The Closing of a Legacy - Chapter One

[Pistol]

What's up guys! I finished the prologue to give you guys something to get excited about. I'll finish up these other posts later. Here is a video to attempt to get you all pumped up and excited about this association. I have some nice plans for this and hope to achieve success with a rebuilt Lakers team. Enjoy.

- Agent420
Stay Positive

Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One

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phpBB [video]

[Pistol]

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[Pistol]

Prologue

It’s playoff basketball in the NBA. 1st Round of the playoffs are on the television. Eric Thorne stares at the screen. Thorne is sitting in his office on the UCLA campus. He is currently the head scout for the UCLA basketball team. During this season, his head coach was fired and UCLA was knocked out of the 1st round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament after getting upset by the eleventh seeded Minnesota Gofers. Thorne figured he would be let go soon as well, Steve Alford would want a new staff tom come in with him.

Eric Thorne came in as a scout when Ben Howland was hired by UCLA ten long years ago. He had recruited Jrue Holiday, Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, Jordan Farmar, Darren Collison, Trevor Ariza, Arron Afflalo, Russel Westbrook, and Kevin Love. He had a special eye for talent, but is had come pretty easy to bring good players to UCLA. It was such a storied program. Within recent years though, the program started to digress and was failing miserably in the post season. Many thought this was because Howland. Thorne knew that UCLA was just starting to lose it’s swagger. People didn’t look at UCLA like the used to when the great Coach Wooden was there.

Thorne looked on as the Los Angeles Lakers were losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder. They were already down 3-0 in the series and this was looking as if it would be it. The Lakers had battled at the end of the season to barely pull out being the eight seed. The lost Dwight Howard during the month of April and still manage to sneak in to the playoffs one game over the Utah Jazz. Dwight Howard had come back for the final game of this series and even his monster game on the glass wasn’t helping the Lakers.

Thorne has been a life long Lakers fan. It has been a long life at that. Thorne is now 48 years of age. Thorne had settled with being at UCLA because Southern California was home for him. It’s where he grew up. He loves it here. He had wanted to enter the NBA as a scout, but didn’t want to have to go to some team across the country. Now he had built a nice reputation as a recruiter for the UCLA Bruins. Many people knew of his skills to assess players. Thorne put down his cup of whiskey and shut the television off. The Lakers were done. How pitiful to get swept with a team that has so much star power.

Thorne go up and left his office. He was walking to his car when his phone rang. He looked down and saw it was the athletic director at UCLA calling. He was being fired. Thorne pushed the ignore button. He didn’t feel like any more bad news right now. Once in the car, Thorne turned the radio on to listen to the Lakers post game report. Then his phone rang again. Thorne looked down at his phone to see an unknown number. Thorne decided that UCLA must have really been trying to get a hold of him. Might as well pick up the phone. “Hello?” Thorne said in to the phone.

“Is this Eric Thorne?”

“Yes. Who is this and how did you get my number?”

“Coach Howland passed it along to us. I’m with the Los Angeles Lakers. I work for the Buss family; my name is David Eaton. Sorry to call you so late, but the Buss family is wondering if you are available for an interview?”

“Oh wow, I mean… I have always wanted to be a scout in the NBA. What an honor.”

“Oh sorry Mr. Thorne, we are not calling about you becoming a scout for us.”

“Oh no? Then why did you call?”

“Mitch Kupchak has been fired. The Buss family is looking at you as a candidate to be his replacement as the Los Angeles Lakers General Manager.”

[dare]

Don't like it that Mitch got fired but hey it adds a lot more to the story. Try to give Kobe his 6th ring or possibly more

[Fresh8]

i want to see what you can do with my team. Good luck man.

[SuperHueyNewton]

Don't really like to follow Laker stories, but I'll watch this one.

[Pistol]

I actually hate the Lakers with a passion. I was a Kings fan growing up, so I had to watch them beat our best teams year in and year out. Kobe has grown on me and the challenge of getting him more rings before he retires is very enticing. Challenging team to work with, especially with the cap issues. Should be fun.

