Coby Karl Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Minor Moves: Johnson, Blazers, Brown

October 31st, 2012 at 7:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

With the D-League draft two days away and several training camp invitees out on the open market after cuts this week, there's plenty of player movement going on outside the NBA. We'll round up the latest here.

JaJuan Johnson, whom the Rockets recently waived, has entered his name into the D-League draft and is expected to be the No. 1 pick, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link).
Blazers camp invitees Coby Karl, Dallas Lauderdale and Justin Holiday have all been added to the roster of the Idaho Stampede, Portland's D-League affiliate, tweets Ben Golliver of Blazer's Edge. Presumably, that means the Blazers elected not to protect the D-League rights of Demonte Harper and Adam Morrison, the other two camp invitees the team waived this weekend.
A Russian team has announced that they've signed free agent forward Derrick Brown, reports Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The newest member of the club Lokomotiv Kuban was competing for a roster spot with the Spurs until San Antonio waived him last week.

Northwest Rumors: Thunder, Blazers, Batum

October 24th, 2012 at 10:21pm CST by Chuck Myron

When GMs were polled recently on their thoughts about the upcoming season, the only two teams who received consideration to win the Western Conference other than the Lakers were the Thunder and Nuggets. The nod to Oklahoma City is no surprise, but the mention of Denver might have raised a few eyebrows, since the Nuggets haven't gotten out of the first round the past three years. Nuggets coach George Karl would be pleased if his team notched 50 wins, but with Andre Iguodala on board, he believes this year's squad has a chance to break the franchise record of 54 victories, as Aaron J. Lopez of Nuggets.com writes. Here's the latest on a couple of the Nuggets' division rivals.

The Thunder have 14 players on fully guaranteed deals, and another four with partial guarantees, meaning the team will likely owe money to at least three players who don't make the team. Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman gives reasons why he believes Daniel Orton will edge out DeAndre Liggins for the final regular season spot, adding that it's a decision that may pit GM Sam Presti against coach Scott Brooks (All four Twitter links).
Mayberry also believes there's a chance the Thunder could trade Daequan Cook or Lazar Hayward to free up a spot for both Orton and Liggins, but thinks finding a taker for either would be a tough task (All Twitter links).
With Demonte Harper and Dallas Lauderdale reportedly about to be waived and sent to the D-League, Mike Tokito of The Oregonian identifies Coby Karl, Adam Morrison and Justin Holiday as other camp invitees the Blazers will probably cut.
Nicolas Batum signed for about $12MM less in his four-year deal than Eric Gordon is getting his four-year contract, but Blazers GM Neil Olshey hopes Batum can increase his scoring this year in a manner similar to 5.4 PPG jump Gordon took from his second year in the league to his third, writes Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com.

Western Notes: Jordan, Lakers, Suns, Blazers

October 24th, 2012 at 4:44pm CST by Luke Adams

Back in August, when we asked Hoops Rumors readers for their Rookie of the Year pick, over 44% of about 1,050 voters selected Anthony Davis, making him the top choice by far. Davis is off to a promising start, averaging a double-double in five preseason games and making a strong impression on Hornets coach Monty Williams.

"He’s just a coach’s dream," Williams said, according to Bill Ingram of HoopsWorld. "He handles the situations with wisdom that’s beyond his years. He listens, he’s humble, and yet he still has an edge…. He’s going to be pretty special if he continues to work and allow himself to be coached the way he has so far. He’s just an amazing kid."

Here are a few more of today's notes from around the Western Conference:

A number of recent reports have linked Jerome Jordan to teams in China, but for now Jordan is still hoping to make the Grizzlies' regular season roster, writes Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "I know my agent has been talking to a bunch of teams. You know, as a worst-case scenario," Jordan said. "I don't know if there's a deal, per se, in China. But it's about making it in the NBA this year. I'm about trying to make it in the league and establish myself. I want to be around a long time."
The Lakers are expected to waive second-round pick Darius Johnson-Odom soon, tweets Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.
Making an educated guess, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic predicts that Luke Zeller and Diante Garrett will earn spots on the Suns, and explains his reasoning.
Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News wonders if two players under contract with the Spurs, Wesley Witherspoon and JaMychal Green, will be released soon to join San Antonio's D-League affiliate.
Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts says he expects to keep Nolan Smith as the team's backup point guard over Coby Karl, as Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com tweets. Karl himself indicated this week that he's bracing for news of his release.
ESPN.com's John Hollinger (Insider link) wouldn't be surprised if the Blazers consider moving Wesley Matthews at this season's trade deadline.

Northwest Rumors: Bell, Wolves, Blazers, Hayward

October 23rd, 2012 at 8:50pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Thunder are the only Northwest Division team in action tonight, as they take on the Bulls, and after that, every team in the division will have just one more preseason game before final roster decisions must be made. Clubs are offering a few clues about their plans, and we round them up tonight along with other news out of the Northwest.

