Basketball

So, a few things about the draft this year: * The lottery is tonight. Are there any teams that would trade their lottery pick for Deng or the Charlotte pick? I think teams like the Cavs, Suns, Pelicans, Kings, Pistons, TWolves, and Wizards would at least consider it. * Are there players you'd like fro the top of the draft? I'd love Oladipo, who is apparently a Dwyane Wadeesque freak of nature as an athlete, by the way. I'd at least think long and hard about Otto Porter, but haven't come to a real conclusion about him. I think Trey Burke will be good, but obviously he's not a guy the Bulls should trade up for. * Who will be a bust? I'd be scared of taking Noel (a 206lb C with an ACL injury) or McLemore (with coach badmouthing him and plenty of issue). Anthony Bennett strikes me as a guy who will be a very borderline starter/6th man type for a long time. Which is better than a bust, but not really a guy I'd want to spend a top 5 pick on. Alex Len's ankle problems make him look pretty scary to me. * Who will be there when the Bulls pick? Somewhat shockingly, I looked at the Draft Express mock for the day, and they still had Gorgui Dieng available and the Bulls picking him at 20. Sweet. * Measurement curiosities. Rudy Gobert has an absurd wingspan and reach. I'd use a lottery pick on him, but he still looks like a high risk pick because he's slow and doesn't know how to play. Kelly Olynyk. When was the last time anyone from Gonzaga was good? No way. Withey was very slow and stiff compared to the other bigs. Mason Plumlee and especially Cody Zellar have ridiculous athleticism for big guys. Zeller posted the highest No Step Vertical in the entire combine, and the guy is seven feet tall and runs the floor like a guard. Seth Curry and Shabazz Muhamad need to go on diets. So, a few things about the draft this year: * The lottery is tonight. Are there any teams that would trade their lottery pick for Deng or the Charlotte pick? I think teams like the Cavs, Suns, Pelicans, Kings, Pistons, TWolves, and Wizards would at least consider it. * Are there players you'd like fro the top of the draft? I'd love Oladipo, who is apparently a Dwyane Wadeesque freak of nature as an athlete, by the way. I'd at least think long and hard about Otto Porter, but haven't come to a real conclusion about him. I think Trey Burke will be good, but obviously he's not a guy the Bulls should trade up for. * Who will be a bust? I'd be scared of taking Noel (a 206lb C with an ACL injury) or McLemore (with coach badmouthing him and plenty of issue). Anthony Bennett strikes me as a guy who will be a very borderline starter/6th man type for a long time. Which is better than a bust, but not really a guy I'd want to spend a top 5 pick on. Alex Len's ankle problems make him look pretty scary to me. * Who will be there when the Bulls pick? Somewhat shockingly, I looked at the Draft Express mock for the day, and they still had Gorgui Dieng available and the Bulls picking him at 20. Sweet. * Measurement curiosities. Rudy Gobert has an absurd wingspan and reach. I'd use a lottery pick on him, but he still looks like a high risk pick because he's slow and doesn't know how to play. Kelly Olynyk. When was the last time anyone from Gonzaga was good? No way. Withey was very slow and stiff compared to the other bigs. Mason Plumlee and especially Cody Zellar have ridiculous athleticism for big guys. Zeller posted the highest No Step Vertical in the entire combine, and the guy is seven feet tall and runs the floor like a guard. Seth Curry and Shabazz Muhamad need to go on diets.

