Ramona Shelburne on Magic, Jim, Mitch & Jeannie

[Slava]

So Ramona Shelburne dropped an article today and it seemed to detail a lot of behind the scenes workings but it has some really damning stuff for Mitch in particular.

The annotations surrounding the quotes are mine.

Ramona Shelburne | ESPN

ALTHOUGH MAGIC IS said to be personally fond of Kupchak, who joined the Lakers' front office in 1986, about halfway through Magic's playing career, he's also determined to make an honest evaluation of the general manager's performance and abilities in today's NBA.

Said one player agent, who has dealt with Kupchak on several contracts, "He's the only GM in the league who won't engage at all before 9:01 p.m. [PT] on the first night of free agency. Then when he calls to express interest, there's no stickiness to it."

Ok, agents **** on the Lakers is nothing new and you could excuse Mitch for being the only GM who plays by the rules in what is like wild west on free agency day.

Ew...

According to sources, Kupchak was reluctant to allow Mozgov to be tempted by other offers, giving him a four-year, $64 million deal just minutes after free agency began. Deng heard offers from other teams, but sources indicated he had no other offers that extended beyond three seasons. The Lakers gave him four years and $72 million.

Particularly damning:

Luol Deng's signing was underwhelming for most Lakers fans -- and some staff

I was making some peace with these signings assuming that Luke particularly asked for some experience at SF/C positions but this one particularly stings knowing that's not the case. Mitch would be the last one I'd expect to panic buy under pressure.

Probably straight from Jeannie's mouth:

For years, Jeanie Buss and Lakers fans had waited for the franchise to clear the kind of salary-cap space it needed to bring in superstar free agents, particularly in the wake of Bryant's retirement. For years, the fans had hung their hopes on the lure of Los Angeles and Showtime. Suddenly, within the first 32 hours of free agency, Kupchak and the Lakers had committed most of the salary-cap space the team needed going forward to sign two role players in their early 30s.

and...

While she has never directly asked her brother and Kupchak to consult with her on the decisions being made on basketball matters, in 2014, after the Lakers ran out of players during a game against the Cavaliers, she pointedly asked Kupchak if there was any other support she could give so that didn't happen again.

The game was an embarrassment for the Lakers and the NBA. The Lakers had allowed Steve Nash to play the night before, knowing he'd be unavailable on the second night of a back-to-back, while concurrently deciding not to sign Manny Harris for the rest of the season after his second 10-day contract expired. The Lakers ended up with only four eligible, healthy players for the final 3:32 of the game when Chris Kaman fouled out and Jordan Farmar and Nick Young left with injuries. Video of Kaman lying down on an empty bench with a towel over his face went viral.

The next day, Jeanie Buss found herself dealing with the fallout from both corporate partners and league officials. When she saw Kupchak at the Lakers' facility that day, she couldn't help but ask the leading question about her support.

If this kind of article came out against a different GM I'd be surprised if he finds another job in the league. Its really tough for Mitch.

There's some other fluff stuff in the article as well if you are interested in reading from the full link but these were the hard hitting points.

[Kilroy]

Sorry but this reads just like the Jim Buss bash articles from last year... Shelburne is clearly being fed information, and it seems almost certain Jeanie is that mole...
So it seems like she realized she couldn't get rid of Jim and is now turning her sights on Mitch.

Mitch doesn't even want another job in the NBA, he almost retired 2 years ago. If they don't beg him to stay, he'll just retire and let them deal with the mess.

Mitch is a HIGHLY under-rated GM and we will all realize it if he's gone...

Mitch is the stabilizing, voice of reason in this FO... He's the Ice-Man... You remove that and all bets are off with these knuckle-heads.

[dockingsched]

Crazy how obvious it is when Jeanie and/or Phil commission an article from someone like Rosen, Shelburne or Ding. Just paving the way for somewhat popular Mitch to be removed by Jeanie

[madmaxmedia]

Weird article. She takes great pains to talk about how Jeannie has to deal with fallout of the team's lack of success, but that's no different than many NBA execs (or non-NBA execs for that matter.)

But the point of this day was to show up at the Lakers offices and be present, let everyone see him again and start wrapping his head around the monumental job of resurrecting the franchise he'd led to glory as a player.

