The Chicago Bulls announced today that the team has waived guard/forward Dahntay Jones.

Jones originally signed with Chicago as free agent on Sept. 27, 2013.

Chicago’s training camp roster now stands at 15.

The Chicago Bulls announced today that the team has waived guards Kalin Lucas and Patrick Christopher.

Both players originally signed with Chicago as free agents on Sept. 27, 2013.

Chicago’s training camp roster now stands at 16.

Steve Mills is returning to the New York Knicks as president and general manager, replacing Glen Grunwald in a front-office shake-up just days before the start of training camp.

Mills spent a decade as an executive at Madison Square Garden and before that worked at the NBA for 16 years. He left MSG in 2009 after the arrival of Donnie Walsh as Knicks president.

Grunwald took over when Walsh left in 2011 and constructed much of the roster that helped the Knicks win a playoff series last season for the first time since 2000. He will remain with the organization as an adviser, the Knicks said in a release Thursday.

Madison Square Garden Chairman James Dolan called Mills ”a well-respected sports executive with a strong background in basketball, as well as a familiarity with NBA operations and our company.”

”We look forward to his leadership and believe he is the right person to help us reach our ultimate goal of winning an NBA championship,” Dolan said.

Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced the team has signed 2013 second-round pick Lorenzo Brown. The Wolves also today signed Robbie Hummel and Othyus Jeffers.

Brown, a 6-5 guard, was selected by the Wolves with the 52nd overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft and appeared on the team’s 2013 Las Vegas Summer League team, averaging 8.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists. At North Carolina State, Brown started 95 of the 101 games he played during his three-year career and averaged 11.6 points. He left the Wolfpack as one of only three players in school history to record over 500 career assists (589). Brown was selected Second Team All-ACC as a junior and a Third-Team All-ACC as a sophomore. In 2012-13, he averaged 12.4 points and led the ACC in assists (7.2 apg – 6th in the nation) and ranked second in the conference in steals (2.0 spg).

Hummel, originally selected with the 59th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft by Minnesota, heads to training camp with the Wolves after appearing on the team’s 2013 Las Vegas Summer League team, averaging 8.6 points and 5.8 rebounds. The 6-8 forward also spent time on the Wolves’ 2012 Las Vegas Summer League entry. He spent the 2012-13 season with Obradoiro CAB in the Spanish League where he averaged 10.1 points and 7.2 rebounds in 30 games. Hummel averaged 14.0 points and 6.8 rebounds in 127 games over his four-year collegiate career for the Purdue Boilermakers.

Jeffers, a 6-5 guard, played for the Wolves in the 2013 Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 8.2 points and 3.8 rebounds. Jeffers played for the Iowa Energy of the NBADL in 2012-13, averaging 14.7 points, on .486 shooting, 5.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists. In 2010-11, he played 16 games with the Washington Wizards, averaging 5.7 points and 4.1 rebounds, and saw action in one game with the San Antonio Spurs. That year, Jeffers played in 38 games for the Iowa Energy, averaging 21.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists. Jeffers split 2009-10 between Cantu in the Greek League, Iowa and the Utah Jazz. He appeared in 14 games with the Jazz, averaging 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds. He played in 47 games with Iowa in 2008-09, averaging 21.0 points, on .535 shooting, 9.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists en route to earning Rookie of the Year honors. He appeared in the 2009 and 2011 NBADL All-Star Games.

Today’s transactions bring the Wolves training camp roster to 17 players.

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed center Eric Boateng and guard Darius Johnson-Odom, it was announced today. 

Boateng, a free agent center out of Arizona State University, has split time over the last three seasons playing for the Idaho Stampede and the Austin Toros of the NBA’s Development League in addition to playing internationally for the Greek Basket League team Peristeri and the New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig in Germany. The 6-10 center, who played one year (2005-06) at Duke before transferring to Arizona State University (2007-10), finished his collegiate career averaging 4.3 points and 3.5 rebounds in 13.8 minutes over 116 games. Born in London, Boateng is also a member of the Great Britain national basketball team.

Johnson-Odom, the 55th overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, was acquired by the Lakers from the Dallas Mavericks on draft night. The 6-2 guard out of Marquette appeared in four games for the Lakers last season, where he totaled four rebounds and one assist in six minutes. Johnson-Odom also played in 13 games for the Los Angeles D-Fenders where he averaged 21.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists in 39.8 minutes. After being waived by the Lakers in January, the Raleigh, North Carolina native spent the remainder of the 2012-13 season playing in Russia for BC Spartak Saint Petersburg.

