The time is ticking on Los Angeles Lakers executive vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Lakers executive vice president of business operations Jeanie Buss - Jim's sister, reiterated that her brother last year asked for three years to turn around the franchise.
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"He told me it would take three years to rebuild it, so we've just finished year one," she told KPCC radio Thursday, via the Times. "We are coming off our worst season in the history of the franchise, which is tough to swallow because my dad set the bar so high. But my brother had asked that he be given time ... and I agree that he needs the time so that he can show people what he envisions as Laker basketball going forward."
In January, Buss declared he would step down "in three or four years" if the Lakers weren't contenders, Yahoo! Sports reported.
The Lakers are coming off a franchise-worst 21-61 record in 2014-15, after previously lowering the bar for futility for the franchise in Los Angeles (27 wins) in 2013-14.
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Los Angeles gained the No. 2 pick in the NBA Draft and seemed poised to have momentum for a turnaround this offseason. They were thought to select center Jahlil Okafor from NCAA national champion Duke, who would team up with 2014 pick Julius Randle (who's recovering from a broken leg) and Kobe Bryant (torn rotator cuff) to make the team competitive.
The team then tried to speed up their time table by trading the No. 2 pick to the Sacramento Kings for DeMarcus Cousins, but that never materialized.
Then the club surprised most draft analysts by taking guard D'Angelo Russell, rather than Okafor, spurring the notion that the team had an excellent shot at landing a big man via free agency.
They did - LaMarcus Aldridge spoke to them first when the free agency period started. That meeting resulted in Aldridge declaring that he would not be joining the Lakers. Even after a second interview, reports indicated that the Lakers failed to convince the Portland Trail Blazers free agent to lead their rebuild.
With most of the free agents gone and Bryant still scheduled to retire next season, the Lakers don't figure to be much closer to attracting big-name free agents in 2016 when the likes of Kevin Durant become available.
If the Lakers don't improve significantly in 2015-16 - and unless Randle and Russell exceed expectations, there is little reason to believe the team to be close to being a playoff team - Jeanie could come to the conclusion that Jim is too far away from reaching his three-year goal and opt for a change.
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