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Pacific Rumors: Lakers, Walton, Dukan

December 7th, 2015 at 9:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Power forward Julius Randle and point guard D’Angelo Russell were not happy with Lakers coach Byron Scott’s decision on Monday to remove them from the starting lineup, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. Scott made the surprising announcement that Randle, the team’s lottery pick last year, and Russell, the No. 2 overall pick this season, would be replaced in the lineup by another rookie, power forward Larry Nance Jr., and veteran point guard Lou Williams. “You’re never going to be thrilled about it as a competitor,” Randle told the team’s traveling media. “But it’s out of your control. What I can control is go out there and play hard like we’ve been doing.” Russell felt he was developing better chemistry with his teammates, Medina continues. “I started to figure it out and this happened,” Russell said. “I don’t feel like this will get in the way of my growth.” Scott did not tell either player his thought process for the lineup changes but he could alter it again during the next five to 10 games, Medina adds.

In other news around the Pacific Division:

  • Nick Young admits that exasperation over his team’s 3-17 start led to his ejection against the Pistons on Sunday night, Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com writes. The Lakers’ backup shooting guard was tossed in the fourth quarter of a 111-91 loss when he shoved Detroit forward Anthony Tolliver in the neck after a hard foul. Young was not suspended by the league. “It’s tough,” he said to Holmes and other members of the media. “There’s a lot of frustration. It’s a struggle and it’s building up.”
  • Luke Walton credits his former Lakers coach, Phil Jackson, with showing him how to comport himself in his current job, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports. The interim Warriors coach discovered the value of staying grounded through Jackson. “Phil was the first coach I had — well, I shouldn’t say the first coach that I had, but the first one who made me recognize it as a bigger picture,” Walton told Berger. “He never got too upset; he never got too excited. He was just even-keel all the time. His beliefs as a teacher, that you’re at your most dangerous when you’re level-headed and can make decisions … I believe wholeheartedly in that.”
  • The Kings recalled rookie forward Duje Dukan from their D-League affiliate, the Reno Bighorns, the team announced on its website. Dukan, an undrafted 24-year-old power forward, averaged 13 points and 3.8 rebounds in four games with the Bighorns. He has not made his NBA debut.
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Pacific Notes: Murphy, Russell, Livingston

November 12th, 2015 at 8:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Warriors announced today that Chris Murphy has been named team president of the Santa Cruz Warriors, Golden State’s D-League affiliate. “We’re extremely pleased to have Chris in position to lead our business efforts with the Santa Cruz Warriors,” said Golden State team president Rick Welts. “He’s done a terrific job of enhancing our ticket sales initiatives with the Warriors in recent years and he’s ready for a bigger challenge and an opportunity to expand his role within our organization. We truly view our Santa Cruz partnership as the perfect training ground for not only our players and coaches, but for front office personnel such as Chris. This is a great example of that synergy within the organization and a move that will benefit both the Warriors and Chris as we move forward.”

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

  • Despite receiving criticism for not playing rookie point guard D’Angelo Russell, Lakers coach Byron Scott says that he won’t rush the young playmaker’s development along, writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. “I’m not just going to put him out there to put him out there. If I do that and he’s not prepared and he’s not learning, then I’m preparing him to fail,” Scott said. “And I’m not going to do that. I think this kid is too valuable to us. His learning process is getting better and better. Our coaches are spending more time with him. So I’m pretty confident that he’ll be better in a week or so, that he’ll understand exactly what we need from him on a night to night basis.“
  • Warriors guard Shaun Livingston credits the late Flip Saunders for reviving his career back in 2010 when both were with the Wizards, Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group writes. “After playing the season with him, I just felt like I understood the NBA game, and that was the first time I really understood it,” Livingston said of Saunders. “I always had a high IQ, but just as far as time and score and just as a pro, he was a guard’s coach. He gave me the opportunity to implant me back into the NBA. Just to be somewhat relevant again…he gave me an opportunity. He blessed me an opportunity and allowed me to a chance to make the most of it.”
  • Xavier Henry, who suffered a season-ending Achilles tear while with the Lakers last season, said he was glad to join the Warriors‘ D-League team as an affiliate player this season because of the reputation of the team’s training staff, who are lauded for their ability to rehab players from serious injuries, Adam Johnson of D-League Digest relays. Henry also told Johnson that the current timetable for his return to action is anywhere from one to two months. “I can’t really tell you exactly, could be better in three weeks, it could be better in two and a half months, but the things that I’ve done already that I have in place I feel like all I need is more strength, more structure,” Henry said. “And from then on as long as everything’s great, strength and your form’s good then it’s all about repetition, repetition, repetition before you can really do it full speed, every day on the court.”
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Lakers Rumors: Bryant, World Peace, Russell

