With Jeanie in, expect a new Laker squad
The Los Angeles Lakers are my all-time favorites in the National Basketball Association (NBA). It's a long story. I interviewed Jerry West when he came here as one of the judges in the 1975 Miss Universe beauty contest. I was then a sportswriter—shoulder-length hair and all—with the Manila Bulletin.
But even before West would come a-visiting, he was already my idol. He was a world icon as his name had become almost synonymous to basketball. For one, he sank the first mid-court shot in the NBA.
For another, he was so good that he was the hands-down choice as model of the NBA logo. (That's him in silhouette dribbling the ball.)
The night I interviewed West, I went to the airport very early to meet him. And he was kind enough to grant me the interview right then and there. That was one of my early biggies in sportswriting—covering the arrival of a living basketball legend. Might as well tell you more? My second biggie was interviewing Tigran Petrosyan, the former Russian world chess champion. Upon his arrival at the airport. Again. But that's another story.
I used Jerry West as my takeoff point for this piece because just very recently, a major coup happened in the Lakers organization that made Jeanie Buss the new controlling owner of the storied franchise. And not only that. The Associated Press said Jeanie will rule the Lakers for the rest of her life as contained in the will of her late father and longtime Los Angeles owner Jerry Buss.
Court documents say that Jim and Johnny Buss have yielded controlling rights of the Lakers to their sister.
Before that, Jeanie had fired Jim as the Lakers operations chief and hired Magic Johnson, another legendary Laker, in Jim's place. Johnson immediately took in sports agent Rob Pelinka to replace Mitch Kupchak, the Lakers' longtime general manager.
With the hiring of Johnson, whose magical game gave the Lakers five NBA titles, hopes are now high the Lakers, languishing in the cellar with a 21-52 mark, could rebound in the next season.
Will the real rebuilding process of the Lakers, which started with the hiring this season of Luke Walton as head coach, finally take off with Jeanie now in command?
I can only hope.
With the hiring of Johnson, whose magical game gave the Lakers five NBA titles, hopes are now high the Lakers, languishing in the cellar with a 21-52 mark, could rebound in the next season