Jerry Buss Sought Meeting With LeBron James After Lakers Won 2010 NBA Finals
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After years of futility, optimism in abound for the Los Angeles Lakers,
thanks to a promising young core and the signing of LeBron James. He’s the
caliber of superstar that the franchise often boasted under late owner Jerry
Buss.
While the Lakers have a rich history of Hall-of-Famers who have worn their
jersey, Buss is responsible for creating a vision and culture that spawned
the decades of success. Since his passing, the Lakers have struggled to
replicate that.
They began to with the hiring of Magic Johnson as president of basketball
operations and general manager Rob Pelinka, and made more progress with their
signing of James. And it’s James who Buss first envisioned joining the
Lakers eight years ago.
At the time, they were fresh off defeating the Boston Celtics in the 2010 NBA
Finals. It was the second of back-to-back championships, and still stands as
the Lakers’ last title.
Despite not having necessary salary cap space, Buss pondered reaching out to
James in free agency, per Tania Ganguli of the L.A. Times:
Buss thought about calling James anyway. Over lunch with his sons, he
mentioned the idea, offhandedly.
“It’d be good to know that guy,” his son Joey recalled him saying.
League rules allowed teams to meet with any free agent. Why not meet with
James to introduce him to the Lakers’ vision? Why not sow the seeds of a
future partnership?
“LeBron was always somebody that he was interested in,” Lakers co-owner
Jeanie Buss said.
Bus and the Lakers never met with James that summer. Former general manager
Mitch Kupchak led a contingent during the summer of 2014, when they were
granted a meeting, not with James but his agent Rich Paul.
It may have been more going through the motions than substance, as James
signed with the Miami Heat. Considering the Lakers were coming off an abysmal
season, they were never viewed as serious suitors.
The sentiment was much different heading into 2018 free agency, as many began
to consider the Lakers a favorite to sign the 14-time All-Star. Sure enough,
James committed to the storied franchise, after a meeting with Johnson, who
has assumed the recruiting role Dr. Jerry Buss so majestically filled.
大意:
已故的前湖人老闆Jerry Buss早在2010年時就想得到LBJ
2010年的湖人剛完成2連霸
Kobe+三塔也還在巔峰期
而Lebron則是剛被三巨頭的超賽淘汰並生涯首次成為自由球員
老Buss在自由球員市場開始前跟他的小兒子說
希望小兒子能盡量爭取與自由球員LBJ面談的機會
不管球隊現在有沒有薪資空間
他希望就算不是今年，如果能透過這面談去了解LBJ並拉近跟他的關係
未來搞不好就能爭取到他的加盟
因為老Buss已經看到了未來以LBJ為核心的湖人王朝藍圖
不過最後小兒子並沒有去爭取跟LBJ的面談
最後LBJ也以自由球員的身分先簽後換加入了熱火並奪得兩冠
而湖人也在老Buss去世後進入了隊史最長的黑暗期
假如2010年LBJ以先簽後換的方式來到湖人(Gasol+Odom到騎士之類的)
Kobe+LBJ+Bynum應該有辦法打敗2011年的小牛達成3連霸
而湖人也可能比勇士更早建立2010年後的第一個王朝