If 2012 will be remembered as the year when people stopped making jokes about LeBron being ringless then let’s also make it the year we said goodbye to Jim Buss jokes. That’s because in addition to not being the buffoon people thought he was, he might actually be one of the league’s most brilliant execs.
No need to reread that. Your mind isn’t playing tricks on you. I really just used ‘Jim Buss’ and ‘brilliant’ in the same sentence. Jim Buss has made four trades in the past nine months that any executive in any professional sport would be in awe of. The fact that he did it in a league with a salary cap and for a team that was well over that cap makes it even more impressive. Now it’s true that only three of those trades came to fruition, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that Buss had a deal in place that the commissioner blocked.
**It should also be noted that from this moment forward Lakers Nation has lost the right to complain about the failed Chris Paul trade. Deal?
Let’s look at the trades that Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak have pulled off since December of 2011:
- A 3-team deal involving the Hornets and Rockets that would have sent out Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol and brought back Chris Paul.
- A trade of Lamar Odom that not only saved his family a ton of money but also brought back a trade exception and a future first-round pick.
- A trade of the aforementioned exception, three awful drafts picks, and possibly one decent draft pick for future Hall of Famer Steve Nash.
- A 4-team trade involving the Magic, the 76ers, and the Nuggets that sent out Andrew Bynum and brought back Dwight Howard.
The genius of the failed Paul deal was that it would have strengthened the team moving forward. It would have sent out much more in salary than it would have brought back and that’s what scared the other owners. Owners like Cleveland’s Dan Gilbert were not only upset because the Lakers’ reduced payroll would give them back less money in luxury taxes, but also because they were positioning themselves to add a 26-year-old star point guard and pair him with either their 24-year-old center, or even scarier, find a way to pair him with the only center better, the 26-year-old they just so happened to acquire on Friday.
That brings us to Jim’s greatest achievement. It was he who championed the drafting of Andrew Bynum with the 10th pick in the 2005; right after Charlie Villanueva, Channing Frye, and Ike Diogu. Jim Buss should forever be given credit for being the guy who drafted the guy who was traded for Dwight Howard.
Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss were told they couldn’t make a right turn so they made three left turns.
Next Page: Buss, Kupchak Turn Water Into Wine
If I’ve learned anything about Jim Buss since the beginning of last season it’s that the only things he’s bad at are picking out clothes and managing his own reputation. He even admitted as much when he went on ESPN Los Angeles’ Mason and Ireland Show last March. Buss admitted that he was media-shy and that he would make a greater attempt to connect with the fans so they would know more about him.
In fact, if you were to search the L.A. Times archives for articles about Jim Buss the majority of the search results would relate to Buss’ time in the 80s as president of Major Indoor Soccer League’s Los Angeles Lazers. I remember listening to every word of that radio interview and coming away with nothing but a newfound respect for him. What sticks out in my mind was how he recited each of the incremental luxury tax penalties that will come with the repeater tax in 2014, from memory.
What that told me was that this guy was no dummy. That he had one eye on the present and one on the future. Every move the Lakers have made over the last few summers has been with 2014-15 in mind. Even after the Dwight Howard trade the only player the Lakers have under contract for 2014-15 is Steve Nash. So even though Nash isn’t as young as Chris Paul, he buys the Lakers time to compete for a ring while maintaining maximum flexibility in the post-Kobe era when free agents like Luol Deng, Carmelo Anthony, Danny Granger, and possibly James Harden could be available.
**Harden and the other 2009 draft picks, like Stephen Curry and Brandon Jennings, are already eligible for extensions. Those who don’t sign extensions can become restricted free agents next summer. Those who choose to accept the qualifying offer next summer instead of testing restricted free agency will become unrestricted free agents in 2014 — the same summer when the Lakers have nobody but Steve Nash (and hopefully Dwight Howard) under contract.
**By the way, the 2015 free agent class, the one that might be counted on to replace Nash, features Rajon Rondo and Tony Parker.
T.J. Simers wrote an article in the LA Times last week entitled, “Jim Buss Gets The Last Laugh.” And while it was nice of T.J. to acknowledge the job that the younger Buss has done in the enormous shadow that his father has cast, T.J. is as responsible as anyone for Jim’s awful reputation. But T.J.’s article features this quote from Jim about what his dad told him from his post-surgery hospital bed after the trade parameters had been agreed upon:
“So I tell [my father], and then I get an, ‘Incredible job, Jim,’ from him, and let me tell you, that erases all the insults and anything else anyone has to say. To help make him comfortable and happy, that’s what I work for.”
Jim and Mitch’s reward for their hard work is a 2013 off-season that will allow them to devote 90 percent of their attention to re-signing Dwight Howard. The other 10 percent will be devoted to whether or not they should use the amnesty on Steve Blake or Metta World Peace and to which of their free agents — all of whom are no better than the team’s sixth-best player — they should bring back.
This has been an incredible off-season for Lakers fans. The team acquired two future Hall of Famers as well as valuable bench pieces like Antawn Jamison and Jodie Meeks. But above all else, they may have acquired peace of mind. The fortunate son who we once thought was the Buss family’s Fredo, the one who will be piloting this ship for the next 20 or 30 years, might actually be it’s Michael.