Tag: Dion Waiters

Chicago Bulls attend private workout for 2 players in Las Vegas

The Chicago Bulls attended a private workout for two former NBA players in Las Vegas.

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The Chicago Bulls are in a weird spot as a franchise. Two seasons ago, they broke their four-year playoff drought. But this past season, they missed the playoffs entirely, getting bounced in the play-in tournament.

They are stuck in the middle, which is arguably the worst place to be in the NBA, but Arturas Karnisovas is determined to push forward rather than tear the roster down.

In turn, adding more talent to the roster will be key. Chicago signed Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig in free agency, but there could be more moves on the way. At the very least, the Bulls are keeping an eye out for potential additions.

According to Daniel Greenberg on Twitter, the Bulls attended a private workout held in Las Vegas for Dion Waiters and Harry Giles III.

Waiters last appeared in the NBA with the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2019-20 season, when he won an NBA championship with them in The Bubble.

The last time he played in more than 40 games in a season was in 2018-19 when he was on the Miami Heat. He averaged 12 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists on 41.4% shooting from the field and 37.7% shooting from distance.

As for Giles, he last appeared in the league in the 2020-21 season as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers. In 38 games, he averaged 2.8 points and 3.5 rebounds on 43.3% shooting from the field and 34.8% shooting from behind the 3-point line.

Giles is 25 years old and eligible for a two-way contract, so should the Bulls show interest, he could be added to the roster that way.

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No ice, Rudy Giuliani, Dion Waiters and other Lakers championship moments

The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA Championship on Sunday night and led to a couple of great moments online.

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers finished off the Miami Heat in Sunday night’s Game 6 to win the 2020 NBA Championship, unleashing over a year of emotions and accomplishments in the celebration. The Lakers were in celebration mode as soon as the game ended on Sunday night and as they were for the whole season, LeBron and Anthony Davis were attached at the hip. As both were leaving the arena to get on the bus and get back to the hotel, LeBron gave Anthony Davis a little bit of a heads up that he’s about to be sorer than he’s ever been this season, because the game after you win a championship is the only game after which you don’t ice.

The Lakers were also a team filled with great redemption story arcs. Perhaps none more complete with twists and turns than that of Dwight Howard, who left the Lakers after the 2012-13 season, but returned in 2019-20 as an instrumental part of their championship run. On Instagram Live, he told his followers to “never give up on your dreams,” while fighting back tears.

Dion Waiters, who came to the Lakers from Miami by way of a trade to Memphis, was suspended multiple times by the Heat earlier this season. Waiters said on Instagram Live during the celebration that he was targeted by the Heat organization, but he had the last laugh.

Then in the hater category, we had perhaps the most hilarious tweet of that genre coming from former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who said the Lakers parade should be in China.

The Lakers are champions again, muscles are sore and emotions are high. But the celebration is only beginning.

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Two former Thunder players are on NBA Finals rosters

Two Los Angeles Lakers players set to participate in the NBA Finals have played for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

And then there were two.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat got through their respective playoff gauntlets and are set to begin the 2020 NBA Finals on Wednesday.

While the Oklahoma City Thunder lost in the first round, there are two former Thunder players between the two teams who will play for the championship.

One is Lakers forward Markieff Morris, who was picked up off the buyout market in 2019.

He was expected to be a tough player who could provide 3-point shooting and take minutes from Patrick Patterson. Morris was rather unproductive on the court, though, averaging 6.5 points and 3.8 rebounds, though his 38.6% shooting behind the arc was much-needed.

He only played 16.1 minutes per game, about 10 fewer than he had with the Washington Wizards in the first half of the season. It was something he expressed frustration with after the season.

Morris did not re-sign with the Thunder after that season, instead gong to the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons bought out his contract this season, and Morris signed with the Lakers.

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The other player is Dion Waiters. The Thunder acquired Dion Waiters in January 2015 in exchange for Lance Thomas and a protected first-round pick that turned into Furkan Korkmaz.

