Blazers Have Strong Interest In Mitch Kupchak
In their latest report for ESPN.com, Chris Broussard and Marc Stein introduce a new name to the list of candidates for the Trail Blazers' general manager opening: current Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak. According to the report, the Blazers have "strong interest" in interviewing Kupchak for the position.
The Blazers re-opened their search for a permanent GM late last month. The team has been interviewing candidates for the position, though presumed top choice Steve Kerr has said he's not interested.
It's not known whether Kupchak would have interest in the Blazers' job or whether the Lakers would be open to granting permission for an interview. Kupchak has served as the Lakers' GM since 2000, though as Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com points out (via Twitter), he doesn't necessarily have the same decision-making power as some other GMs, due to the presence of Jim Buss. The Lakers' executive vice president of player personnel is widely considered to have the deciding vote on basketball decisions.
Jim Buss Talks Lakers, Bynum, Kobe, CBA
Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com conducted an extensive, two–part Q&A session with Lakers executive vice president of player personnel Jim Buss, in which Buss discussed a number of Lakers-related topics. Here are a few highlights from the interview, which is a must-read for Lakers fans:
- Andrew Bynum is "obviously going to be our center for a long time," says Buss. The young center will be eligible for unrestricted free agency after next season, and Buss says the Lakers aren't concerned with Bynum's injury history or any attitude issues.
- Buss and the Lakers have considered the direction of the franchise post-Kobe Bryant, but Buss isn't sure at this point whether Kobe will want to keep playing for another year or two (or more) when his current contract expires or whether he'll retire.
- Buss and Bryant "talk all the time now," and Buss says he has some regrets about not involving Kobe more in last year's coaching search.
- Making "prudent decisions on everything" will be crucial in keeping the Lakers headed in the right direction under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, says Buss. He also suggests being more aggressive in the draft will be a way to deal with the more punitive penalties on taxpaying teams.
- Here's Buss on how he, his father (Lakers owner Jerry Buss), and GM Mitch Kupchak make major decisions: "The three of us will have an opinion, we’ll argue our opinion and then eventually, it gets hashed out to where we’re all on board or one guy isn’t (and) two are and it doesn’t really matter which two or which one. Except for my dad. If it’s two against him, then we’ll probably lose that battle."
Pacific Notes: Bynum, Warriors, McGuire, Kings
The Lakers are on a four-game winning streak, but haven't been able to pull away from their cross-town rivals — the Clippers have won four straight too, remaining within a single game of first place in the Pacific Division. The Clips have five games to make up the ground and potentially avoid a first-round matchup with the Grizzlies, but it won't be easy. The Lakers hold the tiebreaker, so their lead is essentially two games. Still, the Lakers face the Spurs twice and the Thunder once in the next week, so the Pacific race is far from over.
Here are a few of the latest updates out of the division:
- Taking an in-depth look at Andrew Bynum's recent "youthful rebellion," Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com says locking up the young center long-term won't necessarily be an automatic decision for the Lakers.
- Warriors coach Mark Jackson would like to solidify the small forward position heading into next season, writes Marcus Thompson of the Bay Area News Group. The Warriors have Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, David Lee, and Andrew Bogut locked in as starters at the other four positions.
- Dominic McGuire believes his all-around game makes him a strong candidate to start for the Warriors next year, assuming they re-sign him, as he tells Thompson: "You put me around four scorers like that, you’ll see more from me."
- Dale Kasler of the Sacramento Bee and Tom Ziller of Sactown Royalty continue to provide updates on the Kings' arena situation, which doesn't have a clear direction at this point.
Sessions Looking For Long-Term Lakers Deal
Lakers point guard Ramon Sessions is expected to decline a player option for $4.6MM and become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season with hopes of returning to Los Angeles on a long-term deal, writes Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times.
Sessions said that he feels like he has been given an opportunity with the Lakers to show the NBA what he's capable of doing as a starting point guard, something that he hasn't been afforded in other stops along his career.
