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In light of yesterday's Ding article im curious how the fan base feels about the two seemingly opposing leaders of the org, Jim and Jeanie?

I won't get into the specifics surrounding the criticisms of each, just want a fresh take one which of the two , if you had to choose, is more detrimental to the organization?

Personally, I don't think Jeanie's behind this last one... I think it's Magic or Scott...

That said, Jeanie's role is on the Marketing side, the further she strays into BBall ops, the more she gets exposed... If she doesn't do that, she's not a threat at all to the org, but if she does, and presses her own personal agenda, she could destroy this franchise... So as far as detrimental potential, she's it...
Jim is marginalized already... He knows he's on a short leash... He's got much less potential to mess things up.

Why I voted Jeanie.

This is a guessing game.

I would tend to agree, plus i feel like with everything thats happened thus far, It seems no matter how you rate Jim Buss, he isn't so incompetent that he makes long term detrimental moves. Jeanie seems much more likely to do something that would hurt us long term than Jim, likely during an attempt to take power from him.

Last time i checked Jeanie gave Kobe that contract.
Last time i checked she is the one who starts those stupid recruit a player tweets that has made us look like fools....

Kilroy wrote:Personally, I don't think Jeanie's behind this last one... I think it's Magic or Scott...

That said, Jeanie's role is on the Marketing side, the further she strays into BBall ops, the more she gets exposed... If she doesn't do that, she's not a threat at all to the org, but if she does, and presses her own personal agenda, she could destroy this franchise... So as far as detrimental potential, she's it...
Jim is marginalized already... He knows he's on a short leash... He's got much less potential to mess things up.

Why I voted Jeanie.

Excellent points. For me it isn't even about her possibly orchestrating some exit strategy for Jim, it's that she's so emotional about a lot of decisions that I feel she's liable to make moves, conduct interviews, or make the radio rounds stirring up trouble without thinking things through

This is like a bad movie where the old billionaire is blind to the fact that his children are complete morons. Why aren't they all in the marketing department? It makes zero sense that any of the Buss kids would be in basketball operations.

I thought it was an easy choice (Jim) given that Jimmy and Jesse are running our scouting department with zero experience or college education. We all loved Dr. B but he couldn't have made a worse succession plan. It's cringe-worthy.

My preferences from best to worst:

1. A silent Buss family ownership (Jim & Jeannie) with a professional GM taking complete control of basketball ops
2. Jim as president of basketball ops with Jeannie controlling business (Current status quo)
3. Jeannie as representative owner with Phil incharge of basketball ops and Jim/Kupchak out of the organization

In summary its choosing between the lesser of two evils. Jim for all his short comings rarely goes public in the media. Jeannie on the other hand is quite fond of her radio appearances and leaking stuff trying to make Jim look less competent than he really is, which in turn gives an appearance of a fractured organization to prospective free agents, which is a lot more harmful.

This is possibly what Kobe was hinting on when he publicly asked for Jim and Jeannie to bury their differences and reach a conclusion on their own family dynamic a couple of years ago.

I thought Kobe was over reaching at that time but this latest article just when things are looking up suggests to me that there are people within who are quite frankly a bit fed up with this constant bickering and Jeannie's passive aggressive struggle to seize full control and bring Phil into the fold. Magic being a constant buffoon on twitter didn't help matters either.

Kilroy wrote:Personally, I don't think Jeanie's behind this last one... I think it's Magic or Scott...

That said, Jeanie's role is on the Marketing side, the further she strays into BBall ops, the more she gets exposed... If she doesn't do that, she's not a threat at all to the org, but if she does, and presses her own personal agenda, she could destroy this franchise... So as far as detrimental potential, she's it...
Jim is marginalized already... He knows he's on a short leash... He's got much less potential to mess things up.

Why I voted Jeanie.

I'd vote Magic over Scott... If I went down that road.. the recent removal of Magic from the Lakers as VP tells me there's been some problems with him of late then his buddy Scott was fired....

Still in the end here we are over 24 hours after that article was published and not a peep out of Jeanie to try and smooth things over or calm Laker nation down despite here twitter feed blowing up

All she'd have to do to make everything right is come out and say the article is unfounded and doesn't reflect the state of the Lakers front office, she could do it in less than 140 characters... but nope.. we get crickets

somebody should put this poll up on twitter...

I'm not sure I'll ever understand the negative sentiments towards Jeanie. Sure she was on board with the Kobe contract, but so were Jim and Mitch. Furthermore, lets not act like the Kobe contract was the worst thing in the world. It wouldn't have changed anything if we gave him 10 million less. At least we got to see his last game and have him go out with 60 points.