What a day yesterday. The relief efforts are on in Oklahoma right now and one thing’s for sure: We’ve been through this kind of thing more than once and bouncing back strong is kind of our thing. We’ll be alright. I just want to say thanks to the amazing weathermen and women in our state though. The death tolls are painful to hear but know without them, they’d be far greater. True lifesavers. A couple things if you want to help: First, donate to the Red Cross. I was going to set up a Daily Thunder contribution thing, but why have a middleman. Just give straight to the people that help most. You can text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 right there on the spot. Or take bottled water, canned goods, diapers, wipes and all sorts of stuff to a drop-off area. It’s a horrible thing, but we Oklahomans shine through this type of stuff. Not a more resilient people in the world than us. KD tweets: “Praying for the victims of the Tornadoes in OKC these last few days..Everybody stay safe!” Serge Ibaka: “Again, pray for OKC… Everybody stay safe!” Nick Collison: “spent much of yesterday watching the news out of Moore. My heart hurts for the people who lost loved ones. Thank you to all who are helping” James Harden: “Praying for everyone in Oklahoma City. This is crazy!” Other athletes react. Perk is doing a donation thing at Anthony David Platinum by Quail Springs Mall today from 10-5. A lady finds her dog alive in the rubble of her house on live TV. Amazing. Tons of wild videos and such here. A shirt with all proceeds — every penny — going to the disaster relief. Russell Westbrook on his Instagram offered up some encouragement. Chesapeake Energy reportedly gave a $1 million cash donation last night to the relief efforts. A few basketball related links: Andrew Sharp of Grantland: “Does Serge Ibaka become a star if he’s a top-five pick asked to contribute immediately on a bad team? Or to take the most obvious example: Paul George, who suddenly looks like a future NBA superstar. Simmons mentioned last week that the Clippers could’ve kept their pick in ’09 and taken George over Al-Farouq Aminu in 2010, giving them a murderous core for the next decade. But let’s say they still traded the ’09 pick and just drafted Paul George over Aminu. There’s no way George develops fast enough to convince the Clippers to keep him out of the Chris Paul discussion a year later. And in that case, he probably gets traded to New Orleans (just like Aminu), which leaves us wondering … does Paul George become a budding superstar if he’s stuck on a 30-win Hornets team the past two years?” Draft lottery preview. Darnell Mayberry: “In a draft that appears to be void of a single franchise player and short on can’t-miss stars, the Thunder must either hope the Raptors jump into the top three and try again next year or be prepared to make the best of an imperfect situation. But only with the benefit of hindsight can you question what the Thunder received. When Oklahoma City made the deal, Toronto was coming off a 23-win season. By all accounts, the Raptors were headed for another year near the bottom of the standings. That’s when things started to go awry.” Chad Ford of ESPN.com on combine winners: “Indiana’s Cody Zeller stopped his slide in the rankings on Friday with a terrific performance in the athletic testing. While NBA teams take the athletic testing with a grain of salt, Zeller’s numbers were hard to ignore. Not only were his numbers terrific for a big man, they were great for a guard. Zeller’s stock dropped, in part, because there were several games in which he really struggled against long, athletic front lines. Seeing how well he performed in Chicago has given pause to NBA scouts and GMs who were ready to write him off.” Adonal Foyle talks about KD on THTV.

In Part II of this Timberwolves.com player profile series, we profile Nikola Pekovic's continued rise as one of the league's top old-school centers.

The 2013 NBA Draft Lottery will take place Tuesday, May 21 starting at 7:00 p.m. CT (ESPN) with the order of selections unveiled between 7:25 and 7:59 p.m. CT.

Are you aware that the kerfuffle with Lillard and his supposed "entourage" has hit the front page of NBA.com? The longer you and Lillard sit on the sidelines without commenting, the more people will assume that, because it's not refuted, the statements of the two men who were assaulted were true. I am actually pretty surprised that there was no immediate response, but now that it's been stewing, isn't there anyone there who understands that getting in front of a story like this is better than hoping that it won't spread? Because, if you haven't noticed, it's spreading, and it's making you look bad. Just my two cents. I would love to hear Damian's side of this, or at least a response saying that you can't talk about it due to pending legal action, but that there is another story to tell. But to not say anything? The silence is hurting my ears and the ears of millions of others. This story was not (and, with that photo, couldn't possibly be) contained. Time to deal with it. Publicly. Now. Are you aware that the kerfuffle with Lillard and his supposed "entourage" has hit the front page of NBA.com? The longer you and Lillard sit on the sidelines without commenting, the more people will assume that, because it's not refuted, the statements of the two men who were assaulted were true. I am actually pretty surprised that there was no immediate response, but now that it's been stewing, isn't there anyone there who understands that getting in front of a story like this is better than hoping that it won't spread? Because, if you haven't noticed, it's spreading, and it's making you look bad. Just my two cents. I would love to hear Damian's side of this, or at least a response saying that you can't talk about it due to pending legal action, but that there is another story to tell. But to not say anything? The silence is hurting my ears and the ears of millions of others. This story was not (and, with that photo, couldn't possibly be) contained. Time to deal with it. Publicly. Now.

This isn’t about Grizzlies fans or Spurs fans. This is about every city having a few complete idiots. The Sherriff’s office in Bexar County – which includes San Antonio — is investigating death threats leveled at Tony Parker during the Spurs/Grizzlies Game 1 Sunday, reports NBC’s WOAI in the city. The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office…

Chris Broussard and Skip Bayless discuss Dwight Howard's future with the Lakers.

Five dribbles of chatter from the league's front-office and coaching grapevines: Among the immediate concerns for the Indiana Pacers heading into the...