(Part 9qj of 11)
Needful to say, we drink Jim Jones Kool-Aid® each and every day in a plethora of ways.
We start with life as displayed through the metaphor of sports.
There is an equally likely chance that the charade of Magic Johnson's impromptu resignation and the Lakers has been carefully orchestrated.
Here are a few facts that set the stage for this eventual conclusion:
1. The Lakers did not make the playoffs despite Lebron's presence, which, despite injuries on the team, this is still unacceptable to the fan base and Laker management credibility and Lebron's credibility. Secondly, the fragility of the durability of several Laker's players is making many people nervous, while acting like they are not concerned.
2. The debacle of trading away several good players.
3. The debacle of bringing in good backup players, but not the right primary (first string) pieces (play makers and three-point shooters).
4. The debacle of far too much unsquashed negativity regarding the potential firing of Luke Walton. This overall is a failure of Lakers public relations.
5. The debacle of the “we want Anthony Davis at any cost of any player, except Lebron.”
6. The shame and blame of tampering, even though all teams do it.
7. Leadership debacle overall and an overlooked incident that no team prospers from fist-fighting, especially when a veteran, supposed teacher, is involved.
8. Leadership debacle that allowed the Lakers to be transformed into the same stunted style of play when Lebron is the main ball handler and ball hog and demands the ball as if he's the only one who can make plays and critical plays, yet the continued see-through falseness of “I trust my teammates.” This “leave it to Lebron” non-team approach on offense, leads to horrible team defense, as has been the case on Lebron-led teams. (By the way, with just a tiny bit more of team offense and team defense, the Cavaliers could have and should have beaten Golden-State, at least twice more.)
9. The continued narrative that, no one who is a valuable free agent, wants to come and play with Lebron.
10. The obvious disconnect between the Magic Johnson Way, the Rob Pelinka Way and the Lakers Management Way and the Jeanie Buss Way and, on the court, likely the Luke Walton Way that likely deferred to the Lebron James Way.
Now briefly:
1. Even if Magic Johnson did not tell Jeanie Buss in advance, the nature of their relationship and the process by which Magic was hired was unconventional, so why wouldn't his leaving also be unconventional. It is not for us to decide whether or not Magic should have told Jeanie in advance. We don't fully understand the nature of their “sister/brother” relationship.
2. What seems most likely to me is that Jeanie Buss and Magic Johnson and several others, got together and concocted a batch of the same Kool-Aid® we're used to drinking every day.
3. They realized they needed a serious reboot and to change the narrative and momentum direction of the Lakers management and team. The most common approach to doing this is is “clean-house” so to speak. This requires a fall-guy.
4. Magic Johnson took the public fall and blame, while making the story believable, with partial truths regarding reasons for his resignation.
5. All of this mostly saves face for Jeanie Buss. This allows Lakers to show they have made major leadership changes. It is unlikely that if Jeanie Buss did not know Magic was resigning, and she and the Lakers were truly caught off guard, that they, dealing with this sudden job opening, would have had the wherewithal and priority to fire Luke Walton as their next first major decision. You can fire Luke later, if that was not already part of the overall “Hey! Kool-Aid's® On The Way” Plan.
6. It is likely the Lakers had already done their homework on coaching candidates and on president of basketball operations candidates. You can imagine, this process would be lengthy, but we will likely see a quick resolution.
7. All of this will then allow the Lakers to proceed with new public face management behind the scenes and a new coach and likely some other changes that will be told to us over the summer regarding how the Lakers plan to proceed going forward in management and with the team.
8. Under the circumstances, this is the best they can do to salvage a newly-launched grand, but now fabulously Titanic sinking ship, where the heart and soul of the team, the young players, are scattered across one side of the deck, with the president, coach and Lebron on the other side. Meanwhile Jeanie is in the crystal cathedral penthouse in an undisclosed location doing undisclosed owner stuff, thus gets the news of the Lakers condition on a delayed basis.
9. Overall, this is a pretty good masterful okie doke under triage conditions. It allows Magic more leeway to still unofficially help the Lakers. It allows the Lakers to use Luke Walton as a secondary scapegoat, yet paint the picture, via Lebron's statement, that Luke did the best he could under the circumstances. This allows Luke to be acceptable for another coaching job, while opening the door for a different coach-Lebron-team chemistry.
10. The main thing now is who replaces Magic and the trades and drafts the Lakers make before and during the season, and, of course, the Lakers making it to the second round of the playoffs and putting up a good fight.
11. Lastly, an overlooked aspect in sports and other workplaces, is an understanding on how to manage multiple aspects (mental, emotional, mental and physical) in order to achieve the desired results, not just for the team but for the individual team members. Winning as a team is only possible when individuals also win or at least think believe they are winning. Otherwise winning as a team, company, organization will be random, sporadic, underachieved and not sustainable long-term. This is not often applied to collectives, although this is an essential ingredient in Kool-Aid® making.
This sports-based scenario is the same thing that has happened to us all our lives and is still happening. We believe stories as reported and we believe supposed historical accounts as reported and supposed religious accounts as reported. Nations are the top Kool-Aid® makers on the planet. We could call it Patriotism Punch, or in our case, American Dream Juice. Either way, we love us some Kool-Aid® served any way every day.
As usual, we are allowing the human media to be the main basis of what we think. We allow them to do all the information gathering and analysis, and we just go with it whatever their groupthink is.
