Letters: Heat wins, and it’s all about the Lakers

If he needed any further motivation to fix what’s wrong with the Lakers, hopefully Jim Buss watched the postgame awards after the Heat victory. It doesn’t get much worse for an L.A. sports fan than watching Bill Russell hand the MVP trophy to LeBron James.

Jeff Kandel

Los Angeles

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Despite my sincere respect and admiration for Dywane Wade, I could not bring myself to celebrate the Heat victory in the NBA Finals. After all, it was LeBron James who reminded me last year that regardless of his success or failure, I must still wake up the next day to my ordinary and inadequate life. Therefore, on behalf of all ordinary people who awakened Friday morning to continue their insignificant lives, I have but two words to say to LeBron James: Who cares?

Maury D. Benemie

Corona

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To all of the LeBron James haters: Don’t fret! After the Heat won this year’s NBA championship, you can try to put an asterisk next to the title because it came in a lockout-shortened season. Feel any better?

Gino Cirignano

Playa del Rey

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My friends and relatives and I are congratulating the Thunder for winning Games 3 and 4 in Miami. Unfortunately the three officials, either being star-struck or by order of higher authorities, decided to hand them over to the Heat.

Therefore it was senseless for us to watch the remaining games.

John Torocsik

Sherman Oaks

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I don’t see why everyone is so shocked that the Heat, putting three superstars together, won an NBA championship. Don’t you think that the Lakers could have done the same thing with, let’s say, putting Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor together? Or just think how many banners the Lakers would have put up if they teamed Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Gary Payton. Oh, they did? Not so easy, huh?

Richard Katz

Los Angeles

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Bill Plaschke is mostly right about the dismal state of the Lakers and Jim Buss’ delusions regarding it. However, Ramon Sessions isn’t the problem. Yes, he tanked in the playoffs, but he only joined the Lakers in midseason and still shot 48% while averaging 13 points a game overall. His obvious dedication, high energy and natural skills simply weren’t enough to overcome his playoff inexperience combined with the malfunction of the team he found around him.

Like the transmission in a broken-down car, the Lakers’ gears just don’t mesh anymore. The triad of Kobe, Pau and Andrew don’t add up to playoff success. Jim Buss needs to address this with a creative trade, now!

Thomas Bailey

Long Beach

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While it pains me to agree with Bill Plaschke, his contention that the Lakers cannot compete with the NBA elite and Andrew Bynum should be traded is dead on. Notice the NBA Final Four this year. Do any of the teams have big centers? No. Kendrick Perkins is a liability, Joel Anthony didn’t even play in the Finals, the Boston Celtics were playing aging Kevin Garnett in the middle, and the San Antonio Spurs were playing aging Tim Duncan.

The era of the center is over. Pau Gasol, while declining, can compete with Chris Bosh, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and Serge Ibaka. And if Bynum can bring a star to take the pressure off Kobe, the Lakers have a chance. In their current state, they’re second tier.

Frank Shapiro

Chatsworth

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Jim Buss will not be the first child to destroy a family business that he inherits, and there is a certain contemptuous boldness to his statements the Lakers do not need a major overhaul. He obviously developed his business acumen and sartorial savvy at the tables in Las Vegas, and is proud to admit it.

Kevin H. Park

Encino

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Reading T.J.’s interview with Jim Buss, we learn that 15 championships apparently provide immunity from Simers Syndrome.

Wes Wellman

Santa Monica

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Phil Jackson’s dismissive attitude toward the suggestion that he return to the bench to lead the Knicks is hilarious! It is abundantly clear that the Zen Master is not interested in coaching any team that actually needs coaching. With the Thunder’s demise in the Finals, Scott Brooks should watch his back — the ultimate poseur will soon be nipping at his heels!

Mark S. Roth

Los Angeles

Sonic boom

I have been a SuperSonics fan for decades, going back to the days of Spencer Haywood. Sam Farmer [June 17] beautifully articulated the anger and sadness Sonics fans have felt since the team was stolen from Seattle. The cabal of Howard Schultz, David Stern, Clay Bennett and Aubrey McClendon (whose schemes with Chesapeake Energy have recently shown his true colors) will never be forgiven in the Jet City for jettisoning one of the league’s premier franchises. And rightly so.

Mark Turner

Sherman Oaks

Open and shut

Now come on, Jeff Shain and Bill Dwyre, I thought if a player wins a tournament and stands up to the conditions, then he or she is considered the best of that tournament, not some pre-ordained, USGA nostalgic-historic golfer! Enough of the sour-grapes writing: Let nature take its course, (no pun intended), and just maybe Furyk’s time is up with the passing of time, and new, fresh talent on the cusp. We in California, San Francisco fog and all, are reluctant to embrace the writing hegemony and bias of the Midwest and areas east of there.

