Lakers: Comparing the Jeanie Buss and Jim Buss Eras
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To put it mildly, the last ten years of Lakers basketball have not been up to the standard of one of the premier franchises in professional American sports. The Lakers did take home the 2020 NBA championship, but that high point stands amongst a series of low moments.
Throughout it all, the Buss family has been running the show for the franchise they've owned since the late Dr. Jerry Buss purchased the team in 1979. Jeanie Buss is currently the activate Lakers governor and also the one who ousted her brother Jim from his position as vice president of basketball operations in February of 2017.
Jim Buss' tenure as the head basketball executive for the Lakers had some great moments, but the end was far from pretty.
The Jim Buss Era (2005-2017)
-With Kobe Bryant leading the way, the Lakers made three consecutive NBA Finals and won back-to-back titles (2009 and 2010) including an incredible revenge win over the arch rival Boston Celtics in 2010.
-LA posted 50-plus win seasons in four consecutive years including a 65-win campaign in the 2008-2009 season.
-After getting swept by the Spurs, the Lakers plunged into four-straight seasons where they lost at least 55 games. Those four seasons account for four of the worst five winning percentages in a season in the franchise's history.
-Phil Jackson "retires" after the 2011 playoffs and Jim burns through four head coaches including firing Mike Brown just five games into the 2012-2013 season. He replaces Brown with Mike D'Antoni, instead of Phil Jackson, to coach a team that featured Kobe, prime-ish Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace, and an aged Steve Nash.
-The team lets Pau Gasol walk in free agency. He signs with the Bulls in the summer of 2014 ($15.5M/2yrs). Gasol makes second team All-NBA that season.
-As the Lakers brand lost some shine under Jim, the team struggled to sign marquee free agents. Carmelo Anthony chose to re-sign with the Knicks in 2014. LaMarcus Aldridge gave the Lakers a second pitch meeting in 2015 after the first was an unmitigated disaster and wound up signing with the Spurs. Kevin Durant refused to even meet with Buss and Kupchak in 2016.
-After generating considerable cap space for the summer of 2016, the Lakers made the fateful decision to sign Luol Deng ($72M/4yrs) and Timofey Mozgov ($64M/4yrs). Both players were off the team before the 2018-2019 season.
The Jeanie Buss Era (2017-current)
-After kicking Jim and Kupchak to the curb, Jeanie installed Magic as the president of basketball operations and Kobe's former agent Rob Pelinka as the general manager. Magic would unceremoniously resign before the Lakers final game of the season of the season in April of 2019.
-In the year that COVID rocked the world, the Lakers, fueled by Anthony Davis and Lebron James, won the 2020 title in the bubble over the Miami Heat.
-Over the last five years, the Lakers have posted a winning record twice (2019-2020 and 2020-2021). In both those seasons, the Lakers made it to the playoffs.
-Ten months removed from winning the title, the Lakers made drastic roster changes which included letting Alex Caruso walk in free agency and shipping Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Montrez Harrell, and a first-round pick to the Wizards for Russell Westbrook.
-With Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, and LeBron on the roster, the Lakers posted loss 49 games and failed to make the playoffs. LeBron and Anthony Davis combined to miss 56 games due to injury.
Final Thoughts
Jim's tenure as the lead basketball executive was more productive from a championship perspective, but as the game of basketball evolved, Jim did not. The Lakers were a perennial lottery team from 2013 to 2017 mostly because of his decision making.
Jeanie's scorecard is incomplete, but Lakers fans are restless after a disastrous season. This is a pivotal offseason for the Lakers, but even more so for Jeanie Buss.
