Buss opens up
http://www.pe.com/sports/lakers/notebooks/PE_Sports_Local_lakers_notes_29.a1639.html
Jerry Buss has owned the Lakers for 26 years, and at no time during his tenure
did things become more discombobulated than last June when he changed the face
of his team.
During about a 35-minute meeting with reporters Sunday, Buss talked about the
core of the Lakers the past five years: Phil Jackson, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe
Bryant.
Buss still has to deal with his decisions not to bring Jackson back and to
trade O'Neal to the Miami Heat.
"People have climbed out on a branch saying this was the wrong thing to do,"
Buss said. "My reaction is, let's let history dictate. Let's see what happens
three or four years, five years from now with the two teams involved."
Buss said he thinks Jackson would have retired if the Lakers had won the NBA
championship. Buss also said that had LA won the title, he would have tried to
get "Shaq and Kobe and got them on the same page. But whether I could have kept
all three is debatable."
Buss said he hasn't talked to O'Neal, but still wants to. He said O'Neal was
offered a two-year, $45 million contract and wished the center had taken it.
"Whether or not I would have still traded him or not, I'm not sure," Buss said.
The perception remains that Bryant let Buss know in no uncertain terms that he
wouldn't have signed a seven-year, $136 million contract to come back to the
Lakers if Jackson and O'Neal were still around.
"Kobe at no time ever suggested that he wouldn't play if Shaq was there or if
Phil coached," Buss said. "That wasn't part of the conversation. The
conversation had to do with my desire to build a fast-break team."
Buss said he didn't seek input from Bryant regarding O'Neal and Jackson. "I
didn't want to put him in a position where we discussed either one of those
people."
O'Neal had a lot of disparaging things to say about the Lakers organization
when he left, most of them directed toward Bryant and general manger Mitch
Kupchak. Buss said he was somewhat surprised by O'Neal's harsh comments.
"I feel badly that Shaq has taken it personally," Buss said. "... I think as
time goes by and he realizes it was not a personal decision, but in fact a
basketball decision, a franchise decision, I think it'll come back to a good
relationship."
Buss said he would retire O'Neal's No. 34, if the center wanted to do it.
Jackson wrote a tell-all book from last season that included several stories
that were between him and Buss.
Buss called it "fun" and "exciting" to be a part of that book.
"I do think there are some inaccuracies in the book," Buss said. "In fact, I
know there are, because he has indicated a couple of things that only I am
privy to. I know the answer, and he could not know the answer."
Jackson portrayed Bryant in his book as selfish, a person who had a hand in his
and O'Neal's departures and as a person who may never be happy.
"It's hard for me to read everybody's portrayal of Kobe," Buss said. "He's
just a different person than everybody seems to think. I admire him enormously
for the fact that he's just been quiet. Everybody else just keeps talking and
talking. He's been terrific. He's just sat back and said, 'OK, I'll let my play
indicate what kind of person I am.' "
Buss had the last conversation with Bryant before the guard made his decision
to return to the Lakers.
There was a chance Buss could have lost Bryant, O'Neal and Jackson.
"(I) would have probably sold the franchise," he said.
Asked if he were concerned Bryant would join the Clippers, Buss said, "I guess
I should have been more concerned. I just think Kobe is a Laker."
And his relationship with Bryant?
"I would say yes, on the whole, we're probably a little closer."
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