Jim Buss gave a great interview on AM 570 the other day. His message: I’m as frustrated as you guys, but hang tight until after the Lottery is done on May 22.

“May 22 is a big date. A lot of teams will make trades after that date,” he said. “ Before that, to analyze what the Lakers are doing is premature … after that, yes, we should be making some decisions.

“You just have to wait for certian dates to come. I’m impatient. I don’t know what to do with myself up until the times that teams are willing to make deals, but teams aren’t willing to make deals until they find out where they are going to draft.”

Buss also tried to clear up a few issues.

1. His relationship with Jerry West and whether his increasing power within the organization precipitated West’s departure: “There’s no way we had a problem of my authority increasing. … it had nothing to do it. …I can’t tell you how comfortable Jerry and I were working together.” He later added that, “If Jerry decides he wants to come back, I’m sure my father, myself and Mitch (Kupchak) would have to consider that.”

2. Andrew Bynum’s status on the protected list: “I don’t know where the idea that Bynum was protected by me came from. When you’re talking about adding another all-star, another MVP of the league and I’m going protect bynum for that, there’s no way. …We’ll use an example of kevin garnett. If that’s a deal breaker (for Minnesota), then we did a great job of drafting him at 10, didn’t we.”