Robert Sacre

Pacific Notes: Love, Lakers, Sacre, Len

Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook teaming up and playing for the Lakers is a real possibility, opines Nick Dudukovich of Fansided.com. Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com discussed the rumors of Love leaving Cleveland either this season or next on his podcast, which airs on ESPN Cleveland. Windhorst notes that out of all the stars in the league, the player that Love has the best relationship with is Westbrook.

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

  • Robert Sacre would like to play for Los Angeles next season, writes Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. “I would love to be back here. It would be fun,” said Sacre. “You’re a Laker. What else can you ask for? There’s no other franchise like it. It’s an honor to wear purple and gold.” Sacre has a non-guaranteed salary for the 2015/16 season, which is worth slightly more than $981K.
  • Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic believes that Alex Len is the center of the future for the Suns. Phoenix picked up Len’s rookie scale option before the season and the team is likely to make the same decision regarding Len’s 2016/17 option, although that is just my speculation.
  • Pablo S, Torre of ESPN The Magazine chronicles Jeremy Lin‘s time to date for the Lakers and his career up to this point. Lin is in the last season of a three-year deal worth slightly over $25MM that he originally signed with Houston. The point guard will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

And-Ones: Waiters, Lakers, Lopez, Thunder

The Thunder landed Dion Waiters earlier tonight, but the Lakers previously made a run at him, Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com tweets.  However, the Cavs weren’t just looking for a straight salary dump and Shumpert is more valuable than Robert Sacre, who the Lakers would have included.  Here’s more from around the Association..

  • The Nets and Thunder recently discussed a deal that would have involved Brook Lopez, Kendrick Perkins (and his expiring contract), Perry Jones, and Lance Thomas, but the Nets decided to stand pat as they liked what they were seeing, tweets Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com.
  • The Rajon Rondo deal is looking pretty good for the Mavericks so far, writes Dwain Price of the Star-Telegram.  Center Tyson Chandler and coach Rick Carlisle are among those over the moon with what Rondo has done in Dallas.  The Mavs have won six of their last eight games, including their last five.
  • Sometimes, the best move is standing pat.  The Warriors held on to budding star Klay Thompson rather than using him to get Kevin Love and that looks like a smart decision right now, as Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press writes.  Many were surprised at the Warriors’ decision, but it’s one that had the full support of coach Steve Kerr.”For me as a new coach, what I saw was maybe the best backcourt in the NBA and a chance to keep the group together,” Kerr said. “And that’s pretty powerful, especially when you know you’re already pretty good.”
  • Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders won’t rush to judge Bucks center Larry Sanders.  While speculation flies about his situation, Koutroupis notes that Sanders has worked hard at his craft and has even independently trained in the offseason to work on some lagging aspects of his game.  Earlier tonight, agent Happy Walters denied the report indicating that his client wants to walk away from basketball, so it will be very interesting to hear from Sanders himself.

Lakers Notes: Sacre, Bryant, Gasol

The Cavaliers had talks with the Lakers this summer about the availability of center Robert Sacre, according to Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). He adds that there have been no recent trade discussions between the teams, although Cleveland’s need for frontcourt help increased this week with the announcement that Anderson Varejao will miss the rest of the season with an Achilles tear.

There’s other news from Los Angeles:

  • Concerns about Kobe Bryant‘s health are worsening, tweets Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times.  “My knees are sore… [both] my Achilles are sore,” the Lakers guard said Thursday. “Metatarsals are tight. Back’s tight. I just need to kind of hit the reset button.” Bryant sat out L.A.’s Christmas Day loss to the Bulls as well as Tuesday’s game with Golden State. The 36-year-old is making $23.5MM this year and is on the books for $25MM next season.
  • Coach Byron Scott said only “idiots” would suggest that the Lakers are a better team without Bryant, reports Steve Aschburner of NBA.com“We have one great game without Kobe and everybody thinks now we’re a better team or something like that,” Scott said, referring to Tuesday’s win over the Warriors.  “… But as far as all that [analytical] stuff goes, you know what? If I had my choice, I’d rather have him on the court for 48 minutes every time we played. I know we’d have a better chance to win.” Scott said Bryant could be out of action for up to a week.
  • The Bulls’ Pau Gasol said it was an emotional experience facing his former team Thursday, although Bryant’s absence took some of the drama away, reports Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News. Gasol spent six and a half seasons in Los Angeles and won two NBA titles before signing a three-year, $22.35MM deal with Chicago over the summer.

Western Notes: Stotts, Gasol, O’Neal

Terry Stotts is on the last year of his contract, and management hasn’t said whether he’ll be back for a third season on the Blazers’ bench, writes Mitch Lawrence of The New York Daily News. Stotts’ staff is not feeling very good about their chances of returning after sliding down to fifth place in the West and in danger of finishing even lower, reports Lawrence. Since starting the season atop the West by winning 33 of their 44 games, the Blazers have been sub-.500, losing 16 of their last 29 games entering the weekend. In six seasons as a head coach with the Hawks, Bucks, and Blazers, Stotts has a record of 195-244.

More from the west:

  • Robert Sacre is often overlooked when the Lakers future is discussed, even though he’s one of only four players under contract after June, but he might become an integral part of the team going forward, writes Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times.
  • Pau Gasol told Marca.com (translation by Orazio Cauchi of Sportando) that he might stay with the Lakers after this season. His contract is set to expire after the season ends. Gasol said, “My priority is basketball. I want to be on a team with real chances of winning the championship next season. I don’t rule out staying in Los Angeles if the circumstances are appropriate.
  • Warriors veteran big man Jermaine O’Neal called any talk of firing coach Mark Jackson “ridiculous” and “unfair”, and said that if he plays another season it will be because of Jackson, writes Diamond Leung of The San Jose Mercury News. O’Neal said, The No. 1 reason that I will come back and play another year is because of Coach Jackson. I’m absolutely, 100 percent positive about that. He makes it easy to come in this gym every day, and there’s not a lot of coaches that do that.” He also mentioned that he would choose Golden State despite the distance from family because Jackson has shown just how much he cares about his players, writes Leung.