Most recently, Johnson-Odom participated in the 2013 NBA Summer League games held in Orlando and Las Vegas. In three games as a member of the Boston Celtics summer league entry in Orlando, Johnson-Odom averaged 10.3 points and 1.3 assists in 23.7 minutes. In six games played as a member of Denver’s summer league team in Las Vegas, Johnson-Odom averaged 7.2 points and 3.0 assists in 15.8 minutes.

The Lakers training camp roster now stands at 18 players. 

Detroit Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced today that the club has named Henry Bibby and Maz Trakh as assistant coaches joining John Loyer, who’s been on Detroit’s coaching staff the last two seasons. Additionally, Rasheed Wallace and Bernard Smith have been named player development coaches, Kamran Sufi has been hired as advance scout and Raman Sposato as video coordinator.

Bibby enters his first season with Detroit after spending the last five seasons on the Memphis Grizzlies coaching staff. During his stint in Memphis, Bibby helped coach the Grizzlies to the playoffs for three consecutive years (2011-13). Prior to joining the Grizzlies, Bibby served two-plus seasons (2005-08) as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers under Maurice Cheeks. He served as the head coach of the men’s basketball team at the University of Southern California, where he was named the 2002 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 15 Co-Coach of the Year, along with Paul Westphal, and was a finalist for the 2002 Naismith Coach of the Year Award. He also had coaching stints in the CBA, IBA, WNBA, USBL and in overseas leagues. Bibby averaged 8.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 675 career games over nine NBA seasons (1972-81). He won an NBA championship with the Knicks as a rookie in 1973. Collegiately, he played three seasons (1969-72) at UCLA where, under head coach John Wooden, he was the starting point guard on three NCAA title teams, earning consensus All-American honors as a senior while serving as the team’s captain.

Trakh joins Detroit after serving the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Prior to Oklahoma City, he spent five years in Asia as a head coach in the Jordan Basketball League. In 2005, he led Jordan Fastlink to the FIBA Asia Club Championship, marking the first time a Jordanian team won the Asia Club Championship. Trakh has also coached in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), American Basketball Association (ABA) and the collegiate level with Cabrillo College, UC Irvine, Riverside Community College and Long Beach State. Prior to his coaching career, Trakh played collegiately at Southern Utah University.

Wallace begins his first year as a player development coach after a 16-year NBA playing career. He returns to the Pistons where he played five-plus seasons (2004-09) and helped the team to the 2004 NBA Championship. Wallace averaged 14.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 steals in 1,109 career games with Washington, Portland, Atlanta, Detroit, Boston and New York. He was acquired by the Pistons from the Hawks on February 19, 2004 and was a key member of the Pistons’ team that made back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 2004 and 2005.

Smith enters his first season as a player development coach with the Pistons. He previously worked under Cheeks in both Portland and Philadelphia. He served as video coordinator for the Trail Blazers for two seasons (2002-04) and was promoted to assistant coach prior to the start of the 2004-05 season.

Sufi has spent the last three seasons working in the Chinese Basketball Association and served as an assistant coach with the Anaheim Arsenal of the NBA Development League from 2007-09. He played professional basketball in the ABA and overseas.

Sposato joins Detroit after spending the last eight seasons working for the L.A. Clippers organization where he started as a video coordinator in 2005. Prior to the Clippers, he spent 2003-05 as the video coordinator of the Portland Trail Blazers on Cheeks’ staff.

The Golden State Warriors have signed free agent center Dewayne Dedmon and free agent guard Cameron Jones to contracts, the team announced today.

Dedmon, 24, played the last two seasons at USC, averaging 7.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.67 blocks over 51 games (49 starts).  In 31 games (29 starts) this past season as a redshirt junior, the 7’0” center averaged 6.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.13 blocks and 1.10 steals in 22.3 minutes per contest.  Dedmon did not play organized basketball until his senior year of high school due to religious reasons and played one season at Antelope Valley College in his hometown of Lancaster, CA, before transferring to USC.  He will wear uniform #21.

