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Los Angeles D-Fenders (D-League) hire Reggie Theus as head coach

The Los Angeles D-Fenders have hired Reggie Theus as head coach, it was announced today by team President/CEO Joey Buss.

“We are pleased to welcome Reggie Theus to the D-Fenders,” said Buss. “Reggie’s extensive NBA background coupled with his experience developing players at the collegiate basketball level will make him a great asset to our franchise. We look forward to working with Reggie and building upon the record-setting season we had last year.”

Theus, who has over 11 years of coaching experience and played 13 seasons in the NBA, spent last season as a Pac-12 Analyst for Fox Sports Net after previously spending two seasons on the NBA sidelines as an assistant coach with Minnesota (2009-11). Prior to his stint in Minneapolis, Theus originally joined the NBA coaching ranks when he was named the 21st head coach in Sacramento Kings history.

“I am elated and thankful to have an opportunity to work for a first class organization like the D-Fenders,” said Theus. “Coaching for a franchise that has proven its commitment to developing young players for the next level while also maintaining a competitive team is exciting to me. I am looking forward to getting on the court and continuing the success that the D-Fenders experienced last season.”

Theus, a Los Angeles native, worked his way to the NBA from the collegiate level after spending two years as head coach at New Mexico State University. Hired in 2005, Theus guided the Aggies to a 16-14 record in his first season, marking a 10-win improvement from the previous season along with the best single-season turnaround at NMSU in 20 years. In 2006-07, Theus and the Aggies continued their success and posted a 25-9 record, won the Western Athletic Conference Tournament and earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999.

Before joining the Aggies, Theus began his coaching career as an assistant coach at the University of Louisville (2003-05). There he helped lead the Cardinals to the 2005 NCAA Final Four as well as a Conference USA Championship.

Theus, selected by the Chicago Bulls in the first round (9th overall) of the 1978 NBA Draft, played 13 seasons for Chicago, Kansas City/Sacramento, Atlanta, Orlando and New Jersey. Drafted out of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Theus, was a two-time NBA All-Star (1981, 1983) and named to the NBA All-Rookie Team (1979). In addition, Theus is one of only seven players in NBA history to score over 19,000 points and record over 6,000 assists during his career. A member of the UNLV Athletic Hall of Fame, the 6’7” shooting guard helped his team reach the 1977 NCAA Final Four and is one of only six players in school history to have their jersey retired.

Prior to his coaching stints in the NBA and at the collegiate level, Theus also served as a basketball analyst for ESPN, Fox Sports, and TNT/TBS.

Theus is a graduate of both California Coast University (B.S. Business Administration) and Central Michigan University (B.S. Public Administration).

Andrew Bynum to have another knee injection

Coach Doug Collins said Sunday that 76ers center Andrew Bynum will receive another injection in his right knee before the season begins.

Collins was not exactly sure of the specifics of the injection, but Bynum’s agent, David Lee, spoke about the treatment later in the day.

“Just look at it as lubrication for his knees,” Lee said of the Synvisc-One injection that Bynum will receive. The drug is used to treat knee osteoarthritis.

“He’s had them in previous years,” Lee said.

— Reported by John N. Mitchell of the Philadelphia Inquirer

Lakers TV problems drag into preseason

Time Warner, the Lakers’ new $3 billion TV partner, is locked in negotiations with other area providers – including DirecTV, Charter, Dish, Cox, Verizon and AT&T U-verse – to pick up its two new Laker-centric channels, SportsNet and Deportes.

The asking price is reported to be $3.95 per subscriber per month. The providers, however, are holding out for a better deal in hopes of keeping rates low for customers.

This is still just the preseason – the Lakers play Utah on Tuesday night at Honda Center – but fans who can’t find their team on their TV are, in some cases, a bit uneasy and, in other cases, flat ornery.

During the Lakers exhibition Saturday at Staples Center, fans booed every time a Time Warner commercial was shown inside the arena.

— Reported by Jeff Miller of the Orange County Register

Metta World Peace kisses a female fan

Ron Artest once went into the stands with gruesome results. That was a long time ago, though.

Metta World Peace went into the stands Saturday night at Staples Center with hilarious results.

World Peace, who won the NBA’s 2010-11 J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award and changed his name a year ago, was displaying his regained agility with a nifty block as Utah guard Gordon Hayward drove toward the basket. Then World Peace displayed his usual wacky sense of humor.

After his momentum carried him under the basket and out of bounds, World Peace fetched the ball — and then took the hand of a nearby female fan and kissed it.

— Reported by Kevin Ding of the OC Register

UCLA to unveil John Wooden statue outside Pauley Pavilion

UCLA will unveil a statue of the late basketball coach John Wooden outside newly renovated Pauley Pavilion on Oct. 26.

