FreshHoops.com
The latest and freshest news from the world of the NBA.
-
Metta World Peace (Ron Artest) signs with basketball team in Finland?
Metta World Peace (Ron Artest) has signed with a basketball team in Finland? Apparently so, according to a Finnish newspaper report:
“Finland’s top league Korisliiga will witness some serious NBA talent in September 2011, when Los Angeles Lakers forward/multipersonality Ron Artest will join league newcomer LoKoKo Loimaa.
“The 31-year old Artest has three years left in his Lakers contract, but that doesn’t seem to bother LoKoKo sports director Aleksi Valavuori, who backs up the rumor in Tuesday’s Ilta-Sanomat newspaper.
“We have sorted things out and I can happily confirm that Artest will arrive in Finland,” Valavuori states in the Ilta-Sanomat interview.
Thanks for IamaGM.com for the heads up on this one.
-
Shannon Brown has officially opted-out of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers to become a free agent, Lakers.com confirms.
This was expected after Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak told reporters on the night of the draft that he thought Brown would opt-out. The move by Brown is most likely so he can get more money in a new contract. It is thought that a return to the Lakers in unlikely.
Brown will be able to explore free agency once the lockout is over. It is currently unclear how long the lockout will last.
-
British boxer and current WBA World super lightweight champion Amir Khan said on Twitter that Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum “has the ability to be a heavyweight champ”. Bynum has been training with world famous boxing trainer Freddie Roach to stay in shape during the off-season.
-
Kobe Bryant performs a regular two-handed dunk in Manila and the crowd reacts like he did a 720 reverse through-the-legs from the three point line line dunk.
-
Could Lamar Odom be headed to play in Europe? It seems so, according to a tweet Lamar made to fellow Los Angeles Lakers player Pau Gasol.
In the tweet, Odom says:
@paugasol it’s ya boy@RealLamarOdom ! My dude really want 2 talk 2 u! Really thinking about going 2 play in Europe after this season!Interesting! So not only does Odom want to play in Europe, but he doesn’t want to do it now like most players due to the probable lockout (although, Lamar is close to NBPA President Derek Fisher, so maybe he knows something we don’t?) and he’d want to head to Europe in 2012 after his contract with the Lakers ends.
I wonder how his wife Khloe Kardashian would feel about the move across the pond?
-
ARTICLE: For the Lakers to get Chris Paul, all you need is Love?
Here’s an interesting idea from this article at Basketball ID - Pau to the Timberwolves, Love to the Hornets and Paul to the Lakers:
The amount of times Chris Paul has probably thought he’s moving to Los Angeles within the last week and then being told that yet another deal has “fallen through” are mounting up. This is getting pretty ridiculous.
David Stern and his apparent ego trip of “blocking” trades is becoming almost comical now, with teams, players and fans growing increasingly more annoyed at his actions every day; this isn’t exactly how you want to come out of a lockout.
However, to defend Stern - and I can’t believe I’m about to do this - he’s saying that a potential buyer for the league owned New Orleans Hornets needs to see that the team will be competitive in the long run, and so such deals as Lamar Odom, Luis Scola and Kevin Martin to the Hornets have been shot down (even though you’d think the team would be fairly competitive?) as well as the recent Clippers deal involving players Eric Gordon, Al-Farouq Aminu, Eric Bledsoe, Chris Kaman and Minnesota’s unprotected 2012 first-round draft pick. However, it is unclear just exactly which pieces the Clippers offered for Paul.
Whilst the Clippers have hit a bit of a road block in the deal - with not wanting to part with so many of their assets and them wanting to send Mo Williams to New Orleans for Trevor Ariza, reportedly - an opportunity for the Lakers to get back in the game is apparently on the cards.
At the end of last season, an apparent deal between the Minneosta Timberwolves and Lakers was being put together; Pau Gasol for Kevin Love and possibly their lottery pick in the 2011 draft. Some people doubted whether this deal was true - surely the Lakers wouldn’t trade Pau Gasol would they?! Well, poker player Jerry Buss’ cards have well and truly been shown within the last week, and it seems that Gasol is actually being shopped around the league.
So, how about revisiting a modified version of that trade with the main focus still being on a Pau-Love swap? A quick trade I tried out on the ESPN Trade Machine went through…but would it satisfy David Stern? Here it is anyway; the Lakers send Pau Gasol to the Timberwolves and receive Chris Paul and Jarrett Jack (using Sasha Vujacic’s Trade Exception) from the Hornets. The Hornets get Kevin Love, Wesley Johnson and Darko Milicic. The Timberwolves get Pau Gasol. The Lakers would also probably have to include some of their youth/picks in the deal and maybe the Wolves would add some different youth to the deal along with Love; but it works.
LA finally get Chris Paul. The Timberwolves get a friend of Ricky Rubio’s in Gasol and an All-Star friend at that - don’t forget, they’d still have Michael Beasley and their other youthful prospects. And the Hornets? They’d get a young stud in Kevin Love who’s only 23 and is coming off his best season, with a few other pieces for the future in the form of young talent and picks, as well as shedding the remaining $10 million owed to Jarrett Jack by trading him into the Lakers’ Vujacic exception (which expires on Dec 15, by the way). It also means they get to keep Trevor Ariza, instead of trade him away like the Clippers have in mind.
Sure, David Stern could once again shoot down this trade proposal. But with Chris Paul threatening legal action soon, it might be just about time that he changed his decision a week later and finally allowed CP3 to wear purple and gold.
-
Kobe Bryant has been working “around the clock” with 22-year-old Lakers sophomore Devin Ebanks to try and prepare him for this season, which should see him get increased minutes after the departure of Lamar Odom and he could even wind-up becoming a starter.
New Lakers coach Mike Brown announced yesterday that he would be moving Metta World Peace to the bench so he could lead the second unit, meaning there’s an open spot at the starting small forward position. The three players in contention for the spot are Ebanks, Matt Barnes and Luke Walton. Whilst Barnes currently looks like the favorite, there is still 9 days til opening night and a lot can happen within that time frame.
Today at the Lakers’ open scrimmage at USC, Ebanks scored 12 points, going 4-for-6 from the field, 4-for-4 from the foul line and adding two assists and a steal, according to ESPN.
-
According to ESPN, free agent Baron Davis hopes to know by Monday which NBA team he’ll be signing with. According to sources, his top three destinations are the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat. The Knicks are thought to be pusuing Davis aggressively, which may influence his decision when deciding to where to go.
Even though Davis is currently out of action with a back injury, he’d like to sign with a team so he can prepare for the season mentally by learning his new team’s playbook and players whilst healing up. All three potential suitors could possibly give Davis a starting position judging by their current rosters.
Los Angeles native Davis became a free agent earlier this week after no teams bid on him after he was amnestied by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
-
Kobe chided Caracter and Goudelock for wearing Air Jordans after practice: ‘That MF retired in ‘98, you got to get you some Kob’s.’
The latest and freshest news from the world of the NBA.
