From L.A., James gets a rude welcome to Miami

The Miami Heat is an excellent choice for LeBron James. It gives LeBron a great chance to win the NBA championship ... just as soon as Kobe retires.

PJ Gendell

Beverly Hills

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It’s a good thing LeBron doesn’t play football; they would never be able to find a helmet big enough to squeeze his head into.

Shel Willens

Los Angeles

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LeBron James now has a chance to win a championship playing with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh -- a feat that no more than 70% of the players in the NBA could accomplish.

Bennett Tramer

Santa Monica (via Cleveland)

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All along, I pictured Kobe sitting at home, wearing his latest championship ring, eating popcorn, laughing at LeBron’s media circus. Come next June, Kobe will be holding six fingers in the air, and LeBron will be sitting courtside, eating popcorn, announcing his new reality show: “How to be ridiculously famous without winning anything.”

Craig P. Fagan

San Diego

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If LeBron were an executive at a company leaving to another company, he’d be congratulated on the move. He signed a contract seven years ago, and in that time he single-handedly increased Cavaliers’ attendance, sales, revenue, profit, and market visibility. He fulfilled the terms of his contract as agreed to, and now he has left to go to another “company” to do the same thing.

I’m sorry, but I fail to see anything wrong with what he has done. The NBA is a business like any other and it’s time people realize that.

Hector Reyes

Burbank

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Do you think LeBron James said to Dan Gilbert, “I just want to be friends”?

Brad Stern

Santa Monica

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Losers again

I think it’s so cute that the Clippers made a pitch for LeBron James. I bet Neil Olshey and Andy Roeser were really bummed when they turned on his announcement special and didn’t see a big clear bowl with ping-pong balls spinning around.

Larry Yells

Hermosa Beach

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Astute observation by new Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro, who said, “Have to do a better job defensively and at the offensive end.”

In other words, the Clippers’ entire game.

Wayne Muramatsu

Cerritos

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It seems our NBA teams like to hire ex-Chicago Bulls coaches. The Lakers hire Phil Jackson, the Clippers hire Vinny Del Negro. That is all you need to know about the two franchises.

Russell Hosaka

Torrance

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Not all stars

So here we have the only All-Star game among the major sports that actually works because it features individual player matchups at the highest level, and Major League Baseball does everything it can to blow it up. Bill Plaschke’s July 7 column was a grand slam of the way the game has become Bud Selig’s folly, with its ridiculous and convoluted selection process.

It’s bad enough that the fans (yeah, I know ... it’s their game) have no conscience in turning the game into a popularity contest and Internet voting exercise, but now we have these multiple voting factions and rules that have done nothing but reduce it to a true exhibition game that -- get this -- determines which league is awarded home-field advantage in the sport’s premier event, the World Series. This, when clearly the game’s best players are not even playing.

Elliot Powers

Arcadia

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Plaschke is so right that Stephen Strasburg belongs in the All-Star game. After all, the rookie has pitched in six games, is 2-2 with a 2.45 ERA.

But why bother with a boring All-Star game? Why even go through a long career, and why should the owner pay him all that money? Just put Strasburg in the Hall of Fame right now and move on.

Charles Sergis

Huntington Beach

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For Mike’s sake

It’s a foregone conclusion that Mike Garrett is a lame-duck athletic director, right? His latest accusations against Florida, which he wrongly alleged illegally attempted to recruit Dillon Baxter, make me wonder what more he has to do. I’ve lost track, but this seems to be something like Strike 9 against Garrett.

Chris Gagliano

Redondo Beach

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Seeing red

The Angels remind me of a team that, while still competitive, is on the downslide, two years removed from winning a World Series.

If only they had.

Ron Reeve

Glendora

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Royal pains

If Ilya Kovalchuk played soccer instead of hockey, AEG would have signed him on the first day of free agency. Thanks for the ongoing commitment to the Kings, Mr. Anschutz.

Jocelyn McManus

Los Angeles

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When it comes to improving the Kings, AEG = Always Excuses Given.

Drew Janner

Beverly Hills