Letters: Bruins think too highly of themselves

Shabazz Muhammad plays 32 minutes and goes four for 19 with a grand total of three rebounds and zero assists against a Washington State team that has won three conference games all season after Coach Ben Howland says Shabazz is “one and done” at UCLA? As a lottery pick?

I’m not sure which of them is more delusional at this point.

Jim B. Parsons

Canyon Lake

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Ben Howland is right. He did not adequately prepare the Bruins for the humiliating loss to last-place Washington State. In his words: “That’s my responsibility.”

All great coaches are able to get relatively consistent efforts from their players. Howland can’t, because he’s not a great coach.

Mark S. Greenfield

Los Angeles

Sour Trout

All Angels fans, keep one word in mind when our young superstar Mike Trout walks away as a free agent — karma. How could Arte Moreno spend all that money on all those free agents over the past few years and give the rookie of the year and almost MVP a $50,000 pay increase?

Jon Stroud

Seal Beach

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After Derek Jeter won the rookie of the year, the Yankees tripled his salary the next year. Subsequently, Jeter became the face of the Yankees for his entire career.

Mike Trout wins the rookie of the year and nearly wins the MVP, and the Angels give him a 4% pay raise! After this incredible snub, it won’t surprise me if Trout also becomes the face of the Yankees for his entire career.

David Waldowski

Alta Loma

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Many be will critical of the Angels for renewing Mike Trout’s contact with such a small increase, but they simply do not understand how the Angels do business. The Angels rarely toss a couple million dollars to home-grown talent with their best days in Anaheim ahead of them. They generally throw so many, many more millions to players whose best days are behind them somewhere else.

Ron Reeve

Glendora

No stopping them

At the beginning of the season, the Lakers and the fans panicked about the offense, switched from a pretty defensive coach, to a non-defensive-at-all coach. Versus Oklahoma City, the Lakers just gave up 71 points in a half.

This team has talent but players do not like one another, nor play well together. God could not coach these guys. Of course, we will never know. He decided to stay in Montana.

Marcelo Barreiro

Manhattan Beach

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As the joyous Lakers revel in their comeback win against the dregs of the NBA just hours after a deficiency-exposing dismantling by NBA royalty, this much is obvious:

They are old and slow.

Never should Metta World Peace be allowed to put the ball on the floor or drive to the basket or lead a fastbreak. Never.

Despite Dwight Howard’s gaudy numbers, he wasn’t even an afterthought for much of the game on offense.

This season will produce the most underachieving and biggest waste of talent ever assembled by one team in the history of sports.

Otherwise, all is good in Lakerland!

Allan Kandel

Los Angeles

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Interesting article by Bill Plaschke [March 8] on the big decision Dr. Buss faced in 2004 — Kobe or Shaq? Saying Kobe is a “complex individual” — that’s being nice. I find it funny that his ability to lead this underachieving team has seemingly validated the decision to anoint Kobe the right choice from 2004. One thing remains consistent with Kobe — his personality is not conducive to having good team chemistry, and there is a long list of former teammates who would sign below that statement, including Shaq.

Chris Gagliano

Rancho Palos Verdes

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It’s imperative that the Lakers re-sign Dwight Howard. I don’t care how he plays. We need his quotes.

Richard Raffalow

Valley Glen

Honoring Buss

I am not anti-sports or anti-Jerry Buss. I believe Mr. Buss was a good sports team owner. Nevertheless, your orgy of publicity about him since his death loses all perspective. You ran at least four stories about him over a period of days when he died, and now an entire special section?

Mr. Buss did not contribute to world peace, he did not invent life-saving medicine, he was not an important figure on the world stage. No, he was a wealthy owner of an entertainment franchise that made him a fortune and guaranteed jobs for his family.

You would think that an American Winston Churchill just died.

Mike Miller

Los Angeles

That hurts

I am disgusted by the small punishment given by the NBA to Serge Ibaka for hitting Blake Griffin below the waist Sunday.

I was watching the game with my 10-year-old son, who is very interested in what “playing fair” means. It was hard for me to explain to him why Ibaka was not thrown out of the game when he’s seen players expelled for much less. I explained to him that the league would review the tape of the infraction and would suspend him for one or more games.

What do I say to him now?

Julio Moline

Glendale

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David Stern to his assistant after reviewing Serge Ibaka’s below-the-belt punch to Blake Griffin: “Suspend him for the next game.”

Assistant: “But OKC is playing the Lakers.”

Stern: “Never mind.”

Dave Moore

Santa Ana

Over at USC ...

Many have been watching the turnaround of the USC basketball team under interim Coach Bob Cantu, and wondering if he might be the coach the Trojans need to lead them in the future.

After starting walk-on senior Tyler Sugiyama on Senior Day, there really shouldn’t be any more wondering. Cantu’s decision showed that he understands both the need for excellence on the court and the need to honor those that labor so hard with so little recognition. That is the type of coach/teacher/person that I would entrust my son with, with no hesitation.

Pat Haden, hope you are watching.

Barry Levy

Hawthorne

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Lane Kiffin promised that all aspects of the program would be evaluated. But everyone except Kiffin can see that he is a terrible play-caller. The science of offensive coordinating and play selection has evolved, but USC has fallen way behind. Kiffin could become a very good head coach, but remember the expression: “Jack of all trades, master of none.”

Gerard Lollie

Altadena

Going dental

Rory Mcllroy might want to question the term “wisdom” tooth.

Loren Coleman

West Hollywood

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