I thought he was just an advisor?

Her solution is to install Johnson in a role to help bridge these divides.

But Jim and Mitch aren't gonna sit down with Magic until after the All-Star break. Doesn't sound like much of a bridge.

[TyCobb]

Well, when Jim doesn't leave, what are your other options? Gotta replace someone somewhere because it is clearly broken.

[madmaxmedia]

Well, when Jim doesn't leave, what are your other options? Gotta replace someone somewhere because it is clearly broken.

I guess this part-

But in the coming months, he's expected to help Jeanie Buss decide whether to revamp the basketball operations leadership team.

This is basically what I thought was going to happen, when this was announced. The entire arrangement doesn't make sense unless you read between the lines (just a little bit.) Jeannie is going to make a decision after the season on who is running basketball operations going forward, and she definitely needs trusted, qualified help for that. So enter Magic. And if she does decide to revamp the basketball FO, she's going to need his help there as well. That's why he's reporting to Jeannie, not Jim and Mitch.

That's not to say that Magic couldn't end up telling Jeannie, "Jim and Mitch are fine, you should stay the course." But if the Lakers end up losing this year's pick and the 2019 pick to go along with it, that course isn't looking so good.

They'll have little help coming in through the draft, and they spent much of their cap money on Mozgov and Deng. And their entire operation doesn't seem like much of a FA draw, for the cap room they do have left. The Lakers may have a really bad hand going forward no matter who is running the show, but that makes having a top notch GM all the more important.

When Magic is asked for his bottom line assessment of the current basketball operations, what are the chances that Magic is going to say "I think Jim and Mitch are the best guys to turn this team back into championship squad"? Zero.

[crazyeights]

Ramona's gonna hop on Mason & Ireland soon (at least on Spectrum).

[Slava]

Ramona's gonna hop on Mason & Ireland soon (at least on Spectrum).

Thanks for the heads up, here's the link if anyone's interested: http://www.espn.com/espnradio/losangeles/play?s=la

[madmaxmedia]

If the issue is literally only that Jeannie needs to know more about what's going on with the basketball side, why would you hire someone else as a go-between "connective tissue"? They are brother and sister, they should be talking all the time anyway. Actually they should be talking all time if there was a communication problem that was hurting Jeannie's work, even if they weren't brother and sister.

But this is the only way they can sell this for now, Ramona was not denying the implications.

Also, LOL at the Office Space reference, I was literally thinking of the same thing when they brought it up.

[Slava]

I don't know how these two clowns have a job on radio, in LA of all places. They kind of abruptly interrupted Ramona and told her to go away because its break time.

[crazyeights]

Ramona's gonna hop on Mason & Ireland soon (at least on Spectrum).

Thanks for the heads up, here's the link if anyone's interested: http://www.espn.com/espnradio/losangeles/play?s=la

Highlights as best I could:

"We've kinda reached the final countdown." (re Magic coming in/the Jim timeline)

"Look Magic Johnson didn't come to the Lakers to be a Walmart greeter. He's here to do some things."

Is the bullseye on Mitch?

"It's kinda both. Jim has hired Mitch to do his job. it's very clear in [her reporting] that Mitch answers to Jim but not to Jeanie."

"If one person's personal style, or way of doing business, the speed of business, is not up to what's happening in the rest of the league and now it's hurting you is it that person's fault? or the person who's empowering that person, who chose that person?"

Jim didn't find out about Magic until after other siblings. [Seems like Jeanie publicly took Magic to the game a few weeks ago in order to sorta give her cover fire. She knew that Jim wouldn't reach out to her, which meant that it would be on him when she hired Magic. Seems like it's a little bit of a taste of what Jim did with Phil. Although after thinking about the way Magic did all those interviews, and the way Ramona was telling it, personally, I'm looking forward to someone coming in, taking stock, and getting us into a new era.]

Mitch and Jim gonna meet with Magic and be "accountable to" Magic.

Magic's role: He's taking his cues from Jeanie. He's gonna set out and do whatever she's looking to do. They essentially have to sell their concepts to Magic. It's not exactly Magic's decision, but he's going to recommend to Jeanie.

