If there was one thing the Lakers front office did well through the entire Jerry Buss era was be patient, pick their spots then be aggressive when it was best suited for them.
Which is why the past year — getting an aging Steve Nash plus Dwight Howard, then firing a coach five games into a season when he didn’t have a healthy roster — was not like them. A lot of blame flew at Jim Buss (the guy taking his father’s place) for the moves.
But on John Feinstein’s show on CBS Sports Radio Tuesday Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak admitted that part of the win now philosophy was hoping to win one more ring before Jerry Buss passed away. Thanks to Royce Young at CBS’s Eye on Basketball for the transcription.“The one thing that was a big factor is our lack of patience,” Kupchak said. “When we made the changes we made in the offseason, we really did it with a two- or maybe even a three-year window, probably a two-year window to do our best and win a championship. And clearly we knew Dr. Buss was not in great health, and we were hoping for the next year or two we could put something on the court that would result in being in the hunt at the end of the year for a championship.
“And when we didn’t feel we could get there after a preseason and a small number of games, we didn’t feel we had the patience to wait and see if it was going to work out,” he continued. “And that’s really why we made the change we made so early.”
It explains not only these moves but why the Lakers locked themselves into a ridiculous $100 million payroll for next season (assuming they re-sign Dwight Howard) that will cost an additional $85 million in luxury tax. If they didn’t really know how long the Lakers patriarch would be around they may have said they would bite the bullet for a year to go after it.
The fact that next season could be Kobe Bryant’s last season — his contract runs out and he has talked openly of retirement — I’m sure also played a factor. Combined it gives some context to the Lakers moves. Even if they were not the right ones long term (or even short term).
Go read the entire Eye on Basketball post. Kupchak talks about how the locker room chemistry is better after the wins and reiterates he expects Dwight Howard to stay and re-sign sith the team this summer.
