It has been almost three years since Jim Buss pledged in an interview to step down from his role in basketball operations with the Los Angeles in “three or four years” if they were not “contending for a championship.”
Jim Buss said last week he “wasn’t referring to a certain playoff position” and that the deadline “really wasn’t as clear as people say it is.”
“This was quotes from three or four years ago,” he said. “Those were what the path was supposed to be.”
Jim Buss said injuries and the farewell tour of Kobe Bryant detailed Jeanie Buss' otherwise reasonable expectations. Buss runs the front office with Mitch Kupchak.
“If I feel that the strides have been made,” Jim Buss said, “and the team is going in a very positive – not just a positive direction – a very positive direction, I don’t see a switch happening.”
On the other hand this info from OC Register re Jeanie's thoughts:
http://hoopshype.com/storyline/lakers-front-office/
5 hours ago – via Orange County Register
Does the promise shown by Coach Luke Walton and the Lakers’ young core absolve Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak for three years of losing, the sort of streak Jeanie Buss says her father “just wouldn’t have tolerated”? For those three years, Jeanie Buss has honored her brother’s timeline. “That’s what he said, so I have to give him his time,” she said. “I have to.” It’s a pledge that might prove to be Jim Buss’ undoing. Reached by the Southern California News Group last week, he said he “wasn’t referring to a certain playoff position” and that the deadline “really wasn’t as clear as people say it is.” “This was quotes from three or four years ago,” he said. “Those were what the path was supposed to be.”