Laker Bandwagon Gets Less Crowded

The good news is that the Lakers will not be humiliated by the Utah Jazz again in the Western Conference finals. The bad news is that they will not reach the finals.

I don’t know who is in charge, the management or the owners, but whoever is should defer to the other. They have systematically disemboweled a team that arguably was destined for an NBA championship.

First, they get rid of an all-star point guard because he wasn’t getting along with the coach, and then fire the coach the next season. Next, they trade the best backup center in the NBA for a second-rate power forward, and a potential hall-of-famer for a potential outside shooter who can’t or won’t play defense.

On top of that, they hire a coach whose substitution pattern is more mysterious than that of the coach he replaced.

But let’s face it. It would be an uphill battle anyway. As great as Shaq is and as hard as he plays, he has a fatal weakness--free throws. In the last five minutes every pass into Shaq is a probable turnover.

BROOKS W. WILSON, Fallbrook

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Numbers aren’t everything, but let’s check out the 10-game stats on the Laker-Hornet trade:

Jones/Campbell: 31 points, 13.5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3.5 steals, 2.8 blocks.

Rice/Reid: 20.1 points, 7 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1 steal, 0.3 blocks.

Hmmm. Maybe Jerry West isn’t a genius after all. And maybe the Rodman watch is missing the real story.

JOSEPH URLA, Los Angeles

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Man, I don’t know what you pay Mark Heisler, but I do know he has the easiest job in the world! Finding enough negative things to write about the NBA and its players is like shooting ducks in a barrel.

ROBERT HERR, Burbank