Lakers Rumors: Bass, Young, Kupchak, Hibbert

Newly acquired Brandon Bass will be in the mix for a starting job, coach Byron Scott told Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News. The former Celtic, who signed with L.A. as a free agent this week, played for Scott when he began his career in New Orleans. “I’m hoping that Julius [Randle] takes the lead and jumps on that opportunity to be our starting power forward,” Scott said. “But I’ll let it play out.”

There’s more from Los Angeles:

  • GM Mitch Kupchak told Medina in the same story that Nick Young, the subject of frequent trade rumors, needs to expand his game to have a long-term future with the Lakers. “He has to convince our coaching staff he can play within the system,” Kupchak said. “That doesn’t only mean score the ball. That means defending and doing the ltitle things, which I know he can do.” Young may be expendable after the free agent signing of Lou Williams.
  • Kupchak is adopting a “live-and-learn” attitude about this year’s free agency failings, writes Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com. The Lakers had meetings with LaMarcus Aldridge, DeAndre Jordan and Greg Monroe, but all elected to sign elsewhere. “There are 30 very, very competitive NBA teams,” Kupchak said. “All general managers are smart. They’re armed with brilliant supporting staffs, owners that are very successful, and it’s a very, very competitive market. It’s unrealistic to think in this day and age that every time you go into the free-agent market that you’re going to get exactly who you target.” He also disputed reports of a disastrous first meeting with Aldridge, saying it wasn’t “as bad as people have heard it was, nor do I think it was as good as we hoped it would be.”
  • With the bonus added in, Roy Hibbert‘s new salary cap figure is $15,592,216, tweets Eric Pincus of The Los Angeles Times. That number is up from $15,514,031. Hibbert’s contract includes a 15% trade kicker worth more than $2.3MM, but he waived part of that total and will receive $78,185.
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