The Lakers succession has been everything Jerry Buss hoped to avoid by giving his children important jobs… starting with the feud between Jeanie and her brother, Jim, anointed as head of basketball operations… although he had no interest in the day-to-day, either. Fortunately, GM Mitch Kupchak did all that stuff, rebuilding the team after the trade of Shaquille O’Neal to win its 2009-2010 titles. Unfortunately, Jeanie saw the faithful Kupchak, who had no choice but to work with the owner’s son, as too close to Jim and fired him along with her brother in 2017. Jeanie then hired Magic, who would prove unsuited for the job.
The Lakers succession has been everything Jerry Buss ho…
August 10, 2022 | 11:40 am EDT Update
Draymond Green: I'm not sure Lakers win 2020 title if they keep Brandon Ingram over Kyle Kuzma
“The thing that people don’t realize is when you make decisions like that — so some people who don’t understand winning… would say, ‘But Brandon Ingram has been an All-Star, so that was the wrong move,’” Draymond Green said. “But if you understand winning, what I say is, ‘But they won a championship.’ So, regardless of what your thoughts could be on that topic, they won a championship, and that automatically trumps everything.” I’m not sure that team still wins if they keep B.I. over you [Kyle Kuzma] because of the skill sets,” Green said. “All of these pieces have to fit in. What you brought to that team…you and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope were the shooters.”
Tracy McGrady on Rudy Gobert's lack of offensive moves: What the f--- are you doing in the offseason?
“This is what I’ve been wondering, what the f— are you doing in the offseason?” Tracy McGrady said of Rudy Gobert. “Like, what is your workout? I was so mad at Rudy when they were playing against the [Houston] Rockets one year bro and Chris Paul was guarding him in the post. I was mad as s—. He couldn’t do nothing. Bro you’re 7’2″, and a point guard is guarding you. He had no moves.”
Quinton Mayo: Wizards forward Deni Avdija has tested positive for COVID, per source. As @Josh Halickman earlier reported, Avdija will not fly with the Israel National Team to Georgia for their two exhibition games on Friday & Saturday.
Clutch Points: Looks like Victor Oladipo is willing to try ANYTHING he can to make it to the Finals 🤣 (via victoroladipo/TikTok) pic.twitter.com/wrl5EP4oi6
August 10, 2022 | 9:55 am EDT Update
Grizzlies adding Dakota Mathias
Michael Scotto: Sources: The Memphis Grizzlies have agreed to an Exhibit 10 deal with guard Dakota Mathias, @HoopsHype has learned. Mathias had two 10-day contracts with the Grizzlies last season and was previously a two-way player for the Philadelphia 76ers.
According to NBA insider Brian Windhorst, after the news about the KD’s ultimatum became public, other NBA teams that are interesting in acquiring the superstar will lower their offers instead of increasing them which would further complicate the chances of the trade happening. “Doing it now is a maneuver, a maneuver that I don’t think worked because as I talk to teams out there, they don’t think this increased his trade demand. They think this hurt his trade value,” Windhorst said on ESPN’s This Just In.
“I want to point the second half of the Joe Tsai tweet. I think it’s obviously important to look at the first sentence which is that he’s not going to fire Sean Marks and Steve Nash. But the second sentence is really the sentence that the league paid attention to it. And it seems benign when he says ‘We make decisions for the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.’ “But I’m going to decode that for you. What he’s basically saying is despite what Kevin Durant is trying do here, we’re not going to change what our expectations are for a trade and if you are not traded, we expect you to be reporting to camp to continue the four years you have left on your contract.”
