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LOS ANGELES -- Shawne Williams was just another draft bust that had been discarded by the league when he arrived on Mike D'Antoni's and the New York Knicks' doorstep in September 2010.

"I gained my respect for Mike was when I first got to New York," Williams told ESPNLosAngeles.com at Los Angeles Lakers training camp this week. "We had a meeting and he told me a couple things. I won't put that out in the public, but he told me some things. He told me the truth. And I respect him for that."

What did D'Antoni tell him? What do you say to a former first-round draft pick who had already been charged with possession of marijuana, possession of a stolen handgun, and in a separate incident, misdemeanor drug possession for allegedly selling a codeine substance?
What message did D'Antoni have for someone who had already worn out his welcome with both the Indiana Pacers and Dallas Mavericks and became such a persona non grata that he was out of the league completely for the 2009-10 season before arriving in New York?

"I remember," D'Antoni said. "I told him I didn't want him. Because that's what happens in this league sometimes, you get labels on guys. I didn't know him, only what I read, what I saw, what I heard. So I'm thinking, 'Why do we need to go down that path again?' "

The honesty was something Williams, a 6-foot-9 forward with deep range who had been relying more on talent than mental toughness, needed to hear.

It humbled him.

For the first 18 games of the 2010-11 season, Williams sat on the Knicks' bench, racking up DNP after DNP. When he finally got a chance to play, New York went on an eight-game winning streak, with Williams making 15 of the 28 shots he put up during the tear.

"Eighteen games in, I got a shot to play and I ended up doing alright and I was playing ever since," Williams said. "To me, I just feel like Mike's system is a great system. He's a great coach. He respects players. He knows how to coach players. And that's basically it. That's just my guy. I like him as a coach, a person. That's just it."

For D'Antoni, the feeling is mutual.

"When you get to know the guy, he's nothing like the perception," D'Antoni said. "He's one of the most stand-up, nicest, coachable and skilled players that I've ever coached and I'm hoping. He's been off a couple years, so that is what it is and he still has to fight perception, but he's one of those guys that plays a lot better than people think."

"Sometimes this league is a revolving door"

Williams' lone season in New York with D'Antoni has proved to be the glory days of his career so far. Williams averaged 7.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in just 20.1 minutes per game that season, while shooting 40.1 percent on 3-pointers.

He signed with the then New Jersey Nets after the lockout and never found his niche, shooting just 28.6 percent from the field in 25 games. The Nets traded him to the Portland Trail Blazers at the end of the 2011-12 season. Portland bought out his contract for 2012-13. Williams was out of the league, again. And fell back into trouble, again. This time he was arrested for possession of both marijuana and codeine cough syrup.

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The Los Angeles Lakers are bringing 6-foot-11 center Dan Gadzuric to camp, according to a source. Gadzuric, a former UCLA player, last played in the NBA in 2012 for the New York Knicks. In February, he joined a team in Venezuala.

The Los Angeles Lakers announced Friday they have signed rookie forward Ryan Kelly.

The 6-foot-11 forward from Duke was selected by the Lakers in the second round of June's NBA draft with the 48th pick overall.

Kelly played four seasons for Duke and was part of a national championship team in 2010. During his team at the school, Kelly averaged 7.5 points and 3.7 rebounds. As a senior, he averaged 12.9 points and 5.3 rebounds.

Kelly did not play for the Lakers' summer league team because he was recovering from offseason foot surgery after an injury caused him to miss 13 games last season.

Earlier this month, ESPNLA's Dave McMenamin reported that according to multiple league sources, the Lakers were discouraged by Kelly's progress during the summer and doubted the rookie would be ready for the start of training camp.

Dave Shore and Arash Markazi break down the difference of opinion between Jim and Jeanie Buss on Dwight Howard.

Will the Lakers make the playoffs this season?

It’s a key question of the offseason, but it’s one usually answered with more questions. Is Kobe Bryant healthy? Is he the same Kobe? Are Pau Gasol and Steve Nash actually on the floor? Is Phil Jackson involved somehow?

With so many unknowns, the consensus has been that the Lakers will miss out on the postseason this year. In a recent ESPN.com panel, the Lakers were not only pegged to miss the playoffs, but were ranked 12th in the Western Conference.

It seems a little unsettling -- particularly to Kobe -- if only because the shift from known entity to wildcard happened so quickly. While it’s difficult to predict where a team with so many question marks will finish, we can look at the precedent set by teams of a similar makeup and style.

