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By Eric Lambkins II Sports Reporter Being a Laker epitomizes the allure, glitz and glamor of the City of Los Angeles. From Hollywood A-listers fashionably sitting courtside, to the blaring of Randy Newman's "I Love LA" over the speakers after each win, to the immortalization of Laker legends by Angelino to excel while donning the purple and gold propels Laker players into the pantheon of the game's all-time greats. It also comes with unrealistic expectations of winning a title every year. The...
Observer Editor Mitch Chortkoff covered the Lakers for over 6 decades. He was called "Dean of the Laker Writers" by many of his colleagues. Mitch passed away in July of 2018, but he had written a lot about Kobe Bryant. He we are rerunning his column from the December 3, 2017 edition of the Culver City Observer as Kobe was about to retire. "Remember kid. There's heroes and there's legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die." Art Lefleur as Babe Ruth in the movie "The Sandlot" It was...
My friend, my coworker, my editor Mitch Chortkoff lost his battle with diabetes and related illnesses this week. He was 78. Mitch was a renowned sports writer in Los Angeles for 50 years. His knowledge and zeal for writing sports was incredible. He was regarded as the "Dean of the Lakers Writers." Services for Mitch will be held at 2 p.m. on Monday July 23, at Mount Sinai Hollywood Hills - Mount Sinai Chapel, 5950 Forest Lawn Dr., Glendale. During my career, I have been blessed to work with some...
Magic Johnson isn’t the kind of guy who’ll watch opportunities come around and sit idly. We all know from his playing days that competitive spirit is one of his greatest qualities. Now that he’s in charge of making the Lakers’ roster better he had a chance this week to do something bold and create $70 million in salary cap space within NBA limits, in an attempt to sign two elite free agents, even one this year and the other next year. If you’re a Laker fan you’re applauding. You’re happ...
Magic Johnson isn’t the kind of guy who’ll watch opportunities come around and sit idly. We all know from his playing days that competitive spirit is one of his greatest qualities. Now that he’s in charge of making the Lakers’ roster better he had a chance this week to do something bold and create $70 million in salary cap space within NBA limits, in an attempt to sign two elite free agents, even one this year and the other next year. If you’re a Laker fan you’re applauding. You’re happ...
The Lakers, STAPLES Center and AEG announce the plans for a statue dedicated to Elgin Baylor at Star Plaza at STAPLES Center. The statue will be unveiled on April 6th during an outdoor ceremony prior to the Lakers vs. Minnesota game. "I am thrilled that 60 years after the Minneapolis Lakers drafted Elgin, we are able to celebrate and honor him with a statue," said Lakers CEO and Controlling Owner Jeanie Buss. "Not only is Elgin a part of the Lakers family, his contributions to the game of...
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This column by sports editor Mitch Chortkoff appeared two years ago in the Observer and is being run again due to recent requests from readers) It was 1996 and I was in Honolulu covering the Lakers’ training camp. It was an especially important one because General Manager Jerry West had made a spectacular move which resulted in the acquisition of rookie guard Kobe Bryant and center Shaquille O’Neal. In the first few days of the camp I found O’Neal to be outgoing, easy to intervi...
In an attempt to slow down the coaches’ new trend of frequently resting players the NBA will start this season a couple of weeks earlier. The NBA and many fans want less times when uninjured players are held out of games. The slightly longer time frame of the same 82 games could work in that direction. The opening night schedule on October 17 will include a game between defending champion Golden State and Houston, which has acquired star point guard Chris Paul from the Clippers. Two nights l...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor What seemed very likely several weeks ago is now official. Jerry West is joining the Clippers. At 79, West still enjoys accurately evaluating players, a talent he's had since his playing days. Retirement isn't for everyone his age. West, a Laker great as a player, became the Lakers' general manager, engineered the trade that brought in Kobe Bryant and presided over six NBA championship years with the team. He left for Memphis, reportedly because of a financial...
Magic Johnson trying to bring in players to the Lakers and Jerry West doing the same for the Clippers. That surely would appeal to fans of Los Angeles' NBA teams. It could happen. Johnson has already been hired by Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and West recently met with Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and coach/general manager Doc Rivers. Nothing is official but West would like to join the Clippers after the Lakers passed up their chance to welcome him back. There won't be many quotes in this story beca...
Mitch Kupchak learned the General Manager business from Jerry West, then took over. He had good years but not many in his final ones with lowly Laker teams and now he’s been replaced. What about the new guy? First, remember Kupchak was a Laker player and then a general manager. It’s a huge difference that Rob Pelinka was an agent who had Kobe Bryant as a client and now he’s going to work for a team for the first time. It’s a different world. Agents make friends and enemies. When they negotia...
Four straight terrible seasons, four years out of the playoffs, four years when I' ve been writing about the decline of one of the NBA' s greatest franchises. It seemed like it couldn' t get worse for the Lakers but it has. The Buss family is in turmoil. In a story by ESPN' s Ramona Shelbourne, Jeanie Buss' younger sister Janie says Johnny and Jim Buss want to sell their shares of the Lakers. ' That would leave the rest of us as minorities,"Janie Buss said. Six of Jerry Buss' siblings are curren...
