Ever since former Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson’s resignation, there have been a lot of questions about the structure of the front office.
These questions grew louder during the team’s head coaching search as rumors circulated about the inner circle of owner Jeanie Buss — who all had a voice in that major decision.
As it turns out, the roles of those within the organization were something else that Johnson had an issue with or rather people staying within their assigned roles.
Johnson spoke with Broderick Turner of Los Angeles Times about the team’s front office, saying that he believed people needed to stick with their roles and not branch out:
“Tim Harris, you got to run the business. I’m sorry, but you can think you know basketball, but you really don’t, so you have to stay in that lane,” Johnson said. “Jesse, continue to be assistant general manager and a scout, but you are doing a great job as a scout, so continue to do that. Joey, run the G-League, the South Bay Lakers — on and on and on. So whatever role Kurt has, that’s his role. Whatever role Linda has, that’s her role.”
Johnson would continue about this issue, believing that there were simply too many voices within the Lakers believing their own ideas were the best:
“Define roles and then everybody got to stay in that lane. Because what’s happening is there are too many opinions, too many voices and everybody thinks their way is the right way. That’s why you can’t make good decisions because you got six, eight voices and everybody thinks their strategy is the right one. You can’t have that.”
If this is indeed the case, then Johnson may have a good point about how things work. New head coach Frank Vogel spoke about the need for togetherness within the organization at his introductory press conference. Everyone must be on the same page and that can be difficult without defined roles or — in this case supposedly — people willing to stay within those roles.
On the basketball court, things go better when every player understands their role and plays within it. The same holds true for the front office and if that isn’t happening, it will cause issues felt throughout the entire organization.
There is now the chance for the Lakers to move forward with everyone on one accord. Regardless of titles or outside perception, if the Lakers front office can all be on the same page, they will be better because of it.