The Los Angeles Lakers' decision to hire Mike D'Antoni instead of Phil Jackson as their head coach hasn't been sitting well with Lakers legend Magic Johnson. It has bothered him so much that after opting to stay silent for two days, Magic told 1,012,013 Twitter followers that he was mourning the Lakers' decision.
Johnson expanded on his tweets on ESPN's "NBA Countdown" on Wednesday night and took aim at Lakers executive vice president Jim Buss.
"I love Dr. [Jerry] Buss. I don't believe in Jim Buss. He's made two critical mistakes already. To me, they made two critical mistakes," Johnson said. "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 OK, but why didn't you just say that? But the fans were cheering for Phil Jackson two nights in a row."
Jim Buss responded to ESPN Los Angeles, saying "But I believe in Magic as I always have."
Magic seems to have pulled a 180 from his comments on Jim Buss in the offseason. Before the Lakers acquired Dwight Howard, Johnson told the Los Angeles Times that the vice president had done a good job.
"He hasn't done a great job yet, but he's done a good job. If they get Dwight Howard, then he's done a great job," he said, per the LA Times.
The Lakers traded for three-time Defensive Player of the Year. But the firing of Mike Brown and hiring of D'Antoni seems to have altered his point of view.
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