Los Angeles Lakers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Terry, Papanikolaou, Lakers

September 16th, 2014 at 8:56pm CST by Alex Lee

With a few weeks until training camps begin, here is the latest news coming out of the Western Conference on Tuesday evening:

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports that the Rockets‘ deal for Jason Terry will be completed tomorrow (via Twitter). The trade, which will send Terry to Houston and Alonzo Gee and Scotty Hopson to Sacramento, was originally agreed to on August 31st. There was a report yesterday that it would be finalized today, so we should expect an official announcement shortly.
Feigen also expects the signing of Kostas Papanikolaou to become official this week, though he cautions that his buyout ($1.5MM) and the necessary FIBA approval make it a little unpredictable (Twitter link). Papanikolaou’s first-year salary of just under $4.8MM is the most ever given to a second-round pick in his first NBA season.
The Lakers announced today that Paul Pressey, Jim Eyen and Mark Madsen will join Byron Scott on the Los Angeles bench as assistant coaches this season. Beyond that trio, the team also announced Clay Moser, Larry Lewis, Tom Bialaszewski and J.J. Outlaw as members of the staff. Rondre Jackson has been promoted to director of player development and Jordan Wilkes has been hired as an operations assistant, according to the team release.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Rush, Jeter, Terry, Wizards

September 15th, 2014 at 10:35pm CST by Cray Allred

After a difficult 2013/14 season in which he was granted sporadic playing time while returning from knee surgery in Utah, Brandon Rush tells Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle that he’s feeling positive about his upcoming season with the Warriors. “This is a great situation for me to be able to come back and to be with a winning team,” said Rush. “I’m just going to try to help the team out with little things: rebounding, shooting and playing defense. I’m in a good mood. My head is in on straight. I’m happy with where I’m at…Coming back [to Golden State] was a no-brainer.” Here’s more from around the league:

Pooh Jeter has no intentions of leaving his Chinese team, despite having a workout lined up with the Lakers, as he tells Hupu (translation via Enea Trapani of Sportando).
Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders expects the deal in place between the Rockets and Kings, which will send Jason Terry to Houston and Alonzo Gee and Scotty Hopson to Sacramento, will finally transpire within the next 24 hours (Twitter link). Pincus does not expect the Kings to retain either Gee or Hopson, whose contracts are non-guaranteed. The teams initially struck an unofficial agreement on August 31.
The Wizards are still working out additional players to bring to camp, tweets J. Michael of CSNWashington.com. Washington will have 16 of the maximum 20 contracts on the books for training camp after the new additions of Xavier Silas and Damion James.
Brett Koremenos of RealGM looks at the careers of Milos Teodosic, Ante Tomic, and Emir Preldzic, three players caught in the “limbo” between European starring roles and NBA backup spots. While these players shine in international play, their advanced age, on-court shortcomings, and comfort level overseas are barriers to their likehood of signing in the NBA.

Multiple Teams Interested In Ryan Hollins

September 15th, 2014 at 6:09pm CST by Cray Allred

Free agent Ryan Hollins has had contract talks with the Lakers, Kings, Bulls, and Spurs as a potential signing, the center told SiriusXM NBA Radio (transcription via Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times). The seven-footer has also been in talks with the Heat, the only team previously linked to his services this summer.

Aside from the Kings and Spurs, each of the teams considering Hollins as an addition are limited to offering the minimum salary. It would be shocking for Sacramento to exercise their biannual exception to spend more than the minimum, however, since the team has been working to stay beneath the luxury tax line for 2014/15. Hollins’ name is among a handful of big men drawing interest from many of the same teams looking to fill out their frontcourt depth. Gustavo Ayon and Emeka Okafor are other frontcourt pieces generating interest from overlapping teams, but an overseas commitment and injury concerns make the paths for both to land on an NBA team more complicated than that of Hollins, respectively.