Healthy or not, maybe the only thing that’s safe to assume right now is that the Lakers will be a below average defensive team.

The first (and biggest) reason for that is the loss of Dwight Howard. Although he was far from the one-man defensive anchor he was in his Orlando days, Howard still had a positive impact defensively last season, as the Lakers allowed 5 more points per 100 possessions when Howard was off the floor than they did when he was on the floor. Last year was a poor defensive effort by Howard’s standards, but it was still among the league’s best.

Maybe losing a great defensive player could be overcome on its own, but let’s not forget that the Lakers ranked 20th in defensive efficiency last season with Howard. It’s also tough to ignore that Mike D’Antoni has only coached one above-average defensive team (better than 15th in defensive efficiency) in ten seasons, or that Pau Gasol and Steve Nash are both now a year older. New additions Nick Young and Chris Kaman aren’t exactly renowned for their defensive prowess, either.

Add all that up, and it would be somewhat of a miracle for the Lakers to finish above 15th in defensive efficiency this season. Assuming that miracle doesn’t happen, where does that leave the Purple and Gold?

A look at the offensive and defensive efficiency marks for the playoff teams of the last decade is a good starting point.

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After hiring their last three head coaches primarily based on their NBA experience, the Los Angeles D-Fenders are targeting a former D-League champion this time around.

The D-Fenders, the Los Angeles Lakers' D-League affiliate, are in advanced discussions to hire Springfield Armor head coach Bob MacKinnon to fill the vacancy caused when Mark Madsen joined Mike D'Antoni's staff on the Lakers, according to multiple league sources.

MacKinnon guided Springfield to just a 18-32 record last season but won a championship with the Colorado 14ers (now the Texas Legends) in 2009 in his first year coaching in the D-League.

MacKinnon, whose father Bob MacKinnon Sr. played, coached and was an executive in the NBA, was formerly an assistant coach at the University of North Carolina, which is the alma mater of Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak.

Madsen, who never coached a game for the D-Fenders before being promoted to D'Antoni's staff, was hired in May to replace Reggie Theus, who left the D-Fenders after a 21-29 season to become the head coach at Cal State Northridge. Theus was previously the head coach for the Sacramento Kings. Before Theus, the D-Fenders were coached by Eric Musselman (who previously coached the Golden State Warriors). Musselman coached the D-Fenders for one season, winning D-League coach of the year honors, before leaving to man the sidelines at Arizona State.

It has been an interesting offseason for the remaining active members of the famed NBA draft class of 1996.

Marcus Camby, the No. 2 pick that year, was traded from New York to Toronto -- the team that selected him way back when -- and was summarily waived when he made it clear he had no desire to bookend his career with another run with the Raptors. The Houston Rockets snatched the 39-year-old Camby up on a one-year deal once he was available.

Ray Allen, the No. 5 pick, is still basking in the glow of his championship run with the Miami Heat, made possible thanks in large part to his already-legendary corner 3-pointer late in Game 6 of the Finals. The 3 tied the game, and the Heat, of course, won in overtime and then won Game 7.

Jermaine O'Neal, the No. 17 pick, signed a one-year deal with the Golden State Warriors. Derek Fisher, the No. 24 pick, signed a one-year deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and a source close to the five-time champion told ESPNLA.com that Fisher plans to retire after the season.

And speaking of retirement, what about that Los Angeles Lakers backcourt full of '96ers?

Kobe Bryant, who like O'Neal is younger than the rest of his classmates because he joined the league straight out of high school, told multiple media outlets he plans to play three more years, and even stretched that timeline to three or four more years during an interview while on a Nike-sponsored trip to Brazil.

As for his backcourt mate, Steve Nash?

"I don't really want to think about it," Nash told ESPNLosAngeles.com during a phone interview from New York on Tuesday. Nash was in the city to promote the Guinness International Champions Cup and had a "tryout" with soccer team Inter Milan as part of the event. (From the way Nash described it, it was more like when Garth Brooks was in spring training with the San Diego Padres than a serious audition.)

"I want to concentrate on this season and have a great season, and then next year I'll worry about next year. After that, there's a chance I could keep playing, but I'm totally open to not playing or playing again, and I don't really want to predict. I just want to concentrate on the now and worry about the future when it arrives."

