Magic Johnson strikes again; Lashes out at Jim Buss for hiring Mike D’Antoni over Phil Jackson – NBA News
When the Los Angeles Lakers fired head coach Mike Brown last Friday, former franchise great Magic Johnson not only endorsed the decision but also questioned Brown’s credentials and why the team hired him in the first place.
Little did he know at that time, that within a span of few days, he will have to bear another decision much to his disliking. On Sunday night, the Lakers decided to hire former New York Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni over the legendary
Phil Jackson, who has won 11 championships in his illustrious career, including five with the Lakers in the last decade. This, after P-Jax had hinted he would like to make a comeback, took the whole league by surprise. And that was one surprise which did not
go down too well with Magic, who is also a long time friend of the man knows as the Zen Master.
On Tuesday, Magic took to twitter; two days after the hiring decision came and explained his absence from the social networking website a direct consequence of his disgust at the Lakers decision. It is a known fact that Jackson
did not enjoy too much of a relationship with Jim Buss, the president of the basketball operations and also the son of the owner Jerry Buss. According to Magic, the odd decision came because of Jim’s personal grudges;
"I love Dr. (Jerry) Buss. I don't believe in Jim Buss," Johnson said on ESPN's "NBA Countdown" on Wednesday night. "He's made two critical mistakes already. To me, they made two critical mistakes.
"First, hiring Mike Brown -- he wasn't the right coach. He's a great coach but not the right coach for the Lakers. And I don't feel Mike D'Antoni is the right coach for the Lakers. Especially when you have Phil Jackson sitting
out there, who wanted to be the Laker coach. Jim Buss decided he didn't want Phil Jackson, he wanted Mike D'Antoni. And that's OK, but why didn't you just say that? But the fans were cheering for Phil Jackson two nights in a row."
That might have been the case, but Mitch Kupchak, the franchise general manager has made it clear that the choice of Mike D’Antoni was mutual and unanimous between him, Jerry and Jim. They believe that the former Knicks coach has
the offensive acumen which is more suited for the current roster.
Whatever the case is, it is pretty clear that there is a huge gulf between the thinking of the Lakers front office and the franchise fans, which includes former players.
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