Photo via lakerholicz.com.
Were Dr. Jerry Buss still alive, his daughter, Jeanie, believes that Dwight Howard would still be a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Speaking with Mark Willard and Mychal Thompson on ESPNLA 710, Buss said that things would have been different had Dwight been wooed by her father, as transcribed by Ramona Shelburne of ESPN Los Angeles.
“They would’ve probably had a better relationship if my dad hadn’t been sick,” Jeanie Buss said in a wide-ranging interview with hosts Mark Willard and Mychal Thompson on ESPNLA 710 Thursday morning. “When it came time to try to convince Dwight to stay, we lost the best closer in the business in Dr. Buss.
“Putting up billboards maybe wasn’t the right thing. But we maybe have to learn to do things differently because Dr. Buss isn’t here anymore. People said [of the billboards], ‘Oh, that’s not the Laker way.’ Well, the Laker way isn’t the same, because Dr. Buss isn’t here.”
I find myself agreeing. Not necessarily that Howard would have definitely re-signed instead of journeying off to the Houston Rockets, but I do believe the Lakers would have had a better chance at retaining him.
Dr. Buss was one of the draws for playing in Los Angeles. He was willing to do whatever and spend whatever it took to win. Players fed off that. God knows Kobe Bryant did, and probably still does. His fierce desire to win turned the Lakers into one of the most storied franchises in all of sports.
Which is why it was so surprising that Howard walked away from at all. The glitz, the glam, the weather and, most importantly, the championships. Playing next to Kobe must have been difficult for an egotistical tower like himself, but these were the Lakers. All they do is win.
Or should I say “did?”
Jerry Buss after the Lakers captured the NBA title in 1980 (Getty Images via hollywoodreporter.com).
Sans Dr. Buss, confidence in the organization could be shaken. Mitch Kupchak is still a genius, but like Jeanie said, the Lakers’ sales pitch to Howard just didn’t seem very Los Angeles. I’m all for showing a player that you want him to stay, so what the Lakers did wasn’t wrong per se, but it wasn’t very Laker-ish.
Normally, they would have let those championship trophies do the talking. The Laker name would have spoken for itself. Instead, there were unsettlingly desperate billboards that reeked of a franchise losing its way.
But have the Lakers lost their way? So long as Kobe still reps purple and gold I have to say know. Even if they became the most self-conscious and unsure of franchises, Kobe’s bravado is more than enough for everyone. Still, come next summer—and this is coming from a person who didn’t think the billboards were a terrible idea—you would like to see Los Angeles approach free agency with more confidence.
Let the team sell itself. If LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, among others, don’t want to play for the Lakers, then screw ’em. That’s the mindset they’ve perpetuated for the last few decades. With Dr. Buss gone, that shouldn’t change. Neither Jeanie nor Mitch nor Jim Buss should allow it too.
We’ll never know if Dr. Buss would have been able to keep Dwight in Tinseltown. Short of Howard himself coming out and admitting it (he won’t), there’s no way of answering that question.
The Lakers can, however, learn from this experience. Getting spurned in favor of a smaller market is humbling; it reminds the Lakers not to take what they have for granted. Ironically enough, it should instill in them a desire to never show their humility.
They’re the Lakers, they’re cocky as all hell. And arrogance sells when you have the hardware to back it up.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com. Follow @danfavale on Twitter for his latest posts and all things NBA.