The fact that Nash, 39, is running around a soccer pitch and even considering extending his career further into his 40s than the two years remaining on his contract is an encouraging sign for the veteran who missed 32 regular-season games plus two playoff games last season because of a fractured fibula in his left leg followed by lingering nerve discomfort.

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LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Lakers have reached an agreement with undrafted rookie free agent Elias Harris, according to a league source. It will be a two-year deal, according to the source.

Harris, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound forward, averaged 14.6 points and 7.4 rebounds last season at Gonzaga.

The German native played well for the Lakers during the Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 10.2 points and 5.6 rebounds in five games.

Yahoo! Sports first reported the signing.

Harris will bring the Lakers' roster to 12 players signed for next season, with second-round pick Ryan Kelly, still unsigned, expected to up that number to 13.

Jordan Farmar, a former UCLA standout, checked in with the "Mason & Ireland Show" about why he walked away from big money in Turkey to come and play for the Los Angeles Lakers again. Farmar also talked about how much he has improved his game and how he can contribute.

Click here to listen to the full interview.

New Los Angeles Lakers center Chris Kaman joined the "Max & Marcellus Show" on Thursday on ESPNLA 710 for an interview. Kaman talked about his expectations this season playing with the Lakers and what he can bring to the team. He also talked about the rivalry between the Lakers and Clippers, and his relationship with Kobe Bryant.

Click to listen to the full interview.

Ironically, it was Phil Jackson who may have best summed up Mike D’Antoni’s first season as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

“Mike hasn’t had a chance in L.A., he really hasn’t,” Jackson said back in May while appearing as a guest on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," after audience members booed the mention of D'Antoni's name.

And that was before Dwight Howard left for Houston, making it clear on his way out the door that he would have preferred Jackson over D’Antoni as the Lakers' head coach.

D’Antoni has been maligned by some Lakers faithful for the team's disappointing 2012-13 season, and perceived by many to be at least partially responsible for Howard's departure. And although he replaced Mike Brown five games into last season, plenty of Lakers fans feel he actually replaced Jackson, since the 11-time champion had interviewed for the job before D’Antoni did back in November, and seemed to have landed it until a notorious late-night call from Lakers management informed him otherwise.

But grumbling aside, D'Antoni remains in the job, and has the backing of the front office heading into the 2013-14 season. Executive vice president Jim Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak believe that the coach’s flexibility in the second half of last season was a key factor in the team finishing 28-12 and want to give him a full training camp and a healthy roster in 2013-14 in order to show what he can do.

Several times last season, D’Antoni paraphrased Winston Churchill in describing his approach to the Lakers' ups and downs, “When you're going through hell, you put your head down and keep going, and that's what we're going to do.”

The pressure of a $100 million payroll that was built to be a contender and was struggling just to play .500 ball was persistent and intense. The Lakers are hoping that Howard’s departure will perhaps act as a sort of pressure release valve heading into the upcoming season.

“Expectations should be lower and I think that will ease the pressure on him,” said a source familiar with the Lakers front office’s thinking.

“I think every year's fun,” D’Antoni recently told Fox Sports when asked how grateful he was to have a traditional offseason to prepare his team. “Coaching's fun, so I'm not complaining the other way, but this is a lot better. Some of the best times are training camp and getting your ideas in how you'd like them.”

None of Churchill's grim determination there.

Late last season D’Antoni told ESPNLosAngeles.com, “We're not running anything that I would normally run,” but the moves the Lakers have made since Howard left for Houston have been more in step with the system for which D’Antoni is known.

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Whenever he’s been asked about the Los Angeles Lakers’ biggest needs this offseason, Kobe Bryant has repeated the same two buzzwords: length and athleticism.

As their three best players -- Bryant, Pau Gasol and Steve Nash -- age, logic dictates that the Lakers’ rotation could use an extra dose of spryness. As last season showed, the Lakers were simply too old and unathletic to compete for anything more than a bottom playoff seed despite possessing as much top-heavy talent as most contenders.

Even with Dwight Howard and Earl Clark bolting in free agency, the Lakers’ core frontline of Gasol, Jordan Hill and new offseason signee Chris Kaman is formidable. The same, however, could not be said about the Lakers’ perimeter crop until a few signings last week.