Waiters had failed to reach his anticipated potential during his short time with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but with just 2.5 years passing since he had entered the NBA, there was still hype surrounding the fourth pick in the 2012 draft.

He played in 125 games over a season and a half for the Thunder, averaging 10.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 28.6 minutes per game.

Waiters signed with the Heat that offseason.

Ironically enough, Waiters is now set to play against his former team which he played a little more than three seasons with.

There are no former Thunder players on Miami in the Finals.

The first four Finals games are scheduled to take place Wednesday, Friday, Sunday and Oct. 6. Games 5, 6 and 7 are scheduled for Oct. 9, 11 and 13, respectively, should the game be necessary.

LeBron James says playing Madden 21 is part of his therapy

One of the ways LeBron James has found to decompress from the NBA Bubble has been playing Madden.

The EA Sports video game Madden has been a beacon for the Los Angeles Lakers during their now two-month-long stay inside the NBA Bubble. The Lakers organized an entire league with their teammates, with every player being assigned a team and eventually, Quinn Cook being crowned the Super Bowl champion of season 1. But the Lakers have been in the bubble so long, they are now playing the new version, Madden 21. LeBron James considers playing the video game a type of therapy.

James, of course, is very serious about being mentally fit and he has partnered with the Calm App to promote mental fitness. But James shared on Wednesday how important an outlet it is to have Madden for his mind during the playoffs and the other obstacles of the bubble.

via @KingJames on IG

James appears to be playing with his Ohio-based Cleveland Browns, after playing the last tournament as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

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Dion Waiters (groin) doubtful to play in Game 3 vs. Rockets

The Los Angeles Lakers depth will take a little bit of a hit tonight when they play the Houston Rockets in Game 3.

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It just seems like no matter what happens, the Los Angeles Lakers can never get a full roster around them. When one player comes back, another gets hurt, and so on. This time, it’s Dion Waiters turn to be a cheerleader for the Lakers and not in uniform.

Waiters are considered doubtful to play in tonight’s pivotal Game 3 between the Lakers and Rockets, according to the latest injury report from the NBA on Tuesday morning. In addition to Waiters, the Lakers could also be without starting center JaVale McGee. McGee is considered questionable to play in tonight’s game with pain in his left ankle.

McGee played solidly in both games but the Lakers looked like they could be leaning towards a lineup change before he got hurt. The Lakers went to more minutes with Anthony Davis as the lone big man and they had more units with Kyle Kuzma on the floor, as well as more lineups with Rajon Rondo and Alex Caruso on the floor together alongside Davis and LeBron.

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Dion Waiters (left groin) leaves Game 2, will not return vs. Rockets

The Los Angeles Lakers will not have Dion Waiters available for the rest of the game as they look to finish a strong second half.

Perhaps the first half for the Los Angeles Lakers was too good for them to come out completely unscathed. After pushing a 67-51 lead in the first half of their Game 2 against the Houston Rockets, they lost one of their players for the rest of the game.

After playing only three minutes in the first half of Game 2, Dion Waiters was ruled out for the rest of the game with a pulled groin, according to Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times. Waiters attempted only one shot and was scoreless during his short time on the floor on Sunday night.

The Lakers now look to close out the Rockets and even up their second-round series with Houston at 1-1. The Lakers got plenty of excellent contributions from their bench to supplement the play of their two stars, but they will need to bookend their strong start with an equally strong finish to get their desired result.

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Lakers news: Rajon Rondo is now considered doubtful for Game 4 vs. Blazers

The Los Angeles Lakers will most likely be without Rajon Rondo when they play the Trail Blazers on Monday.

Less than 24 hours ago it looked like the Los Angeles Lakers would get a boost in their guard depth but, the return of Rajon Rondo to the Lakers bench has hit a snag. Just minutes before the L.A.’s important Game 3 win over the Portland Trail Blazers to go up 2-1 in their best-of-seven series, Rajon Rondo was ruled out due to back spasms after being declared active. As of Sunday, Rondo doesn’t appear any closer to making his return and he’s considered doubtful to play against the Trail Blazers in Monday night’s Game 4, according to Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times.