Chet Chebegia

Long Beach

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I loved that photo of Jim Furyk that shows him using his club like a sword. I can just imagine his wife someday holding it up for his grandkids to see and saying “Look! Here’s Grandpa playing golf!” Loved it!

George Milne

Carlsbad

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Tiger needs to start wearing black on Sundays. Isn’t that what they wear to funerals?

Jerry Li

Huntington Beach

Dodger blues

I suppose the best description of the Dodgers “horseshoe” performance in Oakland — two runs and eight hits in three games — is offensive indifference.

Joe Cohen

Mar Vista

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Now that Juan Uribe is off of the disabled list, I predict that the Dodgers will be in second place behind the San Francisco Giants at the All-Star break!

Marc Popkin

Los Angeles

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With apologies to Tommy Lasorda, I wonder if opposing pitchers send a limo to the airport to make sure the Dodgers hitters arrive safely to the ballpark. Those guys couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat!

Mike Gamboa

Buena Park

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With the Dodgers in a batting slump, they might consider hiring a new hitting coach. May I suggest Mickey Hatcher?

David Macaray

Rowland Heights

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If Matt Kemp can run onto the field and tackle Dee Gordon like a football player, why is he on the DL?

Sterling Buckingham

Canyon Country

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The Dodgers’ tradition of “mobbing” the player who gets a game-winning hit is an accident waiting to happen. It has already injured players on other teams who ended up on the DL or even lost for the season. These players are tough, but they don’t know their own strength, get overcome by emotions (high and low), and don’t know when enough is enough. Cooler heads on the coaching staff must curtail these celebrations before it’s too late.

James Kosnett

Los Angeles

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It’s painfully obvious that Clayton Kershaw’s performance is being adversely affected by his foot trouble. He, and the Dodgers management, should carefully examine the career of Dizzy Dean, Kershaw’s equivalent from the 1930s. From 1933 to 1936 when Dean was 23 to 27, he was virtually unbeatable. After he suffered a broken toe in the 1937 All-Star game after being hit by a line drive, he returned to pitching much too soon. He changed his throwing motion to avoid pain from the toe and became an ordinary pitcher in 1938. And by age 31, in 1941, his career was over.

James Bailey

Banning

Horse sense

The story in the Sunday Times, “Through Great Fire,” about Boyd Martin and his horse Neville Bardos was wonderful. As a horse owner for many years I know how it feels if you make a personal connection with a horse. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it raises the relationship to a whole different level.

If they do well at the Olympics, what a grand climax that will be. The story of their journey together has all the makings of another great horse movie: “Seabiscuit,” “Secretariat,” “War Horse” and next, perhaps, “Neville Bardos.”

Judy Reinsma

Santa Clarita

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I read Kevin Baxter’s article “Through Great Fire” today, the first article of the morning that I read. And the reason I’m writing you is to say how odd that fact is.

I’m a baseball fan. I’m a golf fan. I’m a basketball fan. But I bypassed all those articles to read about a horse.

And it’s not even a Kentucky Derby kind of horse. It’s a jumping horse.

The perfect picture on the front page of the Sports Section first caught my attention. Then your article gripped this reader to read and care about Boyd Martin and his horse, Neville Bardos. So much so that I will follow them in the equestrian event at the Olympics.

And I would never have followed this event had it not been for your words that really brought to life this touching real-life story. And thank you for choosing just the right pictures to bring this story to life.

Jo Carol Hunter

Newport Beach

Extra help

Common sense is often not a prerequisite to the establishment of rules. If the use of pine tar by a pitcher only allows a better grip of the ball, similar to a hitter’s grip of the bat, then why should it not be allowed? If the rule states that there can be no foreign substance placed on the ball, then why are all baseballs rubbed with a special formula of mud prior to a game? Not surprisingly, it does not make sense.

Wayne Muramatsu

Cerritos

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I had to do a double take when Brendan Donnelly said it’s OK to use pine tar because there are rules and then there is common sense. Hey, Brendan, that’s why they make rules, so everyone is on a level playing field. As Yogi Berra once said, “all pitchers are liars or crybabies.” In Brendan’s case, I think he is both.

Ken Blake

Brea

No contest

In addition to exposing the government’s efforts as a colossal waste of time and particularly expense, the implicit message sent by the Clemens jury is a reflection of what most everyone has thought for months... who cares?

Bud Chapman

Northridge

Strange days

For the first time, the Kings’ odds to win an NHL championship (10-1) are actually better than the Lakers’ chances (12-1) to win the NBA title in 2013. I wasn’t worried about the Mayans’ apocalypse prediction before, but this sure seems to be a sign of a Bizarro universe.

Olivia Mackinney

Upland

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