Jim Buss was on AM570 yesterday. He actually gave a decent interview, gave some insight into the Laker organization, and also made some bold statements. Two comments from the interview stood out to me. 1) He doesn't understand the speculation people came up with, that Bynum is untouchable because he (Jim Buss) drafted him and wanted to make his mark on this team with Bynum. He was very candid with his answer, saying if Bynum can be part of a package to land a superstar talent like "Kevin Garnett" (he actually mentioned KG's name) then Bynum can be viewed as a successful draft pick. 2) He mentioned he doesn't like it when PJax openly criticizes the players. He didn't like the comments PJax made about Kwame Brown, because he felt PJax was questioning Kwame's injury. He plans to address it in his exit interview with PJax. He also said PJax has an open-ended policy with the ball club, meaning if he wants to extend his contract to coach the Lakers the offer is already available. He said PJax is the best coach for any situation. Jim Buss also did a nice job of clarifying Kobe's option. He said most players in the NBA actually have this option, and it's contigent on the revenue the NBA generates as a league. It gives the players an option to survey the market for free agents, so if there's a huge increase in NBA revenue for each ball club, then a player can ask for more money. He also said, it doesn't make much sense for Kobe to demand a trade. With the money he makes, the Lakers would have to take back the opposing teams best player, ie Cleveland it would be LeBron James, Minnesota it would be Kevin Garnett etc. because of the amount of money Kobe makes.
Thanks for the recap shape. I like what he said about Bynum not being untouchable. Bynum will be a great player in the future, but why wait another 3 to 4 years when you can possibly get a great player in return NOW, to pair up with the best player in the league in Kobe Bryant?
Hi new guy here, just thought i'd give a introductory message before posting i agree with jim buss's statement regarding bynum if we can get a good player for him i'm all for it, as there's a limited window to win a championship with kobe in his prime. i also like the way phil calls out players, cause that means he wants them to step up.
It's kind of hard to do anything when there's nothing you can do at the moment. I fully expect Buss and co. to pull through this offseason and land another superstar (KG or JO preferrably) to compliment Kobe.
Who to blame for this mess? There have to be someone in the front office. As far as we know, Jim Buss made most of the decisions since the post Shaq's era. He hesitated to make a deal to land Baron Davis, Carlos Boozer, Ron Artest, Jason Kidd. He wants to wait for Bynum to grow in LA; loves to keep Odom for another year, and extends questionable contracts. It is a mess right now. I'm interesting to see how Lakers can pull it off this offseason.