[crazyeights]

I don't know how these two clowns have a job on radio, in LA of all places. They kind of abruptly interrupted Ramona and told her to go away because its break time.

BTW: The other guy was Freddie Prinze Jr.

[Kilroy]

Thanks Crazy... But what a joke...
Instead of quietly putting your house in order and quickly addressing issues behind closed doors, you rip the cover off completely and provide undeniable proof that your organization is a mess, in disarray, and no one has any idea how to fix it, so you hire Magic...

Jeanie has essentially, publicly proven all the rumors true... She doesn't think Jim or Mitch is doing a good job, but doesn't know for sure, isn't confident in her decision, so she hires Magic to be the bad guy... And Magic.... ACCEPTS!... Not sure what part of all this is more insane to me.

In one week, we've made the Sixers and Bulls look like functional organizations.

And it's all on Jeanie.

Basically... She couldn't do her job (Successfully Marketing the Lakers and Managing the Business Relationships) and needed a scapegoat... First she raised up Jim, now it's Mitch... But she doesn't have the power or the guts to do anything about it herself, so she takes the Media/Magic way out... Disgraceful.

[Michael Lucky]

If only Jeannie could fire herself as an owner. I'm definitely hoping they sell before it gets even worse. Heck who knows maybe Magic will hire one of his showtime laker buddies to be the next GM. Would be hilarious if Byron got an interview.

[Landsberger]

Hollywood man.... this wouldn't play out any other way. While not nearly as public back then the sale of the Lakers to Dr. Buss was a public affair as well.

From the 10K foot perspective it seems like Jeannie is making a play to take over and/or sell the team. I agree that Magic isn't here as an "advisor". That man's ego isn't compatible with that. There is a larger plan moving behind the scenes.

As for Mitch. I've never been a huge fan. He was good at negotiating the league when we were looking for final pieces but our FA moves since we've dropped haven't been stellar. I'm not sold that it's all his fault. The contracts this time around were eye popping but so was the rejection by the top players in recent years. They can get all that they want elsewhere and what they want is different than we can give at the moment. I don't think Magic will change the minds of the leagues elite players unless there is a promise of ownership shares after they retire. The kit of parts is far from complete and this type of drama in the press isn't conducive to showing stability.

[lake_show]

Eh... I think we're seeing the end of Mitch, and possibly Jim. All of this is just the setup to the final goodbye.

It's all good though. I do think Mitch has done a good job as the GM. I have a lot of respect for Mitch, but the majority of his success has been through the draft. Stealing guys like Clarkson, Larry, and Zu with late draft picks. In consecutive drafts no less. At a point when this team really needed it too. However, his free agency pick-ups have ranged from pretty mediocre to disappointing.

This team is getting to the point where adding more young talent through the draft is not gonna make a huge difference for us. We really do need some high quality free agents to move this team to the next level, and, if we're being honest, that's where Mitch's front office has struggled.

If we do, somehow, land a Top 3 pick we won't need high level drafting skill ls for us to take one of the top 3 players in the draft. But, if this team is ever gonna get over the hump, we NEED to stop giving big free agent contracts to the Lou Williams, Dengs, and Mozgovs of the world. Especially when we're letting the Trevor Arizas, Isaiah Thomases, and Kent Bazemores walk without a fight.

Sorry... I'm a big Mitch Kupchak fan, and I appreciate everthing he's done for this team. I really do. But... Maybe it's just time to explore other options.

[Dr Aki]

called it viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1519852&start=20#p52097017

[MrWaffles]

Just adding fuel to the fire at this point.

Jim and Mitch will both be fired this spring. Ryan Westbis our future.

[madmaxmedia]

called it viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1519852&start=20#p52097017

We all called this one, not too hard to see


Sent from my iPhone using RealGM mobile app

[Kilroy]

Like I said earlier, Mitch was going to retire after his last contract was up a couple years ago. They had to convince him to come back. He took the contract and came back but not too long afterward, his Daughter passed away.
Now despite there being no evidence to support it, he's being blamed for the Lakers current struggles...
Unless this narrative changes in a big way very soon, I see Mitch retiring either immediately... Like over all-star break... Or right after exit interviews.
And I promise that is not a good thing for this franchise.