Western Notes: Davis, Solomon, Karl

The Pelicans intend to rely on forward Anthony Davis more in clutch situations this season, the crew over at Basketball Insiders note in their season preview for the team. “At the end of the game, I think we need to get the ball to Anthony more,” coach Alvin Gentry said regarding Davis. “We need to start training him to be the guy down the stretch. If you’ve got a great player, that’s what you do. He is gonna be our closer. And that doesn’t necessarily mean making the shot. But I think he’s gonna be the guy more times than not that we’re gonna depend on to make the play at the end of the game. That means maybe finding the open guy, or when a double team comes being able to swing the basketball and put guys in the position where they can make the shot. I think we’re gonna have to start trying to go through him — and it may be a screen-and-roll situation, where he screens and rolls to the basket. But we’ve got to have him involved in a lot of the plays at the end of the game.”

Here’s more from out West:

• The Jazz held a workout today for unrestricted free agent forward Richard Solomon and will take another look at him on Tuesday, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando reports (via Twitter). The 24-year-old spent the 2015/16 campaign overseas in Japan with Toyota Alvark, appearing in 59 games and averaging 11.3 points, 8.9 rebounds and 0.9 assists. Solomon’s shooting line was .536/.179/.660. Over the summer he played in Orlando for the Thunder’s summer league squad and then in Las Vegas for the Magic’s entry.
• The Lakers have officially named Coby Karl, who is the son of longtime NBA coach George Karl, as the coach of the L.A. D-Fenders, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. “We are excited to welcome Coby back to the D-Fenders family as our new head coach,” D-Fenders executive Joey Buss said. “His extensive experience as both a player and coach in this league is something we’re very happy to bring to the organization as we look to build on a season of success.”
• The Blazers will need to remain patient with guard Luis Montero, who displayed solid playmaking ability during summer league play, but didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, Mike Richman of The Oregonian writes in his training camp preview of the player.