The Wolves are unlikely to deal for Raja Bell, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). The Jazz are reportedly trying to trade Bell after failing to come to an agreement on a buyout.
Wolves coach Rick Adelman said the team won't make any cuts until after the team's last preseason game on Friday, Ray Richardson of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. The team has 17 players on the roster, with Will Conroy, Mike Harris and Chris Johnson the only guys without fully guaranteed deals.
Kevin Love's injury has pressed Wolves offseason signee Andrei Kirilenko into the starting power forward spot, but the 31-year-old Kirilenko isn't planning on changing his game to make up for Love's absence, as Richardson writes.
Adam Morrison, Sasha Pavlovic and Coby Karl have the best chance to make the Blazers opening-night roster among the team's six players on non-guaranteed deals, according to Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com, though Karl expects to be cut. Haynes reported earlier that fellow camp invitees Demonte Harper and Dallas Lauderdale are destined for the D-League.
Gordon Hayward is poised to take on a more significant role for the Jazz this season, as Bill Oram of The Salt Lake Tribune examines. As our Rookie Contract Option Tracker shows, the Jazz have until the end of the month to pick up his $3.45MM option for 2013/14, but there's no real chance they'd turn it down.

Blazers To Send Harper, Lauderdale To D-League

October 23rd, 2012 at 6:24pm CST by Chuck Myron

Camp invitees Demonte Harper and Dallas Lauderdale aren't traveling with the Blazers to Utah for Thursday's preseason game, and Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com tweets that the team plans to send them to the Idaho Stampede, Portland's D-League affiliate. While that doesn't necessarily mean those two are getting cut, Haynes points out via Twitter that NBA clubs are allowed to protect up to three training camp invitees for their D-League affliates, once those players clear NBA waivers. So, it seems likely that's the plan for Harper and Lauderdale.

Haynes also tweets that GM Neil Olshey said he'll make roster cuts Saturday, which would allow the players to clear waivers by 5pm Eastern time Monday, the deadline for teams to be at the 15-man regular season roster limit. Harper and Lauderdale won't be waived before Saturday, Haynes says, since Olshey has maintained that he wants to wait as long as possible to make his cuts (Twitter link). The Blazers currently have 20 players on the roster, which is the preseason limit. Six are candidates to be cut, since they are all without even a partial guarantee, and that list includes Harper and Lauderdale. The other 14 have fully guaranteed deals. Mike Tokito of The Oregonian identifies Coby Karl and Justin Holiday as two likely candidates to be the third player waived and protected for Idaho (Twitter link).

Harper, a 6'4" guard, spent last year with the Croatian club KK Cibona after going undrafted out of Morehead State in 2011. He played with the Nuggets in summer league, but has registered just four minutes of playing time in preseason with the Blazers. Lauderdale, a 6'8" Ohio State product, was also passed over in the 2011 draft, and played with Turow Zgorzelec in Poland last season. He was with the Warriors' summer league team, but like Harper, hasn't seen much preseason action, garnering only six minutes.

Western Notes: Eyenga, Harden, Green, Karl

October 23rd, 2012 at 11:40am CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers liked Christian Eyenga, who they acquired last year from the Cavaliers, and after the third-year swingman was waived by the Magic earlier today, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports wondered (via Twitter) if Los Angeles could try to get him back. However, because Eyenga was traded by the Lakers to Orlando in August, L.A. is ineligible to either claim him off waivers or sign him before his contract expires next July, so Eyenga will have to find work elsewhere.

Here are a few more late-morning notes out of the Western Conference:

There's no question that the Suns would love to get a chance to sign James Harden and would likely make him an aggressive offer if he reaches restricted free agency, says Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. However, Coro wonders if it might be as futile an endeavor as Phoenix's pursuit of Eric Gordon was this past summer.
Having signed a three-year contract with the Spurs this summer, Danny Green is excited about having some security this season, says Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld. "It’s very nice," Green said. "Obviously, it allows me to play a little bit more comfortably, to know that this organization is behind me and they want me here…. Even though I got that security, I’m still taking that time to approach the game like I did before without the contract."
Coby Karl hasn't officially been cut from the Trail Blazers' roster, but he's expecting that to happen soon, as he tells CSNNW.com.
Even with the Mavericks hopeful that Dirk Nowitzki could return from knee surgery by mid-November, Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com wonders how the team's chemistry will be affected by his absence.
Agent Andrew Vye tells Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston that his client Royce White has a plan in place for traveling to games that everyone is on board with, "including the league, the union, the Rockets, and Royce and us."

Trail Blazers Sign Coby Karl

October 1st, 2012 at 8:10am CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers have added another player to their training camp roster, officially signing Coby Karl, according to the team's official Twitter feed. The 29-year-old Karl is the son of Nuggets' coach George Karl.

Karl, who went undrafted out of Boise State in 2007, has appeared in just 24 total NBA games for the Lakers, Cavaliers, and Warriors. Since being waived by the Nuggets in August 2010, the 6'5" shooting guard has played overseas in Spain and Italy, and was also part of the Timberwolves' 2012 summer squad in Las Vegas.

The signing of Karl bring Portland's roster to 19 contracts, including at least four that are non-guaranteed. Adam Morrison, Dallas Lauderdale, Demonte Harper, and Karl appear to be the odd men out unless they make a significant impact in camp and preseason action. Sasha Pavlovic's contract is also believed not to be fully guaranteed.