Don't like it that Mitch got fired but hey it adds a lot more to the story. Try to give Kobe his 6th ring or possibly more

Yea, I really wanted to be the GM of the Lakers, so unfortunately I had to fire Mitch. He has been an awesome GM in real life, so I'll have to add some substance to why he was fired haha. Good to see you around though Dare.

i want to see what you can do with my team. Good luck man.

What's going on Sit! I see your Pistons story is already going nicely. I know I was supposed to come back a couple months ago, but some things happened upon my arrival back in to America. Had to get some things straightened out in my personal life after my deployment, but back now and ready to get this story rolling.

Don't really like to follow Laker stories, but I'll watch this one.

Yea, I'm not a big Laker guy either, like I said. I'll try to keep this one interesting though. I figured I should do a Laker story before Kobe decides it's time to retire and I never get a chance to do a story with him.

[hova-]

Good luck with the Lakers. On paper, best team in the league.

[Fresh8]

Hey man. Glad to hear life is all sorted for you. I know how it is. My Pistons stalled for 2 or 3 months because of real life!

[Durant35]

I'll be watching this. Taking the throne back!

[Pistol]

Good luck with the Lakers. On paper, best team in the league.

Thanks man. Spoiler Alert; that piece of paper you are talking about is going to have some big changes made to it.

Hey man. Glad to hear life is all sorted for you. I know how it is. My Pistons stalled for 2 or 3 months because of real life!

Thanks brother. All is well now, that's all that really matters.

I'll be watching this. Taking the throne back!

Let's hope Kobe can take it back!

[Pistol]

Interaction Points

For those of you interested in getting some points, I have an easy little game for you to start this association off. So I started this Association in real time, which was a couple days ago. The Lakers vying for a spot in the playoffs against the Jazz and Mavericks. I simulated the remainder of the season. So Here are the questions you have a chance to answer.

1) Did the Lakers make the playoffs? (Worth 1pt)
2) What seed were the Lakers in the Western Conference; 1 through 15 (Worth 3pts)

[Andrew_Wiggins]

Did the Lakers make the playoffs? Yes.

What seed? 7

[Mark.]

1) No
2) 9

[Durant35]

No, 10.

[hova-]

No/9

[Fresh8]

Yes, 8

[dare]

Yes, 6

[SuperHueyNewton]

1) Did the Lakers make the playoffs? Yes
2) What seed were the Lakers in the Western Conference; 3

[Thyton]

Yes, 8.

[Woogie98]

No/9

[Woogie98]

No/9

[Valor]

Just noticed this, welcome back to this section of the forums man,looking forward to see what you do with this Laker bunch

As for the points...
No, 8th spot

[Pistol]

Chapter 1

I
Kobe Bryant looked up at the scoreboard. The score was 97-96 with only 29 seconds left. The number one seeded San Antonio Spurs were beating the Los Angeles Lakers in game seven of the first round of the playoffs. The Lakers were lucky to squeeze in to the playoffs one game ahead of the Jazz. Bryant was exhausted. The Lakers had lost Antawn Jamison in game five of the series and everyone had to play extra minutes because of it. Everyone was exhausted from this series, including the Spurs. The Spurs were out to a 3-0 lead in the series, but the Lakers battled back. Bryant knew it was possible to win this series.

