“One Man’s Opinion” by Gordon Curvey

The other day the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers Dr. Jerry Buss passed away after a battle with cancer. He was 8o years old at the time of his death.

As a basketball junky I have always followed three teams in the NBA. Our Seattle Sonics (hopefully I will be able to do this again), the Boston Celtics and the L.A. Lakers. I can never forget “Showtime” with “Big Game” James Worthy, Magic Johnson and the Big Fella Abdul Jabbar.

Dr. Buss brought in Magic in 1979 and it led to 5 NBA titles in the 80’s. It was exciting to watch a Laker game on TV and of course it was exciting to be at a Lakers game. Dr. Buss made the Lakers game a place to be for a lot of Hollywood stars.

It was exciting on the court and off. Other teams followed what Dr. Buss started in Los Angeles with the Laker Girls, turning down the lights at the start of the game to introduce the teams and more. And Jerry Buss made sure the Lakers always had a dominating big man in the middle. Kareem, Shaq and now maybe Dwight Howard.

Of course for 17 years he has had on the Lakers one of greatest players of all time Kobe Bryant. Bryant and Shaq brought Dr. Buss three NBA titles. And Bryant went on to win two more NBA titles with Pau Gasol. Dr. Buss has 10 NBA titles as a owner. This is just great. Of course he is one of the greatest owners of a pro team ever.

It will be very very interesting to see what happens to the Los Angeles Laker now that Dr. Buss is gone. Will they continue to win NBA titles or will big Dwight Howard stay with the Lakers after this season.

Dr. Buss also loved the ladies and truth be told he loved African American ladies and ladies of color. This is a fact that the media is not bringing out. But I am!!RIP Dr. Jerry Buss and thank you for everything you did for NBA basketball and for the Los Angeles Lakers.