I also think the emotional claim is stupid. She says herself that she is emotional, but she hasn't actually done anything based on her emotions to the Lakers. If she really acted on her emotions she could have fired Jim and Mitch when they didn't hire Phil Jackson

indilakeshow wrote:I'm not sure I'll ever understand the negative sentiments towards Jeanie. Sure she was on board with the Kobe contract, but so were Jim and Mitch. Furthermore, lets not act like the Kobe contract was the worst thing in the world. It wouldn't have changed anything if we gave him 10 million less. At least we got to see his last game and have him go out with 60 points.

I also think the emotional claim is stupid. She says herself that she is emotional, but she hasn't actually done anything based on her emotions to the Lakers. If she really acted on her emotions she could have fired Jim and Mitch when they didn't hire Phil Jackson

Jerry Buss was still alive when Jackson wasn't hired and from all reports it was Dr. Buss that didn't want him back in Laker land....

I had no problem with the Kobe contract but it can be argued if she was the one who wanted him to have that contract then she tied Mitch's hands but good with it.. certainly made his job harder

gts1 wrote:

indilakeshow wrote:I'm not sure I'll ever understand the negative sentiments towards Jeanie. Sure she was on board with the Kobe contract, but so were Jim and Mitch. Furthermore, lets not act like the Kobe contract was the worst thing in the world. It wouldn't have changed anything if we gave him 10 million less. At least we got to see his last game and have him go out with 60 points.

I also think the emotional claim is stupid. She says herself that she is emotional, but she hasn't actually done anything based on her emotions to the Lakers. If she really acted on her emotions she could have fired Jim and Mitch when they didn't hire Phil Jackson

Jerry Buss was still alive when Jackson wasn't hired and from all reports it was Dr. Buss that didn't want him back in Laker land....

Dr Buss let Phil walk twice... He always thought Phil was a bit of a prima dona and was not a huge fan of the Triangle. He thought it was formulaic and boring... Which it was, along with being highly effective...
Dr Buss was always talking about his desire to "get back to showtime basketball."
So it wasn't surprising when Phil didn't jump at the chance to come back that Dr Buss would have suggested another path.

I dislike MDA as much as the next person, but Phil carries as much blame as anyone for not getting the job. His negotiating tactic of basically demanding teams beg him to take the job wears thin when they know he can't physically coach a whole season anyway.

indilakeshow wrote:I'm not sure I'll ever understand the negative sentiments towards Jeanie. Sure she was on board with the Kobe contract, but so were Jim and Mitch. Furthermore, lets not act like the Kobe contract was the worst thing in the world. It wouldn't have changed anything if we gave him 10 million less. At least we got to see his last game and have him go out with 60 points.

I also think the emotional claim is stupid. She says herself that she is emotional, but she hasn't actually done anything based on her emotions to the Lakers. If she really acted on her emotions she could have fired Jim and Mitch when they didn't hire Phil Jackson

All I know is that Jeanie has been doing her job for quite a while, and the "business" has been doing great. She signed the mega 2-billion dollar TV deal...or whatever it was. I personally hate it when she talks B-Ball...calls Dwight a coward (something that resonates with the Laker cool-aid drinkers....but turns other B-Ball players off), and gets in it with people who criticize the Lakers. Other than that, I got no beef with her. Not a fan of bringing Phil in. I hope the family over-rules her on that one.

Jim has pretty much been a disaster from coaching hires, record, recruiting, and the over-all vibe in the NBA. There are many questions about leadership here. Some are media-generated....while some are legit. M-Brown, to M-D'antoni, to Scott...to Luke. It's fair to ask if there's a "philosophy" at work here...or someone just chucking S**t against the wall.

Now Durant wont even bother with us? Great. We are going in the wrong direction as far as his responsibilities are concerned. I wish he'd step down immediately, but I think it's going to take yet another lack-luster off season, and subsequent sub-25/30 win season for him to get the ax.


The Buss children should just run the business....and leave the B-Ball to someone else. Even Jerry's vision was becoming dated. I at least think he had true genius to probably learn, adapt, and chart these new waters. Jim doesn't know...and worst of all, has nothing but his fathers dated playbook to fall back on. It used to work....why isn't it working now. I'm sure he spends many nights puzzled.

I think Phil's ideals are very dated too. I hope we get someone else. Wish I had a name. Could we entice Kerr with the promotion? He was a dreadful GM in Phoenix....has he figured it out, or is he just a good coach?

I'd be willing to let Mitch have a go. Drop ol' Jimbo, and give Mitch the keys.

danfantastk32 wrote:I'd be willing to let Mitch have a go. Drop ol' Jimbo, and give Mitch the keys.