November 8th, 2015 at 2:05pm CST by Will Joseph

Kobe Bryant recently told Lakers coach Byron Scott that this might be the star’s final season in the league, Baxter Holmes of ESPN.com relays (on Twitter). Scott added, according to Holmes, that was the first Bryant hinted about retiring to him. Still, the idea that this could be the end for Bryant is nothing new, as Bill Oram of the Orange County Register tweets. It appears that Bryant is leaning toward retirement, according to recent reports, but he has yet to make a decision.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

  • Despite Bryant’s struggles to open the season, Metta World Peace supported his teammate and said a big reason why he returned to the Lakers was to again play alongside Bryant in an interview with Vlad TV (YouTube link), transcribed by Lang Greene of Basketball Insiders. “I’m really happy to be here to support him,” World Peace said. “Everybody is talking bad about him. Talking about he’s getting old and can’t play, [how he’s] selfish this and selfish that. [Free agents] not coming to play with him because they’re afraid of him. So I said, you know what? Let me get back to the Lakers. People don’t realize I’m on a non-guaranteed contract and I got back to the Lakers. I had to earn this.”
  • D’Angelo Russell has had some difficulty adjusting to the league in his first year and if his struggles continue, he will likely see less time on the court, Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times details. “He has to start getting it, just like the other young guys have to start getting it, and if they don’t, they won’t play as much,” Scott said. “Playing time in this league is a very precious thing and I don’t want our guys to take that for granted. Missing assignments on a continuous basis is not going to go unnoticed. You’ve got to start developing and doing a better job on that end of the floor.”
  • While a young nucleus of Jordan Clarkson, Julius Randle and Russell is developing, the Lakers’ veterans are struggling and time is running out if the team wants to be good enough to attract a free agent star next summer, writes Mark Heisler in his Sunday column for the Los Angeles Daily News.
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Los Angeles Notes: Bryant, D-League, Russell

November 7th, 2015 at 2:35pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kobe Bryant hasn’t gone on record about his plans for next season, but he remains adamant that he’ll never play for another NBA team besides the Lakers, Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com relays. “I’ve said it so many times. I’m here, I’m a Laker for life,” Bryant said Friday night. “I’m not playing anywhere else, no matter what. It’s just not going to happen. I bleed purple and gold, and that’s just how it’s going to be.”

Bryant, who is in the final year of his deal with the Lakers, was addressing some comments made by Phil Jackson, his former coach, and current president of the Knicks, Holmes notes. Back in September, Jackson had said, “I don’t think it’s his last year. It sounds like it may be his last year as a Laker.” Kobe made light of Jackson’s remarks, adding, “That’s Phil baiting you [members of the media] like he always does. He’s a master at it.”

Here’s more from L.A.:

  • It was a mild surprise when the Clippers announced that Branden Dawson and C.J. Wilcox were assigned to the D-League this week, considering that executive/coach Doc Rivers had been on record as being hesitant about sending players down to the D-League without the Clippers having an affiliate of their own. Rivers explained his change in thinking to Rowan Kavner of NBA.com, saying, “We’re sending them to the right place. We talked to them beforehand, we tried to identify somebody that plays somewhat similar offensively to us. The Phoenix group came and it was good.“
  • Rivers also told Kavner that it was possible that the Clippers could have their own D-League affiliate at some point in the near future, though there are no plans in the works currently. “We haven’t even decided if we’re going to get one yet,” Rivers said. “But it doesn’t take long to get one.“
  • Lakers coach Byron Scott is preaching patience with D’Angelo Russell, the No. 2 overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft, notes Bill Oram of The Orange County Register. “He’s learning,” Scott said of Russell. “I wouldn’t say ‘struggling.’ He’s learning, and that’s what people got to understand, that this is a 19-year-old kid. Even I sit back at times and say, ‘Wait a minute guys, he’s 19. We got to cut him some slack, this is all new to him.’ But fans and people they don’t understand that.”
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Pacific Notes: Russell, Barnes, Ezeli, World Peace

November 4th, 2015 at 10:03am CST by Chuck Myron

Lakers coach Byron Scott didn’t think Emmanuel Mudiay was a true point guard as the draft approached, and the coach questioned his decision-making, but Mudiay dismisses it as just “another human’s opinion,” writes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. Mudiay delivered 10 assists, albeit with six turnovers, in Denver’s win Tuesday over the Lakers, leading him to retort, “Thank you Byron Scott for saying I’m not a point guard,” tweets Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Mudiay played down the stretch of the close game while D’Angelo Russell, whom the Lakers took with the No. 2 overall pick instead of Mudiay, sat on the bench. That left Russell searching for answers, observes Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link).

