Kobe Bryant Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Kobe, Kelly, Parker

September 19th, 2013 at 6:47pm CST by Ryan Raroque

As Lakers' star Kobe Bryant continues his path toward recovery, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News hears from team athletic trainer Gary Vitti that the 35-year-old guard is a few weeks away from advancing to full-weight bearing running and hasn't suffered any setbacks. With that being said, Vitti added that there still isn't a projected return date. Here's more out of the Western Conference tonight, including another injury update from Medina:

As for most recent second-round pick Ryan Kelly (whom Vitti says is "asymptomatic"), the trainers have still decided to take a conservative approach with his rehab and aren't sure when he'll be returning to action either.
Tony Parker tells Mark Woods of ESPN that general manager R.C. Buford wants him to play less minutes at Eurobasket, but added that he has a great relationship with the Spurs and appreciates them letting him play for the French national team.
Dan McCarney of Spurs Nation relays a snippet of Marco Belinelli's interview with HoopsHype, noting that the 27-year-old guard chose San Antonio over several other teams because of the opportunity to play for Gregg Popovich and a chance to win a championship.
Rockets guard Jeremy Lin tells Mark Berman of Fox 26 about how great it was to work out with Hakeem Olajuwon and says that "anybody with (Dwight Howard) is a deadly combination" in response to the 50-year-old's recent comments about Lin and Howard being a potent duo next season (All Twitter links).

Western Notes: Jazz, Lakers, Iguodala, Spurs

September 19th, 2013 at 3:09pm CST by Luke Adams

Let's round up a few Thursday notes from around the Western Conference….

In a piece for The Score, Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com explains how Utah's past has informed its present. As Deeks writes, the team is retooling by stocking up on draft picks rather than signing a slew of free agents. The Jazz did the same thing nearly a decade ago, but are doing it better this time around, says Deeks.
Kobe Bryant's health and his ability to return to form in the 2013/14 season could play a significant role in next summer's free agent market, according to Sam Amick of USA Today, who explains that the Lakers' plans could be significantly affected by whether or not Kobe shows signs of slowing down.
Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News spoke to Andre Iguodala about working out with his new teammates, as the swingman prepares to enter the first season of his four-year deal with the Warriors.
The Spurs announced a number of front office promotions and hirings in a press release today. Among them: Director of scouting Brian Pauga has been named the new general manager of the Spurs' D-League affiliate, the Austin Toros.

Odds & Ends: Kings Arena, Kobe, Raptors

September 14th, 2013 at 11:00pm CST by Spencer Lund

The number of signatures necessary to vote on the public subsidy of a new Kings arena in Sacramento appears to be closing in on the minimum needed for the 2014 ballot, reports Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee.

But the success of that ballot measure hinges on the ability of Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork (STOP) to find the thousands of signatures financed by Chris Hansen. Hansen was recently fined $50K for contributing $100K to STOP in an effort curb Sacramento's plan to fund a new arena in an effort to buy the team and move it to Seattle.

Here are some some more links from around the league during a slow Saturday in September as most of the NBA world is watching the Mayweather-Alvarez fight…

Nike PR Director Heidi Burgett shared a video of a Nike talk, via Twitter, where Kobe Bryant discussed what was going through his head after he tore his Achilles tendon during the April game that ended his 2012/13 season prematurely (h/t SI's Ben Golliver).
Doug Smith of the Toronto Star confirms Angolan media reports that MVP of the African championships Carlos Morais will be in training camp with the Raptors (Twitter).
Former Mavs and Pistons player Mark Aguirre told the Star-Telegram's Full Court Press blog that basketball on both coasts has shifted with the Clippers overtaking the Lakers in Los Angeles and the Nets overtaking the Knicks in New York.
Star-Telegram beat writer Dwain Price adds, in a tweet, that when asked about the Heat's chances for a 3-peat, Aguirre said, "I don’t know if any of the other teams that are pushing them 4 the title understand how 2 win the big game.''
Matt Moore of CBS Sports believes there would have been a more formal investigation if the revelations are true about three members of the 1981/82 Knicks colluding to throw games for their drug dealer.

