duncan228
01-20-2011, 11:32 PM
Q & A With Jeanie Buss (http://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/q-a-with-jeanie-buss/?ref=basketball)
By Jonathan Abrams
The New York Times
Jeanie Buss may perform the most unique balancing act in sports. As the Los Angeles Lakers’ executive vice president of business operations, she influences one of the N.B.A.’s most-storied franchises and lends a voice and an ear in the league’s ongoing labor negotiations. She also dates Lakers Coach Phil Jackson, who is in his final season coaching the team. Buss recently released “Laker Girl (http://www.amazon.com/Laker-Girl-Jeanie-Buss/dp/1600785115),” with Steve Springer, formerly a Lakers beat writer for The Los Angeles Times.
The book tells the story of Buss’s life and her relationship with Jackson and includes excerpts from a diary she kept last season, which culminated in a Game 7 victory against the Boston Celtics and a second consecutive championship for the Lakers.
Q. How did the idea for “Laker Girl” originate?
A. I get asked all the time, what’s a typical day like for you in your job with the Lakers, and there’s no easy way to answer that. So, Steve Springer, who was the beat writer for the Lakers at one time, kind of pitched this idea of doing a journal format, interspersed with chapters of my life and how I got to be where I am and kind of why I see the world the way I do. I didn’t think I had enough to fill a book, but working with him was perfect because it turned out to be a very nice year in the life considering that it ended with a championship.
Q. What were some of the specific moments that stuck out to you last year?
A. When I look back at the book, it’s almost very similar to this season. Last year, we started out without Pau Gasol. He was injured for the first few weeks and everybody was like, oh, the Lakers are done. It was kind of a rocky start and people were questioning can the Lakers really repeat as champions? It was exactly what’s going on now except, this year Andrew was out at the beginning of the season. It reminds you of how everything is so fragile and it really is hard to make it all the way in the playoffs and get through the season. It ended in a Game 7 in the finals. You couldn’t ask for anything more dramatic.
Q. Does the book also touch on being one of the league’s only female executives?
A. Yes. When I started in this business, it was rare to see women in those kinds of positions, but there were. Now, there’s many more. It isn’t such a novelty any more to be a woman in this position because there’s a lot of top women at the league office. At one time, Susan O’Malley, who was with Washington, she was a high-ranking female. It’s not that much of an unusual circumstance now. I don’t think being a woman is the reason. I just think that women haven’t traditionally gone after positions in sports.
Q. What was last year like for Phil Jackson?
A. He puts so much of his energy into every season. He honestly starts every season with a road map in his head of how he’s going to get a team where they need to be in order to give them the best chance in the playoffs. He works really hard. Last year was about injuries and timing. He had set the goal to have the best record in the league because he knew that home-court advantage would mean that much in the N.B.A. playoffs. Unfortunately, we didn’t finish with the best record. Cleveland did. But the good news was that Cleveland lost and we played Boston, which we did have a better record over, so we ended up with that home-court advantage in Game 7.
Q. What did Phil factor in while debating his decision to come back this year?
A. He doesn’t really like to think about next year. I think there was a lot of pressure to make that decision as to whether he would come back or not. I think that he’s devoted to this group of players, meaning he loves Pau Gasol. He’s in love with the talent that Pau has and his basketball intellect. He knows Kobe works harder than anybody. Andrew Bynum has really gained a place in Phil’s heart because they’ve been together so long and he sees Andrew really making that next step into becoming one of the elite players in the league. It’s hard for him to make commitments, but I think he really wanted to come back for this team and they have a really, really good opportunity to repeat and he wants to make sure that they don’t blow it and they don’t take it for granted because those opportunities are very hard to come by.
Q. Has Phil wavered at all in this being his last season?
A. No. This will be his last year with the Lakers. He wants to make sure that the players know that so that they don’t leave anything out there because there’s nothing worse for a player than living with regrets. “What could have been had we just made the right decision or done the right thing.” So he wanted to make sure they knew, this is our last time together. Now, what Phil does after this, only Phil knows. I don’t know if he’s going to retire. Me and my opinion? I can’t see him being retired. I don’t know what’s going to keep him occupied. He’s so competitive. He’s so good at coaching. Can I see him coaching another team in the N.B.A.? Yes. Can I see him having his own cooking show? Yes. He’s a person that is very productive, but he’s going to have to decide what he’s going to do.
