Dwight Howard continues to rehabilitate from his back surgery in the Westwood area of Los Angeles.

Howard has yet to begin working with Lakers' head athletic trainer Gary Vitti, which he will do at some point in the future.

Howard has not been cleared medically and therefore has yet to begin doing any basketball or weight workouts.

The Los Angeles Lakers will unveil a statue outside Staples Center honoring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Abdul-Jabbar publicly criticized the Lakers for failing to build a statue for him earlier.

The Lakers had already revealed their intent to eventually erect a statue for Abdul-Jabbar.

Chris Bosh said the Lakers have the best team "on paper" in the NBA heading into the 12-13 season.

Bosh and the Heat won the 2012 NBA Finals.

"We have to start over," said Bosh as they look to repeat.

Paul Lukas of Uni Watch ranks the uniforms of all 30 NBA teams, with the Celtics coming in first.

"The Rolling Stones, "Goodfellas," a Hershey's with almonds -- the classics are classic for a reason," writes Lukas about the Celtics. "That definitely applies to the Celtics' set. No goofy side panels, no extraneous bells or whistles -- just a perfect, vertically arched wordmark and a simple green-and-white color scheme. They rank atop this list despite sometimes wearing that black-trimmed alternate."

The Spurs, Lakers, Warriors and Jazz comprise the remainder of the top-five.

"The Raiders aren't the only team that knows how to wear silver and black," writes Lukas in regards to the Spurs. "In addition to the killer colors, the Spurs are also among the few NBA teams that have successfully incorporated a graphic image into their chest typography -- a small element that goes a long way."

6. Wizards
7. Thunder
8. Heat
9. Knicks
10. Blazers
11. Pistons
12. Pacers
13. Bulls
14. 76ers
15. Hornets
16. Suns
17. Grizzlies
18. Nuggets
19. Rockets
20. Hawks
21. Raptors
22. Bucks
23. Cavaliers
24. Mavericks
25. Clippers
26. Bobcats
27. Magic 
28. Wolves
29. Nets (based on last year's set)
30. Kings 

Mike Brown will give Steve Nash the freedom to direct the Lakers offense on the fly.

“The way that we’ll put it together, Steve’s going to have an opportunity -- he’s going to quarterback the team -- and so he’s going to have an opportunity to come down the floor every possession and in early offense play pick-and-roll if he wants to,” Brown said. “It’s up to him, based on where he decides to take the ball or a call that he makes or an action that he does, it’s up to him to get us into some of the looks of the Princeton offense.

“So again, with him quarterbacking, or making that decision, he’ll still have a chance to get the ball back after he moves or after bodies move. I don’t want to completely give away what we’re trying to do, but in a nutshell, he will have an opportunity to play pick-and-roll at the beginning of almost every play set coming down the floor in early offense. And if not, he can also choose to get to some of the looks out of the Princeton by making a pass or doing an action or doing a call or whatever.”

Nash’s teams in Phoenix and Dallas led the league in offensive efficiency for nine straight seasons from 2001-02 to 2009-10.

The Lakers slipped to 10th in offensive efficiency last season.

The Mavericks nearly acquired Kobe Bryant in a trade with the Lakers in 2007, according to an interview Mark Cuban had on Tuesday.

“When I was doing Dancing with the Stars, I was taking breaks because I was talking to Kobe’s agent because Kobe wanted to get traded,” Cuban said. “Literally, between Dancing with the Stars practices I had thought we traded for Kobe Bryant. I even talked to their owner and thought we were going to have done deal, and [Lakers GM] Mitch Kupchak changed [Kobe’s] mind and brought him back.”

Dallas would not have traded Dirk Nowitzki for Bryant, which would have left Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse, Devin Harris, Erick Dampier, Josh Howard and draft picks as possible pieces.

Bryant was seeking a trade during the 2007 offseason.

The Lakers will hire Bernie Bickerstaff to their coaching staff, joining Eddie Jordan and Steve Clifford.

Bickerstaff was most recently an assistant coach with the Blazers.

The Lakers lost Quin Snyder and Ettore Messina this offseason.

Steve Clifford will join the Lakers coaching staff next season after the two parties agreed to a deal that will see him become their assistant coach.

Clifford spent five seasons with the Magic and models himself after Tom Thibodeau of the Bulls.

The Los Angeles Lakers have signed Jodie Meeks and have has also re-signed Devin Ebanks.

Meeks, a three-year NBA veteran, appeared in 66 games (50 starts) last season with the Philadelphia 76ers, averaging 8.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 24.9 minutes.

Ebanks has career averages of 3.6 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.30 assists in 44 games.

Devin Ebanks will sign a one-year qualifying offer from the Lakers.

Ebanks, who turns 23 in October, averaged 4.0 points and 2.3 rebounds in his second season with the Lakers last year.

Ebanks’ agent, David Bauman, confirmed the deal.