The additions of Nick Young, Jordan Farmar and Wesley Johnson pale in comparison to some of the franchise-altering moves of other Western conference teams, but that misses the point. The trio is a solid upgrade over the Lakers’ perimeter options last season, which should be cause for optimism given L.A.’s limited cap space and means to improve.

None of the backcourt signings make the Lakers a contender, let alone a lock for the playoffs, but each player adds a skill or two that the Lakers’ role players lacked. Plus, since all three are on veteran’s minimum contracts, there is little risk involved from the Lakers’ side. If anything, the Lakers got great value given the reasonable likelihood that each player outperforms his price tag.

Here’s a look at each of the Lakers’ perimeter pickups and how they fit with the roster:

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- After spending the first eight years of his career in L.A. after the Los Angeles Clippers drafted him in 2003, Chris Kaman never thought his path would lead him back to the City of Angels.

"I'm excited for another opportunity back in L.A.," Kaman said Tuesday at his introductory news conference with the Los Angeles Lakers. "I never thought it was possible. I just never thought I would be back here."

How sure was Kaman, who spent the past two seasons in New Orleans and Dallas, that his life was done in L.A.?

"A week and a half, literally, before I decided to make my decision to come [to L.A.] I closed on my house in Manhattan Beach that I had had for like five years," Kaman said with a groan.

Just like the Lakers never expected Dwight Howard to bolt after only one season when they acquired him, Kaman figured his days in Los Angeles were a thing of the past. The Clippers had moved on with DeAndre Jordan in the middle. The Lakers had just the mini midlevel exception, worth about $3.2 million, available to try to lure a non-veteran-minimum-type free agent. And the Lakers were offering only a one-year deal, looking to keep their books open to make a major splash in the summer of 2014.

Much like Howard took a paycut to go to Houston, Kaman chose not to hold out for more money because L.A. felt right.

"Sometimes players are not fitting in the best situations all the time and it didn't work the way that I anticipated," Kaman said of his one-year stint with the Dallas Mavericks, playing alongside his German national team comrade, Dirk Nowitzki. "Coming into this year, I wanted to make sure that I had a good fit where I would go."

While there's a Howard-sized void in the Lakers' roster where Kaman can slide right in, it remains to be seen whether he will start at center with Pau Gasol at power forward, or be the first big man off the bench backing up Gasol and Jordan Hill.

"It doesn’t matter to me," Kaman said of a potential substitute role. "I'm here to do a job and, whatever it is, I'll do it."

Kaman averaged a modest 10.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 0.8 blocks last season, but it's the way Kaman scored that had the Lakers interested. He can play the pick-and-pop game, evidenced by his 51 percent mark from midrange last season (16-23 feet from the hoop), which ranked seventh among players who played in at least 40 games.

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Metta World Peace is rarely at a loss for words. His rap sessions with the media are known for being frank, wide-ranging and, of course, entertaining. He shoots from the hip and channels his stream of consciousness as he speaks, allowing his thoughts to flow out of him and into the voice recorders and notebooks of the reporters who surround him.

So, when World Peace took his time to collect his thoughts Friday, a day after his four-year run with the Los Angeles Lakers came to an end when the team waived him via the NBA amnesty provision, it was striking.

"When you think back on being a Laker the last four years, what comes to your mind?" this reporter asked.

World Peace thought in silence for three seconds.

"Hmph."

Two more seconds of silence.

"Umm."

Four seconds, and then he repeated the question to himself.

"What comes to my mind?"

Fourteen seconds more. And then, jackpot.

"Probably Derek Fisher's Game 7 speech," World Peace said, referring to the do-or-die, winner-take-all game against the Boston Celtics to finish off the 2010 NBA Finals. "Game 7 speech in the fourth quarter, that was the most craziest thing I've ever heard in my life."

The Lakers trailed the longtime rival Celtics by as many as 13 in the second half until the tide started to turn on the Staples Center court, and Fisher's words helped bring the team home to victory.

"It was the craziest experience of my life," World Peace said. "It was like Martin Luther King, man. I'm telling you. That was like the craziest thing ever.

"Basketball is just a game. That's all it is, but at that time, you're playing something since you were 8 years old, and then you want this prize -- which is only a materialistic item, but it doesn't feel that way at all. It feels way more real. And for this guy to give a speech at a time where if you was to lose, you would probably be heartbroken and it will haunt you for the rest of your life. And for this guy to give a speech, it was crazy. It was the craziest thing I ever experienced in my life. It was the craziest thing ever. Derek is just amazing."

