There’s a case to be made the smartest thing Jeanie Buss could do right now is bring back Magic Johnson as President of Basketball Operations and the bold visionary the Lakers need to navigate the risks of the next few years.
While that may seem like a totally crazy idea considering how his last stint running the Lakers front office unceremoniously ended, Magic Johnson could be the visionary leader the team desperately needs going forward. Pelinka would remain as VP of Basketball Operations and handle the daily general manager and salary cap duties and responsibilities while Johnson would oversee the Lakers’ front office roster building and decision making.
The championship attribute the Lakers’ organization is missing right now is a visionary leader with a clear idea of the kind of team the Lakers should build around LeBron and AD and strong interpersonal skills to execute his vision. The greatest concern for Lakers fans right now is the franchise will face several major franchise defining decisions right at a time when ownership, the front office, and coaching staff appear to be on different pages.
That’s where Magic Johnson comes in. If there’s anybody in the Lakers family of former coaches and players who is best qualified to provide the vision, it’s Magic Johnson, who recruited LeBron James to kick start the Lakers revival. Think about the big moves the Lakers made during the last three years. Signing LeBron James and trading for Anthony Davis were both moves that were part of Magic Johnson’s vision for the Lakers, not Rob Pelinka’s.
In a way, the Lakers have not had a visionary since Dr. Buss died. Neither Jim Buss or his sister Jeanie were visionaries and the only thing Rob Pelinka accomplished in his three years was finishing the AD trade Magic started. While Rob deserves credit for the bubble championship, he’s spent the last two years essentially discarding a proven championship formula for failed attempts to upgrade the Lakers that wasted two years of LeBron’s career.
Bringing back Magic is the only move Jeanie is capable of making at this point. She’s not going to fire Rob, although he very well could resign due to the Lakers bringing back Magic Johnson to be his direct boss once again. Frankly, Rob resigning wouldn’t be the end of the world although the Lakers would need to replace him with a hands-on general manager who could handle the day-to-day duties and salary cap responsibilities of the job.
Unlike last time, the Lakers and Magic would have an understanding that his position as President of Basketball Operations is to be the franchise’s visionary, their idea man, their guide for strategizing and building a team. Magic will be paid for his ideas and leadership, not for the hours or days he spends working at Lakers’ facilities or on Lakers’ projects. His value is the vision he can provide the franchise as it transitions from LeBron James.
Magic Johnson may not be the smartest one to represent the team on social media or handle the daily general manager workload or critical front office salary cap calculations but he’s exactly what the Lakers’ front office needs.
There’s no doubt the Lakers need direction and frankly I trust Magic Johnson to make better big time decisions regarding coaches and players more than Rob Pelinka, Kurt Rambis, or anybody else in the Lakers front office.
Nobody’s perfect, especially when it comes to evaluating players, but I think Magic has as sound a basketball mind as anybody the Laker could get when it comes to style of play and players.
You just have someone like Rob running the front office day to day and keeping Magic posted. Magic is the Lakers paid Idea Man. I don’t think the Laker can come up with a better solution to fix their front office than bringing back Magic as President of Basketball Operations.
Well, when you’ve got LeKlutch dictating dumbass moves like not trading Talentless Tucker for Lowry, or giving up anything for Westbrick, anyone will end up looking stupid. Do we really think Buck’s any more ready for this gig than he was last time around?
Everybody acts like knowing the ins and outs of the salary cap is what’s important for a general manager or PBO or VPBO. That’s stupid because you have lawyers and cap experts to advise you on that.
What Magic gets is how you win championships. I certainly trust him to decide strategies like do we go two big or play small or do both? Do we go for a third star or use the money for a better starting lineup and roster.
And judging which players are better and who fits and who doesn’t fit with LeBron James and Anthony Davis? For sure, I trust Magic more than Rob or Jeanie or Kurt or Linda.
Hiring Magic is probably the only way to get rid of Pelinka. It’s the perfect part-time, board level type gig for Magic, who loves the Lakers and would love a chance to make up for how things ended last time.
And If anybody can convince Jeanie Rob has to go, Earvin is the man. He’s the Magic Man.
Rob has to do whatever LeKlutch dictates in your dream scenario. Didn’t work out so hot when he had to give Talentless a nice contract to make LeKlutch happy as opposed to going for Lowry. He also had to agree to the Westbrook debacle because he had a nice sitdown with the LeKlutch brainstrust. There’s no scenario where the can get out of this mess and put enough around a quickly dwindling Lebron and his oft-injured running mate. There’s no reason to believe Magic will be any better at making basketball decisions than he has in previous iterations. Brilliant with the ball in his hands. Making personnel decisions? Notsomuch.
