Jeanie Buss 'Stunned' When Lakers Didn't Hire Jackson

[RealGM Wiretap]

Jeanie Buss was "stunned" when her brother, Jim Buss, decided not to hire Phil Jackson last November.

The Los Angeles Lakers hired Mike D'Antoni in a surprising move.

"I was stunned," said Buss. "I said to Phil, 'They came to you. You were not looking for the job. I cannot believe this.'"

Via Los Angeles Times

[DontHateMiami]

and then Phil said about 20x since then he was fooling himself to think he could coach a full season again

[smeagolheart]

Jeannie Buss was stunned her boyfriend didn't get the job? Oh my!

[alienpick]

Didn't he say a million times he didn't want to coach again last year? Why is she so shocked that someone listened?

[Anticon]

Lakers drama keeps us talking, but this is over. It's time to move on.

[GoldenAntlers]

This isn't worthy of being called news.

[captlopez0012]

the critics dont seem to understand that phil jackson made it next to impossible for the lakers to hire him. the real mistake was firing mike brown 5 games into the season. i never liked the guy but if you didnt have a replacement at the ready than you have no choice but to press forward.

[HornetJail]

I was more stunned that they picked D'Antoni over the roughly 500,000 coaches that would set up better defensive schemes than he does.

[captlopez0012]

I was more stunned that they picked D'Antoni over the roughly 500,000 coaches that would set up better defensive schemes than he does.

i think the thought was that d12, kobe, and mwp are 3 fantastic defenders so the defense would work itself out. not getting any defense outta nash no matter who the coach is. dantoni was supposed to improve the laker offense and work steve nash in. factor in his longstanding friendship with kobe and it seemed like a good fit. but he failed miserably. he spent most of the season with the ridiculous notion that starting earl clark over pau gasol is best for the team. im willing to give him a full season to prove himself, but i am very skeptical of dantoni. he refuses to tweak his offense to the players he has and not the players he wants.

[truthiness]

Jeannie Buss was stunned her boyfriend didn't get the job? Oh my!

When her boyfriend just "happens" to be the best coach in the history of ever, she kinda has a point.

the critics dont seem to understand that phil jackson made it next to impossible for the lakers to hire him.

The fans eating up whatever excuses the ownership serves them ... what else is new ? Water being wet ? The sky being blue ?

[truthiness]

I was more stunned that they picked D'Antoni over the roughly 500,000 coaches that would set up better defensive schemes than he does.

i think the thought was that d12, kobe, and mwp are 3 fantastic defenders so the defense would work itself out.

The only thing fantastic about Kobe's defense today is that people still talk about it as if it still exists. Today he's probably a below average defender. Not that he can't play D. But he saves all his energy for the only side of the ball that he really cared about: offense.

[arasu]

I was more stunned that they picked D'Antoni over the roughly 500,000 coaches that would set up better defensive schemes than he does.

i think the thought was that d12, kobe, and mwp are 3 fantastic defenders so the defense would work itself out.

The only thing fantastic about Kobe's defense today is that people still talk about it as if it still exists. Today he's probably a below average defender. Not that he can't play D. But he saves all his energy for the only side of the ball that he really cared about: offense.

Kobe started last season playing almost no D. After seeing lowly Darius Morris step up to the challenge on defense and get credit for it, Kobe decided to turn it on defensively, though it cost him efficiency on offense. He played elite defense for much of the season, but his porous D during the first 2 months put him far off the All-Defensive Team's radar and irritated Dwight to no end. Howard actually put Kobe in check last season in regards to defensive effort. There's nobody left to do that now, not Dwight, not Phil, not Meta, not even D Morris. The defense will have a real hard time working itself out in 13-14, especially with D'Antoni running the show, but with all of the new three-point gunners, at least the offense could be decent.

[truthiness]

i think the thought was that d12, kobe, and mwp are 3 fantastic defenders so the defense would work itself out.

The only thing fantastic about Kobe's defense today is that people still talk about it as if it still exists. Today he's probably a below average defender. Not that he can't play D. But he saves all his energy for the only side of the ball that he really cared about: offense.

Kobe started last season playing almost no D. After seeing lowly Darius Morris step up to the challenge on defense and get credit for it, Kobe decided to turn it on defensively, though it cost him efficiency on offense. He played elite defense for much of the season, but his porous D during the first 2 months put him far off the All-Defensive Team's radar and irritated Dwight to no end. Howard actually put Kobe in check last season in regards to defensive effort. There's nobody left to do that now, not Dwight, not Phil, not Meta, not even D Morris. The defense will have a real hard time working itself out in 13-14, especially with D'Antoni running the show, but with all of the new three-point gunners, at least the offense could be decent.

Not sure we agree what "elite defense" means.
Maybe on the ball he was decent, but off the ball he's a disaster, and has been since 2004 or so. That's the first time he got called out on it, by Tex Winter no less. Phil re-iterated the same things 2007ish. He played passable D during the finals runs 2008-2010, but let's face it: D is the LAST thing on his mind.