Magic on First Take - Explosive interview so far

[An Unbiased Fan]

why is he doing this during the WCF/ECF before free agency and the draft, a week ago he swore he still talks to jeanie everyday
how does this help the lakers? Game of Thrones had me on a roller coaster last night now this

It has to hurt the Lakers to a degree.

This is a bad look for Magic also. Are you so offended by being fired that you are going to hurt the franchise that gave you everything?

After LeBron's comments and everyone making him out to be just a quitter, he is setting the story straight. He felt undermined and wasn't able to make decisions. I'd leave too. What is clear is that he doesn't respect Pelinka and probably never has. He is probably really annoyed that Pelinka's opinion was valued by Jeanie just as highly as his.

As President, if you're going to put your stamp on a situation, you need to have full control/decision-making ability. Otherwise, what are you even doing there? He was not able to make coaching decisions and Jeanie was listening to Phil and Rambis? Really?

This sounds just like Dolan. Jeanie may be better on the surface but it's the same exact issues. You need to let your people manage. That's what they're hired to do. She's coming across as too involved and not empowering her management team with decision-making ability. This is a mess.

Magic admitted to being behind pretty much all the bad decisions. The Zubac trade, the FA signings, etc.

And he whines because Rob called him out for not showing up, which is true. Dude contradicted himself every other sentence.

[Klayforspicy]

Very candid interview

[mtron929]

why is he doing this during the WCF/ECF before free agency and the draft, a week ago he swore he still talks to jeanie everyday
how does this help the lakers? Game of Thrones had me on a roller coaster last night now this

I have a theory. Magic Johnson is absolutely incensed with Rob Pelinka and as such, his main motivation is to ensure that Pelinka does not succeed as the Lakers GM. So the timing was apt as he is trying to sabotage Pelinka's chances of landing a key free agent by dumping on him and indirectly the organization.

[GusT15]

Well at least he flat out said he made a mistake with Brook Lopez.

Was that the only thing he took full responsibility for? I think so.

He defended all other things like Zubac,Lonzo,AD trade rumors etc

[An Unbiased Fan]

why is he doing this during the WCF/ECF before free agency and the draft, a week ago he swore he still talks to jeanie everyday
how does this help the lakers? Game of Thrones had me on a roller coaster last night now this

I have a theory. Magic Johnson is absolutely incensed with Rob Pelinka and as such, his main motivation is to ensure that Pelinka does not succeed as the Lakers GM. So the timing was apt as he is trying to sabotage Pelinka's chances of landing a key free agent by dumping on him and indirectly the organization.

This is all pretty obvious. Magic is upset Rob called him out for not doing his job.

[igorbianch]

Magic doesn’t known that much about basketball and he didn’t gave full time atention to the Lakers.

[SweetTouch]

Lol magic trying to remove the focus from his horrible previous job

[GusT15]

And when the conversation went to Free Agents and specifically Kawhi and Kellerman said "He's going to the Clippers",Magic's response was "We'll see,when we do our pitch on him with LeBron in the room".

Come on man

[igorbianch]

Lakers fans should feel relieved with this interview.

There was the possibility that Rob was as dumb as Magic in terms of making decisions.

But Magic made clear that he was the one making all those dumb decision.

[igorbianch]

And when the conversation went to Free Agents and specifically Kawhi and Kellerman said "He's going to the Clippers",Magic's response was "We'll see,when we do our pitch on him with LeBron in the room".

Come on man

I think he goes to the Lakers too.

[dockingsched]

why is he doing this during the WCF/ECF before free agency and the draft, a week ago he swore he still talks to jeanie everyday
how does this help the lakers? Game of Thrones had me on a roller coaster last night now this

I have a theory. Magic Johnson is absolutely incensed with Rob Pelinka and as such, his main motivation is to ensure that Pelinka does not succeed as the Lakers GM. So the timing was apt as he is trying to sabotage Pelinka's chances of landing a key free agent by dumping on him and indirectly the organization.

This is all pretty obvious. Magic is upset Rob called him out for not doing his job.

Unless you think Magic is lying, he specifically said he talked about his time constraints with Jeanie before taking the job and that Jeanie was okay with Magic having to give a good chunk of his attention to his other businesses.

[mixerball]

magic - the ultimate truth teller. he cant lie because it physically hurts him.

[mtron929]

I have a theory. Magic Johnson is absolutely incensed with Rob Pelinka and as such, his main motivation is to ensure that Pelinka does not succeed as the Lakers GM. So the timing was apt as he is trying to sabotage Pelinka's chances of landing a key free agent by dumping on him and indirectly the organization.

This is all pretty obvious. Magic is upset Rob called him out for not doing his job.