Western Notes: Aldridge, Thunder, Blair

Posting up career-numbers in points, rebounds, and assists in addition to leading the Trail Blazers to a current three-way tie for the league’s best record, LaMarcus Aldridge is arguably a strong candidate for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award at this point in the season. Ben Golliver of Blazers Edge relayed some noteworthy comments from Aldridge during an interview with ESPN’s Chris Broussard, and it appears that the 28-year-old forward wants to remain in Portland for the long-term:

“I’m here. I love it here. This team is good and we’re winning. I’ve been here my whole career. I’m in the history books here. I don’t want to leave. I feel this team is good enough to win it all one day and be there.” 

Here’s more of what we’ve gathered out of the Western Conference tonight:

  • Although some offseason narratives had the Thunder taking a step back this year after losing Kevin Martin to free agency, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix writes about how Oklahoma City’s young bench – in addition to career-best numbers from Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka as well as elite play from Russell Westbrook – has played a major role in keeping the team within title contention this season. Interestingly enough, Mannix points out that the reserves’ combined 34.1 PPG marks the highest output of the entire Durant era.
  • Sam Amick of USA Today echoes the same sentiments from Mannix and revisits how the Thunder, facing drastic changes due to the NBA’s harsh new collective bargaining agreement, were able to recover nicely after making the tough call to deal James Harden over a season ago.
  • Previously relegated to spot minutes in San Antonio, DeJuan Blair has had tonight’s matchup against the Spurs circled on his calendar for quite some time, says Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas, who adds that the 6’7 forward has been a bargain banger since signing with the Mavericks this past summer. Blair, who is currently averaging 8.3 PPG and 7.0 RPG in 20.9 MPG, has made it known on several occasions about being unhappy with the way his 4-year stint with the Spurs had ended.
  • According to Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times, Lakers forward Ryan Kelly has carved out a role in the team’s rotation and earned some public praise from Mike D’Antoni after practice earlier today: “He knows how to play, defensively and offensively…Defensively he’s the first one to get to the right spot. I think that going forward, he can keep earning more time. I’m pretty excited about him.” D’Antoni also suggested that Kelly’s newfound opportunity to earn floor time could come at the expense of Chris Kaman and Robert Sacre‘s rotation minutes.

Lakers Re-Sign Robert Sacre

FRIDAY, 8:59am: Larry Coon of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter) that Sacre's minimum-salary contract will actually be for three years, rather than two, though only the first two years are guaranteed.

WEDNESDAY, 1:29pm: Sacre will get a fully guaranteed, multiyear deal from the Lakers, according to Shams Charania of RealGM.com (via Twitter). I'd expect it to be for the minimum salary, but that's still a little unexpected, considering Sacre's limited role and the Lakers' reluctance to add guaranteed salary for 2014/15.

1:15pm: The Lakers have re-signed 2012 second-round pick Robert Sacre, according to Mike Trudell of Lakers.com (via Twitter). The team had extended a qualifying offer to Sacre in June, so I wouldn't be surprised if the 24-year-old simply accepted that one-year offer, worth $988,872.

During his rookie season in 2012/13, Sacre split time between the Lakers and the D-League's D-Fenders. In 32 NBA games, the seven-footer averaged 1.3 PPG and 0.8 RPG, appearing in just 6.3 minutes per contest. In his seven D-League appearances, Sacre's averages increased to 11.4 PPG, 8.4 RPG, and 32.7 MPG.

Lakers Extend Qualifying Offer To Robert Sacre

The Lakers have extended a qualifying offer to Robert Sacre, making him a restricted free agent, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Because Sacre only has a single year of experience under his belt, Sacre's qualifying offer is worth $988,872.

The qualifying offer from the Lakers ensures that L.A. will be able to match any rival offer for Sacre, up to the mini mid-level exception ($3.18MM). For most restricted free-agents-to-be, the qualifying offer is simply a formality, with the expectation being that they'll receive larger multiyear offers and won't consider accepting the one-year QO. In Sacre's case though, I wouldn't be surprised if the 24-year-old accepts the offer to return to the Lakers.

In 2012/13, Sacre split time between the Lakers and the D-League's D-Fenders. In 32 NBA games, he averaged 1.3 PPG and 0.8 RPG, appearing in just 6.3 minutes per contest.

Lakers Recall Morris, Sacre From D-League

The Lakers have recalled guard Darius Morris and center Robert Sacre from their D-League affiliate, the Los Angeles D-Fenders, according to a tweet from Los Angeles Times reporter Mike Bresnahan. 

The 22-year-old Morris has averaged 4.2 PPG in 45 appearances this season, while Sacre, a rookie, is averaging 1.4 PPG in his 31-game career. 

Lakers Assign Sacre, Morris To D-League

We'll track today's D-League assignments and recalls right here, with any additional moves added to the top of the page throughout the day….

  • The Lakers have assigned a pair of players to the Los Angeles D-Fenders, according to the D-Fenders' official Twitter account. Robert Sacre and Darius Morris are headed back to the Lakers' D-League affiliate. Despite having been assigned to the D-League multiple times this season, neither player has logged much time with the D-Fenders. Sacre has averaged 11.0 PPG and 8.8 RPG in his six contests with the club, while Morris recorded 21 points in his lone game with the D-Fenders.