“I have no idea,” Russell said about how he can convince Scott he’s worthy of crunch-time minutes. “It’s just something I’ve got to deal with.”

Scott insists Russell will have his opportunities, though Russell wasn’t in the mood to compare himself to Mudiay, calling him “just another player,” as Bill Oram of the Orange County Register relays (Twitter links). See more on the Lakers amid the latest from the Pacific Division:

  • The Warriors failed to reach extensions with Harrison Barnes and Festus Ezeli before Monday’s deadline, but Barnes and Ezeli are fond of their surroundings and GM Bob Myers remains committed to finding a way to keep them, as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports details. “We worked hard to get both [deals] done, but we weren’t able to,” Myers said to Spears. “We made a good effort. They looked hard at what we proposed. Ultimately, they decided to see what the market was in July, which is fine. We will work just as hard then to try to work something out.”
  • Metta World Peace, who’s on a non-guaranteed deal, has yet to appear in any games for the Lakers so far, but he’s OK with that, he tells Bresnahan. “It’s about looking at your surroundings, what you’re presented with, how you’re going to take that and become successful,” World Peace said. “How can I help the organization? How can I help myself? How can I help the guys? I’m just locked in. I’m focused on improving and winning. The minute you focus on something else, it’s a problem.”
  • Caron Butler has averaged 12 minutes per game in three appearances for the Kings so far, but like World Peace on the Lakers, Butler’s offseason signing was in large measure for his experience and locker room presence, as Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee examines.
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Western Notes: Mudiay, Davis, West

November 3rd, 2015 at 10:24pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Lakers coach Byron Scott thinks Nuggets rookie point guard Emmanuel Mudiay will be “pretty good,” but he had concerns about his three-point shooting and wasn’t as high on him coming into the draft as he was on D’Angelo Russell, whom the Lakers picked second overall, writes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. Discussing what stood out about Russell leading up to the draft, Scott said, “His workouts were extremely good. You saw the leadership qualities that he had. You saw the ability to pass the ball and make other guys better, the ability to get to the basket and the ability to knock down 3s, open jump shots and off-the-dribble shots. He had the total package offensively. Defensively, the one thing I thought he did was he competed.”

Here’s more from out of the Western Conference:

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

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Pacific Notes: Karl, Cousins, Bass, Russell, Clarkson

October 5th, 2015 at 11:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Weeks before reports surfaced that coach George Karl was trying to trade DeMarcus Cousins and, subsequently, that the Kings were thinking about firing Karl, the coach remarked that he never felt he had a player who was off-limits for a trade. That comment was a mistake, Karl admitted to Kayte Christensen of CSN Bay Area (video link), and the coach apologized to Cousins, as CSN Bay Area’s James Ham notes.

But it’s my responsibility to be smart enough to not say things like that,” Karl said to Christensen, in part. “So I did apologize because I thought that was the only thing, maybe some other things, but really the only thing that got us separated was that comment that then everybody wrote [that] we’re going to trade [Cousins].”

Time will tell if the relationship between Karl and Cousins will remain on solid footing, but winning would probably go a long way toward keeping both of them satisfied, as Akis Yerocostas of SB Nation’s Sactown Royalty recently suggested in a recent installment of our Top Bloggers series. See more from the Pacific Division:

  • Metta World Peace is with the Lakers during the preseason in large part to mentor Julius Randle, but if World Peace doesn’t stick for the regular season on his non-guaranteed deal, fellow offseason signee Brandon Bass will still be there for Randle, as Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times details. Fostering the development of the 2014 No. 7 overall pick part of the reason why Bass, too, is on the Lakers roster this season, Pincus writes.
  • Bass is also a fan of Lakers coach Byron Scott, for whom he also played at the beginning of his career with New Orleans, Pincus notes in the same piece. “Coach Scott was someone who inspired me to continue to work hard, to be the player I am today,” Bass said. “My first two years I didn’t play much, so he was very motivating to me, letting me know how hard I have to work to be a pro.”
  • D’Angelo Russell was skeptical when Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak told him before the draft that the Lakers thought he and Jordan Clarkson could co-exist in the backcourt, but all parties seem on board with the idea now, notes Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com. “We’re two totally different players,” Clarkson said. “He’s an excellent passer and I’m real aggressive and it just kind of comes together.” Clarkson is set to hit restricted free agency at season’s end.
  • The Clippers are so far struggling to incorporate the nine newcomers to the team, observes Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times.
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L.A. Notes: World Peace, Russell, Clippers

August 30th, 2015 at 3:15pm CST by Will Joseph

If the Lakers sign Metta World Peace, which they are thinking about doing, as reports indicate, the primary job for the 15-year NBA veteran who turns 36 in November would be to mentor forward Julius Randle, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. Randle, the Lakers’ first round draft pick in 2014, suffered a broken leg in his NBA debut last season, but is on track to be recovered by the start of the 2015/16 season.

