Letters: Who’s the future of the Lakers?

This talk of whether the Lakers should re-sign Dwight Howard is a no-brainer. D12 is the superstar the Lakers need to build their future on.

Fans and the media have been too hard on a guy recovering from serious back surgery, forced to take a back seat to Kobe, trying to perform in the wrong system while being coached by the wrong coach and all the while trying to live up to Shaq-sized expectations.

We all better give him a break or he will take the first offer out of town and leave the Lakers and us fans holding the bag.

Gino Cirignano

Playa del Rey

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Advice to Dwight Howard: Move on. The Lakers are not the team for you, at least not now. You are a very good player but not a leader like Chris Paul to the Clippers. You’ve wasted a valuable year playing for the Lakers without being able to show your talent because you never got the ball as much you should have, nor the team support you needed.

It’s going to take a few years for the Lakers to “rebuild,” but as long as Kobe is there, it may take even longer. You should have realized it by now.

Gilbert Wong

Los Angeles

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The Lakers intend to build their future team around Dwight Howard? The only NBA championship dynasty to have been built around a defensive player was the Celtics of Bill Russell. Howard has zero offensive moves (except for the dunk), and he’s no Bill Russell on defense, either.

Richard Raffalow

Valley Glen

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was traded to the Lakers in 1975. He did not win a championship until Magic Johnson showed up in the 1979-80 season.

Shaq signed with the Lakers in 1996. He did not win a title until he and Kobe Bryant learned to play together, and with a fast and young team around them, until 2000. And yes, kudos to Phil Jackson for bringing them together.

Howard has been more than worth the efforts and price to have him, and the Lakers should be saying to him, we will build this team around you.

A little patience would help everyone in the Lakers’ organization and among the sportswriters at the L.A. Times.

Mitchell Freeman

Poway

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Does Kobe really think that the world cares what his opinion is during a basketball game? Does Mitt Romney tweet during Obama’s speeches? Could you imagine Phil Jackson tweeting during a contest on how Mike D’Antoni should coach or Jerry West tweeting on how Kobe should shoot better? The bottom line is that it’s all about Kobe . My opinion is that Kobe should be quiet, watch the game like any other fan, and if he has something to say to help the team, text it to one of the coaches. He should concentrate on his Achilles’ and stop being such a heel.

Richard Katz

Los Angeles

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Tweet, tweet, tweet. Like an annoying bird outside our windows, Kobe knows it all — do this, don’t do that and I’m sure I could do it better. Kobe needs to shut his beak and let those able to play figure it out. Just like the ball hog he is, he can’t be satisfied unless he’s running the show and taking all the shots — literally and tweeterly.

Eric Metzler

Idyllwild

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Well it seems as if the already epic head of Kobe Bean Bryant continues to grow. He’s not even in the building when, via Twitter, his universe-sized melon seeps into the public ear like a wet cloud and envelopes the whole damn program. As a 45-year Lakers fan, and not a direct member of Kobe World (management, coaches and teammates), I can freely say I’m sick of this egomaniac.

Dan Jensen

San Clemente

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Nice to see Mitch Kupchak say Mike D’Antoni will return next year. Who has the say whether Mitch returns next year?

Ben Eisner

Westlake Village

Fever pitch

I never thought I would live to see a Dodgers player supplant Darren Dreifort’s incapacity to remain healthy and, in turn, soak the organization dry by getting paid for nothing. Chad Billingsley is quickly becoming a worthy heir to the crown once worn by Dreifort.

John R. Grush

Mission Viejo

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Keeping in mind the old baseball adage that a club can never have enough pitching, I would like to know who the brain was behind the swap of Aaron Harang for an over-the-hill backup catcher. With the Dodgers starting rotation now featuring a fragile Ted Lilly and some guy named Fife, the baseball wisdom behind this deal is, at a minimum, subject to debate.

Bud Chapman

Northridge

More than a game

Thanks to Helene Elliott for the April 19 article regarding the little boy that beat cancer. Special kudos to Teemu Selanne for living up to his end of the deal he had made with the young man. The story should be sent to all locker rooms of all professional teams so the players can see how important they are to fans on and off the field.

Whether the Ducks when the Stanley Cup or not, they and Selanne are winners in my book.

Russell Morgan

Carson

No fooling

I know it’s April 25, but when I read that Dewayne Dedmon was declaring for the NBA draft, I thought someone was playing an April Fools’ joke on me. Really? Is he kidding me? He has the same chance of playing in the NBA as I do. He stunk at USC. Dedmon and whoever his agent is is what’s wrong with college basketball. Not only do most of these kids not belong in the NBA, most of them don’t belong in college and many more don’t have any idea they can’t play.

Geno Apicella

Placentia

Source code

It used to be “unnamed sources”, but now it’s the unwieldy “according to someone not authorized to speak because....” etc. Why not use a simply acronym: SNITCH (Someone Not Inclined To Communicate Honorably)?

Jack Wishard

Los Angeles

Sticky wicket

The next time you need to fill space in between your breathless NBA coverage, how about throwing hockey fans a bone? I do not need any more cricket articles unless you are sending T.J. Simers to New Delhi to cover the matches.

Andrew Buckley

Westchester

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