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    • 5 Reasons Why Jerry Buss will always be remembered as a Great Owner

    by admin in NBA | Comments Off on 5 Reasons Why Jerry Buss will always be remembered as a Great Owner

    A golden period of Los Angeles Lakers illustrious history came to an end with the death of owner Jerry Buss. He bought the Lakers in 1979 and remained majority owner till his death on Monday. Though Buss is no more but he will always be remembered for his great ownership and there are at least five reasons to justify this statement.

    The way Buss transformed a struggling team into a champion

    Under his ownership, the Lakers flourished the most. When Buss bought the Lakers in 1979, the team was struggling mightily. They had won just one championship and made just two appearances in the finals since moving to the Los Angeles in 1960. But Buss overhauled the team and transformed it into a champion.

    10 NBA Titles

    No other owner can match what Buss had achieved in his 34 year ownership. He won a championship in his first year as in charge and went on to win a total of 10 NBA titles. During his ownership, Lakers made the finals 16 times and only two times they missed the playoffs.

    Huge Investment

    Jerry Buss spent a lot of money on Lakers. He purchased the Lakers from the Jack Kent Cooke for$ 67.5 million which was biggest deal at that time. He hired high profile coaches, paid high salaries and invested heavily in sports television networks to make his team popular. All the hard work paid off and Lakers became one of the most valued franchise in NBA history.

    Intelligent Decision Making

    He made many intelligent decisions during ownership. In 1977, Pat Riley returned in NBA as Lakers broadcaster but ended up being the head coach of Lakers and he led the team to four NBA titles. Buss came up with new ideas as well such as concept of cheerleaders and live music. All these factors helped Lakers in becoming an exiting team to watch. Then in late 90s when Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal started their career and they could not delivered instantly, he hired Phil Jackson, a prolific coach and a new dynasty formed. Picking a 17 year old high school player also indicates that he could take calculated risks as well.

    Relationship with players

    Unlike other owners, Buss had close relationships with the players of his team Whether it was the Magic Jackson of showtime era or Kobe Bryant of recent times he always had a nice relationship with the players of his team. In return, they respected him and honored him with many great on court performances.




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