Jimmy Buss' Lakers Takeover Is Complete

Sports Illustrated's Ian Thomsen has an excellent feature on Brian Shaw, the one-time "next" coach of the L.A. Lakers who somehow got whisked away from Hollywood in the most confusing way possible. Shaw ended up as Frank Vogel's associate head coach with the Indiana Pacers, and sits atop the list of next summer's head coach candidates. While the specific Shaw, Vogel and Mike Brown stuff in Thomsen's piece is fantastic, the most impactful lines may be these ones.

Two weeks after he heard of Brown's impending hire, Shaw said he received a voicemail from Jerry Buss.

"Dr. Buss did call and leave a message saying that his son [Jimmy Buss] is in control now, and he has to let him make whatever decisions that he makes, that I was still one of his favorites, and that he was sure that I would be OK going forward," Shaw said.

The Brown hire and complete obliteration of references to Phil Jackson's wildly successful tenure indicated that Jim Buss had indeed taken over, but it can't get much more plain than this. Given the younger Buss' strong commitment to Andrew Bynum and a burgeoning struggle between the young center and Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles is going to get a lot more interesting once the season starts.