It doesn't work that way... Which is what's so idiotic about Jeanie's 'deadline' and her assertion that she would 'fire' Jim...

She may perhaps be able to remove him as pres of BBAll Ops... (I think that's questionable... I think she may need all the family members to sign off on it.) But even if she did that, she can't remove him as part owner without all of them agreeing to sell... And as part owner he'd still be able to influence personnel decisions... So what would it really solve?

I think Jeanie was bluffing. I don't think she has the power to outright fire Jim. If she's behind the latest round of negativity it's in an attempt to change the minds of the other siblings to get them to vote her way... But even if she was successful, it might hurt that chances of bringing Phil back more than doing nothing would... Because if Jim was still an owner, it seems pretty clear he would do what he could do to block that particular move... If ANY of what we've heard is true that is...

Doubtful.

One of the worst pro media arguments for Jeanie over Jim is that she is more friendly and approachable. Problem is she has absolutely no idea on how to spin a story to help the franchise and ends up making far more damage than good. At least Jim stays out of sight.

Kilroy wrote:

danfantastk32 wrote:I'd be willing to let Mitch have a go. Drop ol' Jimbo, and give Mitch the keys.

It doesn't work that way... Which is what's so idiotic about Jeanie's 'deadline' and her assertion that she would 'fire' Jim...

No I hear it. He's not "fired" in the typical sense. Just 'removed' from such and such position. We can all quibble over terms, but basically he's removed. What position they give him makes no difference to me.

He himself let the the world know he made the "step down" proclamation. Jeanie says she is gonna hold him to it...and I expect that she will.

And yeah...I'm not a huge fan of bringing Phil back. In fact I'm pretty against it. I dont want Magic either.

I'd really rather get someone who isn't involved in with these two. Get someone who is just here to run the f***ing team. Enough with all this. I'm sick of being a bottom feeder. I'm sick of hearing about these two, and their crap. Fight in the back....leave the team to adults.

Michael Lucky wrote:One of the worst pro media arguments for Jeanie over Jim is that she is more friendly and approachable. Problem is she has absolutely no idea on how to spin a story to help the franchise and ends up making far more damage than good. At least Jim stays out of sight.

My favorite was when they asked her about the Kobe deal. And her response what to bring up the Nash deal, and how horrible that one was......so the Kobe deal wasn't all that bad.

She seems to have the back-end of the business just fine. I think she's great at her job....just stay there. Jim needs to go far away.

Kilroy wrote:

gts1 wrote:

indilakeshow wrote:I'm not sure I'll ever understand the negative sentiments towards Jeanie. Sure she was on board with the Kobe contract, but so were Jim and Mitch. Furthermore, lets not act like the Kobe contract was the worst thing in the world. It wouldn't have changed anything if we gave him 10 million less. At least we got to see his last game and have him go out with 60 points.

I also think the emotional claim is stupid. She says herself that she is emotional, but she hasn't actually done anything based on her emotions to the Lakers. If she really acted on her emotions she could have fired Jim and Mitch when they didn't hire Phil Jackson

Jerry Buss was still alive when Jackson wasn't hired and from all reports it was Dr. Buss that didn't want him back in Laker land....

Dr Buss let Phil walk twice... He always thought Phil was a bit of a prima dona and was not a huge fan of the Triangle. He thought it was formulaic and boring... Which it was, along with being highly effective...
Dr Buss was always talking about his desire to "get back to showtime basketball."
So it wasn't surprising when Phil didn't jump at the chance to come back that Dr Buss would have suggested another path.

I dislike MDA as much as the next person, but Phil carries as much blame as anyone for not getting the job. His negotiating tactic of basically demanding teams beg him to take the job wears thin when they know he can't physically coach a whole season anyway.

The whole Phil not being hired was drama queen hour at it's best...

Phil 2011 after loss to the Mavs...
"But yes, in all my hopes and aspirations, this is the final game I'll coach. This has been a wonderful run,".

2012
In a recent conversation with Bulls.com writer Sam Smith, Jackson was asked if he wants to coach again. He said "No."

2012 again
"I have no intention of ever coaching again," Jackson told SheridanHoops.com

Nov. 2012 After MDA hiring
Jackson met with Lakers brass, but wouldn’t tell them right off the bat that he was interested in accepting the job. Jackson now says he had intended to take the job, but was merely waiting on medical clearance to do so.

Jan. 2013
In an interview with Fox Sports One, Jackson reiterated that he does not want to coach again

and then you wonder how in the world the Lakers ever could have got the idea he never wanted to coach again...lol