Comments Go All Directions When Talking About West

There isn’t a Laker fan around who doesn’t revere the remarkable abilities of Jerry West as a player-legend and as general manager-executive VP. You’d be hard-pressed to find an equal in any sport.

However, The Times does a great disservice to the Laker organization when it implies that West would leave the key players high and dry. Do you think “Mr. Clutch” would end his career by leaving a legacy of disarray to the very organization toward which he has devoted his life?

If it’s true that West will soon be ending his career with the Lakers, I am confident that his plans for succession are just as amazing as all his other efforts.

GARY BART, Los Angeles

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Super egotist, know-it-all Bill Plaschke is at it again. Jerry West stated as clearly as possible that he and Jerry Buss have a wonderful relationship. Not one to leave a good thing alone, Troublemaker Bill cites “sources” and decrees from on high that Buss is pressuring West about financial restraints.

Plaschke conjures up things to feed his need for attention and to create friction and strife. He really ought to try to see things as they really are, not invent problems, trying to impress readers with his “insight” and imagination.

MITCHELL M. GOLD, Los Angeles

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I can’t figure this Jerry West situation out. What is the problem here?

The guy is making a ton of money and his job is still a mystery to me. He watches basketball games and from time to time rings up the other Jerry to ask for huge sums of money to sign vastly overrated players.

In between these arduous chores, he plays golf, golf, golf. I’m supposed to feel sorry for this guy?

JACK SPIEGELMAN, Los Angeles

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I am not a fan of the Lakers or the Clippers, but some things are obvious. Jerry West and Elgin Baylor were great basketball players. Jerry West and Elgin Baylor are fine gentlemen. Jerry West is a great general manager. Elgin Baylor is . . . a nice guy.

Randy Harvey almost had the courage to suggest replacing Mr. Baylor, but then his Fuzzy Zoeller mentality must have kicked in. Mr. West has continued to build very good if not great teams while Mr. Baylor, with the benefit of top draft choices, continues to turn out losers. The latter would be better as the VP of PR while the former should be hired to build the Clippers after his retirement from the Lakers.

D.F. REEVES, Rancho Palos Verdes

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Bill Plaschke has been telling us what a great coach Bill Fitch is. Nonsense!

He lost more games than any coach in NBA history. While at Boston, he had three of the NBA’s top 50 players of all time starting for him and won only one championship. In Houston, he had Olajuwon, Sampson, Robert Reid and never won.

Bill Fitch was the designated coach for terrible teams. He did a mediocre job. Please don’t insult our intelligence by putting him in the Red Auerbach, Jack Ramsay, Lenny Wilkens class.

RICK KARL, Beverly Hills

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Bill Fitch’s last winning season was 10 years ago with New Jersey. He should have been fired years ago. The real question is why the Clipper “brain trust” passed over Mike Fratello and Del Harris to hire him in the first place. What next, Dick Motta?

ALVIN S. MICHAELSON, Los Angeles

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May I interrupt the lovefest between Times sportswriters and poor old Bill Fitch to inject a bit of reality? Having watched the Clippers for over a decade, I know a thing or two about bad coaching. Bill Fitch believed Pooh Richardson was a competent point guard in the NBA. That’s bad coaching. That’s very bad coaching.

ANDREW RUBIN, Santa Monica

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Let’s see if we can sum up the Clippers. Four years ago, they had a chance to hire Lenny Wilkens, the winningest coach in NBA history. Instead they got the losingest coach in NBA history.

DAVID TALLEY, Los Angeles

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It only seems logical that an efficient and effective use of the new Staples Center by three pro teams would be criticized (citing traffic jams) by one of our own city council members, Nate Holden.

Basketball in the afternoon, hockey in the evening.

The only traffic jam I see is in the councilman’s head.

BOB ARRANAGA JR., Pasadena