Lakers Notes: Landry, Bryant, James, Jackson

September 11th, 2013 at 8:53pm CST by Alex Lee

Let's round up the latest from the always-busy rumor mill in Los Angeles:

Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register tweets that he expects the Lakers to sign Marcus Landry, younger brother of Carl Landry, in the near future. Ding also adds that Landry, if signed, would have a good shot to make the team. This sounds very similar to several reports we heard in late July regarding Landry and the Lakers, but no official deal was reached. Landry last appeared in 18 games in the 2009/10 season with the Knicks and Celtics. He has since bounced between the D-League and Europe, and played with the Reno Bighorns of the D-League last season.
With second-rounder Ryan Kelly not expected to be ready for camp, Ding tweets that three of Landry, Xavier Henry, Shawne Williams and Elias Harris could make the Lakers' roster. A chunk of Harris' deal is guaranteed, making him a good bet for a roster spot, but there’s been no confirmation of any guarantee for Henry, Williams or Landry, assuming he is signed.
It is hard to consider Kobe Bryant's looming presence on the Lakers as anything but a negative recruiting tool when it comes to near-future premiere free agents, writes Andy Kamenetzky of Land O'Lakers, who agrees with the notion that LeBron James, or any of the league's other elite players, would be hesitant to join Bryant in Los Angeles.
Jim Buss and his father, the late Jerry Buss, knew that the Lakers couldn't keep the expensive team they showcased last year together past the 2012/13 season, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, who says this sentiment made it difficult for the team to secure Phil Jackson as coach. Ownership knew they had to rebuild soon, Shelburne says, largely due to the extreme luxury tax situation they would face this season. Because of this, the Lakers didn't feel right giving Jackson a two-year pact knowing the second year would be a transition year, she adds (Twitter links here).

Western Notes: Lakers, Landry, Blazers, Frye

August 31st, 2013 at 9:16pm CST by Spencer Lund

The Clippers signed Antawn Jamison earlier this week, and Jamison conducted a radio interview with ESPN 710 in Los Angeles on Friday, transcribed and given context by ESPN Los Angeles scribe Ramona Shelburne this morning.

In the interview Jamison spoke about last season under the microscope with the star-studded Lakers, applauded the competitive drive of Kobe Bryant, and discussed his sometimes strained relationship with coach Mike D'Antoni, who removed Jamison from the rotation late in the year. Said Jamison of Bryant:

"I would never count Kobe Bryant out of anything. I've played with some special players. Gilbert Arenas when he was [in Washington D.C], at the top of his game, LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal [in Cleveland]. I've played with a lot but never played with an individual player who had the type of mindset, the drive that he has. If [Bryant] says he's going to win a sixth ring, believe me, he's going to do everything possible to get that ring."

Jamison also said there was little communication or rapport between the players and D'Antoni after Mike Brown was fired five games into the season.

"Mike was pretty much put in a difficult situation. There was no training camp where he could get a feel for guys. There was a breakdown of communication when we first got there. And throughout the season it was kind of up and down."

Here's more from around the Western Conference, including a possible D-League addition to the Lakers next season…

The Los Angeles Times' Eric Pincus shares the offseason workout video (via Ryan Ellerbusch of Maximum Exposure) of Lakers summer league standout forward Marcus Landry.
Landry – younger brother of Carl Landry – averaged 15.2 PPG in 5 games this summer and in February was named to the Futures All-Star roster for the 2013 D-League All-Star Game.
Pincus adds that the Lakers are planning to bring 16-20 players to training camp despite having just 12 players under contract. They're expected to sign second round pick Ryan Kelly.
Sam Tongue of Blazers Edge wonders whether Blazers President Chris McGowan can enhance fan experience by upgrading their digital properties to "talk with the fans, rather than at them."
The Boston Globe's Gary Washburn tweets that Suns GM Ryan McDonough says they'll know whether Channing Frye will play in 2013/14 in the next few weeks, but he's "optimistic he'll be able to play."

Western Notes: Bryant, Nuggets, D’Antoni

August 24th, 2013 at 8:04pm CST by Spencer Lund

As fallout from the Ric Bucher revelations about Dwight Howard's demands to remain with the Lakers continues, CBS Sports' Matt Moore looks at how Bucher's quotes have been portrayed in the media. While listing the headlines, Moore shows that they've primarily focused on the Lakers protecting Kobe Bryant in lieu of Howard's stipulation that he not be re-signed next summer.

As we already updated, Howard never explicitly said that he'd re-sign with the Lakers if Mike D'Antoni were ousted as coach. The focus in the media, as Moore shows, was on the back-and-forth between Bryant and Howard: two superstars possessing egos that wouldn't allow them to co-exist on the same roster, and how the Lakers would rather let Dwight walk than entertain the idea of Bryant leaving LA.

