Laker hype girl1/17/2024 ![]() ![]() This isn't necessarily a complaint, it's nice to be able to follow a sport without having to be up on deer antler spray or whatever the heck Jose Canseco is saying this week, but it's still rather odd that there's so little steroid talk in basketball. For whatever reason, it's never a story in basketball even though many NBA players have just as much reason to bulk up or recover quicker from injuries as players in the MLB or NFL. Hedo Turkoglu was busted for PED useĭespite the fact that the use of performance enhancing drugs is one of the biggest stories in sports today, alongside other notable topics such as imaginary girlfriends and ill-timed power failures, the NBA world seems strangely immune to the controversy. One thing is for certain: If this doesn't motivate this particular Lakers team, then nothing will. The Lakers have to know that the best way to honor the memory of their longtime owner would be to turn this farce of a season around and make a strong playoff push. Most notably, there's talk that he's feuding with sister Jeanie Buss over his decision to hire Mike D'Antoni to replace head coach Mike Brown and not Phil Jackson, Jeanie's fiancee.Īt the moment, the Lakers community mourns along with the rest of the basketball world, but soon their attention will be back to the games. Not only has the team been dysfunctional on the court, the struggles of newly acquired All-Star center Dwight Howard have been well documented, there have also been plenty of problems inside the organization as well. ![]() With reports out saying it's highly unlikely that the family will give up control of the team, Jim Buss will have a long way to prove doubters that he's capable of running the team. Jerry Buss, much like the post-George Steinbrenner before him, has handed down the franchise he transformed to the next generation. If there's one thing this current Lakers squad, mostly assembled by Jerry Buss's son Jim while his father was ailing, has proven, it's that simply acquiring the best available players isn't enough to create a winning team, let alone a championship-caliber one.įor better or worse, the Lakers are now officially in Jim Buss's hands. Still, the Lakers' financial advantages alone don't account for the Lakers winning 10 championships, and making 16 NBA Finals appearances, in the span of 30 plus years. There's some truth to this, just as there's some truth to the counter-argument that Buss was spending money on his team in an era where many other owners were simply lining their own wallets. Critics would argue that the Lakers had enough revenue that they could afford to buy championship-caliber rosters, especially since it was easier to sell potential free agents on the idea of spending their winters in California as opposed to Cleveland or Toronto. Under Buss's watch, even the head coaches, most notably Pat Riley and Phil Jackson, were de facto celebrities. There could be an entirely new basketball Hall of Fame dedicated solely to the stars that the Lakers had on their roster during Buss's reign: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Robert Horry, Pau Gasol and many others. Obviously, the success of Buss's Lakers can be traced to the sheer amount of talent that has flourished in purple and gold over the years. Of course, none of these added attractions would have mattered if the team didn't win, but under Buss's direction, the Lakers were one of the most successful franchises not just in the NBA, but in all of professional sports. Jerry Buss always courted the best players, the big names who could shine in big games, no matter how much money it took to sign them, he transformed cheerleaders into " Lakers Girls" and made the courtisde seats the go-to place for all of the beautiful people to be seen. A rollicking playboy type himself, Buss was instrumental in turning the Lakers into Los Angeles's team, complete with an aura of glitz and glamor. Although Buss was a lot more likable than some of the larger-than-life owners that passed before him, most notably George Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees and Al Davis of the Oakland Raiders, he was in many ways a similar type: a dedicated hands-on owner who molded his team in his own image and was dedicated to winning at all costs.īuss, who bought the Lakers in 1979, essentially created the modern day Lakers. Buss's passing marks the end of an era in L.A., and in the sporting world in general. Jerry Buss passed away from complications from cancer at the age of 80. In a Lakers season full of big losses, the toughest loss of them all happened Monday morning when team owner Dr. ![]()
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