It’s unclear if Hollins is close to reaching an agreement for guaranteed money, or if he’s facing the prospect of competing through training camp on a non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed contract. While unspectacular, Hollins is a proven commodity, playing a very specific and useful role, as Chuck Myron detailed in our Free Agent Stock Watch article on the veteran center. The Stealth Sports client has career averages of 3.8 PPG and 2.2 RPG.

And-Ones: Lakers, Bosh, Collier

September 13th, 2014 at 12:47pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kobe Bryant will return to the Lakers starting five this season, but his supporting cast hasn’t improved much. In his pre-season rankings, Adi Joseph of USA Today predicts that Los Angeles will take a step back in the win column, and finish with a record of 22-60 and end up in the NBA Draft Lottery for the second-straight year.

Here’s more from around the league:

Undrafted free agent Devon Collier turned down an NBA camp invitation to accept a deal with Israeli team Bnei Herzliya, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM.
Now that LeBron James is in Cleveland and Chris Bosh has become the highest-paid player with the longest contract on the Heat, it’s time for him to become a more vocal locker room voice, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes.
Alessandro Oliveira has joined the Nets as assistant trainer, replacing Nixon Dorvilien, who followed Jason Kidd to the Bucks, the team announced (twitter link).

Cray Allred contributed to this post.

Lakers Work Out Five Players

September 13th, 2014 at 11:28am CST by Eddie Scarito

The Lakers held workouts this past Wednesday for five players, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando reports (Twitter link). Displaying their wares in Los Angeles were Pooh Jeter, Ronnie Price, Wayne Ellington, Jeremy Tyler, and James Nunnally, according to Carchia’s sources. The Lakers currently have 15 players on their pre-season roster, with 13 of those contracts being guaranteed.

The 5’11”, thirty year-old Jeter, played one season in the NBA with the Kings back in 2010/11, and he averaged 4.1 PPG and 2.6 APG. Jeter was reportedly drawing interest from some NBA teams back in March of this year for a possible 10-day contract. With Steve Nash‘s health a question, the team could be looking to add another body behind Jeremy Lin, Roscoe Smith, and Jordan Clarkson.

Price also falls into this possibility, and the 6’2″, thirty-one year-old would provide a bit more NBA experience than Jeter. Price has been in the league for nine seasons, and has career averages of 3.4 PPG, 1.1 RPG, and 1.5 APG. He spent last season with the Magic, and was waived by Orlando in July just prior to his salary becoming guaranteed.

Ellington would provide depth behind Kobe Bryant and compete with Xavier Henry for backup duties. The 6’4″, twenty-six year-old has career numbers of 6.4 PPG, 1.8 RPG, and 1.0 APG. Ellington has been involved in two trades this offseason, and was waived by the Kings last week. Ellington would provide more upside than Jeter or Price, but he hasn’t shown he is capable of handling primary ball-handling duties, which might be a more pressing need for the Lakers.

Tyler, who was also a part of one of the deals involving Ellington, and Nunnally would bolster the Lakers frontcourt. Tyler is more of a power forward than a center, which is already a crowded position with Carlos Boozer, Julius Randle, Ed Davis, and Ryan Kelly being on the roster. This would make Nunnally more of a fit backing up Nick Young and Wesley Johnson at small forward. Nunnally also can man the power forward position if needed, which might give him an edge, despite Tyler’s high upside.

Western Rumors: Livingston, Hayward, Previews

September 12th, 2014 at 10:55pm CST by Cray Allred

The Clippers scandal that revolved around former owner Donald Sterling may be eclipsed by the Hawks race-fueled turmoil when all is said and done. The latter situation is still developing, and has extended down from the ownership box into Atlanta’s GM and scouting departments. Here’s a rundown of Western news and notes for the night:

On an interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio, Shaun Livingston said that he hopes to be able to return to the court by the start of the Warriors‘ season, the channel tweeted (H/T Diamond Leung of Bay Area News Group). The veteran guard underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right big toe last month.
On his personal blog, Jazz forward Gordon Hayward recounts his summer. In addition to waxing about signing a max offer sheet, spending time with Team USA, and an offseason training regimen focusing on strength and shooting, Hayward says that he’s eager to start the new season and play for new coach Quin Snyder.
The Basketball Insiders crew previewed the 2014/15 season for the Pelicans, Nuggets, Jazz, Lakers, and Kings.