Here’s more news out of Los Angeles:

  • D’Angelo Russell, who reportedly has Lakers‘ part-owner Jim Buss excited about the upcoming season, plans to meet with current star Kobe Bryant and retired star Steve Nash to pick their brains about how to stick around in the league, Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News reports.
  • Clippers owner Steve Ballmer turned down a $60MM per year offer for local TV rights and is going ahead with a plan to start his own streaming network, reports Claire Atkinson of the New York Post. While there has been talk since last year of the Clippers using a streaming service, the belief is that FOX Sports will find a way to keep them, Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com tweets. Atkinson cites experts who doubt that the 59-year-old owner would be able to pull it off. To make $60MM in revenue, the Clippers would have to sign up around 10% of the city’s five million households and get a pretty high price for the service, Atkinson writes.
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Pacific Notes: Kobe, Buss, Casspi, Suns

August 28th, 2015 at 8:59am CST by Chuck Myron

Lakers Executive VP of basketball operations Jim Buss believes Kobe Bryant is worth his league-high $25MM salary this season after all he’s done for the franchise and said that while the team is operating on the premise that Bryant will retire at season’s end, he’d welcome him back with open arms if he’s willing to accept a role that fits his age and ability. Buss made his comments as part of an interview with Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times, adding that he “feels like we’ve righted the ship” with coach Byron Scott and a new cast of key players, even if the team didn’t sign a star free agent this summer.

“It’s just that it takes time to build a core that guys want to play with,” Buss said to Pincus. “I understand a superstar doesn’t want to come in and say, ‘Oh, we still have two or three years of rebuilding.’ I think with Jordan Clarkson, [D’Angelo] Russell, [Julius] Randle, even [Roy] Hibbert … we’re getting a core of seven or eight players.”

See more on the Lakers amid the latest from around the Pacific Division:

  • Buss, also a part-owner of the team, has no regrets about pledging in April 2014 to resign from his basketball operations position if he couldn’t restore the Lakers to contention in three or four years, as he said to Pincus for the same piece. Buss’ sister Jeanie, the primary owner of the franchise, has said she’ll hold him to that pledge if the Lakers aren’t back in the Western Conference Finals by the spring of 2017. Still, the top goal for this season, Jim Buss said to Pincus, is identifying core players for the future, and not necessarily making the playoffs.
  • Omri Casspi cited DeMarcus Cousins, calling him the best center in the league in an interview with James Herbert of CBSSports.com, among the reasons why he decided to re-sign with the Kings this summer.
  • The Suns officially named Chris Jent the head coach of their one-to-one D-League affiliate, the franchise announced Thursday. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported earlier this month that the sides were finalizing a deal. Jent had been Michael Malone‘s lead assistant with the Kings.
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Pacific Notes: Jordan, D-League, Suns

August 27th, 2015 at 9:16pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer stressed that the team’s sale pitch to DeAndre Jordan which included an endorsement deal with Lexus for $200K a year, and subsequently garnered the organization a $250K fine from the league, played no part in the center’s decision to spurn Dallas and return to Los Angeles, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders writes. “Today, the NBA announced it has fined the team for violating NBA rules in our presentation to DeAndre Jordan on July 2nd,” Ballmer relayed in an internal team memo (hat tip to Dan Woike of the Orange County Register). “The League’s investigation concluded that the presentation of a potential third-party opportunity had no impact on DeAndre’s decision to re-sign, and having been a part of the process, I can attest to this fact. As we, and the basketball world, observed DJ ultimately chose to stay with the Clippers because he felt it was his best opportunity to win a championship, and because of his desire to remain part of the Clippers family.”

Here’s more out of the Pacific Division:

  • The L.A. D-Fenders, the Lakers‘ D-League affiliate, filled out head coach Casey Owens‘ staff with Paul Woolpert, Brian Walsh, Jermaine Byrd, and Will Scott, who were all named as assistants, tweets Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News.
  • The one-year, minimum salary training camp deals that Henry Sims, Deonte Burton, and Cory Jefferson inked with the Suns include no guaranteed salary, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders notes (via Twitter).
  • Lakers 2015 first-rounder D’Angelo Russell believes that he and 2014 second round pick Jordan Clarkson can be an effective tandem playing together in the backcourt, as he told ESPN 710’s Mychal Thompson and Mike Trudell during a radio appearance. “I feel like we’re dangerous for our team,” Russell said of he and Clarkson. “We both rebound. We both can push the break, and we both can run the wing. So if he gets it and I’m running the wing, he can set up the offense or make the right decisions and vice versa with me. I feel like it’s dangerous, and we can play together easily. I think it will just take some time.“
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