Thebesteva
10-21-2015, 08:57 PM
Fuck this guy seriously :lol
“(If) I would have taken credit for all the moves we won championships for, then I would have a resume; I don’t have a resume,” said Buss, who has been on board for five Lakers titles since he first joined and whose bio in the team's media guide is approximately one quarter the size of Kupchak's. “So my resume is just me all of a sudden taking over, which isn’t true. It’s not true at all. The thing that most people don’t understand is that I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I worked with Jerry West. I’ve done this, and I’ve said these things. But it doesn’t have any teeth, doesn’t have any legs. I was very much part of the final decisions on all of the championships that we’ve won in the last 20 years.
“I was extremely involved on both the basketball and the financial side, but there was no point for me to go out and wave my flag. It didn’t make sense to me. Now I understand that I should have, to a certain degree.”
“I told him to follow his instincts,” said West, whose son, Ryan, has worked for the Lakers since 2009 and was recently promoted to director of player personnel. “He would have a lot of analytical people (around), and a lot of people think that I can’t stand analytical people, and that’s not the case at all. The thing that I told him was that you need all kinds of tools.
“He’s really smart … but he’s the easiest target there is. And I will tell you, it’s grossly unfair sometimes. Grossly unfair. It’s almost like they want him to be a reincarnation of his dad, but he can’t.”
He’ll never be a carbon copy of his father, but winning at a high level again would certainly help.
“At the end of the day, I don’t care what kind of owner you are – you can be the best owner in the world – but if your team does not win at a high level, then none of those things will make a significant difference,” West said. “The thing that drives a franchise is winning. This is why there’s so much pressure on the organization over there, and particularly Jim, because he’s going to take the brunt of that, which is not fair.”
“I don’t think criticism is unfair when you have a record like we’ve had,” he said. “Now some people are going to look at it and say, ‘Well we’ve had injuries. We’ve had unfortunate circumstances.’ But I’ll take the blame for it. I have no problem taking that, because I know the inner workings of the NBA have changed (by way of the collective bargaining agreement that was agreed upon after the 2011 lockout). They have leveled the playing field to a point where it takes time … The rules change and you have to adjust.
“We adjusted. You point out our record for the last couple of years, but we were favored to win the championship with Dwight Howard and Steve Nash (heading into the 2012-13 season). That was only, what, two years ago?”
:lol:lol:lol:lol
“If you go five years from now, you’re going to see that we did get breaks, you know what I mean?” Buss said. “We got the second pick in the draft. Because of the injuries (to Nash and Bryant), we got (forward) Julius Randle (out of Kentucky with the fourth pick in 2014) … So I think if you go ahead and then look back, you’re going to say, ‘Well, it wasn’t that long before they got a break again.’ I think we already got our breaks, but it hasn’t come to fruition. Does that make sense?”
“I think we’ve done a great job (rebuilding). Yeah, I think we’re in dynamite position. Not good position – dynamite. I think we’ve turned the corner. I don’t know if you discount that terminology, ‘turn the corner.’ But when you’re headed down the wrong road, and you can finally get off that road and turn the corner, that’s huge in my opinion.”
:rollin
“We’re ahead of (the schedule), so I’m fine with it. I think we’ve turned the corner, exactly like we have (planned). Get a free agent next (summer), and then I think we compete.”
Yet it seems there is some matter of debate about the specifics of the timeline. When pressed on the matter of when the deadline date will be, Jim said, “Two more full seasons, a summer of change and then let that season go. Whatever happens in that third season, that’s fine. I have no problem with that. I think we’re that close.”
“(If) I would have taken credit for all the moves we won championships for, then I would have a resume; I don’t have a resume,” said Buss, who has been on board for five Lakers titles since he first joined and whose bio in the team's media guide is approximately one quarter the size of Kupchak's. “So my resume is just me all of a sudden taking over, which isn’t true. It’s not true at all. The thing that most people don’t understand is that I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I worked with Jerry West. I’ve done this, and I’ve said these things. But it doesn’t have any teeth, doesn’t have any legs. I was very much part of the final decisions on all of the championships that we’ve won in the last 20 years.
“I was extremely involved on both the basketball and the financial side, but there was no point for me to go out and wave my flag. It didn’t make sense to me. Now I understand that I should have, to a certain degree.”
“I told him to follow his instincts,” said West, whose son, Ryan, has worked for the Lakers since 2009 and was recently promoted to director of player personnel. “He would have a lot of analytical people (around), and a lot of people think that I can’t stand analytical people, and that’s not the case at all. The thing that I told him was that you need all kinds of tools.
“He’s really smart … but he’s the easiest target there is. And I will tell you, it’s grossly unfair sometimes. Grossly unfair. It’s almost like they want him to be a reincarnation of his dad, but he can’t.”
He’ll never be a carbon copy of his father, but winning at a high level again would certainly help.
“At the end of the day, I don’t care what kind of owner you are – you can be the best owner in the world – but if your team does not win at a high level, then none of those things will make a significant difference,” West said. “The thing that drives a franchise is winning. This is why there’s so much pressure on the organization over there, and particularly Jim, because he’s going to take the brunt of that, which is not fair.”
“I don’t think criticism is unfair when you have a record like we’ve had,” he said. “Now some people are going to look at it and say, ‘Well we’ve had injuries. We’ve had unfortunate circumstances.’ But I’ll take the blame for it. I have no problem taking that, because I know the inner workings of the NBA have changed (by way of the collective bargaining agreement that was agreed upon after the 2011 lockout). They have leveled the playing field to a point where it takes time … The rules change and you have to adjust.
“We adjusted. You point out our record for the last couple of years, but we were favored to win the championship with Dwight Howard and Steve Nash (heading into the 2012-13 season). That was only, what, two years ago?”
:lol:lol:lol:lol
“If you go five years from now, you’re going to see that we did get breaks, you know what I mean?” Buss said. “We got the second pick in the draft. Because of the injuries (to Nash and Bryant), we got (forward) Julius Randle (out of Kentucky with the fourth pick in 2014) … So I think if you go ahead and then look back, you’re going to say, ‘Well, it wasn’t that long before they got a break again.’ I think we already got our breaks, but it hasn’t come to fruition. Does that make sense?”
“I think we’ve done a great job (rebuilding). Yeah, I think we’re in dynamite position. Not good position – dynamite. I think we’ve turned the corner. I don’t know if you discount that terminology, ‘turn the corner.’ But when you’re headed down the wrong road, and you can finally get off that road and turn the corner, that’s huge in my opinion.”
:rollin
“We’re ahead of (the schedule), so I’m fine with it. I think we’ve turned the corner, exactly like we have (planned). Get a free agent next (summer), and then I think we compete.”
Yet it seems there is some matter of debate about the specifics of the timeline. When pressed on the matter of when the deadline date will be, Jim said, “Two more full seasons, a summer of change and then let that season go. Whatever happens in that third season, that’s fine. I have no problem with that. I think we’re that close.”