Kobe Bryant told reporters including Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com that he was happy with the Lakers offseason efforts, even though they didn’t yield a star addition like Carmelo Anthony (Twitter links). “I think [GM Mitch Kupchak] has responded quite efficiently [from missing on ‘Melo and Pau Gasol] by picking up some of the pieces he has,” said Bryant, who was not as supportive of the front office’s tactics earlier this year. Here’s more from around the league:
- Andrew Wiggins tells Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk that he’s unfazed by the rumors swirling around his name and a potential Kevin Love trade (Twitter links). “I let my agent and my support system handle [rumors]; I just love playing the game of basketball and I know the NBA is a business,” said the Cavs No. 1 pick. “I just play basketball, man, wherever I go.”
- Marc Stein of ESPN.com (video link) speculates that the Cavs will ultimately wind up landing Kevin Love. Stein believes Cleveland is currently debating whether or not to sign Wiggins before a deal, since his salary would help even the trade, but would delay the process for trading him another 30 days.
- Ray Allen isn’t in a rush to make a decision on retiring or returning for another year, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
- The Knicks are considering offering Metta World Peace a training camp invite on a non-guaranteed deal to give the veteran a chance at making the team this year, reports Marc Berman of The New York Post. World Peace is eager to reunite with Phil Jackson and Derek Fisher in New York after being coached and playing alongside the duo during his time in Los Angeles.
- The Bulls have renounced Kirk Hinrich in a maneuver to help provide wiggle room for Chicago’s influx of signings, tweets Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com. Hinrich’s agreement to re-sign with the team will be unaffected by the move.
- Free agent MarShon Brooks has hired a new agent, Wallace Prather, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The shooting guard was formerly represented by Seth Cohen of the Original Creative Representation agency.
- Brooks tells Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee that he’s trying to prove he’s an NBA player this summer, after earning a reputation as an undisciplined offense-only talent over his first three years in the league.
Didn’t they show all of those rumors about Wiggins being offered for Love was a reporter getting trolled?
By renouncing Hinrich, there goes Chicago’s chance to save their room exception and sign Hinrich via his EBR’s…