Rondo has been out since mid-July, when he suffered a broken thumb in the Lakers first practice after arriving at Disney World. He left the bubble to undergo surgery and was on track to play in Saturday’s Game 3 until he started suffering from back spasms in the lead up to the game. Without him, LeBron James delivered a great game and Alex Caruso has provided solid minutes off the bench, even adding 10 points to his defense on Saturday.

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ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins says Lakers need Dion Waiters and J.R. Smith

ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins says the Lakers need to give more minutes to J.R. Smith and Dion Waiters.

With the Lakers facing a 0-1 deficit in their first round series and dealing with an offense that has yet to put together a great game in the NBA bubble, everyone is wondering what can be done for the Lakers to turn things around offensively. The return of Rajon Rondo is apparently close, but Rondo is unlikely to improve L.A.’s poor 3-point shooting. That’s why ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins believes that Frank Vogel needs to turn things over to the two newest Lakers to help breathe life into their offense: J.R. Smith and Dion Waiters.

Perk gave credit to the Blazers for their play, which is the reason he says the Lakers need more scoring ability on the floor.

Among the Lakers role players, only Danny Green has a more extensive playoff resume than J.R. Smith. Smith was out of the league for over a year, but he’s a career 37% 3-point shooter in the postseason, and seeing as how Green was passing up shots, the Lakers could at least use the confidence that Smith and Waiters bring to the floor.

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The HoopsHype Weekly: The Top 10 X-Factor players for the 2020 NBA playoffs

HoopsHype chooses and ranks 10 X-Factor type players who might come out of nowhere and come up huge in the upcoming 2020 playoffs.

You can get this content every Saturday morning in your email inbox. Click here to subscribe to the HoopsHype Weekly newsletter.

TOP 10 PLAYOFF X-FACTORS: At times, players come out of nowhere in the playoffs and elevate their games, giving their teams the unexpected push they needed to win a vital game or two.

Who could those players be at the Orlando bubble playoffs? Below, we rank our Top 10:

10. Dion Waiters: Averaging 11.9 points and 2.4 assists in the bubble, Waiters never runs low on self-confidence and has the capability to get hot at a moment’s notice. The Lakers could certainly use his perimeter scoring in the playoffs, and his drive-and-kick game remains underrated.

9. Seth Curry: The younger Curry brother is an elite outside shooter in his own right, and his knockdown prowess from three-point range could come up huge for Dallas against the favored Clippers in the first round.

8. Andre Roberson: In his first action since a year-plus-long injury recovery, the Colorado product averaged merely 2.8 points in the bubble, but did knock down a healthy 37.5 percent of his three-point looks. Against a high-powered offense in Houston in Round 1, Roberson’s defensive chops will be hugely important for OKC’s chances.

7. Donte DiVincenzo: A non-star player stepping up for the Bucks in the playoffs would be almost unfair considering how loaded they are as is, but if anyone can do it, it’s DiVincenzo, thanks to his competitiveness, his confident nature and his ability to get hot quick.

6. Eric Gordon: With Russell Westbrook set to miss time with a quad injury, Gordon will be even more important for Houston’s chances in the postseason. Gordon has dealt with his own injury troubles this year, including recently, but he’s going to need to be ready to go as soon as the postseason rolls around.

5. Norman Powell: Powell stepping up wouldn’t be a new thing, as he’s been solid for Toronto all year long, averaging 16.0 points this season while shooting 39.6 percent from three. But if he can elevate his production even more in the playoffs, the Raptors would be getting a much-needed boost to their offense in the bubble.

4. Tyler Herro: The bucket-getting 2-guard has had a solid rookie season, but seems to be taking his play to an even higher level in the bubble, where he’s averaging 19.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists over his last six games while slashing fiery 53.9/39.4/100.0 shooting splits. If he can maintain that level of production, Miami will be a tough out in the postseason.