Here's some more on the Lakers chances next season, and a report card on the Nuggets tumultuous offseason…

Sports Illustrated's Ben Golliver gives the Nuggets an F in his recent offseason report card grade at SI's The Point Forward blog.
Golliver compares the offseason of the Pacers with the Nuggets to show how, despite both teams experiencing impressive regular seasons, the Pacers continued to trend up in the playoffs, and the Nuggets failed to keep everything together this summer.
They lost GM Masai Ujiri – who accepted the Raptors' high-paying GM role – and the 2013 NBA Coach of the Year George Karl – who they did not retain for the final year of his contract.
Not only did the Nuggets lose their coach and GM, but they also lost free agent Andre Iguodala to the Warriors in a three-team deal involving the Jazz, Nuggets and Warriors.
Unlike the Pacers – who were able to re-sign David West this summer and significantly upgrade their bench – the Nuggets signed offense-first players like Nate Robinson and J.J. Hickson and allowed others, like defensive wing-stopper Iggy, to bolt the sinking ship.
HoopsWorld's Jabari Davis put together a plan for the Lakers while pretending to be their GM during a chat with readers earlier today.
In his plan, Davis said the Lakers should try and land a top 12 spot in next summer's heralded 2014 NBA Draft.
Davis also discusses the possibility that Jordan Farmar and Steve Blake improve next season, how the additions of Nick Young, Wesley Johnson and Farmer's athleticism will translate well with D'Antoni's uptempo offense and the chances Bryant sits out the full season – similar to Derrick Rose last season with the Bulls – while they attempt to position themselves higher in the the 2014 draft.
Davis also believes the Lakers can win between 44-47 games next season and finish with a 6-8 seed in the West if Pau Gasol, Steve Nash and Bryant all play at least 70 games together.

Howard Wanted Kobe, D’Antoni Out Of L.A.

August 24th, 2013 at 2:24pm CST by Zachary Links

2:24pm: Bucher clarifies his earlier post, writing that Howard never specifically told the Lakers that he'd re-sign if the team fired D'Antoni (Sulia link). Bucher doesn't add any more about Howard's feelings toward Bryant, however.

8:41am: Since signing with the Rockets this summer, Dwight Howard has denied that he issued demands to the Lakers that weren't met. However, various people close to the situation say that there were two prerequisites for the big man to stay: fire coach Mike D'Antoni and amnesty, or "at the very least muzzle," Kobe Bryant, according to Ric Bucher of 95.7 The Game (Sulia link).

The Lakers asked Dwight to be patient on both fronts for at least another season, telling him that he would have to tough things out for another year, according to one source. However, Lakers VP of basketball operations Jim Buss spoke with Bucher and it sounds as though he's planning to keep Kobe well beyond 2014.

"Dwight didn't want to play with Kobe for 2-3 more years," Buss said. "I'm going to stand behind Kobe because of his history with the franchise."

Howard's rift with D'Antoni is well known and the big man reportedly felt as though he was lost in the Lakers' offense last season. This isn't the first time that we've heard that Howard was looking for a change on the bench or for Kobe to get out of the picture, but it now appears that his requests were closer to demands and those demands being met could have kept him in L.A.

Howard's gutsy demands don't come completely without precedent in Lakers' history. When Bryant re-signed in 2004, it coincided with Shaq being shipped to Miami and Phil Jackson being let go. However, the front office didn't need to be pressured to make either move at the time as they were unhappy with both men.

Nearly ten years later, it seems that the Lakers had the opportunity to hold on to the summer's most prized free agent. However, the price tag was simply too high for them.

Lakers Notes: Kobe, Paul, Stern, Fisher

August 16th, 2013 at 8:54am CST by Zachary Links

Last night, Kobe Bryant sat down for a chat with Jimmy Kimmel in Los Angeles for an AXS TV special titled "Kobe Up Close". Here's a look at Bryant's candid interview from the Nokia Theatre..

Bryant was asked if he's certain that he'll be a Laker for life and he responded in the affirmative, tweets Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. Of course, Kobe will be a free agent following the 2014 season, but it doesn't sound as though the Lakers star plans on making a big change next summer.
Chris Paul personally called Bryant to inform him that the proposed deal to send him to the other Los Angeles team was squashed by the league office, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Paul began the phone call by exclaiming, "Man, you won't believe it!"
Kimmel asked Kobe if Paul should be a Laker today. Bryant responded, "Legally speaking, yes. David Stern speaking? No," tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
When asked if he could have one former teammate return, Bryant said that it would be Derek Fisher because "that's my guy," tweets McMenamin. The veteran guard re-signed with the Thunder back in July.
Bryant acknowledged that he might not be ready for the season opener, according to the AP.
Kimmel asked Bryant if he'd be interested in owning a team after retirement and the guard inferred that he'd like to own a piece of the Lakers, tweets Shelburne.
Lakers assistant Mark Madsen told Kennedy (Twitter link) that offseason additions Jordan Farmar, Nick Young, and Wesley Johnson have already begun working out in the L.A. gym this summer. The former-player-turned-coach is impressed to see the newest members of the club taking initiative.

