Lakers Still Suffer From the Ex- Factor

Only days after Shaquille O’Neal indulges in one more public dissing of the Lakers, leveling insults at Jerry Buss, his former teammates, and, for good measure, the entire city of Los Angeles, the L.A. Times sports section chooses to run a front-page puff piece on the Diesel’s Miami-inspired weight loss and training regimen.

What were you thinking?

Far worse than the choice and timing of that article, however, was the editorial decision to allow giant “before” and “after” pictures of Shaq to nudge aside a truly moving and thought-provoking article by J.A. Adande about the baseball team at Santa Monica High. Shaq could learn a thing or two about generous and tolerant human behavior from these kids.

Ellen Smucker

Los Angeles

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Reasons for Phil Jackson not to come back:

1. He will be expected to do one thing, win, and now. Short of this, his mystique is, well, poof.

2. It’s improbable to relive three rings in a row -- or anything close.

3. Besides those “two guys,” the three-ring Lakers had Horry, Fox, Fisher, a healthy George, Shaw, Harper and others who fit in.

4. This team is hamstrung for the next three years. Why would Jackson test three more NBA years against his health?

5. He can keep everyone guessing about the Zen Master -- and laugh as he watches.

Pete Sato

Gardena

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I don’t see the point of all this fuss about Phil Jackson possibly coming back to the Lakers. With the current roster, and the salary-cap restrictions for the foreseeable future, the combination of Jackson, Larry Brown, and Red Auerbach couldn’t get this team even close to the playoffs.

Jack Wolf

Westwood

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Years of Laker pushing didn’t get Shaq to lose weight, but Shaq admits that all it took was a nudge from Pat Riley to do the trick. Shaq then rips Jerry Buss for having the nerve to suggest that it took being traded to Miami to motivate Shaq to lose weight. What am I missing (other than that Shaq has turned into the Big Spinmeister)?

P.J. Gendell

Beverly Hills

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T.J. Simers, what you and Dr. Buss fail to understand is, even if Shaq weighs 400 pounds he is better than any other center in the NBA.

Patrick Duff

Aliso Viejo

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O’Neal should start hangin’ in the grade school playgrounds with guys his own age ... 13! He ridicules Buss for favoring 20-something females when O’Neal’s life is just one big cartoon, from dressing up and playing cop to wanting us to believe he gave his “all” for the Lakers!

Are any of you brain-dead O’Neal loyalists finally opening your eyes and minds to what a real classless jerk he was and is?

J.R. Widener

Burbank

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Oh, how I wish more athletes would speak out, like Shaq does. The Losers, I mean the Lakers, made the decision to side with a boy and let two great men depart, and now they must pay.

Larry Edwards

Temple City

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“I needed a real owner.... I needed a real owner like Micky Arison.”

Shaq, last time I checked, Jerry Buss had eight NBA championships, and Micky Arison had a cruise ship.

Brian Haueter

Ventura

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Here we go again. Jerry Buss, on an eternal search for perfect hedonism, goes on a six-week vacation filled with wine and literature. Meanwhile, Laker fans who have had to suffer through the worst season since Sedale Threatt are left in limbo.

Laker fans understand that a franchise worth more than $500 million shouldn’t quibble about paying Phil Jackson $10 million a year. But not our Jerry. No, our Jerry wants to let it play out until Jackson moves on and he’s let off the hook for paying the cash. Jerry, I hope you drink a lot of wine while in Europe. Because if you don’t hire Phil back, you’ll need to have wine-colored goggles to watch the Lakers next year.

Lawrence C. Ross Jr.

Inglewood

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Thanks to T.J. Simers for not jumping in with all the Shaq fan hysteria and bashing Jerry Buss because “his decisions are dumb as hell and make no sense,” according to the Big MDE, “Most Demanding Ever.”

Now, Kobe Bryant is far from a saint. And, let’s just say Phil Jackson is a bit of an “unusual” person. Jerry Buss has been dealing with those two and the Big Ego as best he could. He rolled the dice and went with the 27-year-old stand-offish wunderkind over the soon-aging, overweight, discontented loudmouth. All right, so this season didn’t work. When Shaq is either long retired or ineffective, I have a feeling a fine Laker team will be thriving around Kobe Bryant.

The old poker player Buss has not folded his hand just yet. I’d say his overall record speaks for itself. Have patience, Laker fans.

Rick Solomon

Lake Balboa

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I’m worried. I usually don’t bother to read T.J. Simers, but I actually read and agreed with his column regarding the Shaq/Jerry Buss war of words. Is there something wrong with me?

Ron Tom

Pasadena