Magic Johnson, Lakers Boss

He came on NBA Countdown. He saw every good thing done by an NBA player on a basketball court and @’d them with his congratulations (usually the next morning). He conquered Laker mainstays Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss.

Before being hired as President of Basketball Operations for his former team, Magic Johnson had worked his way into some very interesting and appealing business roles/avenues. One of the greatest PGs of all time was keeping himself busy and seemed to be having a fun time at it.

But amongst the tweet storms in which he’d toss 72 names into the NBA MVP discussion, you could see it. We know what would continue to pull at Magic’s heart strings more than anything else.

(Magic is Tyga and the Lakers are ‘ya’. By my unspecified criteria, this is the only *good* Tyga song that will ever exist and it’s only made better by the fact that Drake doesn’t even get a verse — he does the intro, the hook, the chorus. No verse.)

Just like that, Lakers fans can now rid their lives of Jim Buss and the looming question of whether he’d actually hold himself accountable to his self-imposed mandate to get the Lakers to a West Finals.

I grew up watching the Lakers as they enjoyed their early 2000's successes. I wouldn’t call myself a fan; it seems silly to plant my flag knowing my first memory of watching NBA basketball involved Robert Horry drilling a clutch triple. I undoubtedly have an easier time staying up on what the Lakers are up to, though, because of that history and the pure volume of the media attention they garner.

I never had much of an opinion on Jim Buss. Maybe deep down I trusted Mitch Kupchak more than I realized. Where some saw Byron Scott as a presence stunting the growth of the team’s young players, I saw a perfect scapegoat brought in to keep Kobe happy enough through the end of his retirement tour.

I really like where the Lakers are at. They have drafted quite well. Luke Walton says the right things to the cameras. But the stealth tank job has just begun. They may actually pull this off and land a top 3 pick!

I saw no major reason to call for anybody’s head, but can see why others would. The Lakers don’t appear to have a transformational player on the roster. In a perfect world, they’ll draft one very soon or flip current assets for one with plenty of his prime left.

Jeanie Buss needs to trust the decision makers to land that star. Do that, then maybe they’ll have enough to redeem themselves in free agency with a splashy signing.

Luol Deng was not a splashy signing, and multiple reports indicate that nobody was competing with the Lakers to offer Deng a 4th year.

Neither was Timofey Mozgov, for whom the price tag and duration were and are in bad taste.

Any list of fireable offenses must begin with that Mozgov contract. That tied them unnecessarily to a player that I) nobody else was in a rush to give starter money, II) had possibly already played his best basketball, III) was bothered in recent years by serious injuries and IV) cost them dearly in any DeMarcus Cousins negotiations.

To that last point: Sacramento obviously would not have been eager to take Mozgov back, even if Brandon Ingram were involved in a proposed package. Acquiring Cousins then having $24 million tied up in Mozgov and Tarik Black to back him up would make it tough to build a playoff roster.

What if the Lakers used some or all of that Mozgov money to take a few fliers? What if they enticed Dion Waiters, Brandon Rush and Marreese Speights with lucrative one year deals instead? The team’s books would have looked much better looking ahead and LA could have seen the situation through an entirely different lens.

I’ve chosen to fixate on a Timofey Mozgov contract; most Lakers fans just want to be competitive in a few playoff series a year again. We’re both unhappy. Now, what will Magic Johnson do to fix that?

The Vertical reported later Tuesday that longtime agent Rob Pelinka will come on to be the team’s GM. With the combined network and gravity of those two, the Lakers are sure to land more meetings each July. That alone doesn’t necessarily translate to superstars changing teams.

D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle and Larry Nance, Jr. make for a nice core to inherit. There are questions to answer for each. Russell has been banged up this season, limiting the look they can get at him running the offense sans-Byron Scott. Clarkson has slid nicely into a third guard role but is that his ceiling? Luke Walton has put the ball in Ingram’s hands a good amount and it looks like his length will help him a great deal on the other end. Is Julius Randle better off playing more minutes at center? In the regular season against most teams, Nance and Randle make for an interesting pairing for some undetermined number of minutes. To that point, will Nance be able to extend his range to at least knock down wide open pick and pop looks, freeing Randle to slice his way to the cup against plodding bigs?

We’re all evaluating the hiring of Magic with a head start. Reports indicated that the Lakers balked at Cousins trade talks at the thought of including Ingram. They showed some restraint — something that had been missing in prior cases.

But we’re back at the reasoning behind the shake up. Restraint alone in a case like that shouldn’t be so shocking that you almost want to applaud out of shock. This is a proud NBA franchise that wants to get back to competing for championships.

Magic hit on three talking points in a radio hit Tuesday that stood out:

• He likes Luke Walton. It’s early and everybody always gets along early. But NBA history shows us time after time that lead decision makers like to pick their own coaches. Everything about Walton seems and feels right to fans of the team and objective fans alike. A healthy relationship between the two is important.
• He feels the Lakers have a few too many players that do the same thing. Who exactly is he referring to? Well, we already know Lou Williams has been dealt and Nick Young is very available by all reports. Ingram seems to be the crown jewel of the roster at this point. Where does Russell stand in the mind of the team’s new Prez, who may have a thought or two on point guards.
• ‘Getting back to the playoffs’ and ‘competing again for championships’ are two distinct steps, at least in that answer he gave. Stephen Curry isn’t going to hop down the coast to don the purple and gold this summer. As Magic said to close his interview, this is going to be a long process and he doesn’t know exactly how long it will take.

Many writers today already hit on the main points of the Lakers’ immediate plan. 1. Keep that 2017 1st. 2. Continually evaluate the young guys already on the team as they rack up minutes. 3. Draft really, really well. 4. Hope like heck that they can relieve themselves of that Deng/Mozgov money so that they can pay to bring in new players and pay their young guys as their rookie deals expire.

That fourth one will be tough. But NBA jobs aren’t easy. Things are looking up for the Lakers from a talent perspective, and they now appear to be on a track toward unity from the top down. Life comes at you fast, but for now, the Lakers are at ease with their Showtime PG in tow to lead the way.

Photos via magicjohnson.com, NBA.com