No doubt...but, really, you can have the old structure we had (and KC had) if the guys making the important decisions know what they are doing.
She fired her brother didn't she? Not to mention she fired Mitch Kupchak, she hasn't brought back her lover boy Phil Jackson, so yes I do think the Rambis couple are making decisions. As of right now I haven't heard any legitimate reasons/evidence to suggest why that is a bad thing. So far hiring Magic Johnson from the beginning was a disaster, so I hope some one is finally stepping in with something better. I would telling a lie if I said I am expecting that to happen now, but I am hoping
i dont agree. I dont like having the coach and the general manager answering to the owner. I think there has to be some kind of hierarchy. I dont think its good when you can have the coach going behind the general manager's back directly to the owner. And on top of that- DePodesta also had his own little fiefdom. There were 3 major guys, all reporting to the owner.
Magic simply does not have the work ethic or brains for the job. These GM jobs are for guys that are really really smart that work long long hours
You get this structure worked in KC, right? Well, at least they picked good players and won. In situations where you have good people as coach and GM you might need them both to report to the owner as one might not come if he has to report to the other. Ideally, I agree, the structure you describe is best.
I think Jeanie will get it straight and truthfully - I think it's possible that she didn't expect him to be there a long time and knew he would quit abruptly. They know each other pretty well and you tend to know a person's limits. Signing LeBron in the long run was a mistake though. We are now two years away from the time when both Mozgov and Deng's contracts would have been gone completely and we would still have Randle and Russell. The pieces by now would be developing enough to become a playoff team and we would have a ton of salary to go after a combination of Leonard, George and Davis. Now we are limiting more then a third of our salary to one aging player. The fact that LeBron was injured and missed something like 23 games tells me that father time is undefeated, but hey I am 60 and I still think I can go 70 feet up into trees and trim them if my damned friends would let me
I was more worried about him coming back as an advisor - I don't know much about Rambis' skills as a general manager or as a vice-pres of operations or Linda's for that matter, but I do think it's presumptuous to assume they are no good about it. For the time being I am putting the blame on Magic. As bad as everyone thought Jim Buss was, and as horrible as his signings of Mozgov and Deng were, he built some good pieces in the Lottery. I agree that Jeanie needed to move him out, but I do think that the Lakers moved to quickly in dumping Russell and Randle.
There is no rush on the head coaching job - The draft pick is a no brainer that any one could do. I agree that the most they should have given Tyrone Lue was 3 years. A little surprising that he didn't take considering he has only coached a few years with the best player in the NBA. He has not shown that he knows how to win in adversity, so I don't consider that to be a disaster yet. I am thinking that they need a more mature and experienced coach that will be able to command the respect from LeBron.
That's the reason the Lakers didn't want to give Lue more than three years. They knew he can't coach and would only be there for the duration of LeBron. If LeBron stays or Lue proves he is more than a LeBron tit sucker, then he will earn another contractor