"It's crazy. My whole career, there's never been a point where I kind of had control," he said. "Now I've got control."
After leaving school early and barely being drafted in 2007 by the Bucks, Sessions struggled to prove that he had the talent to become an impact player in the NBA. From injuries to stints in the D-League to backing up veterans, Sessions often found himself questioning if he would ever make something of himself in the NBA. While he never enjoyed sustained success in any of his myriad stops before arriving in Los Angeles, Sessions showed flashes of brilliance with a Bucks team-record 24 assists in a game his rookie year and a 44-point outburst against the Pistons during his second season.
The former Nevada star was acquired from the Cavs at the trade deadline and has provided the Lakers with a youthful spark as the team's new starting point guard after trading Derek Fisher to the Rockets. Sessions, 26, has been a major reason why the Lakers are currently the third seed in the Western Conference with his 13.1 PPG and 7.1 APG since arriving in Los Angeles. Given his strong level of play and a chance to showcase his talents during the playoffs, Sessions will command a great deal of attention during free agency if he can't strike a deal with the Lakers.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Kings, Suns
The playoff-bound Clippers knocked off the Warriors by the score of 112-104 in Saturday's early action. Led by 28 points and 13 assists from MVP candidate Chris Paul, the Clippers moved to within one game of the idle Lakers for the division lead and the third seed in the playoffs. Here's the latest news and happenings from around the Pacific Division.
- Matt Moore of CBSSports.com says that while the Lakers aren't the favorites to make it out of the Western Conference this season but nothing would surprise him given the way the team has played this season. Moore says the Lakers have looked like a team that could win the NBA title this season while just as easily ending as a squad that gets pummeled come playoff time. A healthy Andrew Bynum has given the Lakers a franchise center but the fate of the squad rests on head coach Mike Brown's shoulders and the game plan he draws up going forward.
- While the Sacramento arena deal is seemingly dead at the moment, Kings co-owner George Maloof would be willing to restart negotiations if Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson removed himself from the process, writes J. Michael Falgoust of USA Today. According to Falgoust, Maloof is unhappy with how Johnson has treated Maloof and the rest of his family members and how Johnson has portrayed the family publicly. "We're disappointed in comments made by the mayor that we feel were shots to us that were unfair and not truthful."
- Paul Coro of The Republic considers the Suns' chances for making the playoffs now that they have finished the most difficult part of their closing schedule. With three spots in the Western Conference up for grabs, the Suns have an opportunity to make up lost ground as they play five of their next six games at home. If the team comes up short, it would make the second straight season in which the Suns missed the playoffs.
Pacific Rumors: Barnes, Kings, Udoh, Hill
Three of the five Pacific Division teams are in action today, as the Clippers and Warriors clash in a matinee while the Suns travel to San Antonio for a game tonight. Let's check the pulse of the Pacific:
- Matt Barnes is in the waning days of his two-year, $3.67MM contract with the Lakers, but his ability to step up while Kobe Bryant has missed games with a shin injury has helped keep the team afloat, write Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times and Mike Trudell of Lakers.com.
- Kings coach Keith Smart is trying to keep his players focused amidst all the arena-related upheaval in Sacramento, and speaks favorably of the progress center Hassan Whiteside made this year before getting knocked out for the rest of the season with a sprained right ankle, writes Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee. The team must decide by July 15 whether to guarantee his $854K contract for next season.
- Ekpe Udoh was caught off guard when he found out from a television report that the Warriors had dealt him to the Bucks, reports Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. "Coming off the court in Sacramento, I will never forget seeing on TV that I had been traded," Udoh said. "It's surreal, really. But it's a business, and I got a firsthand glimpse of that. I understand that now, and now I'm with the Bucks, and I'm going to give it my all."
- Tim Griffin of the San Antonio Express-News talked to a few Spurs players who are impressed with the way 39-year-old Grant Hill continues to perform as one of the league's top perimeter defenders for the Suns. Hill will be a free agent this summer.
