Letters to Sports: Changes with Lakers can’t come soon enough
I find that the current state of the Lakers consistent with their 2021 postseason acquisitions. Great teams have a desired mix of promising new draft picks along with veterans still in the primes of their careers. There is no doubt that the play of LeBron James at this age is amazing to watch. But the questionable acquisitions of former All-Stars that have lost their sparkle and have had a season of multiple injuries only add to the fated mix. It is time to move on.
Alan Karlin
Walnut
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It pains me to say it, but I really enjoyed Plaschke’s column about the Lakers.
What is really surprising is that as I was reading the line about “Cold as Ice” playing in Sacramento, the song was playing on my Sirius XM.
If that isn’t the season in summary, I don’t know what is.
John Schiermeier
Valencia
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Thanks so much for the laugh-out-loud headline on Thursday: “Pelinka, Rambis face difficult rebuilding”.
What’s difficult about resigning? The letter? If you need some guidance, there are thousands of Laker fans willing to help.
Cy Bolton
Rialto
Once upon a time the Lakers’ Russell Westbrook bet was a sign of hope. Then the reality of an aging roster, and injuries to LeBron James and Anthony Davis, set in.
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It seems like everyone is analyzing what went wrong with the Lakers this year, but the truth is that the media and fans overrated this team from the outset. The trades for Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook decimated team depth, leaving the Lakers able to sign only players who were going to be inconsistent at best and terrible at worst. It’s a mystery why anyone expected any different result this year.
Richard Raffalow
Valley Glen
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The 2021-22 Lakers made NBA history as the only team with five Hall of Fame players to miss the playoffs. With all due respect to Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak and other previously believed untouchable records, I dare say this ignominious Lakers season will never be equaled!
Mark Roth
Los Angeles
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Before we hear talk of firing Vogel (a good coach) or trading Westbrook (a sure Hall of Famer), let’s remember who got us into this mess: Pelinka and the Rambis duo. First step should have ownership replacing all of them with savvy, experienced NBA management professionals with the guts to say no to LeBron and Rich Paul.
Jack Wishard
Los Angeles
With LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook sidelined, the Lakers snap an eight-game losing streak by defeating the short-handed Thunder.
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As this amazingly atrocious Lakers season comes to an end, I ask two basic questions: When does Vogel get the boot? (can’t fire the players) … and, does Jerry West really want his lifetime season tickets back?
Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates
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North Carolina’s Armando Bacot just gave LeBron James a lesson on how to play through sprained-ankle pain for your team!
Judy Thomsen
Glendora
Dodgers blues
Watching the Dodgers on opening day, I was thinking of how they have paid over $40 million to Trevor Bauer not to pitch. Nor are they doing anything to expedite the disposition of his case. I was about to feel bad for management until I realized how proud Andrew Friedman felt about having made a last-minute secret plunge to sign him away from New York last year. Not to mention the increases in parking and concession fees that made me realize we are the ones paying off this mega-mistake.
Bob Goldstone
Corona Del Mar
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I thought one of the jobs of a manager was to put their players in the best position to excel and win. But seems to me that Dave Roberts “guarantee” of a World Series title this year has just quadrupled the pressure on his players. Games in September and the playoffs are magnified enough as it is, but can you imagine what the clubhouse will be like if they are struggling or behind in a playoff series? Because you know every team will remind them of that comment one way or another.
Bruce Fischer
Huntington Beach
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Regarding Bill Plaschke’s recent pronouncements about the Dodgers, when is the parade?
Rhys Thomas
Valley Glen
Favored to win a second World Series championship in three years, the Dodgers checked all the boxes in a 5-3 victory at Colorado to begin the season.
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Surely Cody Bellinger has had enough batting practice in his life that he can hit a ball — at least for a single — in his sleep, as long as he sees it.
Forget his stance, his “firing position,” his “flexion” or his “levers”: Can he SEE the ball?
Seriously, has anyone checked his eyesight lately?
Sarah Tamor
Santa Monica
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I’d like to cast a vote for Trea Turner as leadoff hitter. I’m thinking that with his speed and hitting .328 last year, he would be the best choice. Mookie Betts is no slouch, but as the number two hitter in front of Freddie Freeman, he should get a lot of good pitches to hit.
Mike Schaller
Temple City
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The Dodgers aren’t the only game in town. You should give the Angels equal coverage. If you do a story on the Dodgers, you should do one on the Angels. I’m more interested in the Angels’ rotation, which is probably more questionable than the Dodgers.
Murray Zichlinsky
Long Beach
Major League Baseball is putting balls into humidors to “standardize” them, but does it really work? Many pitchers have doubts about the procedure.
Clippers comparison
Interesting how the Clippers can make the play-in tournament as a competitive team while their two superstars sat out almost the entire season. Yet, the Lakers can’t do the same when their three superstars were rotating in and out all year long.
David Waldowski
Laguna Woods
The Clippers will see a familiar face when they go up against Patrick Beverley and the Minnesota Timberwolves in NBA playoffs play-in game Tuesday.
Getzlaf’s glory
Every day as sports fans we are bombarded with issues. Who drove the Lakers off a cliff? Who decided Trevor Bauer was not a $100-million toxic ticking time bomb? And then on Wednesday we get the news that Ryan Getzlaf of the Ducks is retiring after 17 years in one place. Good or bad, he stayed. He probably could have made more if he’d left at some point. But like everything else in his illustrious, trophy-covered career, he was steady. No controversies. No he said/she said. No ugly contract holdouts. Just rock solid play. He was truly a rare gift to us fans.
Jeff Heister
Chatsworth
Ryan Getzlaf, who was a first-round pick for the Ducks in 2003 and has been a team captain since 2010, will retire at the end of the season.
Final Foursome
This year’s Final Four should at least put to bed the latest two college basketball musings that are going around. The first is that UCLA coach Mick Cronin can’t coach offense. Just as the Bruins are wont to do, Kansas, Duke and North Carolina, in the waning minutes of their tight games, had player after player rush downcourt and chuck brick after brick, forgetting any sense of an orderly play.
The more egregious, East Coast-biased given is that Coach K was better than Coach Wooden. Duke once again, with superior talent, came up short as they have so many years including some ugly first-round exits. Coach Wooden’s teams never underperformed and won playing any-which-way. Case closed!
Allan Kandel
Los Angeles
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The Times sports section’s coverage of the NCAA championship game was the equivalent of an “airball.” How pathetic that the readers were provided with only a brief dispatch (shunted to an interior page) from the Associated Press for a game that included the largest comeback in championship game history, a game in which both Carolina and Kansas had five players score in double figures and which was only decided in the last five seconds.
Noel Johnson
Glendale
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