Jones, 24, played last season for the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA Development League, averaging 12.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.26 steals in 27.0 minutes per contest.  The 6’4” guard also played for the Warriors Summer League squad in Las Vegas this past July, averaging 11.7 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals in seven games.  Prior to playing his rookie season with the D-League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants in 2011-12, Jones played four seasons at Northern Arizona University and ended his career as the school’s all-time leading scorer.  He will wear uniform #6.

The Warriors now have 16 players under contract.

NBA star DeAndre Liggins just surrendered after being charged with beating his girlfriend and throwing an Xbox at her.

Liggins allegedly ran into the bedroom he shared with his GF in Oklahoma City … then grabbed her by the hair, pulling her out of the bed. Then, for bad measure, he allegedly punched her 11 to 12 times and then hurled an Xbox and a box fan at her head — striking her. He then allegedly held her at bay.

Reported by TMZ.com

Note from InsideHoops.com: Just a reminder that this is all ALLEGED. Liggins may be completely innocent.

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed forward Marcus Landry, it was announced today.

Landry, a 6-7 forward out of Wisconsin, has spent time over the past three years with the Maine Red Claws and Reno Bighorns of the NBA Development League and internationally with teams in Spain, China, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. During his two seasons (2010-11 and 2012-13) with the Bighorns, Landry played in 84 games (83 starts) averaging 16.9 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 36.0 minutes.

Signing with the New York Knicks as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2009, Landry played for both the Knicks and Celtics during the 2009-10 campaign averaging 2.4 points and 1.1 rebounds in 6.1 minutes over 18 games.

The Milwaukee, Wisconsin native and younger brother of NBA veteran Carl Landry, most recently was a member of the 2013 Lakers Summer League team where he played in all five games (4 starts) averaging 15.2 points and 4.2 rebounds in 26.5 minutes.

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inducted its newest members Sunday, and two men with Bay Area ties figured prominently.

Gary Payton, who starred at Oakland’s Skyline High and Oregon State before a sterling NBA career, and former Warrior Bernard King headlined the class.

“I played hard because I wanted to win every time,” Payton said. “It was all for my crazy love for the game.”

Payton was known for his defensive prowess, aggressiveness and trash-talking. He is the only NBA player with 20,000 points, 8,000 assists, 5,000 rebounds and 2,000 steals.

“I don’t regret the way I went about it, and I’m a strong man today as a result, but I can’t help but think I could have given more to the game that gave so much to me,” Payton said. “My career is complete, Gary Payton is evolving, but GP is in the Hall of Fame.”

King spent two seasons with the Warriors, averaging 21.9 points per game in 1980-81 and earning an All-Star berth while averaging 23.1 points per game in 1981-82. In all, he averaged 22.5 points in 16 NBA seasons with five teams.

“Anything you dream of and set a goal for can be achieved through hard work, education, the desire to achieve and commitments,” King said.

Reported by the Associated Press

LeBron James apparently is ready for some football, especially when his beloved Dallas Cowboys are involved.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he expects the Heat forward to be in attendance when the Cowboys host the New York Giants for Sunday Night football.

“I just wish I could suit him out,” Jones told a Dallas radio station.

Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman returned to China from Pyongyang Saturday after a five-day trip when he met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, but without jailed American Kenneth Bae.

The flamboyant ex-Chicago Bulls player arrived at Beijing airport on a flight from North Korea, an AFP photographer witnessed, with a cigar clamped in his mouth.

He showed a waiting crowd of reporters dozens of pictures, some of them of him with Kim, the roughly 30-year-old leader of the rogue nuclear-armed state who Rodman describes as his “friend”, but quickly became angry, throwing insults before rushing to the parking lot.

“It’s not my job to bring him back,” he said when asked about Bae.

Reported by the AFP

The Oklahoma City Thunder waived guard DeAndre Liggins, it was announced today by Executive Vice President and General Manager Sam Presti.

Liggins appeared in 39 games for the Thunder during the 2012-13 season, averaging 1.5 points and 1.4 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per contest. He holds career averages of 1.6 points and 1.2 rebounds in 56 career games.

Liggins is also currently dealing with unresolved legal woes, which may have played a factor in this move by the Thunder.

Forward Ronnie Brewer says he has taken a physical to sign with the Houston Rockets.

The 28-year-old free agent forward tells KRIV-TV of Houston that he has agreed to a two-year contract with the Rockets.

