Mitch Kupchak Says Jim Buss Has Not Impacted His Authority With Lakers
Ever since Dr. Jerry Buss passed away, Mitch Kupchak, Jim and Jeanie Buss became responsible as primary management for the Los Angeles Lakers. Questionable decisions have been made in that time, most notably firing head coach Mike Brown after 5 games in 2012 and replacing him with Mike D’Antoni instead of Phil Jackson.
Such decisions along with the current state of the Lakers franchise has forced popular criticism, particularly of Jim Buss. Recently it was Magic Johnson on ESPN’s First Take implying that Jim Buss didn’t have the mindset to put together a championship team and doesn’t consult with the right people to do so.
Well Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak, who was highly credited for making the Kwame-for-Pau miracle happen, doesn’t see things as being much different.
via Bill Oram of the Orange County Register:
“I have the same authority that I had with Dr. Buss,” Kupchak said. “Jerry West had the same authority with Dr. Buss and I’ve got that same authority with Jimmy. Jimmy and I work very closely together and he does not make decisions in a vacuum.
“For some reason he gets a lot of the criticism and maybe that just comes along with a transition from an owner like Dr. Buss. But that’s not fair.”
Kupchak said that if a situation were to arise in which he and Buss disagreed over a basketball decision, “I think he would defer to me.”
“That is pretty much what Dr. Buss would do,” he said. “Although from time to time, he would say, ‘Mitch or Jerry I hear you, but we’re going to do this.’ But most of the time, Dr. Buss and Jimmy would defer to the basketball person.”
We’ll see what kind of decisions are made by Kupchak and Buss in a very important upcoming offseason for the Lakers.
