“No more excuses with everybody else, this is on me, so watch me go to work, that’s a boss statement” - Jay Williams praises Jeanie Buss for holding herself accountable for the LA Lakers’ struggles
The LA Lakers and the struggles they went through this season caught mention again on Wednesday’s episode of “NBA on ESPN”, where the KJM crew discussed the recent accountability that has been claimed. After failing to make the playoffs this season, there has been a lot of turmoil in Los Angeles. Jeanie Buss, however, has taken it upon herself to take accountability for her LA Lakers' disappointing season.
LA Lakers owner Jeanie Buss takes responsibility for disappointing season
Jay Williams praised Jeanie Buss for her actions:
“No more excuses with everybody else. This is on me, so watch me go to work; that’s a boss statement.”
The LA Lakers finished this 2021-22 NBA in 11th place in the Western Conference and, as a result, failed to make it into the postseason. Even after trading for the large names they did in this year's preseason, extending themselves for a deep playoff run ended quite poorly. As a result, many headlines have placed blame on different entities in LA week after week.
First, it was Russell Westbrook and his careless amount of turnovers, even though Russ finished the season having averaged 3.8 turnovers per game. That is his lowest turnover per game average since his 2013-14 season with OKC. Soon after the Russ talk died slightly, Anthony Davis being injury prone was brought up, even LeBron James' ability as a leader started to get questioned. All after one poor season.
Jeanie Buss has commented on the struggles this season, after all the trades her organization made:
“When you spend that kind of money, you expect to go deep into the playoffs… So yeah, it was gut-wrenching for me to go out on a limb like that and not get the results we were looking for.”
After noting what Jeanie had said regarding the season, Max Kellerman questioned her choice of words:
“Why would she say this as an owner?”
It seems an odd question. Regardless of her position in the organization, it would be generally assumed that any owner would be disappointed after spending that amount of money and getting zero results. Literally not a single expectation was met by the LA Lakers this season.
As a result, Jay Williams voiced his opinion, on the contrary, in praise to Jeanie and her words. Williams outlined:
“I love this by Jeanie Buss. You know what, because she needs to do it her way. And if you read through the interview that she did, it was really incredible because now she’s listening to Magic Johnson, she’s bringing him back in. She’s bringing Phil Jackson back in for his input … She expressed her loyalty to LeBron James, and her desire for him to be a championship person and be happy here at the organization long term.”
The LA Lakers are fresh off a 2020 NBA Finals victory and admittedly really did not even need to extend themselves this season in the way they did. They still had a great young core at the beginning of the season and a relative future going forward. With the decision to rip those roots from the ground, the Lakers were expecting immediate short-term success. With that not happening, Jeanie arguably has a right to be dissatisfied with the results from her squad.
Jeanie Buss, also, went on to outline that the people she has around helping her are merely just that: helpers. Buss explained:
“Do they have final say? Are they running the team? No. I’m the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Lakers. I’m accountable for every decision made here.”
Jay Williams has a good point. With the disappointing results from the LA Lakers this season, someone had to step forward and take accountability. The rumors floating around the season being Westbrook’s fault, or LeBron’s, or AD’s, or their coaches was wavering back and fourth for far too long. It takes a responsible owner to step forward and take the heat.
After all, regardless of who was involved in the decision-making process for the trades in the Lakers preseason, Jeanie did have the absolute final say. Whatever happened that did not pan out was vetted by her at some point. For her to step forward and take that claim shows her loyalty to her squad and organization as a whole.