Fisher's diatribe might have been inspiring, but World Peace's performance was impactful. He finished with 20 points, five rebounds and five steals, and his 3-pointer with one minute remaining doubled L.A.'s lead from three to six and helped propel the Lakers to the 83-79 win.

"It's really hard to get a ring," World Peace said. "It's really hard to get a championship ring. So, the positive is we got one [in his time in L.A.]. Not enough. We should have had more, but, we got one, and I think that's something to be proud about."

Here are some more memories from World Peace:

• On being teammates with Kobe Bryant: "He was very competitive. Taught me a lot, and just too, too competitive because he tried a lot to do it himself. And too tough, because he played through too many injuries. Played through way too many injuries. Sometimes he should have just took a break, I thought, and just [said], 'All right, get it back the next day.' But that's the nature. That's what we are. I came back off [knee] surgery [after 12 days]. We can't help it."

• On what went wrong this past season: "Wow. I just think that Dr. [Jerry] Buss was a chemist. So, the molecules didn't quite fit up."

• On whether he ever got a replacement championship ring for the one he auctioned off to raise money for mental health awareness: "Never."

• On his charity efforts: "I did a lot of things in the community -- like major, major impact. I didn't do small things. I'm going to continue to work with the community out here in L.A. I'm going to continue. I'm not going to just go somewhere else and then forget the stuff I was doing in L.A. to springboard the things I wanted to do in other communities. But, the impact that we made in the community in four years, that was huge.

"We attempted to raise $250 million with [the help] of a congresswoman. [We worked] to get psychologists in schools. Big things that are necessary. That's way more important than anything that I've done here [in L.A. on the court]. That's why I'm most grateful to have been a Laker, because without the Lakers, I would have never had that platform to go into Congress and speak about all that stuff, about what's necessary and all the stuff that's happening in the world today."

• On his experience in L.A.: "I still got a chance to be myself. I made a couple errors being suspended, but other than that, I was able to be myself. And it's hard to be myself, because I'm very edgy. It's hard. Even I'll be like, 'OK, [calm down].' But I was happy because I was able to be myself and not cross the line, and that's hard because I just have no filter. I have no filter."

• On whether he feels like a changed man from his days as a Laker: "I don’t know if I’ve changed. I just make better decisions. I make way better decisions now in my life. Definitely."

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- In the week since Dwight Howard announced his decision to go to the Houston Rockets, players and front-office members of the Los Angeles Lakers have been treading pretty lightly on the subject.

General manager Mitch Kupchak released a statement wishing Howard luck. Even Kobe Bryant said, "I'm happy for him."

Leave it to L.A. native and newly-minted Laker Nick Young to say what everybody seemed to be thinking at his introductory news conference on Friday.

"That was the first time I've ever seen anybody leave L.A., wanting to leave L.A., and I'm from here so I haven't seen that," said the 28-year-old Young, who not only played high school ball at Reseda Cleveland but also played his college basketball at USC. "But Dwight had to do what he had to do."

Young jumped at the chance to return to the place where Howard fled.

"I just felt like I needed this opportunity," Young said. "Over the past couple of years, I feel like I've been getting disrespected a little bit out there and I feel with this stage the Lakers set, with the opportunity for playing time here, I can get my name back out there and get the respect I feel I deserve. I did this for myself, really."

The disrespect Young was referring to occurred in Philadelphia last season. The 76ers signed him to a one-year, $6 million deal, and he languished on the bench, picking up DNP-CDs with regularity. A season before that, he was hitting big shots in the playoffs for the Los Angeles Clippers. In 2010-11, he was averaging a career-high 17.4 points per game for the Washington Wizards.

Coming to Los Angeles was about getting back on track.

"We think there's a lot of playing time here for him if he works hard and earns it," Kupchak said. "We see him playing at the small forward and the guard position. He's very gifted athletically. We know he can score. We've been talking about improving the other parts of his game, which I think he's committed to working on to becoming a complete player."

While the Lakers couldn't offer Young much in terms of salary -- he signed a one-year deal for the veteran's minimum, worth about $1.2 million -- what they could offer was the precious commodity of a chance to play major minutes and a shot at the future.

Even though the Lakers have let it be known they want to maintain as much cap flexibility for the summer of 2014 as possible to pursue max-level free agents, Young is seen as a piece that could stick around once those marquee players are added.

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