Western Notes: Rockets, Wolves, Lakers

Donatas Motiejunas, who is set to be a restricted free agent this coming summer, is expected to meet with doctors on December 1st and the hope is he would then be cleared for workouts with the Rockets, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports. Motiejunas has not been cleared to practice since last season’s back surgery, as Feigen points out. The power forward played well while Dwight Howard and Terrence Jones were out last season, with solid shooting numbers for a  7-footer.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

• The Rockets waived Lakers center Tarik Black last year, but he said he was sorry to see Kevin McHale get fired, Bill Oram of the Orange County Register tweets. “I know he did believe in me,” Black said, per Oram.
• Wolves interim coach Sam Mitchell will insert Kevin Martin into the starting lineup despite his shooting woes, with Tayshaun Prince going to the bench, Mitchell told reporters, including Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune. Martin was involved in trade rumors last season.
• Lakers coach Byron Scott believes point guard D’Angelo Russell is playing his best basketball of the season after a slow start, Abbey Mastracco of the Los Angeles Daily News writes. “I looked at it like, ‘This was a sign.’ This is a good sign of things to come. The kid is starting to get it,” Scott said. “So after 12 games, having his best game last night from an offensive standpoint – and even defensively I thought he played pretty good – you look forward to the next 12 to see if he can continue that process of developing.”