NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog
NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
Lakers blog – Los Angeles Lakers blog
|
Los Angeles Clippers forward Matt Barnes has pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of unlicensed driving and resisting arrest.
Barnes, who was not present in court, entered his plea Tuesday through his attorney.
Superior Court Judge Burt Pines sentenced him to two years of probation. The judge also ordered Barnes to complete 30 hours of community service and attend 13 counseling sessions with a private therapist.
— Reported by the Associated Press
Although neither the company nor the Lakers would comment on the terms of their 20-year rights deal, industry insiders estimate the value at $3 billion. Time Warner Cable spent an additional $55 million for rights to the Galaxy soccer team for 10 years, and more than $30 million building a facility with three studios in El Segundo to house the networks.
Time Warner Cable has more on its shopping list and is eyeing the Dodgers, whose deal with Fox’s Prime Ticket expires next season.
But, to make the channels pay off, Time Warner Cable must get other distributors in the area to carry the networks as well. So far none is rushing to sign a contract.
Time Warner Cable is hoping its heavy investment in original programming beyond the games and forgoing infomercials — which fill most local sports channels when a game isn’t on and provide a steady stream of cash — will help sell the networks to other distributors.
— Reported by Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times
|
Backup Lakers point guard Steve Blake suffered a puncture wound to his left foot stepping on a spike strip in a parking lot and is prohibited from any impact exercises for approximately three weeks.
Lakers training camp opens in eight days.
With Blake sidelined, Chris Duhon will get an added opportunity to impress his new coaching staff in pursuit of backup minutes behind Steve Nash.
— Reported by Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register
Another NBA season is upon us with a little more than a week left before teams gather for the start of training camp.
And once again, the Western Conference is where they will play hardball.
All one has to do is look at the biggest transaction from the offseason. It could be argued that the Western Conference teams came out on the better end of a four-team, 12-player trade that sent All-Star center Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers, established forward Andre Iguodala to Denver, center Andrew Bynum to Philadelphia and emerging swingman Arron Afflalo to Orlando.
The deal serves as an indication that the West again holds the league’s overall balance of power with so many talent-rich teams. Not since the lockout-shortened 1998-1999 season has the Eastern Conference’s eight playoff teams had an overall better record than the eight from the West. In those fourteen years, a West squad has won 10 NBA Championships (five for the Lakers, four for San Antonio, one for Dallas) and there appear to be more Western Conference teams — among the legitimate title contenders — poised to unseat the defending champion Miami Heat this season.
— Reported by Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal
Anschutz Entertainment Group, the owner of the Staples Center arena and the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, and the top contender to build a stadium and bring the NFL back to Los Angeles, is up for sale, its parent company said Tuesday.
The Denver-based Anschutz Co. said in a statement that it is “commencing a process” to sell the subsidiary known as AEG and had hired Blackstone Advisory Partners as an adviser.
It wasn’t immediately clear how far along the company is in the sale process, or whether it has entertained any offers, but the price for AEG could be well into the billions.
The sale would mean a major ground shift in sports and entertainment in Los Angeles and around the world.
— Reported by the Associated Press
The Los Angeles Lakers have signed rookie guard Darius Johnson-Odom, it was announced today.
Johnson-Odom, the 55th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, was acquired by the Lakers from Dallas on draft night. The 6-2 guard out of Marquette averaged 15.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 105 career games. As a senior, the Raleigh, North Carolina native led his team in scoring (18.3ppg) and earned First Team All-Big East honors in addition to being named an Honorable Mention All-American by the Associated Press.
Most recently, Johnson-Odom played on the Lakers 2012 Summer League team in Las Vegas, averaging 3.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 15.8 minutes.
 |
Dwight Howard injury update: Not ready for preseason opener
Dwight Howard will not be available for the Lakers’ exhibition opener Oct. 7 in Fresno against Golden State, the Lakers announced Thursday, indicating Howard will keep taking his recovery slow before the Oct. 30 regular-season opener.
Howard is rehabilitating from April 20 spinal surgery and began workouts Monday with Lakers athletic trainer Gary Vitti and head physical therapist Judy Seto, as I reported Tuesday.
The Lakers declined to provide any update from his initial workouts, but on Thursday they announced Howard would not be ready for the Oct. 2 first practice or the Oct. 7 first game. Ruling him out already for the first exhibition is an indication that the Lakers and Howard will be conservative in bringing him back and probably not test him in many exhibition contests.
— Reported by Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register
The Los Angeles Lakers have signed rookie forward/center Robert Sacre, it was announced today.
Sacre, a 7-0 forward/center out of Gonzaga, was selected by the Lakers in the second round (60th overall pick) in the 2012 NBA draft. Sacre finished his career with the Bulldogs ranked second all-time in school history in career blocks (186) while averaging 9.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 135 games. As a senior, Sacre was named the 2012 WCC Defensive Player of the Year as well as an All-WCC First-Team honoree while averaging 11.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocks.
Most recently, Sacre started all five games for the Lakers 2012 Summer League team in Las Vegas, averaging 9.0 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 30.0 minutes.
The Los Angeles Lakers have signed rookie center Greg Somogyi and rookie forward Reeves Nelson, it was announced today. The deals are likely just training camp contracts, so the players will still have to prove themselves to make the regular season roster.
Somogyi, a 7-3 center out of UC Santa Barbara, played all four years for the Gauchos where he posted career averages of 3.5 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 12.2 minutes. Somogyi most recently played for the 2012 Lakers Summer League team where he averaged 1.2 points, 1.6 rebounds in 7.2 minutes.
Nelson, a 6-8 forward out of UCLA, was also a member of the 2012 Lakers Summer League team where he averaged 4.0 points and 5.3 rebounds in 16.3 minutes of play. Named to the All- PAC 10 first team following his sophomore year, Nelson played in 68 games for the Bruins averaging 12.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 27.0 minutes.
Former UCLA forward Reeves Nelson will be invited to the Lakers training camp that begins in early October after he signs a one-year, non-guaranteed contract, potentially worth about $700,000 with the team, Nelson told The Times on Tuesday.
Nelson would probably be considered a long shot to make the Lakers. But he considers the training camp invitation to be a blessing, particularly because he was dismissed from UCLA in December of 2011, largely for his disruptive attitude.
“I’m very grateful,” Nelson said. “It’s nice because I’m pretty sure that virtually no one thought I could get this far, so it’s pretty gratifying.”
— Reported by Baxter Holmes of the Los Angeles Times