For clarity. The Lakers, coached by Darvin Ham, are eliminated in the first round by the defending NBA champions and Ham is a bum. The Clippers, led by Tyronn Lue, are ousted in the first round by a mediocre Mavericks team and Lue is a coaching genius. Sounds like LeBron to me, the GFOAT (Greatest Finger Pointer of All Time) is looking for an enabler, not a coach. How many more coaches and teammates does James have to throw under the bus until the cowardly lion, Rob Pelinka, says enough is enough?
Mark S. Roth
Playa Vista
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I’ve been in business for over 58 years and have never seen an organization that respects the wrong people every year and simply makes the same mistakes over and over again (except for the ones I work for).
The coach doesn’t coach or play, but when you have a player, no matter who it is, who undermines the coach, it’s very difficult to get everyone on the same page. It’s a squeaky shame to go by coaches like toilet paper!
Clean Lakers house and sell it fast. I’m so sorry Dr. Buss that your dream has turned into a nightmare.
Kelly Mark Ritchie
Calabasas
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You filled your letters column last week with ignorant expressions and a laughably minuscule “Sports Report” poll blaming LeBron James for the Lakers’ first-round exit.
In fact, James is the biggest reason why the Lakers were competitive, and if they had been expertly coached, they could have beaten the Nuggets and made it through the playoffs by now.
Ham’s panicky line-up experiments and foolish substitutions were hurdles the players could not overcome despite their commendable efforts. The Lakers were right to fire Ham.
As for the fans who want James gone, please find another team and leave the Lakers to those of us who understand the game!
Ray McKown
Torrance
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Why even waste time and print space on the Lakers’ coaching search? There is no search. LeBron will choose the next coach. Just like he will decide who the Lakers will sign in free agency or trade for, who they will draft (no doubt his son) and probably how much beer will cost in the arena next season. He is in control because the team management is too afraid not to let him in for fear that he will be insulted and ‘take his talents elsewhere’.
Bob Fanelli
Whittier
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So Darvin Ham has lost his job. Reading websites like the LA Times, ESPN and the Athletic, it seems the players no longer believed in Ham. At that moment it is not about right or wrong, fair or unfair. Once a coach loses the locker room, they’re done. It is over. You can no longer put toothpaste in the tube. Ham is not a bad coach, but he was no longer the right coach.
Michael Forrest
Porter Ranch
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If, as Bill Plaschke says, the Lakers were to consider hiring Becky Hammon as their next coach, it will take an enlightened owner like Jeanie Buss to make such a bold move as hiring the first female head coach in the NBA . With history as a guide, the decision will still come down to what general manager LeBron James wants.
Ron Yukelson
San Luis Obispo
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The Lakers should follow the Chargers’ playbook when hiring a coach: one with enough cachet to turn heads.
Andrew Rubin
Los Angeles
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Hey, have you heard about the new theme song that Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka released? “Who are you going to call – Coach Busters?”
Gary Engstrom
Seal beach
Clippers are lost
Broderick Turner’s article about the Clippers’ season ending in disappointment “again” says it all. I was a passionate Clippers fan when Donald Sterling was the owner and the team was a perennial underdog. Not much was expected, but the matches were fun to watch. Now the team is lost. Paying huge amounts of money to aging stars who struggle to play together. One day they are good, the next day they are not. Hard to see, especially when you compare it to the fast and coordinated teams in the West.
Andreas Simons
Santa Barbara
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The Clippers have talented players and a passionate owner who desperately wants to win a title. They have a coach who is considered one of the best in the NBA. However, they once again failed to progress in the play-offs because they could not count on their star players. Kawhi Leonard succumbed to another injury, making him unavailable when they needed him most. The team has him on a long-term deal but can’t hold its breath on him being injury-free. He’s just a very expensive frustration. Paul George is not a ‘Playoff P’, delivering weak attacking output in games that really matter and a blasé attitude. Russell Westbrook seemed to disappear in the final series.
Stop thinking that this crew will lead us to the promised land. It’s a mirage.
TR Jahns
He met
Give Ohtani a raise
Stat geeks can debate advanced stats like on-base-plus-slugging percentage, launch angle, and exit velocity, but all I know is that Shohei Ohtani is extremely underpaid at $700 million.
Steve Ross
Carmel
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