Q. What type of feedback have you received from the book?
A. When you write a book and you share your life with people, it’s interesting the feedback you get. My dad has owned the Lakers for over 30 years now, but there’s a generation who didn’t know how he made his money. He’s one of those self-made men and people find that interesting. I talk about my dog a lot in the book and I have people who connect with me because they have dogs and my dog got very sick and I talk about that, but now she’s O.K. Also, dating with someone you work with. I have people who ask me about that and how do you handle it? It’s really important to me that you don’t ever compromise your work environment by trying to keep a secret. Secrets are what traps you and could possibly hurt your work because it’s a distraction if there’s a secret and then some people know and some people don’t know. If you have full disclosure, you have a much better chance of having a successful workplace relationship. It’s just been interesting to get feedback from people in all different ways.
Q. Phil took a year off from coaching the Lakers after the 2003-4 season. How did that affect your relationship?
A. I was really worried about it because I didn’t know what would happen to our relationship. But it actually made it stronger. Since we’re not married, it was kind of that I thought he would disappear. Instead, it brought us closer together. Even though he was able to travel and do things and I still had to work, we were as close as ever and I really thought in that year he would take a year off and end up coming back to coach the Knicks. They had just let their coach go and the Lakers had just signed a coach for five years. Who knew the Lakers job would become available again? I think our relationship was solid. I talk about it in my book that we’re never going to get married and people said “Why did you need to say that in the book?” It’s because I’m the one who put it out there, that I wanted to marry him. I fell hard for him, but now I realize it’s not that he doesn’t want to marry me. It’s that he doesn’t want to get married again. He’s kind of from that generation that don’t need marriage, don’t need a marriage certificate. But it’s all good.
Q. What was your reaction to Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban’s comment about Phil being your boy toy?
A. That made me laugh. I thought that was funny. Mark and Phil are kind of alike. They’re both very competitive. They’re very smart guys. I’ll leave the sound bytes to them. I have used the boy toy line on Phil many times to say “Get over here. You’re my boy toy.” I don’t take it as an insult at all. I think it’s very funny.
http://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/q-a-with-jeanie-buss/?ref=basketball
By Jonathan Abrams
The New York Times
Jeanie Buss may perform the most unique balancing act in sports. As the Los Angeles Lakers’ executive vice president of business operations, she influences one of the N.B.A.’s most-storied franchises and lends a voice and an ear in the league’s ongoing labor negotiations. She also dates Lakers Coach Phil Jackson, who is in his final season coaching the team. Buss recently released “Laker Girl (http://www.amazon.com/Laker-Girl-Jeanie-Buss/dp/1600785115),” with Steve Springer, formerly a Lakers beat writer for The Los Angeles Times.
The book tells the story of Buss’s life and her relationship with Jackson and includes excerpts from a diary she kept last season, which culminated in a Game 7 victory against the Boston Celtics and a second consecutive championship for the Lakers.
Q. How did the idea for “Laker Girl” originate?
A. I get asked all the time, what’s a typical day like for you in your job with the Lakers, and there’s no easy way to answer that. So, Steve Springer, who was the beat writer for the Lakers at one time, kind of pitched this idea of doing a journal format, interspersed with chapters of my life and how I got to be where I am and kind of why I see the world the way I do. I didn’t think I had enough to fill a book, but working with him was perfect because it turned out to be a very nice year in the life considering that it ended with a championship.
Q. What were some of the specific moments that stuck out to you last year?
A. When I look back at the book, it’s almost very similar to this season. Last year, we started out without Pau Gasol. He was injured for the first few weeks and everybody was like, oh, the Lakers are done. It was kind of a rocky start and people were questioning can the Lakers really repeat as champions? It was exactly what’s going on now except, this year Andrew was out at the beginning of the season. It reminds you of how everything is so fragile and it really is hard to make it all the way in the playoffs and get through the season. It ended in a Game 7 in the finals. You couldn’t ask for anything more dramatic.
Q. Does the book also touch on being one of the league’s only female executives?
A. Yes. When I started in this business, it was rare to see women in those kinds of positions, but there were. Now, there’s many more. It isn’t such a novelty any more to be a woman in this position because there’s a lot of top women at the league office. At one time, Susan O’Malley, who was with Washington, she was a high-ranking female. It’s not that much of an unusual circumstance now. I don’t think being a woman is the reason. I just think that women haven’t traditionally gone after positions in sports.