And-Ones: Deng, Knicks, Dragic, West

September 12th, 2014 at 6:02pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Luol Deng report from the RealGM scouting service that was the source of the racially charged statements that Hawks GM Danny Ferry said aloud in a June conference call contains several tidbits of collateral information on storylines surrounding Deng the past couple of years. One of the anonymous sources quoted in the report points to hard feelings Deng had toward the Bulls as they allegedly pushed him to play through injury and played hardball with an extension offer. The same source cites “major locker room issues” that existed between two Cavaliers during Deng’s tenure there, and while the names are redacted, many accounts have pointed to tension between Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters. The report also pointed to interest in Deng from the Hornets, Suns, Mavs and Lakers around last year’s trade deadline. Aside from the most explosive racial comments, the report contains a few mild criticisms of Deng’s ability on the court and his persona off of it, but mostly serves to paint Deng as a valuable player and an upstanding character. While the fallout from the Hawks saga continues, here’s more from other corners of the league:

Knicks president Phil Jackson tells Scott Cacciola of The New York Times that he and owner James Dolan didn’t speak in August and have otherwise been having only a couple conversations a month as Dolan keeps his promise not to interfere. An agent said to Cacciola that when he appealed to Dolan when Jackson wouldn’t budge in negotiations, he found the owner unwilling to provide recourse behind Jackson’s back, and Dolan insists to the Times scribe that he won’t change his ways if the team starts losing this season.
Zoran Dragic acknowledged that playing in the NBA appeals to him but said he’s on his way to training camp with Spain’s Unicaja Malaga, as he told Gal Zbačnik of Kosarka.si (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Dragic’s contract with the team reportedly gives him until October 5th to find an NBA deal, and several teams appear to be in pursuit.
Delonte West has agreed to return to China on a one-year deal with the Shanghai Sharks, reports Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer (on Twitter). West, who hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2012/13 preseason, spent last year with China’s Fujian Sturgeons.

Goran Dragic Plans To Opt Out Next Summer

September 9th, 2014 at 2:48pm CST by Chuck Myron

Goran Dragic made comments indicating that he plans to decline his player option for 2015/16 as he spoke to Jaka Lopatič of the Slovenian website Planet Siol.net (translation via Dave King of Bright Side of the Sun). Dragic can turn down the $7.5MM he’s set to make that season and hit free agency next summer.

King interprets Dragic’s comments to indicate that he intends to re-sign with the Suns, but that doesn’t seem entirely clear, and as with any foreign-language report, there’s a chance some of the meaning is lost in translation. Either way, rival teams are already lining up to target the 28-year-old guard in the wake of his best season, with last week’s report indicating that the Rockets are considering a run at him and that the Lakers among those likely to enter the fray.

The Suns made Dragic a full-time starter for the first time in his career after he inked with the team in 2012, and he set career highs in scoring and assists. His points per game leaped again this past season, to 20.3 from 14.7 in 2013/14. That was in part because coach Jeff Hornacek moved him to shooting guard so he could pair with Eric Bledsoe. With fewer ball-distributing responsibilities, Dragic not only set a career high in field goal attempts but also in field goal percentage, connecting on 50.5% of his shots from the floor. His 40.8% three-point accuracy was also his best mark to date.