3. Mike Conley: The Jazz point guard came into this season with huge expectations, as many thought he’d give Utah the dynamic point guard they’d been missing. To this point, however, that hasn’t really been the case. The playoffs will be a good chance for Conley to live up to the hype, especially with Bojan Bogdanovic out for the rest of the year.

2. Al Horford: Without Ben Simmons available, Horford was reinstated into Philadelphia’s starting lineup this week, and he’s going to need to be in top form for the Sixers to make a deep playoff push without their star point guard.

1. Michael Porter: The young, exciting swingman was sensational in the bubble, averaging over 22 points and eight rebounds per game while shooting north of 42 percent from three. If Denver is going to make a run in the postseason, he’s going to need to keep up that level of production, especially with Gary Harris and Will Barton not showing signs of returning any time soon.

MAJOR RETURN: It looks like the Clippers will have their Sixth Man of the Year candidate big man Montrezl Harrell available for the playoffs, which was not a sure thing as recently as yesterday morning.

ANOTHER COACHING FIRING: After an uncomfortably long wait, the Bulls finally announced that they would, in fact, be firing head coach Jim Boylen after two seasons on the job. Boylen went 39-84 in that stretch, but even beyond that, had various public, odd slip-ups while in Chicago.

Kenny Atkinson, Ime Udoka and Adrian Griffin will be among the Bulls’ top candidates to take over the job.

FREE-AGENT FORESHADOWING? Without hinting as to who he could be thinking about, Jimmy Butler confidently told ESPN he expects another star to join him on the Heat.

TOP TARGET: After last year’s fireworks, the Nets will have a quieter offseason over the coming months. Nevertheless, one order of business they’ll need to take care of is re-signing Joe Harris, which GM Sean Marks called their top priority.

Harris was the league’s 157th-highest-paid player this year, a number that will undoubtedly rise as soon as he signs his next deal.

BARKLEY TO BARSTOOL? After making huge waves in the media world this week by hiring NFL legend Deion Sanders, Barstool Sports president Dave Portnoy has his eyes on picking up Charles Barkley next. We’ll see what TNT has to say about that.

BUBBLE MVP RANKINGS: With the seeding games wrapped up, we ranked the Top 10 bubble MVP candidates. No. 1 is pretty obvious.

FRESH POD: Myles Turner joined our own Michael Scotto this week for a new edition of the HoopsHype podcast. The two talked about a variety of topics, including Victor Oladipo free-agency rumors, life in the bubble and dating.

MEDIA FOLLOWINGS: We ranked popular NBA media Twitter accounts by which ones had the highest number of NBA players following them. Somewhat surprisingly, Woj did not come in first.

30 AWARD CANDIDATES: We chose the top candidate for an end-of-season award from every single team. Some are a bit more plausible than others.

WINNING PLAYERS: NBA teams are lucky in that landing a single star player can lift up their entire team. To take a deeper look at that, we ranked various players by how much they elevated their teams’ winning percentages while they were on the roster.

LeBron James is 5-1 so far in Lakers team Madden tournament

The Los Angeles Lakers are struggling to find a rhythm but their team chemistry and competition is still pretty strong.

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The Los Angeles Lakers don’t have a lot to play for right now. Perhaps more than anything else, the Lakers uninspiring play over the seeding games and their current 3-game losing streak is due to the fact they already clinched the No. 1 seed. But the competition isn’t going anywhere, in fact, the most competitive thing the Lakers are doing as they wait for the playoffs is their team Madden tournament, which is now 7 weeks in.

LeBron James is playing as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has gone 5-1, but is not in first place. That honor belongs to Quinn Cook, who has gone 6-0 so far in the tournament with the Indianapolis Colts.

Anthony Davis, who started 1-3, has improved to a 3-4 record as the Baltimore Ravens, who have reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson. So LeBron is still in contention for the Madeen tourney title with his 5-1 record, but he looks like he is on a collision course to meet in the finals with Quinn Cook. However, Markieff Morris and Dion Waiters also have strong records, going 4-2.

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