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Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has decided that Doc Rivers should concentrate on coaching and has moved Lawrence Frank into the position of overseeing basketball operations. Rivers and Frank have a long friendship and Rivers will continue to offer opinions on personnel matters. “After owning the franchise for three years I see there’s a tremendous difference between coaching and running a franchise,” said Ballmer. “Each one requires a lot of time.”The Clippers are expected to have nine new playe...
The Lakers have signed guard Vander Blue, it was announced by General Manager Rob Pelinka. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not released. Blue most recently competed for the South Bay Lakers of the NBA G League, where he averaged 24.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.6 steals last season before being named 2017 NBA G League Most Valuable Player. He has averaged 23.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists through four seasons with the Lakers’ minor league team and stands as South Bay’s all-time leader in points, field goals made and...
Legendary UCLA track & field coach Jim Bush passed away on Monday, July 10 at his home in Culver City. He was 90. Bush, who coached at UCLA for 20 years (1965-84), elevated the Bruin program to one of the most outstanding in the United States, leading the team to five NCAA Championships and seven conference titles. "Today, the Bruin family suffered a tremendous loss with the passing of former track & field coach Jim Bush," said UCLA Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero. "Jim was born to coach; he brought out the best in everyone around him,...
John Black, who led the Los Angeles Lakers’ Public Relations Department for more than 27 years before being replaced recently has been named the recipient of the Brian McIntyre Trophy as the 2017 Splaver/McHugh “Tribute to Excellence” Award winner. The award, presented today during the NBA’s PR Meetings, is given by the NBA Public Relations Directors Association to a current or former member of the NBA public relations family who has demonstrated an outstanding level of performance and service during his or her NBA career. Black began his NBA...
Anyone who thought the Clippers would fade away by losing exceptional point guard Chris Paul should think again. Recovering quickly, the Clippers got Paul to sign a new Clipper contract for a few days before they’d trade him to Houston, the team he desired. Then they got three established players and a 2018 first round draft choice from Houston. Don’t forget Paul didn’t have to do that. Free agents can simply sign with another team. Then a few days later the Clippers signed forward Blake Griffin...
The Lakers have announced their roster for the 2017 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, highlighted by 2017 NBA All-Rookie Second Team selection Brandon Ingram and the second overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft, Lonzo Ball. Joining Ingram and Ball are current Lakers Ivica Zubac and David Nwaba, in addition to Lakers draft-day acquisitions Thomas Bryant, Josh Hart and Kyle Kuzma. The team held its first practice on Monday, July 3, at the Toyota Sports Center and will begin Summer League play in Las Vegas with back-to-back games on Friday, July 7,...
Kevin Durant played for the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2008 through 2016. He was recognized as one of the NBA’s best players but he was never on a championship team. As a free agent last summer he signed with the Golden State Warriors who had won a championship two seasons ago then lost in the finals the next season. It made perfect sense to him. He wanted a championship and they had a good chance to get him one. But a lot of fans regarded him as a traitor. Not for leaving but for joining the e...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor What seemed very likely several weeks ago is now official. Jerry West is joining the Clippers. At 79, West still enjoys accurately evaluating players, a talent he's had since his playing days. Retirement isn't for everyone his age. West, a Laker great as a player, became the Lakers' general manager, engineered the trade that brought in Kobe Bryant and presided over six NBA championship years with the team. He left for Memphis, reportedly because of a financial...
Magic Johnson trying to bring in players to the Lakers and Jerry West doing the same for the Clippers. That surely would appeal to fans of Los Angeles' NBA teams. It could happen. Johnson has already been hired by Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and West recently met with Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and coach/general manager Doc Rivers. Nothing is official but West would like to join the Clippers after the Lakers passed up their chance to welcome him back. There won't be many quotes in this story beca...
Draft Success Excites Lakers But Celtics Are Way Ahead Of Them By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Several years ago the Lakers and Celtics were terrible. Those championship battles in their history were only memories. But Boston. driven by Danny Ainge, started doing things right. They selected well and piled up top level draft choices in trades. By contrast, the Lakers floundered with Jim Buss as the top basketball executive and Mitch Kupchak as general manager. The club stood still, changing one...
As Clipper fans wonder what the team will do following its disappointing finish in the recently completed season the team took a step forward this week. The Clippers purchest a development league team named the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario. The team will have 24 home games next season at the Citizens Bank Arena. Coach Doc Rivers is happy that the Clippers will have a minor league team close to home, joining 25 other NBA teams in that position. A local example is the Lakers had players...
The Los Angeles D-Fenders have unveiledthe brand marks for theSouth Bay Lakers, the future minor league affiliate of the Los Angeles Lakers, featuring primary and secondary emblems. The new primary emblem is inspired by the classic logo of the team’s parent club. It has been reimagined to incorporate the oceanfront views of the region while South Bay is adorned across the top, adding subtle but unique twists to the timeless look of one of the NBA’s most prominent brands. Each of the team’s new marks have been designed to further increase the s...
Paul George has a year remaining on his contract with the Indiana Pacers. Then he becomes a free agent. With the end in sight, Pacers President Larry Bird had trade talks with at least five teams before the recent deadline but no deal was made, Magic Johnson called Bird. The former great players for the Lakers and Boston Celtics weren’t reliving their remarkable playing careers. It is likely Johnson inquired about getting George in a trade sometime next season. A trade makes sense for the P...
