Los Angeles Lakers Blog – Page 105 – NBA Blog

Metta World Peace was bored with defending everybody so easily

After game after game of uninterested play, World Peace suddenly was the same tough, defensive-minded small forward that the Lakers signed in 2009 and helped them win an NBA title.

“I had gotten bored with defense because it was so easy to stop people over the years,” World Peace said. “I mean, I got real bored with it. When you are stopping guys every single time, what else are you going to do? It caught up to me.”

So World Peace slacked off and let his focus wander and his conditioning slip in his role as the team’s sixth player. His shooting percentage fell off and his defense suffered. He said, though, that he feels “almost back to where I want to be.”

“I played 38 minutes yesterday and didn’t come out of the game and I was like ‘Wow’,” he said. “I was able to play hard and help the defense. … I didn’t think I would be able to play 38 minutes this early.”

— Reported by Janis Carr of the Orange County Register

Chris Paul and Pau Gasol trade barbs

If the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers didn’t have a rivalry before Wednesday night, they certainly appear to have one now.

After Clippers forward Blake Griffin fouled Lakers forward Pau Gasol with 1.1 seconds remaining in the Lakers’ 96-91 win, Clippers guard Chris Paul tried to grab the ball from Gasol’s hands as the two began jawing at one another. Gasol and Paul continued to talk while Lakers guard Kobe Bryant got in front of the two as Gasol walked to the free throw line.

Before Gasol stepped to the line, he smiled and put his hand on top of Paul’s head. Paul immediately shoved Gasol’s hand away and tapped Gasol on his head.

“He tried to touch the top of my head. I don’t like that,” Paul said after the game. “I got a son of my own. I don’t know if Pau got kids, but don’t touch the top of my head like I’m one of your kids. I don’t know what his intentions were, and it doesn’t matter. I don’t know if he’s got kids, but I’m not one of them.”

— Reported by Arash Markazi of ESPN Los Angeles

And according to the Associated Press, “Gasol, who has no kids, insisted he was misunderstood. “I’m sorry he felt that way,” the Spanish 7-footer said. “I do that all the time with my teammates. Nothing mean about it.” When asked what Paul yelled at him after the game, Gasol called it “just trash.”

VIDEO OF PAU GASOL TOUCHING CHRIS PAUL’S HEAD

Lakers assign Derrick Caracter to D-League

The Los Angeles Lakers have assigned forward Derrick Caracter to the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA Development League, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch Kupchak.

Caracter, who underwent surgery on December 14th to remove part of a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee, originally sustained the injury two days prior during Lakers training camp.

Selected by the Lakers in the second round (58th overall) of the 2010 NBA Draft, Caracter appeared in 41 games last season, averaging 2.1 points and 1.0 rebounds in 5.2 minutes.

The D-League assignment is the third of Caracter’s career, having twice been assigned to the Bakersfield Jam last season. In three regular season games with Bakersfield a year ago, Caracter averaged 8.7 points and 6.0 rebounds in 19.7 minutes. In two playoff games with the Jam, he averaged 7.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.50 blocks in 21.5 minutes.

The 6’9” forward out of UTEP will be available to play tomorrow night when the D-Fenders go on the road to face the Bakersfield Jam.

This is the first Lakers’ player assignment of the season for the D-Fenders, who at 17-8, currently have the third best record in the D-League despite having three players (Jamaal Tinsley (Utah Jazz), Malcolm Thomas (San Antonio Spurs) and Courtney Fortson (Los Angeles Clippers)) called up to NBA teams.

Pau Gasol wants ball more in low post

“I would like to get a little more inside, myself,” Gasol told reporters after the game. “‘I always like to have different looks and be able to attack from different angles. The second half, I didn’t have one chance to attack from the post, so I was more of a facilitator.

“I got two jumpers, open, that I missed, and that was all the opportunities that I had.”

In this new offense (i.e. not the triangle), Andrew Bynum sits in the low post and Gasol further away from the basket and his job is to facilitate plays. All of which is fine for the soft-spoken Spaniard, but he wants a few more touches inside the paint.

— Reported by Janis Carr of the Orange County Register Blog

Metta World Peace having a forgettable season

Friday marked a typical night for Metta World Peace. He missed all four of his shots against Orlando. He was scoreless. And he was benched in the second half.

Typically exuberant and optimistic, he sounded fine.

