According to ESPN Los Angeles the Lakers have announced their regret in not discussing the hiring of Mike Brown with team superstar Kobe Bryant.
After much speculation that Bryant was unhappy with the organization for hiring Brown instead of his former teammate and current assistant Brian Shaw, team executive Jim Buss announced in an interview with the Los Angeles Times on Saturday that the team regrets the way the decision went down.
“Looking back on it, we should have contacted Kobe,” stated Buss. “Kobe said it was management’s job to pick a coach. He just said, ‘Defense first.’ That’s what we were doing, but we should have reached out to him.”
Buss, who is the son of owner Jerry Buss, has taken control of the franchise and is the team’s executive VP of player personnel. While he did express regret in not consulting Bryant about the hire, he does not regret the decision to bring in Brown. Buss stated that he still believes Brown was the right decision for the franchise and will help the team moving forward.
“The way Mike impressed the three of us, I would think Kobe would be impressed as well,” said Buss. “Mike is a workaholic and Kobe is the workaholic.”
Following the hire Bryant did state that he supported the decision and respected Brown as a coach. Both Brown and Bryant will try to help the team recover from their unceremonious elimination from this year’s playoffs courtesy of the Dallas Mavericks.