Outscored 22-3 At The finish They Search For Answers After the Clippers lost an 18-point lead in the final five minutes at Staples Center Sunday Coach Doc Rivers was asked the obvious question. “What happened and why?”He didn’ t flinch from the question. He didn’ t blame his players. He tried to explain. “I always look at myself first,” he said. “I wasn’ t happy from early in the fourth quarter. We led by 15 and I’ m looking for it to become 25. But that didn’ t happen.”The questio...
The Buss family feud has came to an end with Jeanie officially taking control of the Lakers and brother Jim resigning as co-trustee. Jim Buss’ seat on the Board has gone to younger sister Janie, an ally of Jeanie in the recent family drama. Previously Janie had warned that Buss family members would become a minority if Jim and brother Johnny were allowed to sell their shares to friends who could regularly out-vote Jeanie. With the recent development a Los Angeles Superior Court hearing scheduled...
The Clippers won by 30 points Saturday but a lot of fans in the sellout crowd at Staples Center were far from happy. “Refund, refund, refund,” they chanted because the Cleveland Cavaliers had rested LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Erving. If you were a Clipper season ticket holder you’d have to go a full season without seeing the star players of the NBA champions because it was the Cavaliers’ only road game against the Clippers in the current 82-game season. Worse, the Cavaliers had all the...
Mitch Kupchak learned the General Manager business from Jerry West, then took over. He had good years but not many in his final ones with lowly Laker teams and now he’s been replaced. What about the new guy? First, remember Kupchak was a Laker player and then a general manager. It’s a huge difference that Rob Pelinka was an agent who had Kobe Bryant as a client and now he’s going to work for a team for the first time. It’s a different world. Agents make friends and enemies. When they negotia...
Four straight terrible seasons, four years out of the playoffs, four years when I' ve been writing about the decline of one of the NBA' s greatest franchises. It seemed like it couldn' t get worse for the Lakers but it has. The Buss family is in turmoil. In a story by ESPN' s Ramona Shelbourne, Jeanie Buss' younger sister Janie says Johnny and Jim Buss want to sell their shares of the Lakers. ' That would leave the rest of us as minorities,"Janie Buss said. Six of Jerry Buss' siblings are curren...
The Lakers used to play in Inglewood. Soon the Rams and Chargers will be playing in Inglewood. And then the Clippers? Stan Kroenke, who owns the Rams and has moved the team from St. Louis and is funding a multi-billion dollar stadium in Inglewood, has attended or sent representatives to several meetings with Clippers owner Steve Ballmer in recent weeks. They’ve talked about the Clippers building an arena in Inglewood and sharing parking with the Rams’facility. The Rams are scheduled to open the...
I had covered the Lakers for several years before Mitch Kupchak came along. Kupchak told the media to call him Mitchell. ”That’s because Mitch Chortkoff was here first,” he said. “Mitch is taken, I’ll be Mitchell.” Now Mitchell has been fired after 30 years with the organization. Jim Buss, Jeanie Buss’ brother, has been fired too. And John Black, the Lakers’ publicist for the last 27 years, has been fired. It’s a very sad time for key members of this once-great franchise. The Lakers are coming...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor I had covered the Lakers for several years before Mitch Kupchak came along. Kupchak told the media to call him Mitchell. "That's because Mitch Chortkoff was here first," he said. "Mitch is taken, I'll be Mitchell." Now Mitchell has been fired after 30 years with the organization. Jim Buss, Jeanie Buss' brother, has been fired too. And John Black, the Lakers' publicist for the last 27 years, has been fired. It's a very sad time for key members of this once-great...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor I’ve been around Magic Johnson through all the years since he came to the Lakers. He’s been fantastic as a basketball player and then a businessman. He fought HIV a long time ago and he’s still living and accomplishing. But if he intends to make the Lakers great again he’s got another tough battle ahead. I have so much respect for him and I’d never say he can’t do something he wants to do. But frankly I don’t see how he can defeat the reality that a new NBA rul...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor If the LA Rams and LA Chargers don’t qualify for the Super Bowl in 2021 the game in the Rams’ new stadium in Inglewood will have a lot in common with the one played in Houston last Sunday. Fans there were probably disappointed when the Houston team didn’t earn a berth. But the magnitude of the event, a contest that drew millions of television viewers, resulted in joy throughout the Texas city. It was a great day. A great game and a halftime show that will long be...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor Magic Johnson is returning to the Lakers as an advisor to top executive Jeanie Buss. The announcement was made on Thursday and Johnson's duties will include meeting with coaches, evaluating the team's roster and advising on all player and business decisions. Johnson's success as a player and a businessman is likely to result in highly favorable publicity for the Lakers, who are on the verge of failing to make The NBA playoffs for a fifth straight season. But his...
By Mitch Chortkoff Sports Editor First it was Blake Griffin with knee surgery. Then it was Chris Paul with a hamstring injury. Then J.J. Redic, also with a hamstring problem. “Something good is going to come out of this,” said Coach Doc Rivers. “Maybe a lineup I didn’t expect to click.” So far the Clippers have lost to Dallas the night after a healthier Clipper team beat San Antonio. Then the Clippers lost to the Lakers and Denver. This is serious because the Clippers are heading out of elite...