The 6-foot-7, 225-pounder out of Arkansas would be entering his eighth year in the NBA.

Reported by the Associated Press

Among center Dwight Howard’s demands when he met with the Los Angeles Lakers before signing with the Houston Rockets were quieting or releasing star Kobe Bryant and firing coach Mike D’Antoni.

Comcast Sports Net Bay Area reported that Howard wanted the Lakers to either “muzzle” Bryant or amnesty him. Howard did not see eye-to-eye with the hyper-competitive Bryant.

Howard also wanted the team to cut ties with D’Antoni. It has been reported by several media outlets that Howard did not get along with D’Antoni and did not fit in with his high-tempo offense.

– Reported by the Sports Xchange

Miami Heat star LeBron James has evidence that he is trying to establish some chemistry with recently-signed center Greg Oden.

James posted a photo on Instagram of him and Oden working out in a weight room.

Oden, a former No. 1 draft pick who has not appeared in an NBA game since 2009 because of knee problems, signed a two-year deal with the Heat this summer.

– Reported by the Sports Xchange

Dean Meminger, the former Marquette guard who played a reserve role on the New York Knicks’ 1973 NBA championship team, was found dead Friday in a Manhattan hotel room. He was 65.

New York City police said staff at the Hamilton Heights Hotel found Meminger unconscious and unresponsive inside a room and emergency medical personnel pronounced him dead. Police said there were no signs of trauma and that the cause of death hadn’t been determined. They said an investigation is ongoing.

”We want to thank everyone for their prayers and condolences during this difficult time for our family,” Meminger’s family said in a statement. ”Dean ‘The Dream’ Meminger touched the hearts of so many on and off the basketball court. Through basketball and education, he helped countless people around the country receive scholarships, high school and college admissions, and even employment.”

Reported by the Associated Press

OAKLAND, CA – The Golden State Warriors have signed free agent guard Seth Curry to a contract, the team announced today. It is likely not a guaranteed contract. Curry probably must still fight to make the actual regular season roster. But we have not confirmed this.

Curry, 23, went undrafted in the 2013 NBA Draft following his senior season at Duke University in which the 6-2 guard averaged a team-leading 17.5 points to go along with 2.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 32.3 minutes over 35 games.  He ranked second in the ACC in scoring and three-point percentage (.438), earning First-Team All-ACC honors and Second-Team All-America recognition from The Sporting News.  In four NCAA Tournament games, he averaged 21.0 points per contest, including a 29-point effort in a Sweet 16 victory over Michigan State.  On April 15, 2013, Curry underwent surgery on the right lower leg injury that he played on throughout the 2012-13 campaign, an injury that kept him out of a majority of the team’s practices during the season.

A native of Charlotte, NC, Curry enjoyed a three-year career at Duke in which he averaged 13.2 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.2 steals and 29.1 minutes in 106 games (86 starts).  He closed his Duke career ranked third on the school’s all-time list in three-point percentage (.420), fifth in free throw percentage (.825) and eighth in three-pointers made (223).  Prior to transferring to Duke, Curry began his college career at Liberty University in 2008-09. At Liberty he earned Big South Freshman of the Year honors after averaging 20.2 points per game, which was the highest scoring average in the country amongst freshmen.

Seth is the younger brother of fifth-year Warriors guard Stephen Curry.  In 2012-13, the duo became the highest scoring brother tandem in NCAA history, finishing their college careers with a combined 4,736 points (Seth - 2,101 points at Liberty and Duke; Stephen - 2,635 in four years at

Phoenix Suns rookie Alex Len, the fifth overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft, expects to be ready when the team opens training camp as he recovers from ankle surgery, the Arizona Republic reported.

The 7-foot-1 Len has had surgery on both ankles and will miss all of the summer-league action.

Len had been wearing a boot, but he has been out of the boot for a week.

Reported by the Sports Xchange

Seattle billionaire Chris Hansen says he regrets funding a secretive effort to block a new downtown arena for Sacramento’s professional basketball team.

Hansen’s involvement was disclosed by California’s campaign watchdog Friday.

He issued a statement saying he ”made a mistake” by giving a Los Angeles law firm $100,000. The firm secretly funneled $80,000 to a group gathering signatures to force a public vote on the arena plan.

The Fair Political Practices Commission sued to learn Hansen’s identity.

Reported by the Associated Press