Odds & Ends: Lee, Bynum, Howard, Spurs, Wolves
It's been a full day in the NBA, with a dozen games on the schedule and plenty of news coming out of the Board of Governors meetings in New York, including a new owner for the Hornets and turmoil in Sacramento. Here are a few links to round out an eventful Friday the 13th:
- David Lee is likely out for the year with a groin strain and stress reaction, the Associated Press reports. The Warriors announced that team doctors have advised him to rest until he's healed. Golden State may put a fourth rookie, Mickell Gladness, in their depleted starting lineup, notes Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle.
- Fran Blinebury of NBA.com argues a change of scenery might have been best for Andrew Bynum and Dwight Howard, and speculates that the Lakers and Magic may regret not swapping their centers before the trade deadline this year.
- Mike Monroe of the Express-News takes a look at how the Spurs are integrating midseason pickups Boris Diaw and Stephen Jackson into their system.
- The last days of the season will be critical for Wolves Michael Beasley, Anthony Randolph, Malcolm Lee and Wesley Johnson, whose futures are up in the air, writes Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune.
- The NBA expects to lose money this season on the heels of significant losses the last two years, but is projecting a profit for next season, writes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (hat tip to TNT's David Aldridge).
Notable April Extensions
April is a time when most teams have set their rosters and are either making a playoff push or evaluating the assets they have going into the offseason. That doesn't mean front offices are ghost towns this time of year, and last couple of April have featured some notable contract extensions. No such deals are on the horizon this year, but let's take a look back and see how these late-season decisions have panned out for teams and players:
- On April 2, 2010, Kobe Bryant and the Lakers agreed to a three-year, $83.5MM extension that kicked in this season. It's certainly paying dividends for L.A. so far, as Bryant is leading the league with 28.1 PPG and averaging 38.4 MPG, almost five more minutes a game more than last season despite the condensed schedule. Though he's missed the last few games with an injury to his shin, Bryant, 33, has looked as spry and healthy as ever after receiving experimental treatment on his knees in the offseason. The team expects Bryant to continue playing after the extension is up, and seems committed to making him a Laker for life. We'll see come 2014, but for now, it seems Bryant is content and will continue to produce for L.A. as one of the NBA's highest paid players.
- Manu Ginobili and the Spurs agreed to a three-year, $38.9MM extension April 8, 2010. The deal makes him the highest paid player on the Spurs aside from Tim Duncan, giving him more per year than Tony Parker. It took effect last season, when Ginobili became more of a focal point of the offense, taking the second greatest number of shots per game in his career (5.5) and delivering his second highest scoring average (17.4). He also tied a career high with 4.9 APG. A full-time starter last season, he's most appeared off the bench this year, and his numbers have tailed off, in part due to a broken left hand and a strained left oblique that caused him to miss significant time. Still, Ginobili is making a career-best 51.3% of his shots from the floor, and the Spurs continue to win, so the deal continues to look smart for both sides.
- Marcus Camby signed an incentive-laden two-year extension with the Blazers on April 20, 2010. The base pay is $17.7MM, and there was $7.8MM available to Camby if he reached certain benchmarks, though at least $1.49MM of that won't be claimed. The Blazers sent Camby to the Rockets in March, the same month the veteran big man turned 38. He's seen fewer minutes the past two seasons, but will go into free agency this summer having proven he's still one of the league's most effective rebounders. In fact, he's averaged more than 14 rebounds per 36 minutes during the extension, a number he had never before reached. He led the NBA in blocks per game four times, and has averaged 1.8 blocks a night with Houston. His board work and basket protection were certainly assets that helped the Blazers claim a playoff spot last year, and it appears the same will be true for the Rockets this season. Still, his likely incentives push his cap hold to more than $11.2MM this season, and it's probably a stretch to say someone who plays only about half the game and is not much of an offensive factor is worth that amount of money.
