Letters to Sports: Lakers’ non-youth movement has geriatric feel
Sometimes it takes a few tries to land greatness and win a chip. Nobody knew how good Harden, Durant and Westbrook were until they left Oklahoma City. The Lakers have the luxury of using a legendary player like LeBron to push a star like Westbrook to the next level. Welcome home, Russ.
Eddy Jacobs
Santa Monica
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Now that the Lakers have obtained Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard and Trevor Ariza, they have placed themselves in ideal position to win the 2012 NBA title.
Greg Nersesyan
North Hollywood
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Congratulations to the Lakers! It’s about time, as I hear that Jerry West is finally rejoining the organization … not as an executive in the front office, but as the Lakers’ starting shooting guard.
Dennis Butkovich
North Hills
The U.S. men’s basketball team defeated France to win its fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal. Here are four takeaways from the game.
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These old new-look Lakers may not go all the way next season, but they do seem destined to lead the league in “early bird” pregame dinners.
Steve Ross
Beverly Hills
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The new-look Lakers wanted some insurance. So they brought in older, proven veterans. In the end, those players will still be measured by the traditional stats: Assists, Attempts, Rebounds, Points. Better known as AARP.
Paul Feinsinger
Agoura Hills
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I’m waiting for the documentary on the Lakers preseason roster to come out, “30 over 30.”
George Sands
Torrance
The Lakers announced Friday that coach Frank Vogel has been give a contract extension. His contract was set to expire after the 2021-22 season.
NBC misses mark
I don’t know what to make of NBC’s coverage of the Olympics. Is it a two-week propaganda film? Is it the world’s most elaborate infomercial? Perhaps a psychological experiment to see how many “human interest” stories the average person can watch before going insane? All I know is that I will really miss the split screen with commercials. Now that’s good television!
Scott R. Denny
Santa Ana
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NBC gets at best a D in my book for its Olympics coverage.
First, it was almost impossible to find on which of its many channels an event would occur. Second, the coverage of men’s basketball exclusively on Peacock was just plain selfish. Third, the coverage of golf was lame: often watching a player with no identification of who he was, what hole he was on or his position versus par.
All in all, it left this viewer watching other networks.
Jack Wishard
Los Angeles
NBC Sports chief Pete Bevacqua says parent Comcast achieved its goal of boosting its Peacock platform with the Olympics despite “curveballs.”
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At the end of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics the United States will have won the most medals of any nation. Why?
Like China and the ROC, the United States has a large pool of talent, but what differentiates the U.S. team is that its talent pool is so much more diverse.
Consequently, I attribute the U.S. Olympic team’s success to our country’s fundamental strength, which is our diversity. I also attribute it to that fact that we are a nation of immigrants, thus the Suni Lee story. Lee’s gold medal is a win for her family and the American family.
Warren Furutani
Gardena
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Regarding the thinking that Simone Biles’ withdrawal from her Olympic events discredits her GOAT status, you have to consider the mechanics of her sport. If Michael Jordan, Tom Brady or Katie Ledecky is not feeling up to top performance, the likely worst consequence is turnovers, blocked shots, interceptions, sacks or slow times. For a gymnast like Simone, midair disorientation can easily result in paralysis or serious injury. Not fair to compare performance withdrawal of these outstanding athletes who have very different athletic challenges.
Wade Utsunomiya
South Pasadena
Kevin Durant didn’t have the supporting cast other U.S. men’s basketball greats had in the past, yet he still managed to win his third Olympic gold medal.
Bauer blunder
In regards to Bill Plaschke’s proclamation that “Friedman’s magic act never gets old” in referring to the Scherzer and Turner trades, is this the same magic that brought us Trevor Bauer?
Donald R. Hodel
Seal Beach
Hurting Halo
Well, it looks like the brittle Anthony Rendon is slated to join the list of Los Angeles Angels who took ownership’s money, underperformed or flat-out tanked, and then faded into obscurity. Congratulations, Mr. Rendon. Looks like you will now be mentioned with underachieving Halo millionaires Justin Upton, Gary Mathews Jr., Vernon Wells, Josh Hamilton and Mo Vaughn. $245-million, guaranteed, doesn’t buy you much production, apparently, these days.
Duane Plank
El Segundo
Clayton Kershaw said Friday he doesn’t expect to pitch for the Dodgers until early September because of elbow inflamation. He has been out since July 7.
Fighting on?
Thank you, USC for restoring alcohol sales at the Coliseum. I’ve really missed the drunken altercations in the stands, which were such a fun and integral part of the fan experience. Fight on!
David Marshall
Santa Monica
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