Magic Johnson Rips Lakers For Bailing On Phil Jackson
Magic Johnson isn’t happy with the current situation in Los Angeles. The former Lakers star ripped into owner Jim Buss today saying that he made a series of bad decisions about his coaching staff.
Johnson has been biting his tongue on Twitter over the last few days but last night he finally opened up about his frustrations with his former team to ESPN.
“I Love Dr. Buss. I don’t believe in Jim Buss … He’s made two critical mistakes already. To me, they made two critical mistakes. First, hiring Mike Brown — he wasn’t the right coach. He’s a great coach but not the right coach for the Lakers. And I don’t feel Mike D’Antoni is the right coach for the Lakers. Especially when you have Phil Jackson sitting out there, who wanted to be the Laker coach. Jim Buss decided he didn’t want Phil Jackson, he wanted Mike D’Antoni. And that’s okay, but why didn’t you just say that? The fans were cheering for Phil Jackson two nights in a row.”
Magic, along with several Lakers players, were looking forward to the return of Phil Jackson. The legendary coach has won 11 NBA championships (6 with Chicago and 5 with LA) and was interested in taking the job. The Lakers made a surprising announcement earlier this week, however, and decided to hire Mike D’Antoni.
What do you think of Magic Johnson’s criticism? Did the Lakers make the wrong choice?
Johnson doesn’t feel that “D’Antoni is the right coach for the Lakers.” We’ll find out this Friday when the Lakers take the floor with their new head coach.