- One year to the day after the Blazers extended Camby, Zach Randolph and the Grizzlies agreed to a four-year, $66MM extension that begins this season. The final year is a player option, and the $66MM figure doesn't include $1.25MM per year in unlikely incentives. It represented quite a comeback for Randolph, whom the Clippers saw as expendable before trading him straight up for Quentin Richardson in the summer of 2009. With the ink barely dry on the extension, Randolph powered Memphis to an unlikely playoff run last year, averaging 22.2 PPG and 10.8 RPG in 13 postseason games. A knee injury caused Randolph to miss most of the deal's first year, however, and he's putting up his lowest scoring and rebounding numbers in nine years as coach Lionel Hollins works him back in a bench role. I doubt that, with the money he's making, Randolph will be out of the starting lineup for too long. Injuries happen, but it's disconcerting to see Randolph go down in just the first year of his deal. Even at 30 years old, he carries 253 pounds on his 6'9" frame, and it makes you wonder what condition his knees will be in come 2015.
Metta World Peace Considered Retirement
A month ago, it was reported that Metta World Peace was looking into retirement. At the time, it sounded like World Peace, who was an amnesty candidate for the Lakers, would merely use the threat of retirement as leverage in case he was amnestied and was claimed by a team he didn't want to join. However, last night, the man formerly known as Ron Artest told reporters (including Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com) that he seriously considered retiring last year, due to a lumbar disorder in his lower back.
"I just thought my body was maybe messed up," World Peace said. "I was like, 'Yeah, 15 years is a lot of years. I got two more years on my contract and I could potentially be done.'"
The pain in his L4 and L5 vertebrae was affecting World Peace's jumping ability and range of motion in his legs and feet. Although the problem was identified last May, the 32-year-old forward was unable to participate in a rehab program with the Lakers' training staff for most of the year, since contact between team employees and players was banned during the lockout. World Peace came into camp overweight and with work to be done on his back, but says he's "getting in more shape every day."
While World Peace could still be amnestied by the Lakers later this year, his improved health has significantly reduced the likelihood of retirement.
"They set me up with a great program and I've been jumping, rebounding and, wow," World Peace said. "Now that I'm taking care of my body, I don't know. I don't know what could happen now. But, I'll just keep working hard and see where it takes me."
Lamar Odom’s Trade Value
We heard this morning that the Warriors have Lamar Odom on their radar as a potential offseason addition, but Matt Steinmetz of CSNBayArea.com questions whether Odom would be a wise investment for Golden State. The Warriors need sure-things, Steinmetz argues, and they don't want to bring in a player that could be a locker-room distraction.
Noting that even trying to sign Odom to the mid-level exception might be ill-advised, Steinmetz all but rules out the possibility of giving up any assets to trade for the veteran. One GM tells Chris Mannix of SI.com that different teams may value the 32-year-old differently, since he's only tradeable to teams for whom he'd want to play (Twitter link). That makes his trade value limited, at best.
Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com is even more pessimistic about what Odom could bring the Mavericks in a trade. The most likely scenario, in MacMahon's opinion, is Dallas essentially paying a team to execute Odom's buyout. If the Mavs dealt Odom, cash, and a second-round pick to a team with enough cap room to absorb Odom's salary, they'd save $2.4MM in 2012/13 cap space and create a trade exception worth $8.2MM. The team acquiring Odom, meanwhile, would sacrifice a small amount of cap room, but could ultimately come out even as far as cash goes, and gain a second-rounder in the deal.
It wouldn't surprise me if a team was able to talk itself into rolling the dice on Odom, and traded for him before or during the June draft. His upside is tantalizing, and perhaps a year removed from this season's drama, he'll bounce back to his previous level of production. But the Lakers are the only team that can be reasonably confident in what they're getting in Odom, and they're the only NBA club that can't acquire him until next season.
It may not have the same amount of intrigue as the draft-lottery balls or Deron Williams' impending free agency, but Odom's fate will be an offseason subplot worth tracking. If he can recapture the form that earned him the Sixth Man of the Year award in 2010/11, Odom has the potential to be a huge bargain for his new team. If not, he could be a waste of $8MM+ for one more year.