Q. What was last year like for Phil Jackson?
A. He puts so much of his energy into every season. He honestly starts every season with a road map in his head of how he’s going to get a team where they need to be in order to give them the best chance in the playoffs. He works really hard. Last year was about injuries and timing. He had set the goal to have the best record in the league because he knew that home-court advantage would mean that much in the N.B.A. playoffs. Unfortunately, we didn’t finish with the best record. Cleveland did. But the good news was that Cleveland lost and we played Boston, which we did have a better record over, so we ended up with that home-court advantage in Game 7.
Q. What did Phil factor in while debating his decision to come back this year?
A. He doesn’t really like to think about next year. I think there was a lot of pressure to make that decision as to whether he would come back or not. I think that he’s devoted to this group of players, meaning he loves Pau Gasol. He’s in love with the talent that Pau has and his basketball intellect. He knows Kobe works harder than anybody. Andrew Bynum has really gained a place in Phil’s heart because they’ve been together so long and he sees Andrew really making that next step into becoming one of the elite players in the league. It’s hard for him to make commitments, but I think he really wanted to come back for this team and they have a really, really good opportunity to repeat and he wants to make sure that they don’t blow it and they don’t take it for granted because those opportunities are very hard to come by.
Q. Has Phil wavered at all in this being his last season?
A. No. This will be his last year with the Lakers. He wants to make sure that the players know that so that they don’t leave anything out there because there’s nothing worse for a player than living with regrets. “What could have been had we just made the right decision or done the right thing.” So he wanted to make sure they knew, this is our last time together. Now, what Phil does after this, only Phil knows. I don’t know if he’s going to retire. Me and my opinion? I can’t see him being retired. I don’t know what’s going to keep him occupied. He’s so competitive. He’s so good at coaching. Can I see him coaching another team in the N.B.A.? Yes. Can I see him having his own cooking show? Yes. He’s a person that is very productive, but he’s going to have to decide what he’s going to do.
Q. What type of feedback have you received from the book?
A. When you write a book and you share your life with people, it’s interesting the feedback you get. My dad has owned the Lakers for over 30 years now, but there’s a generation who didn’t know how he made his money. He’s one of those self-made men and people find that interesting. I talk about my dog a lot in the book and I have people who connect with me because they have dogs and my dog got very sick and I talk about that, but now she’s O.K. Also, dating with someone you work with. I have people who ask me about that and how do you handle it? It’s really important to me that you don’t ever compromise your work environment by trying to keep a secret. Secrets are what traps you and could possibly hurt your work because it’s a distraction if there’s a secret and then some people know and some people don’t know. If you have full disclosure, you have a much better chance of having a successful workplace relationship. It’s just been interesting to get feedback from people in all different ways.
Q. Phil took a year off from coaching the Lakers after the 2003-4 season. How did that affect your relationship?
A. I was really worried about it because I didn’t know what would happen to our relationship. But it actually made it stronger. Since we’re not married, it was kind of that I thought he would disappear. Instead, it brought us closer together. Even though he was able to travel and do things and I still had to work, we were as close as ever and I really thought in that year he would take a year off and end up coming back to coach the Knicks. They had just let their coach go and the Lakers had just signed a coach for five years. Who knew the Lakers job would become available again? I think our relationship was solid. I talk about it in my book that we’re never going to get married and people said “Why did you need to say that in the book?” It’s because I’m the one who put it out there, that I wanted to marry him. I fell hard for him, but now I realize it’s not that he doesn’t want to marry me. It’s that he doesn’t want to get married again. He’s kind of from that generation that don’t need marriage, don’t need a marriage certificate. But it’s all good.
Q. What was your reaction to Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban’s comment about Phil being your boy toy?
A. That made me laugh. I thought that was funny. Mark and Phil are kind of alike. They’re both very competitive. They’re very smart guys. I’ll leave the sound bytes to them. I have used the boy toy line on Phil many times to say “Get over here. You’re my boy toy.” I don’t take it as an insult at all. I think it’s very funny.
http://offthedribble.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/q-a-with-jeanie-buss/?ref=basketball