It remains to be seen whether the BDA Sports Management client can duplicate that production, particularly with Bledsoe still unsigned, but Dragic will be near the top of the 2015 free agent class if he can. The Suns are in prime position to shell out whatever it takes to keep Dragic, since they have his Bird rights and only about $17MM in commitments for 2015/16. The Suns are also reportedly among a trio of teams with especially keen interest in signing Spanish-league shooting guard Zoran Dragic, Goran’s brother.

And-Ones: Exum, Douglas-Roberts, Levenson

September 7th, 2014 at 9:42pm CST by Zachary Links

Scouts are still evaluating Dante Exum, one of the bigger gambles taken in the NBA Draft lottery. The Jazz selected him without having seen him play against top-level competition and the jury is still out on Exum as a player as he shows his stuff in the World Cup, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes. When asked what he’s learned about Exum so far, one Eastern Conference scouting director said, “Not much. He’s not ready for the NBA, that is for sure. But a lot of guys are not ready for the NBA and they have got to learn on the fly. He is no different. But he is not going to jump into the league and all of a sudden average 20 points a game. There’s just no way.” Here’s tonight’s look around the NBA..

Chris Douglas-Roberts‘ deal with the Clippers is fully guaranteed, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (via Twitter). That doesn’t come as a huge surprise since Ekpe Udoh‘s minimum salary deal is also fully guaranteed for the 2014/15 season. CD-R averaged 6.9 points in 20.7 minutes per game and shot a career-high 38.6% from downtown last season.
Even before the Donald Sterling situation erupted, there was some talk that Bruce Levenson would explore selling his controlling interest of the Hawks, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
Whether Levenson’s fate is well-deserved or Orwellian is up for debate, but it’s clear this is a different world in the post-Sterling NBA, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.
Supply and demand could keep Reggie Jackson with the Thunder, writes Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. Only four teams – the Mavs, Lakers, Knicks, and Heat – currently have a clear need and the necessary cap space to make a run at him next summer. Jackson is after a sizable payday and a starting role, but that could be hard to find in the middle of an extremely talented free agent class.
The Jazz have several players in the World Cup, including Exum and stashed Brazilian talent Raul Neto, and Dennis Lindsey admits that he is somewhat worried about injuries and fatigue, writes Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune. At the same time, he feels that his younger players are also gaining valuable experience in international play.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

Pacific Notes: Bledsoe, Warriors, Lakers, Brown

September 5th, 2014 at 12:18pm CST by Chuck Myron

The lack of communication between Eric Bledsoe and the Suns persists, as Chris Haynes of the Plain Dealer hears it’s stretched for nearly six months (Twitter link). Suns owner Robert Sarver said in August that he hadn’t heard from Bledsoe in four months, but whatever the precise length of the silence, it doesn’t appear as though the sides are any closer to settling their differences and agreeing upon a long-term deal. The impasse leaves Bledsoe poised to sign the qualifying offer before it expires October 1st, according to Haynes, though he and the Suns have reportedly both been pursuing sign-and-trade possibilities. Just what happens with Bledsoe will help shape the Western Conference playoff race, and there’s more news from other Pacific Division clubs, as we detail:

The Warriors are believed to be engaged in talks about an extension with Jerry West, as Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group writes amid his report on GM Bob Myers, who already agreed to an extension. The Hall-of-Famer serves as director of scouting and administration for the team, and he’s played a key role in front office decision-making. West’s existing deal is set to expire next summer, as Kawakami notes.
Lakers executives Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak gauged whether Byron Scott‘s was willing to endure a long-term rebuilding process before hiring him as coach, as Scott tells Bill Oram of the Orange County Register, and it appears Scott will have a long leash. “I said, ‘Yeah as long as I know we’re going in the right direction and as long as I know that I’ve got the support of you guys and that we’re all in this together,’” Scott said.
Lorenzo Brown is back on the free agent market after Italy’s Reyer Venezia voided the contract he signed with the club in July because he failed his physical, the team announced (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Brown appeared in 26 games for the Sixers last season and spent summer league this year with the Clippers.