These Aren’t Your Father’s Lakers

So Vlade Divac retired. Hey, didn’t he retire two years ago? Wasn’t it a telling sign in the playoffs in 2004 that Sacramento benched him against Minnesota? Somehow that didn’t stop Mitch Kupchak from signing him to a $5.5-million contract.

But how about those 15 games he played last year? Remember the time he bearhugged Devean George on the bench, or the time he lit a cigarette in the locker room, or the time he sat on the bench in a suit. I have it all on my Vlade Divac 2004-05 highlight DVD that came with a carton of Marlboro Reds.

This is what you get for signing up one of the biggest rivals from the past six years. Would Jerry West even think of signing Danny Ainge or Jerry Sichting back in the day?

CRAIG KWASNIEWSKI

Santa Monica

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I think the fact that Jerry Buss is excited about having Kwame and Smush on his team, instead of Shaq, explains a lot about the mess the Lakers are in today.

GREY R. BROOKS

Prescott, Ariz.