Maybe Shaq’s Happy He’s Not Involved With This

Listening to the Staples Center crowd chant “Kobe! Kobe!� should remind Jerry Buss that never has and never will a Staples crowd chant “Phil! Phil!�

WEAVER SHAH

Cypress

*

Kobe Bryant’s problem is that he still believes his teammates are a bunch of Division III high school scrubs.

The Lakers’ problem is that, except for Shaq, Kobe’s right.

JON BANKS

Westwood

*

Kobe may play too impulsively at times, but he’s hardly the primary cause for the Lakers’ struggles. And although he may be a bit introverted in the locker room, it’s Jackson (Jerry West, Glen Rice) and Shaq (Penny Hardaway, the city of Orlando, Eddie Jones) who have a history of alienating and scapegoating people.

But, hey, let them blame the kid. Maybe if they trade him, we can enjoy more boring, humiliating defeats like the last two. I mean, after consecutive 20-point losses, who needs Kobe?

MARK AGUILAR

Torrance

*

If every Laker possessed the same drive, determination and work ethic as Kobe, the team would be a prohibitive favorite for another ring. Perhaps Jackson feels his record gives him license, but all it does is illustrate a meanness and vindictiveness and lends itself to turmoil within the Laker family.

STAN GILBERT

North Hollywood

*

My heart breaks, thinking about the hell Kobe Bryant has had to endure this year. Sure he’s well paid, but no one should be disparaged as he has been by his coach, teammates and local press. Let’s not forget that Kobe is 22 and just last year brought a championship to this memory-challenged city.

Kobe will no doubt continue to dazzle us with his moves on the court and is sure to go down in history as one of the greats. Unfortunately, this year will also go down as the year that his smile lost its sparkle.

BRENNAN CLARKE

Los Angeles

*

Psst, Phil, listen. I hear Kobe built a lamp in his high school woodworking shop. This whole California electricity crisis. . . . You see where I’m going with this? I knew you would. We keep this up another month or so, maybe tie him in to the Middle East somehow, we’re home free. By then, season’s over, no one’ll ever know Kobe was never the problem.

ANDREW GRANT

Santa Monica