown has two more guaranteed seasons left on his four-year, $20MM deal.
- Dave McMenamin of ESPN LA tweets that Brown's job is not dependent on the result of Game 7 tonight, according to a source with knowledge of the Lakers' thinking.
- Brown said earlier today he was unfazed by what Johnson said, and had no indication there was any truth to it, tweeted NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper.
- Frank Isola of the New York Daily News scolds Knicks coach Mike Woodson for giving into owner James Dolan's wishes regarding his choice of agents.
- With Phil Jackson feeling better, Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld speculates about where he might coach next if he returns to the bench, mentioning the Knicks, Thunder, Bulls, Mavs, Magic and Lakers.
- Rachel Shuster of USA Today wonders if the Bobcats might also be a landing spot for the Zen Master, since the owner is Michael Jordan, Jackson's first star pupil.
The Lakers have lost on consecutive nights to teams near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, resulting in some growing unrest in the locker room over the team's offensive performance. According to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles, there's increasing concern among Lakers players about coach Mike Brown's offensive system, which has the club scoring at its lowest rate in the shot-clock era.
Sources tell Shelburne that the Lakers' struggles on the road have many of the team's veterans longing for a return to Phil Jackson's Triangle offense. Since the players-only meeting held by Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher last month, a few players have met privately to discussing running elements of the Triangle, says Shelburne.
"The players want to unify," one source told Shelburne. "They know how to win, and they want to fix this. I don't know if they can, though."
The other topic of discussion during that initial players-only meeting was the trade rumors surrounding the team. Following the Lakers' most recent losses, along with continued reports of the players at odds with Brown and the coaches, you'd have to think those trade rumors will only pick up steam in the coming week. Whether it's the roster, the coaching staff, or the on-court philosophy, something needs to change for the Lakers if they hope to contend for a title this season.