LOS ANGELES—While former NBA star Magic Johnson talked plenty of business during his remarks at the California/Nevada league’s annual meeting, he made plenty of references to his basketball life and his position as an owner in the Los Angles Dodgers, as well. Those include:
- * Johnson summed up the “magic” of his career by noting that just two years after playing in the Michigan high school championship, he was in the NCAA championship playing against “that blonde-haired guy,” Larry Bird. “And 35 years later that is still the highest-rated NCAA final in history.”
- * When asked what the plan is for the Dodgers moving forward, Johnson said, “We have a building block in (pitcher) Clayton Crenshaw We have a solid number two pitcher in Zack Greinke. We have (outfielder) Yasiel Puig to build around. So, #1, we don’t want to panic. We want to build a team that’s good for a long time, and we’re not far away. We have brought in a new (team) president. As owners we have done our part. We have put $250 million into the stadium. We’ve invested in the community. We have brought 13,000 inner city youth to the game; we feed them. They’ve never been to Dodger Stadium in their lives. But as far as the blueprint, that’s the president’s decision. As owners we know what we know, we know what we don’t know, and that’s how to make baseball decisions.”
- Why buy into and then sell his piece of the famous LA Lakers franchise? “I owned the Lakers for 10 years, and that went great, too, until Kobe (Bryant) got a little older,” said Johnson, eliciting a chuckle for his audience. “And then I said it’s time to sell. The market was very high. I cashed out with the Lakers and Starbucks at the same time.”
- * Johnson said one title he could never win was best free throw shooting average in the NBA, always trailing the top two, Larry Bird of the Celtics and Jack Sikma of the then Seattle Supersonics. Bird and Sikma typically shot north of 90%; Johnson shot in the mid-eighties. “I realized I was tired in the fourth quarter, and that was hurting me,” said Johnson. “So I started shooting my free throws after I was done practicing when I was tired.” The next season, said Johnson, Sikma was leading in free throw percentage when he decided to not play in the last game. Bird, playing on the East Coast, finished before the Lakers played. “I got our stats guy to tell me how many free throws I would have to take, and he said 21. And when I asked how many I would have to make, he said 21. And I went to the line 21 times in that last game, and I was 21 for 21.”
- The real secret to the 1992 Olympic Dream Team, said Johnson, wasn’t all the egos of the great players—all of whom are now in the Hall of Fame—it was the lack of ego. When Michael Jordan was asked to be the team captain, he turned it down, saying the honor should go to Johnson and Bird. And it did.
- Johnson concluded his remarks by collecting business cards and then giving away a variety of sports-themed prizes in a drawing. Among the items Johnson gave away: autographed throwback Lakers jerseys, tickets to a Dodgers’ game, and a pair of highly-prized Lakers’ courtside seats valued at $3,000 that are not far from “where Jack Nicholson sits.”