Basketball

1. We trade with Chicago. http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ktuyz4q We also get the 20th pick and they get all three of our second rounders to beef up their bench cheap. Chicago gets luxury tax relief (they have never, ever paid luxury tax). We get some tough veterans closer to Aldridge's age. After that, Chiacgo looks like Rose/Teague/vet min Matthews/Butler/2nd round pick Batum/Butler/2nd round pick Boozer/Gibson/2nd round pick Noah/Gibson/vet min We look like Lillard/Maynor Hinrich/Hamilton/Barton Deng/Claver/Barton LMA/Freeland Leonard/Freeland Trade Claver, the 10th and 20th round pick to Phoenix for the 4th pick and their second round pick. Draft Oladipo. Draft the Best Big Available (BBA) Don't bother re-signing Maynor. Bring over da greek. Lillard/Hinrich Oladipo/Hamilton/Barton Deng/Papanikolau/Barton LMA/Freeland Leonard/BBA Sign Jermaine O Neal. Lillard/Hinrich Oladipo/Hamilton/Barton Deng/Papanikolau/Barton LMA/Freeland/BBA Leonard/O Neal/BBA Sign Dejuan Blair Lillard/Hinrich Oladipo/Hamilton/Barton Deng/Papanikolau/Barton LMA/Blair/Freeland Leonard/O Neal/BBA Cut Ric Hamilton, sign JJ Reddick Lillard/Hinrich/Reddick Oladipo/Reddick/Barton Deng/Papanikolau/Barton LMA/Blair/Freeland Leonard/O Neal/BBA Resign Luke Babbitt and Elliot Williams, just because, as 14th and 15th men. Get LMA to play some minutes at C. If it doesn't work, get what you can for Aldridge and Deng at the trade deadline and rebuild around Lillard, Oladipo + the free agency class of 2014. 1. We trade with Chicago. http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ktuyz4q We also get the 20th pick and they get all three of our second rounders to beef up their bench cheap. Chicago gets luxury tax relief (they have never, ever paid luxury tax). We get some tough veterans closer to Aldridge's age. After that, Chiacgo looks like Rose/Teague/vet min Matthews/Butler/2nd round pick Batum/Butler/2nd round pick Boozer/Gibson/2nd round pick Noah/Gibson/vet min We look like Lillard/Maynor Hinrich/Hamilton/Barton Deng/Claver/Barton LMA/Freeland Leonard/Freeland Trade Claver, the 10th and 20th round pick to Phoenix for the 4th pick and their second round pick. Draft Oladipo. Draft the Best Big Available (BBA) Don't bother re-signing Maynor. Bring over da greek. Lillard/Hinrich Oladipo/Hamilton/Barton Deng/Papanikolau/Barton LMA/Freeland Leonard/BBA Sign Jermaine O Neal. Lillard/Hinrich Oladipo/Hamilton/Barton Deng/Papanikolau/Barton LMA/Freeland/BBA Leonard/O Neal/BBA Sign Dejuan Blair Lillard/Hinrich Oladipo/Hamilton/Barton Deng/Papanikolau/Barton LMA/Blair/Freeland Leonard/O Neal/BBA Cut Ric Hamilton, sign JJ Reddick Lillard/Hinrich/Reddick Oladipo/Reddick/Barton Deng/Papanikolau/Barton LMA/Blair/Freeland Leonard/O Neal/BBA Resign Luke Babbitt and Elliot Williams, just because, as 14th and 15th men. Get LMA to play some minutes at C. If it doesn't work, get what you can for Aldridge and Deng at the trade deadline and rebuild around Lillard, Oladipo + the free agency class of 2014.

Devin KharpertianWENDIGOOOOOOOOOO (AP) Each day that there's a playoff game, we'll have three things to watch in the NBA playoffs. Each note will be accompanied by a contest. We'll announce winners after each round. Here's today's three things to watch: 1) San Antonio's continued dominance. The San Antonio Spurs crushed the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, in a 105-83 laugher in San Antonio. The Spurs hit 14 three-pointers, shot 52.6% from the field, and never had a real threat from Memphis, who many anointed as the favorites in the series. Grizzlies starters shot just 40.9% from the field and didn't have a shot after going down 31-14 after one quarter. The Spurs have one of the most consistent, fluid offenses in the NBA, and Memphis -- who have both the defensive player of the year in Marc Gasol and one of the game's elite perimeter defenders in Tony Allen -- could do nothing to stop it. At home again in Game 2, will the Grizzlies make the necessary adjustments? 2) Zach Randolph. One of the aforementioned adjustments the Grizzlies have to make is getting Zach Randolph involved in the offense. Randolph turned in a terrible Game 1 performance, going just 1-8 from the field and finishing with just two points in 28 minutes of action. The Spurs stymied Randolph with a mixture of hard work and strategy -- pushing Randolph out of the paint and swarming him with defenders that could help off their man. If that analysis tells us anything, it's that Randolph can take advantage if his teammates show a bit more commitment to acting as a threat. Randolph averaged 16.1 points per 36 minutes this season and 19.7 per game in the first two rounds of the playoffs -- can he counter? 3) San Antonio's balance. The Spurs had five players score in double figures in a rout and Tim Duncan wasn't one of them. Manu Ginobili wasn't one of them, either. That should tell you all you need to know about San Antonio's balanced offensive approach, one that values the right shot over the top shooter. The Spurs have a bevy of offensive weapons, specifically with three-point shooters. When they're hitting, there's a lot of points to go around. The post The BK Playoff Game, Round 3: Following the Spurs dominance appeared first on The Brooklyn Game.

The NBA Draft Lottery airs tonight at 5:30pm (PDT) live on ESPN. Here's a primer for the event: - The point of the lottery is to place the top three draft positions! After that, teams are simply placed in reverse order of their records. Because of that system... - The Blazers only have a shot at picks 1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 12, or 13. If they end up with pick 11, 12, or 13, it means that a team (or teams) below them somehow jumped into the top three. If the Blazers plummet to the 13th pick, they lose it as part of the Gerald Wallace trade with Charlotte. - What to watch for: Picks 10-13. If we do not hear the words "Portland Trail Blazers" by pick 10, something awesome happened. - What's the best case scenario if the Blazers don't jump? Probably the same as always: Having the top three picks go to the Eastern Conference, this year preferably Orlando, Charlotte and Washington. - What's the worst case scenario? The Blazers fall to 13th, losing their pick, while Utah and Dallas (along with Toronto or Philly) jump into the top three and get the best prospects. The chance of this exact scenario happening is, to put it mildly, remote. The odds are definitely stacked against the Blazers. They have a better chance of getting the 11th pick than any of the top three combined. Here are how the percentages break down: Top Three (Overall): 4.0% chance First Pick: 1.1% chance Second Pick: 1.3% chance Third Pick: 1.6% chance Tenth Pick: 87.0% chance Eleventh Pick: 8.9% chance Twelfth Pick 0.2% chance Thirteenth Pick: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! Ok, those are the basics. So hang out here, speculate as the time approaches, and enjoy the lottery. As soon as the Blazers' name is announced, Ben will have a new post on the front page with the official news. -- Tim

May 19, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Manu Ginobili (20) smiles from the bench during the fourth quarter against the Memphis Grizzlies in game one of the Western Conference finals of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at AT The outcome of Game 1 was such a surprise everyone, that we’re still trying to make some sense out of it. So instead of discussing this amongst ourselves, