Magic to appear on ESPN First Take on Monday

[gts1]

All i took from this is that Magic wasnt putting the work, expected more power, and when Rob complained about him to Jeanie he just ran up and left so he could freely go back to doing what he wants. Which includes openly talking **** about the Lakers. Nice....

If that’s all you took you’re missing a lot.

We all know Magic is selfish, cares only about himself, probably isn’t doing the Lakers any favors with this, and wasn’t putting on the work, all that is irrelevant now that he’s gone.

What matters is what he revealed about the team going forward. He confirmed all the reporting and suspicions that Jeanie basically isn’t a good owner. Allows too many people to affect her judgement, including those with no basketball background. Gets too emotionally attached to make clear minded decisions. Has difficulty making final decisions.

All that should be really concerning.

I'd agree that it's concerning except for this is one side of an obviously slanted side of the story... Magic contradicts himself time and time again in the interview. As I listen to it a second time in it's replay the thing that strikes me is he keeps saying he's over it, he's moved on when clearly that's far from the truth. He keeps saying he wants to help the Lakers all the while he's piling crap all over the FO and everything he says undermines the Lakers He's constantly saying two things at one time

For me it's hard to take any criticism of the front office by him as serious because this is clearly a self serving save the Magic Johnson image interview

I'm not saying the FO is perfect or doesn't need a shake up but dang if this is how Magic was running his part of operations no wonder it's screwed up the guy is all over the map

[what would jack bauer do?]

All i took from this is that Magic wasnt putting the work, expected more power, and when Rob complained about him to Jeanie he just ran up and left so he could freely go back to doing what he wants. Which includes openly talking **** about the Lakers. Nice....

If that’s all you took you’re missing a lot.

We all know Magic is selfish, cares only about himself, probably isn’t doing the Lakers any favors with this, and wasn’t putting on the work, all that is irrelevant now that he’s gone.

What matters is what he revealed about the team going forward. He confirmed all the reporting and suspicions that Jeanie basically isn’t a good owner. Allows too many people to affect her judgement, including those with no basketball background. Gets too emotionally attached to make clear minded decisions. Has difficulty making final decisions.

All that should be really concerning.

Really? Luke did still get fired, you know. Magic had all the power to that point and had little push back until that point. You can pretty much pin the flawed roster of 18-19 on him from his statements there. He's not only throwing gasoline on the Lakers, but he's spilling it all over himself. Magic sounds like he's making excuses for why he couldn't show up to work.

The younger Buss's have a proven record of working hard for years and finding us gems alongside Ryan West. If they wanna learn the ropes they earned it. Magic's ego is single handedly trying to destroy the Lakers even though he's made plenty of mistakes himself. Hell, if he just listened to Luke we still would've had Randle for probably $15-20 mil a year or at least for his qualifying offer. We still would've had Lopez too...

[dockingsched]

All i took from this is that Magic wasnt putting the work, expected more power, and when Rob complained about him to Jeanie he just ran up and left so he could freely go back to doing what he wants. Which includes openly talking **** about the Lakers. Nice....

If that’s all you took you’re missing a lot.

We all know Magic is selfish, cares only about himself, probably isn’t doing the Lakers any favors with this, and wasn’t putting on the work, all that is irrelevant now that he’s gone.

What matters is what he revealed about the team going forward. He confirmed all the reporting and suspicions that Jeanie basically isn’t a good owner. Allows too many people to affect her judgement, including those with no basketball background. Gets too emotionally attached to make clear minded decisions. Has difficulty making final decisions.

All that should be really concerning.

I'd agree that it's concerning except for this is one side of an obviously slanted side of the story... Magic contradicts himself time and time again in the interview. As I listen to it a second time in it's replay the thing that strikes me is he keeps saying he's over it, he's moved on when clearly that's far from the truth. He keeps saying he wants to help the Lakers all the while he's piling crap all over the FO and everything he says undermines the Lakers He's constantly saying two things at one time

For me it's hard to take any criticism of the front office by him as serious because this is clearly a self serving save the Magic Johnson image interview

I'm not saying the FO is perfect or doesn't need a shake up but dang if this is how Magic was running his part of operations no wonder it's screwed up the guy is all over the map

Here’s the thing for me though, he didn’t criticize people’s ability to go their job. He said Rob back stabbed him and wanted his job and that people warned him, but he didn’t cast doubt on Rob’s ability to be a GM. He didn’t say anyone there wasn’t capable of success doing their job. His only criticism was that people were enabled to be part of the decision making process when it wasn’t within the scope of their jobs. As a result of this, decisions were stalled or not made at all. Magic basically said that Jeanie needed to make sure people had defined roles and stayed within those roles.

If you really digest the interview, the only person he made clear wasn’t performing at their job was Jeanie.

[Cafu]

Just watched the video. Crazy ****.
Don’t know what the hell Magic was thinking, I’m sorry but this **** is not what a brother would do to a sister and from someone who not holding judges lol

On the other side I’m worrying about Jennie as well. Not something we did not know but what is the directions from now.
One, she could say **** it, I will come out and take the responsibility to do the POB job. With all the responsibilities and the consequences of it.
Two, stay back, establish a structure, be clear who is in charge. Pelinka or not I don’t care but this should be clear.

[Cafu]

If that’s all you took you’re missing a lot.

We all know Magic is selfish, cares only about himself, probably isn’t doing the Lakers any favors with this, and wasn’t putting on the work, all that is irrelevant now that he’s gone.

What matters is what he revealed about the team going forward. He confirmed all the reporting and suspicions that Jeanie basically isn’t a good owner. Allows too many people to affect her judgement, including those with no basketball background. Gets too emotionally attached to make clear minded decisions. Has difficulty making final decisions.

All that should be really concerning.

I'd agree that it's concerning except for this is one side of an obviously slanted side of the story... Magic contradicts himself time and time again in the interview. As I listen to it a second time in it's replay the thing that strikes me is he keeps saying he's over it, he's moved on when clearly that's far from the truth. He keeps saying he wants to help the Lakers all the while he's piling crap all over the FO and everything he says undermines the Lakers He's constantly saying two things at one time

For me it's hard to take any criticism of the front office by him as serious because this is clearly a self serving save the Magic Johnson image interview

I'm not saying the FO is perfect or doesn't need a shake up but dang if this is how Magic was running his part of operations no wonder it's screwed up the guy is all over the map

Here’s the thing for me though, he didn’t criticize people’s ability to go their job. He said Rob back stabbed him and wanted his job and that people warned him, but he didn’t cast doubt on Rob’s ability to be a GM. He didn’t say anyone there wasn’t capable of success doing their job. His only criticism was that people were enabled to be part of the decision making process when it wasn’t within the scope of their jobs. As a result of this, decisions were stalled or not made at all. Magic basically said that Jeanie needed to make sure people had defined roles and stayed within those roles.

If you really digest the interview, the only person he made clear wasn’t performing at their job was Jeanie.

Agree.

[Kilroy]

Magic is bullshitting... You can hear the lack of conviction in his voice...

I said since the very first day that he was hired that I thought Magic might be here to damage the team enough to convince Jeanie to sell, and set himself and his partners up to be the buyers of the team. I take this as partial proof...

He thought he could take the job, show up when he wanted, phone in decisions, and walk around like the King of LA without really getting his hands dirty.
"Getting rid of D'Lo because of the Shaggie P thing..." Told you guys...

I think Magic orchestrated the whole firing of Jim... I think he got in Jeanie's ear, and she's so malleable and subject to outside influences, clearly, that she let him convince her to start meddling in the BBall side of the business... I think she was perfectly happy with her role before all that... I think Magic convinced her that Jim was a threat even.

And if I'm Jesse and the other brother, I'm livid Magic offered to "Make them really good"...

Magic's been trying to get control of the lakers for decades now. I think he saw a power vacuum after Dr Buss died, and exploited it. Jeanie was the weakest link. Jim was never really trusting of Magic and would never have let him weasel his way in like that. So he drove a wedge between them and got Jim removed.

I think it was all part of his plan...

The big question now in my mind, is did he create enough instability for it to last and grow, or did Jeanie learn from this that you have to be careful who you trust? Beware of Greeks bearing gifts and whatnot...
Or did it just make her more rudderless and prone to any and all outside influences?

[Jedi32]

People dogging magic need a reality check. This franchise was already being ran into the ground before he got there. A lot of people questioned Rob's hire because even as an agent he had a **** reputation. With the type of communication available now there is no reason an executive has to be in the office 24/7 to get things done. Rob is a snake plain and simple. Jeanie needs to sell the team. Magic was right to get out of there, and leave the snakes to bite each other. There's no DAMN way that Phil and Linda rambis should be having input on any laker moves. Magic was handcuffed because Jeanie can't tell certain friends and ex lovers to mind their business. Good for you magic for removing yourself from this current nonsense. I know Dr Buss is rolling over in his grave.

[EggIsCooling]

Thought I would never say this but sell the team Jeanie! Most successful businesses ended up folding and/or sold once the parents passed away and leave the businesses to their children anyway. The key point I got out of the interview is AEG is the most powerful silent partner in the organization and everything else is just noise. Noise that already existed after the passing of the great Dr. Buss! AEG is first in the pecking order if Jeanie decides to sell the Lakers, and they will jump at having full controlling ownership because the Lakers is iconic worldwide.

[zimpy27]

Magic is bullshitting... You can hear the lack of conviction in his voice...

I said since the very first day that he was hired that I thought Magic might be here to damage the team enough to convince Jeanie to sell, and set himself and his partners up to be the buyers of the team. I take this as partial proof...

He thought he could take the job, show up when he wanted, phone in decisions, and walk around like the King of LA without really getting his hands dirty.
"Getting rid of D'Lo because of the Shaggie P thing..." Told you guys...

I think Magic orchestrated the whole firing of Jim... I think he got in Jeanie's ear, and she's so malleable and subject to outside influences, clearly, that she let him convince her to start meddling in the BBall side of the business... I think she was perfectly happy with her role before all that... I think Magic convinced her that Jim was a threat even.

And if I'm Jesse and the other brother, I'm livid Magic offered to "Make them really good"...

Magic's been trying to get control of the lakers for decades now. I think he saw a power vacuum after Dr Buss died, and exploited it. Jeanie was the weakest link. Jim was never really trusting of Magic and would never have let him weasel his way in like that. So he drove a wedge between them and got Jim removed.

I think it was all part of his plan...

The big question now in my mind, is did he create enough instability for it to last and grow, or did Jeanie learn from this that you have to be careful who you trust? Beware of Greeks bearing gifts and whatnot...
Or did it just make her more rudderless and prone to any and all outside influences?

I never thought about it like that but it does make sense.

It's amazing how GoT that all is though.

[dockingsched]

Read on Twitter

[Mamba Mentality]

Magic is bullshitting... You can hear the lack of conviction in his voice...

I said since the very first day that he was hired that I thought Magic might be here to damage the team enough to convince Jeanie to sell, and set himself and his partners up to be the buyers of the team. I take this as partial proof...

He thought he could take the job, show up when he wanted, phone in decisions, and walk around like the King of LA without really getting his hands dirty.
"Getting rid of D'Lo because of the Shaggie P thing..." Told you guys...

I think Magic orchestrated the whole firing of Jim... I think he got in Jeanie's ear, and she's so malleable and subject to outside influences, clearly, that she let him convince her to start meddling in the BBall side of the business... I think she was perfectly happy with her role before all that... I think Magic convinced her that Jim was a threat even.

And if I'm Jesse and the other brother, I'm livid Magic offered to "Make them really good"...

Magic's been trying to get control of the lakers for decades now. I think he saw a power vacuum after Dr Buss died, and exploited it. Jeanie was the weakest link. Jim was never really trusting of Magic and would never have let him weasel his way in like that. So he drove a wedge between them and got Jim removed.

I think it was all part of his plan...

The big question now in my mind, is did he create enough instability for it to last and grow, or did Jeanie learn from this that you have to be careful who you trust? Beware of Greeks bearing gifts and whatnot...
Or did it just make her more rudderless and prone to any and all outside influences?

I think you're giving Magic way too much credit man. You really think he's smart enough to orchestrate such an elaborate plan? I mean you don't have to look any further than his tweets to get a gauge of his intelligence.

This is just Magic being Magic imo. He loves the spotlight, but hates the criticism. He's just trying to clean up his name and not be known as the lazy guy that quit.

[carjoch_831]

bad timing by magic

[zimpy27]

Read on Twitter

oh god, someone make this end

[BEazy]

If they keep fighting like this I say they both should get lifetime bans from anything Laker related. Rob should be fired too.

[gts1]

If that’s all you took you’re missing a lot.

We all know Magic is selfish, cares only about himself, probably isn’t doing the Lakers any favors with this, and wasn’t putting on the work, all that is irrelevant now that he’s gone.

What matters is what he revealed about the team going forward. He confirmed all the reporting and suspicions that Jeanie basically isn’t a good owner. Allows too many people to affect her judgement, including those with no basketball background. Gets too emotionally attached to make clear minded decisions. Has difficulty making final decisions.

All that should be really concerning.

I'd agree that it's concerning except for this is one side of an obviously slanted side of the story... Magic contradicts himself time and time again in the interview. As I listen to it a second time in it's replay the thing that strikes me is he keeps saying he's over it, he's moved on when clearly that's far from the truth. He keeps saying he wants to help the Lakers all the while he's piling crap all over the FO and everything he says undermines the Lakers He's constantly saying two things at one time

For me it's hard to take any criticism of the front office by him as serious because this is clearly a self serving save the Magic Johnson image interview

I'm not saying the FO is perfect or doesn't need a shake up but dang if this is how Magic was running his part of operations no wonder it's screwed up the guy is all over the map

Here’s the thing for me though, he didn’t criticize people’s ability to go their job. He said Rob back stabbed him and wanted his job and that people warned him, but he didn’t cast doubt on Rob’s ability to be a GM. He didn’t say anyone there wasn’t capable of success doing their job. His only criticism was that people were enabled to be part of the decision making process when it wasn’t within the scope of their jobs. As a result of this, decisions were stalled or not made at all. Magic basically said that Jeanie needed to make sure people had defined roles and stayed within those roles.

If you really digest the interview, the only person he made clear wasn’t performing at their job was Jeanie.

But he did.. he said nobody in the league trusts him (Pelinka) that they warned Magic not to trust him.. that's not a ringing endorsement of Pelinka's abilities... I'm sorry but I'm not finding anything Magic said as doing anything but trying to screw the Lakers over. All this backhanded nicey nice stuff he says after he scorches the earth is pure Magic trying to not take responsibility for the very things he's saying. It's just passive aggressive hogwash

add that today the very same day the Lakers announce the new head coach is the day this happens? no, no coincidence there, this was a planned hijacking of the Lakers day to make it all about Magic and fan the flames that should have died down a few weeks ago

[Cafu]

Just watched the Coach Vogel press, I liked what I heard.
Now I need to go to bed, it is nearly 2 am here.
I blame freaking Magic, just when I was going to bed lol

[john248]

My take ...

This interview didn't need to happen, and it's just Magic wanting to be heard for the sake of being heard. No new information here where the public knows there's too many cooks in the kitchen where nothing gets done because Jeannie has empowered too many people. I'd rather have seen Pelinka fired and a new President and GM in office, but it's too late for that now. Magic loves drama. He chose to quit in an interview without giving ownership a chance to make it right.

So here we are with Vogal as coach and Rambus, a name who has no reason to be relevant now, along with Pelinka, now who's name value is diminished in the league or maybe already was according to leaks, as representatives of the Lakers. Then there are the rumors that the other Buss siblings are giving their 2 cents. All of this is f-ing crazy.

A year ago I had a lot of optimism. I still am optimistic with LeBron on the team with the cap space and assets the team has. But now that the FO has been exposed, seems like this franchise will be relying on luck more than ever (hello lottery pick).

[Pythagoras]

I probably still wouldn’t have handed the keys to Rob. That said, I now feel like I can confidently say I don’t think he was responsible for any of the terrible decisions that went on while he and Magic were together. Magic was clearly the problem, and Rob gets a clean slate from me.

[Kilroy]

Magic is bullshitting... You can hear the lack of conviction in his voice...

I said since the very first day that he was hired that I thought Magic might be here to damage the team enough to convince Jeanie to sell, and set himself and his partners up to be the buyers of the team. I take this as partial proof...

He thought he could take the job, show up when he wanted, phone in decisions, and walk around like the King of LA without really getting his hands dirty.
"Getting rid of D'Lo because of the Shaggie P thing..." Told you guys...

I think Magic orchestrated the whole firing of Jim... I think he got in Jeanie's ear, and she's so malleable and subject to outside influences, clearly, that she let him convince her to start meddling in the BBall side of the business... I think she was perfectly happy with her role before all that... I think Magic convinced her that Jim was a threat even.

And if I'm Jesse and the other brother, I'm livid Magic offered to "Make them really good"...

Magic's been trying to get control of the lakers for decades now. I think he saw a power vacuum after Dr Buss died, and exploited it. Jeanie was the weakest link. Jim was never really trusting of Magic and would never have let him weasel his way in like that. So he drove a wedge between them and got Jim removed.

I think it was all part of his plan...

The big question now in my mind, is did he create enough instability for it to last and grow, or did Jeanie learn from this that you have to be careful who you trust? Beware of Greeks bearing gifts and whatnot...
Or did it just make her more rudderless and prone to any and all outside influences?

I think you're giving Magic way too much credit man. You really think he's smart enough to orchestrate such an elaborate plan? I mean you don't have to look any further than his tweets to get a gauge of his intelligence.

This is just Magic being Magic. He loves the spotlight, but hates the criticism. He's just trying to clean up his name, plain and simple. He's about as altruistic as they come...

No, I don't think he "Orchestrated" it per-se at all... It only appears that way in retrospect... I'm not saying he planned out every move like chess... I'm saying he fell into a lot of it and was guided by his ambitions and desires.

It's a fact, said by Magic, and reported many many times, that he wants to own the Lakers. So think of that as a business goal he can't fulfill, no matter how much money and LA support he has, as long as the Buss family owns the team...
I think it's pretty clear he's been trying to figure a way to make it happen for at least 20 years or so. I think when he originally got his minor stake in the team, he anticipated he'd be able to grow it into a controlling interest, and eventually take over.

So fast forward... The one rock solid thing about the team was Dr Buss. He was so loved, not even Magic could challenge that. But then he dies... Jim's already disliked by the media... Piling on Jim was natural, and Magic may have been a bit of a hater there anyway because now Jim was the one standing in his way... He's always had a great relationship with Jeanie, but I don't think he took her that serious as a threat. So Magic, being predisposed to hate Jim, piles on his running of the team... The team is in dire need of a rebuild and there's bound to be really bad times ahead... And Jim's the easy target...

I'm not sure he even realized how much of a voice in all of that he was going to have... All of a sudden the media was reaching out on his take and he just kept piling on demanding Jim be fired, etc... Ain't Twitter great and all of that...

So, he sort of finds himself with a voice at the table again, maybe he reaches out to Jeanie on purpose or maybe it just morphs out of speaking through the media into a discussion over dinner (I think that's what they were caught doing actually)... In any case, all it really takes is, like "sources imploring trade LeBron," Magic saying "Jeanie, you gotta get rid of Jim." To get the ball rolling... Then it's "Don't you have the power to fire Jim?" and it's kind of all down hill from there... Once he's got Jeanie's ear, all he has to do is speak to his emotions like we fans do and since he's Magic, things start falling in place...
"If I fire Jim, who will run the Basketball side of things?" leads to "Well, I'll do it!" and we're basically caught up to today...

Maybe even up to the point he got the job, he didn't anticipate trying to get into owning the team again... But he's clearly thinking about it now, so you have to wonder when that switch flipped... It seems logical that if he was in the role, Rob and people around the team were starting to harp on his absenteeism, and his decisions were starting to meet resistance and questions... If he was already getting butt-hurt enough to leave, that he might start thinking "Screw them, how do I own this bitch" again and started leaking damaging things about Jeannie and the org, just like he was clearly doing with Jim...

The GOT thing I get... But those narratives in the Arts spring out of people telling stories viewed in retrospect... And Retrospection can often lend an aura of calculation that wasn't really there as the actual events occurred... Sometimes it's there but more often than not, it's just a person or group of people with a strong desire that fall into an opportunity and exploit it to their own benefit... Genius moves can be made by complete idiots given the right circumstances...

[Slava]

Read on Twitter

oh god, someone make this end

Pelinka also said he had a conversation with Magic the day before and it was completely cordial. If true, Magic is being an utter ass by doing what he pulled today.