DAILY DOSE OF HOPE – BLOG – NAIMA LETT
Lakers Drama, Hollywood-Style
© NaimaLett.com/blog



Get ready to rumble. © photos: Hollywood Alter-Egos, Lakers LineUp

When did basketball go all ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’?

Drama!
And not just any drama.
Hollywood-style Drama.
Back-stabbing. Blind-siding. Clutching pearls drama.

Some producer somewhere is kicking herself right now for not having a reality camera crew running around taping the last 4 days in Laker Land.

The Problem

1-4.
That was the Problem.
The Lakers were off to a 1 win – 4 losses start.

This is an astronomical problem for the NBA’s most valuable team. (No, seriously, Forbes cited the Lakers as the NBA’s “Most Valuable Team” worth $900 million after securing a “new 20-year television deal with Time Warner Cable worth an average of $200 million annually beginning with the 2012–13 season.” I don’t even think that includes the franchise’s tickets, gear and paraphernalia sales.

Let’s face it. Basketball is big money. In that same Forbes article, it was reported that “NBA revenues hit a record $4 billion last season”. If the NBA stands to keep those revenues coming in, it’s #1 earning team cannot lose its first 4 games of the season.

The Solution

11.
That’s the # of championships of the most winning (and highest paid) coach in NBA History: Lakers favorite: Retired coach, Phil Jackson.

When LA fans started chanting “We want Phil!” during the games last week, even Phil had to perk up at his Playa del Rey spread and seriously consider a return. Insiders say it was the addition of Dwight Howard aka Superman to the roster along with Steve Nash, and a push for another championship before Kobe retires that got Phil to thinking he could consider it.

So, why wasn’t Phil’s answer “YES!” on Saturday when team vice president Jim Buss and General Manager Mitch Kupchak showed up, unsolicited, on his door step?

The Drama

3.
That’s the # of days Phil thought he had to come back with an answer. But just before Monday’s deadline, Phil got a call before midnight from management saying the Lakers were hiring Mike D’Antoni instead.

“Mike Who?”, one Laker fan asked reporters.

Mike D’Antoni, NBA’s Coach of the Year 2005, former coach of Phoenix Suns (when Steve Nash took them to conference titles) and New York Knicks, Assistant Coach for Olympics teams.

Wait. What happened? To Phil?
Depends on whose side of the story you hear.

Insiders from both camps have started the Real Housewives smackdowns.
Phil’s camp calls the franchise shabby, blind-sliding and slimy.
Lakers insiders say Phil asked for too much: part ownership, personnel hiring decisions, $$$. Others report there’s been bad blood between Phil and VP Jim Buss, going back years. Many say the two just don’t get along.

As the World Turns

16.
That’s the age difference between Phil Jackson and partner of 12 years, Jeanie Buss, the Lakers executive vice president-turned-Playboy-centerfold… Oh, and VP Jim’s sister.

The soap opera!

One source close to the negotiations said Phil wanted to humiliate Jim. Who knows what really went down behind closed doors? The family brawl and power struggle going on behind the scenes.

Everything else we experience from this point forward will be spin… YES, good old-fashioned Hollywood spin. We won’t ever know the real truth. We’ll know what the machine spins.

The Circus

3-4.
3 (almost 4) coaches in 4 days.

1. Mike Brown was fired after 5 games.
2. Interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff won 2 games in a week.
Uh. Phil Jackson was asked but didn’t answer quickly enough to make the cut.
3. Now, Mike D’Antoni is hired, but is recovering from knee replacement surgery and can’t travel yet from New York.

“It has been crazy, but all this stuff will just make this team stronger,” said Dwight Howard

“It’s been a zoo,” said forward Antawn Jamison, a 15-year NBA veteran.

Kobe was on board with Phil, but also idolizes D’Antoni who was a basketball star in Italy, where Kobe grew up. He supports the franchise’s decision. Self-preservation and job security are powerful motivators, I think.

Welcome to LaLa Land.

The Lesson

If nothing else, Fam, let’s try to find a silver lining in this purple and gold cloud.

If there is one thing I think we can glean is to deal with whatever drama we’ve got with another person as soon as possible and well before there’s a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract on the table.

In Matthew 5:23-24, Jesus tells his disciples to quash their grievances quickly. He instructs them, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

What if Phil and Jim had squashed whatever years-long beef they’ve had before the Lakers lost 4 games in a row? What if they had reconciled when the first, second or third offense occurred? The Lakers might very well have their beloved Phil Jackson back.

What about you?
Know of a brother or sister that has something against you?
Can you go, be reconciled to them?

You never know… They could be the person holding the keys to your employment in the future.

Phil will be alright, by Hollywood standards. He’s retired with a nice pad off the ocean and an executive/model girlfriend 16 years his junior. I wonder though if he’ll think back on the last 4 days and wonder what could’ve been different. Not sure what his Zen will do at this point, but I’m sure hoping some truth will get in the mix.

In the meantime, who wants to be a fly on the wall at the Buss’ estate during Thanksgiving dinner? Who wants to bet some producer somewhere will try like the dickens to get her reality show crew around the table?

Good luck, Doll!
Naima

Who do you need to reconcile with today?
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