“I feel good. I feel awesome. Just because my numbers [stink] don’t mean I don’t feel good,” he said. “I can’t control everything. I can’t control not starting. All I can control is going out there and playing hard. I can’t control not being in a rhythm, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel good.”

World Peace, 32, averaged a career-low 8.5 points last season. Through 15 games this season, he’s averaging 5.1 points and 19.8 minutes. He is shooting 32.3% overall and a woeful 12.1% from three-point range, making four of 33 attempts.

— Reported by Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times

Chris Paul is buying Avril Lavigne’s mansion

Los Angeles Clippers star Chris Paul is planning to stay in town a while … ’cause he’s about to drop $8.5 MILLION on a sick Bel Air mansion that he’s buying from Avril Lavigne … TMZ has learned.

Sources tell us … Paul fell in love with the 12,184 square foot place, which Avril originally listed for $9.5 mil and decided he had to make a move.

The mansion — located in a hoity-toity private community called Bel Air Crest — includes 8 bedrooms and 10.5 bathrooms, a wine cellar, 10-car garage, gym, sauna and a covered outdoor living room.

— Reported by TMZ

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar named global cultural ambassador

The NBA’s all-time scoring leader is now a global cultural ambassador.

The State Department announced Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s appointment Wednesday.

Ann Stock, assistant secretary of state for education and cultural affairs, says Abdul-Jabbar will travel the world to engage a generation of young people to help promote diplomacy.

Stock says the appointment is part of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of “Smart Power” that combines diplomacy, defense and development to “bridge the gap in a tense world through young people.”

— Reported by John Carucci of the Associated Press

Andrew Bynum having career season so far

The formerly erratic scorer has posted double-doubles in eight of 11 games and overall is averaging 16.5 points, 13.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks, which would be career highs if he maintained those numbers over the rest of the season.

“He’s just establishing himself, being aggressive, making strong moves, rebounding the ball well and intimidating defensively,” Lakers forward Pau Gasol said, “so I’m proud of him and hopefully he’ll be able to keep it up.”

Bynum is also making a quick study of the double teams that have come his way since his early scoring spree, not surprising for a player known to tinker with computers and a fleet of high-end cars that has helped local law enforcement meet its ticket quota in recent months.

While improvising on the court often drives coaches bonkers, the Lakers’ Mike Brown likes it when Bynum employs his own special method of problem-solving. Particularly when it leads to the type of defense Bynum played earlier this month on Utah’s Al Jefferson, who scored only 11 points on five-for-17 shooting and had his shot blocked by Bynum in the final seconds of a loss to the Lakers.

— Reported by Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times

Lamar Odom considered taking time away from NBA

As his Martin Luther King Day reunion with the Los Angeles Lakers approaches, Lamar Odom has revealed that he was “real close” to walking away from the game for a season — or perhaps longer — well before his December trade to the Dallas Mavericks.

Left reeling by the July murder of his 24-year-old cousin and a fatal car accident days later that killed a teen pedestrian after the car he was riding in as a passenger collided with a motorcycle, Odom told ESPN.com that he had to be convinced by wife Khloe Kardashian to scrap his plans for a hiatus.

“Real close,” Odom said when asked Saturday how close he came to asking the Lakers for a season-long sabbatical.

“My wife talked me out of it.

“Cause I was asking myself: ‘Was I mentally prepared to play? If I didn’t play well, was I mentally prepared to help the team?’ I had thought, ‘Maybe I need a year.’ Because of the lockout, I thought, ‘Maybe somebody’s sending me a sign that I needed this time off.’

“(But) when I told some of my friends and my family that I was thinking about steppin’ back for a minute, I think the reaction from the closest people to me kind of gave me the energy to get back at it.”

— Reported by Marc Stein of ESPN.com

Vanessa Bryant gets two of Kobe’s mansions

Kobe Bryant and Vanessa are well on their way to becoming single … because we’ve learned Kobe has already transferred title on two of his mansions over to his soon-to-be ex-wife.

TMZ has checked official records … which show on January 5th, Kobe surrendered his interest in 2 of their estates to Vanessa … on that same day Vanessa surrendered her interest in a 3rd home to Kobe.

As far as who got what … the title transfers don’t list addresses, but our sources say Vanessa is now the full owner of the mansion she shared with Kobe in Newport Coast. As for the second home Vanessa now owns in full … it’s the nearby mansion where her mother has been living.

— Reported by TMZ