I had covered the Lakers for several years before Mitch Kupchak came along. Kupchak told the media to call him Mitchell. ”That’s because Mitch Chortkoff was here first,” he said. “Mitch is taken, I’ll be Mitchell.” Now Mitchell has been fired after 30 years with the organization. Jim Buss, Jeanie Buss’ brother, has been fired too. And John Black, the Lakers’ publicist for the last 27 years, has been fired. It’s a very sad time for key members of this once-great franchise. The Lakers are coming...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor I had covered the Lakers for several years before Mitch Kupchak came along. Kupchak told the media to call him Mitchell. "That's because Mitch Chortkoff was here first," he said. "Mitch is taken, I'll be Mitchell." Now Mitchell has been fired after 30 years with the organization. Jim Buss, Jeanie Buss' brother, has been fired too. And John Black, the Lakers' publicist for the last 27 years, has been fired. It's a very sad time for key members of this once-great...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Magic Johnson is returning to the Lakers as an advisor to top executive Jeanie Buss. The announcement was made on Thursday and Johnson's duties will include meeting with coaches, evaluating the team's roster and advising on all player and business decisions. Johnson's success as a player and a businessman is likely to result in highly favorable publicity for the Lakers, who are on the verge of failing to make The NBA playoffs for a fifth straight season. But his...
I went to Staples Center Saturday and Sunday nights. That’s no surprise since my job requires keeping up with the Lakers and Clippers. But the weekend had a special significance. The Chicago Bulls were in town. They’re not a great team but a good one. They’ve added free agent Dwayne Wade and I expected them to provide a test for the LA teams. Could they meet the challenge? The Clippers passed the Chicago test but the Lakers didn’t. The Bulls were tearing the Clippers apart early in the game bu...
It’s good to be a fan of an LA team so far in the 2016-’17 National Basketball Association season. The Clippers are 10-1 at this writing, the best record in the NBA. And they’ve been routing opponents, building several 30-point halftime leads. The Lakers can’t match that but as of Monday they had a 6-5 record and that’s encouraging considering their slow starts in recent years. They even had a three-game winning streak before losing at Minnesota Sunday. I credit new coach Luke Walton for doing...
In discussing NBA free agent possibilities with colleagues who cover teams in other cities I find a consensus. My colleagues agree with me that the Lakers are kidding themselves by believing they might land the elite free agents. In recent years they’ve talked about LeBron James, they’ve interviewed LaMarcus Aldridge, they tried to make an appointment with Kevin Durant but didn’t even get an interview. Since every NBA team has a new $20 million to spend the Lakers, like most of them, were assur...
Kevin Durant played for the Seattle Sonics for a year and eight for the Oklahoma City Thunder for the last eight without winning a championship. He liked Oklahoma, he gave a million dollars to the city following a devastating tornado, he contributed other money, the fans loved him. So why is he leaving? How were the Golden State Warriors able to lure him away? The answer is simple. He wants to get a championship on his resume. NBA players are very well paid. That’s well known. What a lot of p...
Gregg Popovich has coached the San Antonio Spurs for 18 years and the Spurs have made the playoffs every year. RC Buford is the general manager. Buford and Popovich work extremely well together. They annually bring in another good player to support their longtime stars. This is a model franchise. The Lakers used to be a model franchise. They won the NBA championship 16 times. Players left other teams to join them. This was a prized destination. But today we see that three coaches have been...
When I wrote Anatomy Of A Disaster four years ago I had no intention of repeating it the next season. But readers were so fed up with the Lakers’ demise they requested it. Then we had last season, 21 wins and 61 losses, the worst record in the franchise’s history. And now this. Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse it did. The Lakers lost for the 62nd time last week, climaxing their worst season in the franchise’s 68-year existence. It was also their 11th straight loss to the Clipper...
Laker great thanks assistant coach Bill Bertka By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Sometime next season the Lakers will add a statue of Shaquille O’Neal at Staples Center to those of their other former great players. The group includes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Jerry West. The statue will portray O’Neal flying through the air for a dunk. The 7-1, 325 pound O’Neal, who has starred for several NBA teams, says that if he’s selected to the Basketball Hall Of Fame he’s chosen to go in as a Laker. O’Neal, now a key member of Direc TV’s...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor It was 1996 and I was in Honolulu covering the Lakers' training camp. It was an especially important one because General Manager Jerry West had made a spectacular move which resulted in the acquisition of rookie guard Kobe Bryant and center Shaquille O'Neal. In the first few days of the camp I found O'Neal to be outgoing, easy to interview, establishing the foundation for a friendship we have to this day. Bryant, who had been a high school phenom with no college...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor At the start of another Laker season General Manager Mitch Kupchak told the media last week this would be a season of laying a foundation. “Every season the Lakers have hopes of winning a championship,” Kupchak began. “But realistacly we’re developing DeAngelo Russell, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson this season. Then, hopefully we’ll add free agents next season.” The plan is to build up to being a championship contender. But when? Kupchak’s speech was ho...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor A sports columnist usually takes a stand on issues. The hope is the column will be read and whether or not the readers agree with the point they’ll have something to think about. As sports editor of the Observer I encourage my columnists to present their opinions too. We try to give readers an opinion they probably won’t get in our rival papers. But today it’s different. In doing research for this column in the last few days I realized I don’t feel strong...