I have zero confidence in Magic. Everything he did after landing LeBron was a disaster. He traded DLo at the height of his trade value as a salary dump. At least he admitted that was a mistake. He allowed Randle to walk for nothing. He allowed Lopez to walk when he would have stayed for 5 mil. He drafted Lonzo over Tatum even though the NBA and his own scouting department had Tatum as the best of his class. He said he did it because Lonzo would be a great Hollywood story. And then there is the endless tweets that makes one wonder if he can even evaluate talent or understand the modern game. I’ll pass on Magic.
I don’t think Magic is perfect when it comes to evaluating players but I have a lot more confidence in him than in Rob. And I do credit Magic for getting LeBron to sign and setting up the AD trade with Rich Paul.
Would I rather we had an extensive search and decided upon a proven elite front office professional like Masai Ujiri? For sure but we all know that’s not going to happen.
Lakers are a nepotistic exteneded family. Only realistic solutions have to come from within Jeanie’s network. Right now, the best option is Magic Johnson as we head to critica crossroads. Trust Magic way more than Rob.
The video you you posted Tom also demonstrates That I understand the nba and salary cap better than he does. Derozen wasn’t going to play for the MLE. We would have had to trade Kuzma who Pop likes for him. Pop would not have helped the Lakers for nothing. So of course we would have been unable to trade for Buddy. He’s right we would have still had KCP and could have kept Alex. But there is no way we could have had both Derozen and Buddy. I would love for Jeanie to hand over the basketball decisions to Jesse and let him choose a new GM and coach. Unfortunately I don’t see it happening.
I 100% agree with anyone who says Pop liked Kuzma. Yes the Lakers could have done 2 deals with those players for separate packages. Yes they could have done 1 deal and kept some folks. They messed up and what’s done is done. What Magic said today that wasn’t perhaps dollar for dollar right doesn’t matter. Magic has many balls in the air in his life. He comes in ESPN to make TV. If he is the Lakers President with a GM and those young Buss boys, he will definitely be on time and on target about what he DOES more than what he says. I feel like he executed on that last time as well.
Spurs fans have two priorities, the Spurs and hating the Lakers. They’ve even forgiven Kawhi because he screwed the Lakers few summers ago.
I’m right with ya in wanting Masai Ujuri. I really like how he builds a roster even when he may not win the Title right now
It’s Laker blues season so I’ve joined btw
The knock on Magic was that he couldn’t really commit to the job full time along with all his other business interests. He took the heat in his last stint but Rob was running the day-to-day and he came off relatively unscathed. Now we’re seeing what he’s all about and it ain’t great. I think Earv might be best served as a consultant/advisor similar to what Jerry West has become. Not sure who’s available out there to run the operation full time and would be considered a ‘visionary”. Those dudes are hard to find and even harder to pry away from their current job. Especially when we’ll have an empty cupboard and no draft picks in the near future.
Timing of availability is always the wild card in trying to matchup the Lakers with an elite head coach or transcendent general manager. Lakers always seem to have a limited list of acceptable candidates whenever they have an opening.
I think hiring Magic as a consultant to head this summer’s coaching search and roster rebuilding process would work. Everybody knows the Lakers don’t have a typical corporate structure so sectioning off final say in head coach and roster changes as special consultant to Jeanie Buss. Rob or his replacement takes care of the daily stuff and detail of running the front office.
Don’t see any other way we can get Rob out of making the big decisions. I would trust Magic over him.
Magic works when we need him too, which would certainly be part-time and project oriented.
Per Magic the visionary
“I think they have to bring it back. That’s No. 1,” Johnson said (1:57). “Because you can’t attach a first-round pick to Westbrook to try to get him out. He actually played a lot better the last three weeks.”
LOL. I saw that. Did make me think twice about supporting Magic over Rob. Not sure that is the best solution but it definitely is an option that should be explored. He would be an easy trade at the trade deadline. And we do need a point guard.
One other factor in favor of Magic returning is there is nobody who can do a better job of selling the Lakers as a free agent destination than Magic. LeBron may have wanted to come to LA, but it was Magic who got him to sign.
So yeah, I would support Magic even if he wanted to keep Russ this summer to avoid wasting a pick to move him.
Now we talking LT. Playing Chess and that’s exactly what Magic is talking too. Chess behind the scenes while he talks in front of curtain.
At this rate we’re going to start trading our own players to ourselves but give a draft pick to OKC cause awwww hell, why not? From trash GM to savior? This kind of thinking is what created the shit show that is this season. We don’t need a sloganeering personality we need someone who is willing to work, to butt heads with Jeannie, to have an actual vision beyond “Hey, we’re the Lakers and we are super destined to be super great you guys!!!” I’d rather hire Coach K as GM or something outside the box like a mechanical monkey clapping its hands over Magic. We need to go forward not back…again…for the umpteenth time…again. Like sending WW2 vets into a modern battle zone.