Unless you think Magic is lying, he specifically said he talked about his time constraints with Jeanie before taking the job and that Jeanie was okay with Magic having to give a good chunk of his attention to his other businesses.

I get the sense that if it was really true that Magic Johnson was really busy with his other businesses, his rumor about not being hard-working would not have propagated. It would have been replaced with "Magic Johnson was so busy with his other businesses that he had zero time to devote to the Lakers".

[drekwins]

It has to hurt the Lakers to a degree.

This is a bad look for Magic also. Are you so offended by being fired that you are going to hurt the franchise that gave you everything?

After LeBron's comments and everyone making him out to be just a quitter, he is setting the story straight. He felt undermined and wasn't able to make decisions. I'd leave too. What is clear is that he doesn't respect Pelinka and probably never has. He is probably really annoyed that Pelinka's opinion was valued by Jeanie just as highly as his.

As President, if you're going to put your stamp on a situation, you need to have full control/decision-making ability. Otherwise, what are you even doing there? He was not able to make coaching decisions and Jeanie was listening to Phil and Rambis? Really?

This sounds just like Dolan. Jeanie may be better on the surface but it's the same exact issues. You need to let your people manage. That's what they're hired to do. She's coming across as too involved and not empowering her management team with decision-making ability. This is a mess.

Magic admitted to being behind pretty much all the bad decisions. The Zubac trade, the FA signings, etc.

And he whines because Rob called him out for not showing up, which is true. Dude contradicted himself every other sentence.

It's more than that. He also said that the Buss' wanted to be more involved, Tim Harris was trying to talk him out of firing Luke and that she's consulting with Phil/Rambis. That is textbook Dolan.

You need to let your top executives make decisions without being involved. Dolan would always step in (completing the Melo Trade, veto-ing the Lowry for Shumpert trade, etc.), take advisement from Isiah and his other close friends and set unrealistic winning expectations (which enforced a win-now mentality).

How is Jeanie different from the above attributes? Believe me, Dolan actually had some good attributes as well. For instance, he will write a blank check in order to win. He will do whatever it takes. This is why he often involved himself. He was passionate about wanting to win. This will always backfire on an owner. Let your people do their jobs.

You don't hire smart and experienced people and then handcuff them or limit their power. Despite you saying that Magic did a terrible job, the evidence doesn't suggest that. Rebuilds are not pretty... especially when you have major cap issues. They're in a healthy fiscal position today. The problem is everything else surrounding them.

[GusT15]

And when the conversation went to Free Agents and specifically Kawhi and Kellerman said "He's going to the Clippers",Magic's response was "We'll see,when we do our pitch on him with LeBron in the room".

Come on man

I think he goes to the Lakers too.

That wasn't my point.

The dude is in the ECF playing for the Conference title and to get in the Finals.

I know it's not tampering anymore but he can at least mention the Raptors or say something like "That stuff is for when free agency comes".

Yeah,i know,it's Magic.There was little to no chance he'd say the PC thing.

[yodamaster]

I don't believe magic in full, but all this (including the coaching search) means one thing, that Lakers is badly run, if at all. This all falls on Jeanie, she's run it worse than Jim ever could, which is damning.

[TreyKincade]

Candid and uncomfortable interview as a Laker fan.

My takeaway is that Magic was behind all of those horrible free agent decisions last year as well as mid season trades. Gives me hope that Rob will do a better job.

[SD2042]

Explosive interview by Magic.

As for the Lakers: This interview has all but confirm that no free agents wil not come to L.A. now.

[An Unbiased Fan]

I have a theory. Magic Johnson is absolutely incensed with Rob Pelinka and as such, his main motivation is to ensure that Pelinka does not succeed as the Lakers GM. So the timing was apt as he is trying to sabotage Pelinka's chances of landing a key free agent by dumping on him and indirectly the organization.

This is all pretty obvious. Magic is upset Rob called him out for not doing his job.

Unless you think Magic is lying, he specifically said he talked about his time constraints with Jeanie before taking the job and that Jeanie was okay with Magic having to give a good chunk of his attention to his other businesses.

Magic is a habitual liar. This is coming from one of his biggest fans as a kid.

Mr. "I love Jeannie", let me go on national TV the day Vogel is introduced, and right before free agency. Magic didn't do the work, its that simple, and from that LA Time article, he wasn't treating people right either.

[infinite11285]

Also, did they ask Magic why he didn't speak to Lebron when he left?

Essentially, there wasn’t a reason (personally or professionally) in particular why he chose not to speak out to LeBron. He just quit, “his way”.

In other words, he didn’t bother exercising his due diligence as a professional. He just said, “**** this. I don’t need this job, I’m Magic” and quit.