Western Notes: Kobe, Young, Mavericks

August 15th, 2013 at 11:04pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Sitting outside of Staples Center tonight with late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, Lakers guard Kobe Bryant says that he'll never accept being called the greatest Laker ever from Magic Johnson considering that he learned so much from him. As for his injury timetable, he's not sure if he'll be back by opening night at this point but is trying his best to get ready (ESPN Los Angeles' Arash Markazi via Twitter). Here are the rest of tonight's miscellaneous tidbits from the Western Conference:

Markazi and ESPN LA's Ramona Shelburne relay that Kobe would have picked North Carolina instead of Duke had he not decided to make the jump to the NBA out of high school, and shared that the Clippers feared they wouldn't be taken seriously if they drafted a 17-year-old despite telling him that he'd given them the best workout they've ever had (All Twitter links).
Flabbergasted that his team was projected to finish 12th in the West this year, Nick Young is "upset and ready for the season," writes Markazi: "How are you going to be ranked that low with Kobe and Pau and Nash? There’s always going to be haters and we just have to keep proving them wrong."
Tim Cowlishaw of SportsDayDFW thinks that the seventh or eighth-seed will be the best-case scenario for the Mavericks if all goes well this year. Jarret Johnson of the Star-Telegram looks at why there's optimism surrounding the team heading into the season.
Noting that six general managers around the league have previous ties with the Spurs along with four former coaching assistants now leading teams of their own, Dan McCarney of Spurs Nation describes why San Antonio's structure is a model that many teams want to follow but will find hard to duplicate.
Timberwolves' president Flip Saunders says that Kevin Love is now 242 lbs after playing last season at 250 (Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press via Twitter).
Paul Coro of AZ Central tweets a picture of the Suns' new uniforms, which were debuted tonight.

Kupchak On D’Antoni, Kobe, Nash, Lakers’ Future

August 15th, 2013 at 7:43pm CST by Ryan Raroque

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak participated in a radio interview with ESPN's Colin Cowherd earlier today to discuss a few topics surrounding the franchise. He acknowledged that the transition from Mike Brown to Mike D'Antoni last season was "clumsy" and admitted that there was some feeling that Phil Jackson would coach the team during 2012-13 before eventually handing over the job to D'Antoni. We'll relay more of Kupchak's noteworthy comments, and you can read them below (credit goes to ESPN Los Angeles' Ramona Shelburne and Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times):

On the health of Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant:

"Steve, to my understanding, is close to 100 percent, but he's not as young as he once was and Kobe's a big question mark. We're very optimistic, he's getting treatment every day, he's in the facility right now, but he hasn't been on a basketball court. Uncertainty going forward, I guess with our health status would be the biggest question mark."

Regarding any talks of a contract extension with Kobe:

"There really (have) been no discussions beyond next year for obvious reasons…You have a player who is up in age and just had a devastating injury. Obviously, we created an environment with our team where were looking to have financial flexibility a year from now, so that plays into it."

On the possibility of Pau Gasol remaining a Laker beyond this season:

"We're in a cycle…We're hopeful that within a year from now, we'll have enough flexibility. We're hopeful that Pau and Kobe can continue to play and we'll have options to rebuild the team."

Thoughts on the idea of tanking for a lottery pick in 2014:

"The ping-pong lottery thing, even if you have the very worst team in the NBA, you're not guaranteed to get the first pick…I'm not sure getting into the lottery and ending up with 10, 11, 12, 13 or 14 is going to give us a top one or two pick in the draft…We still may end up drafting 12, 13 or 14, which is not a great place to draft if you just look back on drafts in this league."

More comments about the 2014 offseason:

"We'll have a lot of financial resources a year from now…I don't know if we'll get a star player to leave his home team to come here like (Dwight Howard) did to go to Houston. He took a huge financial hit just to do that…We have a pick next year, which is going to be a very good draft. We're very comfortable with the flexibility…It just doesn't mean you get free agents you can take players [via trade]. There are a lot of things you can do with cap room."