Members of Wooden’s family are expected to attend. The bronze statue was paid for by a donation from athletic boosters and was created by Blair Buswell, who has sculpted many busts of Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees.

The $136 million renovation of UCLA’s basketball arena began in March 2011. The building will re-open at the end of the month.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Chris Douglas-Roberts appreciated his overseas basketball experience

Q: You were overseas the entire year. What was the calculation behind that decision, considering the labor situation the NBA faced at the time?

Chris Douglas-Roberts: It was actually great for me, because during the lockout — I’m was a fairly young player, I (had just finished) my third year — so it was about basketball for me. It wasn’t about money, I just wanted to play basketball. But I went over there, and made that commitment to stay. It definitely made me a better basketball player, and it made me a better person.

It made me more appreciative, because some days I didn’t have heat. The living conditions were terrible. I had to heat up water to give my daughter a bath, some days. If you had the microwave on and the washer on, the electricity may go out in the whole house. It was very small. The shower at the gym that we practiced at, it was filthy. There was mold everywhere. You couldn’t put your feet on the ground, barefoot. Guys were getting staph infections. It was basically back to when I was growing up in Detroit. But when I look at it, it just made me a better person and a player.

Q: Did you know what you were getting into?

CDR: Not at all. I had no clue. When you think of Italy, you think of beauty. You think of good food, great people. Which was the case, but it’s a different game over there. They look at basketball different, they look at the athlete different. You’re practicing two times a day, regardless. Very hard practices, two hours both sessions, and there aren’t any days off, really. It’s more about the organization, really. It’s not about the athlete, really.

— Reported by Brian Kamenetzky of ESPN Los Angeles

Will Derek Fisher return to Lakers?

No less an authority than Kobe Bryant announced this week that he’s convinced longtime teammate Derek Fisher will not have to wait forever to remove himself from the list of free agents still looking for work.

“I’m pretty confident,” Kobe says, “he’ll find a team.”

It might even be the Los Angeles Lakers, believe it or not, if more dominoes fall fortuitously for the team that has already annoyed the rest of the league with its good fortune this offseason.

It’s not feasible for the Lakers to bring back Fisher now, with a payroll approaching $100 million, but sources with knowledge of their thinking say that the team has made it clear to the rest of the league that Chris Duhon and/or Steve Blake are available via trade to any interested party willing to absorb their respective contracts.

— Reported by Marc Stein of ESPN.com

Dwight Howard back injury was affecting his leg

Dwight Howard knew something was wrong when he couldn’t feel his left leg. His back hurt him for most of last season, but when his leg went dead and he couldn’t perform a simple calf raise, he decided it was time to seek medical help.

“I had some issues early in the season and I just kept playing through it, some back spasms,” Howard said Thursday in his comments about the extent of his back injury since he was acquired by the Lakers from the Orlando Magic on Aug. 10.

“I really didn’t say anything. With all the stuff that was going on, I just didn’t want anybody thinking that I was trying to quit on my team or anything. Instead of sitting out, I just wanted to keep playing and how everybody I was still with the team.”

— Reported by Elliot Teaford of the Los Angeles Daily News

Kobe talks about Dwight Howard toughness

Kobe Bryant suggested this week that fun-loving Dwight Howard needs to bring out the “dog” in him night in and night out, the quality that earned him three Defensive Player of the Year awards.

“It’s there, it’s just a matter of him digging deep and pulling it out. It’s already there. .It’s just a matter of him having it become habit,” Bryant said Tuesday.

Howard said he wasn’t offended by Bryant’s statements. After the Lakers’ second exhibition loss Wednesday, the All-Star center said he understood where his new teammate was coming from.

“I heard about what he said,” Howard said. “People might take that the wrong way. He’s not saying be a jerk or an a-hole to people, he’s basically saying, ‘On the court, he loves the way I play but I can be more of one of those people.’ ”

— Reported by Janis Carr of the OC Register

Kobe Bryant disses Smush Parker

“I almost won an MVP with Smush Parker and Kwame Brown on my team,” Bryant said before Wednesday’s 93-75 exhibition loss to Portland. “I was shooting 45 times a game. What was I supposed to do? Pass it to Chris Mihm or Kwame Brown.”

Bryant was referring to 2005-06 when the Lakers’ roster included Brian Cook, Stanislav Medvedenko, Devean George and Parker, Mihm and Brown.

Bryant continued, taking aim at his favorite whipping boy, Parker, calling him “the worst. He shouldn’t have been in the NBA but we were too cheap to pay for a point guard. So we let him walk on.”

— Reported by Janis Carr of the OC Register