Letters to Sports: Lamenting latest Lakers playoff exit

Getting Luka Doncic from Dallas seemed too good to be true. Little did Lakers fans realize that we were getting a weak ballhandler and poor defender. A big man in the middle might have made up for his shortcomings but JJ Redick probably would have left him on the bench. I can’t wait to see how Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka mess up next year’s lineup. Playing LeBron James 48 minutes a game isn’t the answer.

Mike Gamboa

Buena Park

The late, great Chick Hearn used to say: “You are only as good as your bench.”

Pat Riley once wrote on the locker room chalkboard during a playoff run, “No rebounds, no rings.”

‘Nuff said.

David Dale
Sonoma

It remains perplexing why the Lakers rescinded the Mark Williams trade — he had 13 double-doubles for Charlotte after Dalton Knecht (who played no meaningful playoff minutes) returned — and did not go “all-in” in attempting to maximize their chances of winning their 18th championship.

Ken Feldman
Tarzana

It is sad to experience the end of the Lakers’ season but the reality is that their athleticism, defense, rebounding and interior offense were not up to championship standards. They could use someone like, uh, Anthony Davis?

Richard Raffalow
Valley Glen

It was obvious from the moment Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert scored his first uncontested dunk and grabbed his first rebound that the Lakers would be watching the rest of the NBA playoffs on television. The Timberwolves ran through Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves like free-swinging turnstiles, and ran 40-year-old LeBron James off because of too many minutes. How bad could Jaxson Hayes have been to leave the only height the team had benched and employ a player who hadn’t seen the court in months in Maxi Kleber?

Bob Goldstone
Corona del Mar

The Lakers will be looking for a center. This is all I’ve read since the Lakers lost to the Timberwolves. Well they had that in Ivica Zubac who the Lakers basically gave away to the Clippers.

Kevin Murphy
Newport Beach

Well, so much for the JJ Redick experiment. Next!

Jack Wolf
Westwood

Purple and fold!

Ron Yukelson
San Luis Obispo

Hey Kings, do your fans a big favor. Should you make the playoffs next season and face the Edmonton Oilers again, please decline the playoff berth and go play golf so your fans won’t have their hearts ripped out of their chests for a fifth straight year. Have a nice summer.

Greg Garnet
Canoga Park

Another spring and another disappointing end to the Kings’ season. Rob Blake & Co. have had eight years to build a winning team and have failed. Losing the series to the Edmonton Oilers in the way that the Kings did is inexcusable. I’ve been a Kings fan since 1968 and this was one of the biggest choke jobs in the history of this franchise. It’s time for a new front office. Does anyone know what Dean Lombardi is doing these days?

Jeff Davine
West Hills

What do Tony Gonsolin, Blake Snell, Blake Treinen, Tyler Glasnow and Dustin May have in common? Wicked, wicked stuff (velocity, spin rate, break), being a Dodgers pitcher … and, alas, fragility and breaking down. This short list can easily be expanded.

For all its alleged precautions and its offseason and spring “audit” of pitching techniques and training protocol, the Dodgers organization’s “intellectual” hubris about how far it can push its pitchers’ physical abilities run headlong into their physical limits.

And the result is hardly a good look.

Kip Dellinger
Santa Monica

Tyler Glasnow is on the IL again and it’s only April. At least last year the oft-injured, supposed Dodger pitching ace made it to August.

Pitching ain’t what it used to be. Back then, most successful starters threw more than 200 innings, now few do. Going nine innings was commonplace, now practically unknown. Almost no one threw 95 mph and Tommy John surgery wasn’t yet developed. Give me the good old days.

Rich Fond
Sherman Oaks

Knack, Knack.

Who’s there?

Landon.

Landon who?

Pitch for the Dodgers and you’re Landon the IL.

Steve Ross
Carmel

In 2024, Griffin Canning of the Angels was ranked No. 56 of 58 starting pitchers in MLB in ERA at 5.19. In the first month of the season with the New York Mets, his ERA is 2.61.

The Mets have figured out how to make their major league players better, and clearly saw talent in a player who has never delivered on his draft status as an Angel. This has become a common theme in Anaheim, where player development is extremely poor, especially on the pitching side. If you’re a free-agent pitcher, or a draftee, and you want to get better and excel, there’s no reason to want to play in Anaheim.

Bob Kargenian
Yorba Linda

The Ducks are currently going through a somewhat monster renovation of the Honda Center at a cost of $1 billion. The team owned by Henry and Susan Samueli is also building an additional $4-billion entertainment entity known as the OC Vibe around Honda Center, which when completed will have items such as a performance hall, restaurants and food park with homes, hotels and offices. The Ducks are in for a treat when everything is in place with the only item missing is a championship season that they haven’t had since 2007. The Samuelis seem to have the golden touch when it comes to building things and making things better. Perhaps they should consider acquiring the Angels.

Bill Spitalnick
Newport Beach

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