Letters: Lakers’ dysfunction never fails to amaze

Who knew it was D’Angelo Russell who coined the phrase, “I can keep a secret. It’s the people I tell who you can’t trust”?

Bill Miller

Huntington Beach

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After yet another embarrassing, lackadaisical loss, this time by 48 points to the Utah Jazz, the Lakers just don’t seem to care. So, why should we?

Now, they’re secretly taping each others’ conversations. I’d call that behavior juvenile, but I don’t want to insult any actual juveniles.

Volney E. Hyde

Sherman Oaks

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Bill Plaschke made a quick rush to judgment in his March 31 column on D’Angelo Russell and the Nick Young tape scandal, blaming Russell for his immaturity and lack of leadership. In fact, Russell took full responsibility for his actions, calling a news conference to apologize. Then he went out and led the Lakers to a stirring overtime victory over the Heat. That’s leadership.

Yes, Russell made a grievous mistake, but at 19, he still showed a lot more maturity than the 30-year-old Swaggy P, whose Laker days have been marked by distractions and mediocre play. For better or worse, Russell is the Lakers’ future. Malcontent veterans like Young need to be sent packing.

Graham Flashner

Los Angeles

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“Hard Knocks” + “Love & Hip Hop” + “The Player” + “Fear Factor” + “The Real World” + “Whodunnit” = The 2015-16 Lakers.

Jim Buss and family may not have found the winning formula for team chemistry, but they’ve inadvertently found the perfect combination as an intriguing reality show.

Mark J. Featherstone

Windsor Hills

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OK, so D’Angelo Russell totally messed up. What now, shun him, trade him? Is that how adults solve problems? No. These are young men, they need teachers and counselors who can guide them, not punishers who throw the baby out with the bath water. Work with him, Byron Scott, it’s your job. Anybody can coach a losing team. Let’s see if you can coach a lost player and turn him into a winner. If you can succeed in making this a teachable moment, that will constitute a winning season.

Michael Gotz

Culver City

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D’Angelo Russell’s social media dust-up with Nick Young is yet another example of how the NBA’s “one and done” is putting immature 19-year-olds in positions they aren’t equipped to handle, besides hurting the college game as well. This should be a wake-up call to the NBA to at least adopt the NFL’s policy regarding when one can enter the league.

Ken Blake

Brea

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We longtime Lakers fans have done our best to see light at the end of the tunnel. but, at this point, all I see is the tunnel getting longer.

Another high draft pick? I seriously doubt any teenager is going to get us out of this mess. A lot of cap space? What premier NBA pro is going to want to join this dysfunctional organization? We need regime change at the top to send the message to the leagues better players that the Lakers are serious about moving up. It is clear to me that it’s a lot easier to slide down into the abyss than it is to escape it. Jeanie Buss? Are you listening?

Peter Marquard

Northridge

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Mike Bresnahan wrote about how the Lakers don’t have the next Kobe, yet Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle combined for 19 points against the Jazz on eight-for-34 shooting.

Hey, I think they may have already found Kobe’s replacements.

Cal Teraoka

Costa Mesa

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Is it too late for Coach K to have a quick postgame chat with Kobe Bryant?

Axel W. Kyster

Bradbury

Where’s Vin?

I can only hope for lots of scoring during the first three innings of Dodger home games this year.

Mike Saunders

Agoura Hills

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The pain caused by our inability to see and hear the incomparable Vin Scully in his last broadcast year will be somewhat tempered by our not having to watch the Dodgers fail to make the playoffs.

Jack Wishard

Los Angeles

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If Vin Scully really is concerned that he will detract from the game he loves so much during his final year, why didn’t he simply announce his retirement at the end of the season instead at the beginning of it?

Ron Matejcek

Claremont

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Let’s give the Time Warner Cable-Dodgers TV contract a real estate analogy, with the Dodgers as the seller and TWC the buyer:

When someone offers you 30%-50% more than your home (or TV contract) is worth you (Dodgers) take the money because the buyer should know how much they can spend, and still make a profit when reselling the home (to cable and satellite providers). It’s not the seller’s job to say, “Hey wait a second, can you make a profit when you resell?”

And when the buyer (TWC) tries to pull a fast one on the new buyers (DirecTV, et al) by offering a one-year, adjustable-rate loan, well, let’s not forgot how one-year ARMs contributed to the housing collapse. TWC screwed up and is now trying the time-honored American tradition of deception and misdirection. But it seems TWC’s tactics are transparent. Everyone sees right through them.

Stuart Selter

Agoura Hills

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I am a lifelong Dodgers fan and I will continue to be. The only exception will be for this 2016 season. Wake me up when this season is over. Maybe Dodgers management down the road will go back to their trademark and field exceptional pitching. The current regime covets reclamation projects. Pity the Dodgers when Kershaw loses a game and has to wait five games for another chance to win.

Gil Moe

Palm Desert

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“Grandal was cleared to swing a bat without making contact Monday.”

No wonder his hitting has headed south. Swing the bat without making contact? He’ll be in playoff form in spring training!

Alex Fernandez

Lakewood

No rings

Let me save the Olympic basketball coaching staff a little time. Select the Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs and a few subs, maybe Russell Westbrook. Alternate the starting lineups in the first and second halves, and let the players do what they do best together.

John Broecker

Upland

The kicker

When U.S. men’s soccer Coach Juergen Klinsmann dropped Landon Donovan from the team before the last World Cup because Donovan didn’t fit Klinsmann’s “style of play,” there was an obvious reason: Donovan’s winning clashed with Klinsmann’s losing.

Ray McKown

Los Angeles

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