Blueprint for Jim Buss to Get Los Angeles Lakers Back on Track

Whenever Phil Jackson's in the news, the Buss family drama is sure to follow. 

Like clockwork, news of the Zen Master tending a new Garden in mid-town Manhattan brought with it renewed reports of infighting between Los Angeles Lakers owners/rival siblings Jim and Jeanie Buss (courtesy of Bleacher Report's Kevin Ding), along with plenty of (embarrassing) public proclamations on the subject from Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson. And yet, even with the outcry from folks in, around and outside of the Lakers organization to bring Phil back into the fold, the powers that be didn't make any last-ditch attempts to keep Jackson in southern California, per ESPN's Ramona Shelburne and Chris Broussard.

Now that Jackson's all but signed, sealed and delivered to the New York Knicks' front office, the task for the Lakers' existing brain trust is the same as it's always been: figure out how best to restore the sheen and shine to the Purple and Gold.

Ironically, Jim's job won't be all that different from Phil's. As the case will likely be with Jackson, Buss will have to juggle matters from all angles, basketball and otherwise, to undo the damage wrought by a disastrous stretch and move the franchise forward with a unified front, just as the late Dr. Jerry Buss would've wanted.

With Jackson's to-do list already tackled, let's look at what lies ahead for Buss as he attempts to put his decade of experience as his father's understudy and Mitch Kupchak's cooperative to good use.

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