Los Angeles Clippers Blog – Page 44 – NBA Blog

Clippers sign forward Brandon Davies

The Los Angeles Clippers announced today that they have signed forward Brandon Davies.

“We really liked Brandon in Summer League,” Clippers Head Coach and Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations Doc Rivers said. “We like his ability to play multiple positions and he fits with our team. He understands team basketball and has been in here all summer working on his game.”

Davies, 22, was a member of the Clippers 2013 Summer League team in Las Vegas, averaging 5.8 points and 4.0 rebounds in 15.8 minutes of play over five games. He was undrafted out of BYU in the 2013 NBA Draft.

The forward averaged 12.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 24.1 minutes over his four-year collegiate career for the Cougars. As a senior, he averaged 17.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.0 blocks in 36 games played (all starts). He was named to the All-West Coast Conference First Team as a junior and senior.

A star at Provo High School in Utah, Davies led his high school team to state titles his sophomore and junior seasons, plus a runner-up finish his senior year.

Lakers, Clippers may be interested in Lou Amundson

Free agent forward Louis Amundson has sparked interest from several teams, including the Lakers and Clippers, according to his agent, Mark Bartelstein.

Bartelstein said in an interview with the Los Angeles Newspaper Group that his client plans to finalize a deal with a team within the week, though he wouldn’t go into exact specifics what role and terms would best suit Amundson.

Amundson had meetings with the Lakers and Clippers and even worked out at the team’s respective facilities in recent weeks, but it remains unclear if he winds up playing in Los Angeles.

Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Blog)

Lamar Odom arrested for DUI in Los Angeles

Basketball star Lamar Odom was arrested for allegedly driving under the influence early Friday after a California Highway Patrol officer saw his white Mercedes-Benz traveling erratically on a San Fernando Valley Freeway.

The husband of reality TV star Khloe Kardashian was stopped shortly before 4 a.m. and was arrested after a field sobriety test.

The CHP said Odom’s car was observed traveling in a ”serpentine manner” before he pulled off the freeway.

”Mr. Odom showed objective signs of intoxication and was unable to perform field sobriety tests,” the CHP said in a report. Authorities said he later declined to take a chemical test.

Reported by the Associated Press

Clippers officially sign Antawn Jamison

The Los Angeles Clippers announced today that they have signed free agent forward Antawn Jamison.

Jamison is well past his prime and at this point is strictly backup material. That said, he’s a fantastic addition to any team’s frontcourt, as a supporting cast veteran.

Jamison, 37, is a two-time NBA All-Star (2005, 2008) and was the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2003-04 while with the Dallas Mavericks. Jamison brings career averages of 18.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 1,061 career games (864 starts) to the Clippers.

A veteran of 15 NBA seasons with Golden State, Dallas, Washington, Cleveland and the Los Angeles Lakers, Jamison appeared in 76 games (six starts) with the Lakers last season and averaged 9.4 points and 4.8 rebounds. Jamison enters the 2013-14 season ranked ninth among active players with 19,958 career points and eighth in total rebounds with 8,102.

Originally drafted by the Toronto Raptors with the fourth overall pick in the 1998 NBA Draft before being traded to the Warriors on Draft Night in exchange for college teammate Vince Carter, Jamison averaged 19.0 points and 9.9 rebounds in three seasons at the University of North Carolina. In his final collegiate season, Jamison was named the Naismith College Player of the Year and earned AP Player of the Year and the John R. Wooden Award after averaging 22.2 points and 10.5 rebounds.

Born in Shreveport, LA, Jamison was named to the 1998-99 All-Rookie Second Team and was a member of the USA National Team at the 2006 FIBA World Championships.

Clippers not expected to sign Lamar Odom

This hardly seems to be the episode Lamar Odom wants aired out on reality television.

Amid reports that Odom has suffered from drug addiction, it appears fewer and fewer teams are less interested in his services. After planning to officially sign veteran forward Antawn Jamison Wednesday at the veteran’s minimum worth $1.4 million, the Clippers no longer are interested in resigning Odom, according to a league source familiar with the team’s thought process.

Once Jamison’s signing becomes official, the Clippers will have 14 players under contract, one player shy of the NBA’s imposed maximum number of players allowed on a roster. But the Clippers plan to fill out the last roster spot at some point during training camp, which begins in late September, according to a source. The Clippers would welcome Odom to training camp, though it remains unclear if he’d be interested in just that. Odom’s agent, Jeff Schwartz, hasn’t responded to numerous requests for comment regarding his client in recent days.

Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Blog)

Prosecutors will not file assault charges against Scottie Pippen

Prosecutors have slapped down allegations that retired hoopster Scottie Pippen assaulted an autograph seeker outside a Malibu restaurant last June.

The Los Angeles District Attorney said Tuesday it will not press charges against the former Chicago Bull because the man who claims he was roughed up was legally drunk at the time, may have been the aggressor and did not have injuries consistent with the beatdown he claimed he suffered.

An investigator also found that while alleged victim Camran Shafighi complained of severe pain to his ankle and demanded a splint after the incident, staff at UCLA Medical Center later saw him walk without a limp.

The emergency room staff also said Shafighi faked seizures that would mysteriously disappear when a doctor ordered him to “stop it,” a DA filing obtained by the Daily News states.

Reported by Nancy Dillon of the New York Daily News

Antawn Jamison to sign with L.A. Clippers

Antawn Jamison may have improved his odds of winning a first NBA title by moving to a team with zero championships.

The veteran free agent agreed to a one-year contract with the Clippers on Monday for the veteran’s minimum of about $1.4 million, bolstering a bench that last season was among the best in the league.

“Happy to stay in LA. But with the @LAClippers!” Jamison tweeted.

Jamison, a 15-year veteran who spent last season with the Lakers on another minimum deal, has stated his desire to play for a title contender at this point in his career. He has never reached the conference finals in previous stints with the Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Washington Wizards, Cleveland Cavaliers and Lakers.

Reported by Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times

TMZ releases alarming report on Lamar Odom

TMZ are one of the world’s leading kings of gossip. They have extremely good sources, and a long period of time have proven themselves to be right far more often than they are wrong.

That said, we at InsideHoops.com hope that the following report about Lamar Odom is inaccurate:

The marriage of Khloe Kardashian and Lamar Odom is in crisis, and TMZ has learned … the core reason is hardcore drug abuse.

Multiple sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ … Lamar has had a problem for 2 years. It got so bad, last August Khloe pressured Lamar to go to rehab. Lamar went to a facility in San Diego, but he was so resistant Khloe hired private investigators to secretly stand guard at the rehab place to make sure he didn’t leave. The P.I.s stood guard 24/7.

Our sources say Lamar constantly threatened to leave and Khloe made several visits to prevail upon him to stay. We’re told after 3 weeks, Lamar left for good.

Reported by TMZ.com

We wish the best for Odom, and will keep an eye on this story if anything additional develops.

Chris Paul elected president of NBA players union

Chris Paul has already seemingly done the impossible by turning the long-languishing Los Angeles Clippers into a force in the Western Conference. Now he’s taken on another big task – rebuilding the reeling NBA players’ association.

Paul was elected president of the players’ union Wednesday, replacing Derek Fisher and giving an organization cloaked in turmoil some much-needed star power at the top.

The vote by NBA player representatives came six months after the union fired Billy Hunter as executive director, a position that remains vacant and follows about 18 months of in-fighting and drama that occurred during the negotiations for the latest collective bargaining agreement. Hunter countered with a wrongful-termination lawsuit in May, accusing Fisher of conspiring with NBA officials during the 2011 lockout.

”It’s not about me as president or the first vice president, it’s about the players as a whole,” Paul said in a conference call Wednesday night.

Reported by W.G. Ramirez of the Associated Press

Chris Paul may play 2016 Olympic Games

A floor general in basketball is always important. But when you take a group of stars and try to teach them to also play like smart role players, leadership is even more crucial than ever. With that said, Team USA could really use a point guard like CP3.

Chris Paul has changed his mind and is leaning toward playing in the 2016 Olympics.

The Los Angeles Clippers point guard, who was on the 2008 and 2012 gold medal teams, said he was leaning heavily toward bypassing the 2016 Games — until Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski announced he was returning to coach the team.

“If it had been another coach than Coach K, I was prepared to be done,” Paul told ESPN.com.

Paul will be 31 when the 2016 Olympics, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, take place. He will still likely be a major piece for the team, despite a strong crop of young and talented point guards that includes Derrick Rose, Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook and Stephen Curry.

Reported by Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com

So far, Kevin Durant and Kevin Love are in. It’ll be fun seeing who else joins the squad.