Pau Gasol inbounded the ball to Bryant. Bryant dribbled the ball at the top of the key and looked Manu Ginobli in the eyes. Ginobli always had this intensity in his eyes. Bryant hated Ginobli’s suffocating defense. Manu’s hands were always in his face. It annoyed Bryant. Now Bryant stared at Ginobli’s face. Ginobli had sweat pouring down his face. His hair sucked to his scalp because of the wetness. He breathed heavy and his mouth hung open. He was playing heavy on his own left foot, expecting Bryant to crossover and go to the left. Bryant the figured he would take Ginobli to the left anyways, giving Ginobli the feeling of having the upper hand. It would make him aggressive. The clock ticked down to 9 seconds, giving Kobe four seconds to shoot. He hesitated to the right and spun back to the left and drove towards the lane, Ginobli only a half a step behind Bryant. Once Bryant reached the elbow he stepped back hard and Ginobli flew right past him. Bryant rose up and sank the shot as the buzzer went off for the shot clock. The Lakers took the lead 98-97.

Bryant didn’t have time to celebrate. Five seconds were left on the clock and the Spurs had no time outs. They inbounded quickly to Tony Parker and he rushed up the court. Four Seconds. He passed up to Ginobli at the three point arc, Metta World Peace went or the aggressive interception but miss judged it. 2 seconds. Ginobli pump fakes brining Nash off his feet and Ginobli drives to the basket. One Second. Ginobli rises up and throws up a floater. The Spurs fans go crazy. Ginobli throws his hands in the air as Tim Duncan picks him up. Ginobli sank the game winning shot. Bryant buried his face in his jersey. What a disaster of a season.

II
Eric Thorne sat in a leather seat in the waiting room. He was to meet the Buss family today and interview for the Lakers General Manager Job. Eric was an older man who spent a lot of time at the helm of the UCLA Bruins, but he couldn’t help but be nervous. His hands had become somewhat clammy. If he didn’t get the job, it would be life like normal, but he couldn’t help but be excited. The Lakers are arguably the most storied franchise in the NBA. Eric grew up a Lakers fan and now he was interviewing to control the teams every move. The door opened and the young secretary led Eric in to the conference room. Thorne turned the corner and the secretary shut the door behind him. When Eric looked at the opposite end of the conference room table he was shocked. The Buss family did not sit at the other side.

Mitch Kupchak sat at the other end of the table. Mitch stood up, “Sit down Mr. Thorne. May I call you Eric?”

Eric was a confused, Mitch was supposed to be fired. He tilted his head when he spoke back to Mitch, “Uhm, sure.”

Mitch laughed and sat down with Eric. Mitch appeared to sense the confusion from Eric and spoke up, “You probably are wondering why I am here. So I wasn’t fired. You were told that to see if you would speak to the press about it. The Buss family and I like to make sure people that we hire in to the organization know how to keep information close hold.”

Eric felt like he was on a realty show.

Mitch continued to speak, “The news of my firing didn’t get out, so you passed that test. We have heard great things about the work you did at UCLA. Everyone talks about your amazing eye for talent and your skills in getting players to come play at your program.”

Eric smiled, “It’s not hard to talk a player in to playing at UCLA. The tradition runs deep there. Coach Wooden is more responsible for that than I am.”

Mitch nodded his head in agreement, “A humble man as well. As you are aware, the great Dr. Buss passed away this year. The rest of the Buss family maintains ownership of this organization, but their skills in managing this organization will never match that of Dr. Buss’s skills. Due to this they have appointed me as president of basketball operations as well as some additional duties having to do with finances.”

Eric realized this meant one thing…

Mitch slid a piece of paper to Eric, “That means the General Manager job is open and we would like you to fill this position… I would like you to fill this position. Here is your contract.”

Eric looked over it. The contract was for three years at $1,500,000 a year. He would be in charge of personnel moves for the Lakers, with supervision from Mitch Kupchak. That was kind of a catchall clause in order to keep Kupchak the man in Los Angeles. Eric was used to not being the head honcho. He had to answer to a head coach at UCLA and was fine with answering to Mitch. He looked up and smiled at Mitch. Without hesitation he signed the paper. Mitch stood up and extended his hand to Eric, “Welcome to the Los Angeles Lakers.”

[SuperHueyNewton]

What a twist... I would've been surprised to see Mitch fired anyway. Pretty cool way of clarifying his appearance.