"The Stack" 2-22-17

Magic Johnson just landed himself his dream job, becoming the president of basketball operations with the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday. Lakers president and co-owner Jeanie Buss made many changes to the franchise on Tuesday. We'll see if they work out.
Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Stack is back on this Wednesday and we don’t have a whole lot to talk about, but what we do have to talk about is pretty major.  By the way, we are close to going about three consecutive weeks or close to it with blog posts as conference start up.  Don’t miss out on the action or coverage.  Now then, let’s get right to “the stack” for today, Wednesday, February 22nd:

 

Magic Johnson taking over the Lakers

 

In a shocking, surprising, bold and daring move, Los Angeles Lakers president and co-owner Jeanie Buss, daughter of the late Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, made sweeping moves to the franchise on Tuesday.  She removed her brother, Jim, as executive vice president of basketball operations.  She fired general manager Mitch Kupchak and longtime Lakers publicist John Black.  And she put in charge former Laker great Earvin “Magic” Johnson as the new president of basketball operations effective immediately.  Like the DeMarcus Cousins trade to New Orleans, I have mixed reactions to this and don’t know if this is truly a good move or not.  No doubt that Jim Buss and Kupchak have made some terrible decisions here in the last few years which lead to Jeanie’s decision to believe that now was the time to make wholesale changes.  Poor drafting, not being able to surround Kobe Bryant with enough talent in his last couple of years and not making the playoffs for three straight seasons doomed Jim.  The Lakers weren’t all that relevant coming into Tuesday.  They are back to being relevant now. 

 

Johnson has held titles with the Lakers in previous years, but this is something completely different.  I believe he is going to put his heart and soul into this job and try and get the Lakers back to respectability and contention, but is Magic really the guy who can help fix the mess the Lakers are in?  Can he draft well?  Can he bring in the right free agents?  Having Magic run the show will help lure free agents back to the Lakers, but what if Magic still doesn’t get the job done?  Isn’t that what Phil Jackson was supposed to do in New York?  As with the Cousins trade to New Orleans, I need people with better NBA minds than mine to tell me if this is a good thing or not.  I don’t know if it is.  On the surface it appears like an excellent move for the Lakers, but is that more just because of the name?  I don’t know how good of an executive Magic will be.  Reportedly, Kobe Bryant’s agent is the favorite to be the Lakers GM.  Does an agent know what to do in the front office?  They deal with them enough, but that’s still a much bigger and different transition.  I’m just not sure how this is all going to work out.

 

One last thing…I would love to be a fly on the wall the next time the Buss family gets together to see what the conversation is like between Jeanie and Jim.  Maybe this severs their relationship beyond repair.  I hope this decision does not.  Jeanie did what she had to do to try and restore the Lakers back to their former perennial power self.  We’ll see if she is right or now. 

 

Dolphins trade for Julius Thomas

 

Tight end Julius Thomas is on the move.  After a couple of highly disappointing seasons in Jacksonville, Thomas is headed south to reunite with former Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase who is in his second year as Miami Dolphins head coach.  Thomas had some of his most productive seasons when Gase was coaching him.  This is a good move for him to help resurrect his career and help provide another weapon on offense for the Dolphins.  The Jaguars will receive a seventh round pick in this year’s draft.  Seems like a bit of a steal for the Dolphins.  Teams routinely give up guys who still have some good days ahead of them for next to nothing it seems like.

 

There was talk that at Thomas was going to be traded for Dolphins offensive tackle Branden Albert.  The Thomas-for-Albert trade didn’t go as planned, but nevertheless the two teams still made a trade work.  Albert is headed to Jacksonville and the Jaguars will send a 2018 seventh round pick back to the Dolphins in return.  The Jaguars offensive line was pretty bad last year.  Yes they were banged up with injuries and Albert isn’t exactly a man of steel, but when healthy he is a solid addition to an offensive line that will hope to keep Blake Bortles upright this season.

 

Coming up later this week: Reaction to top headlines in the sports world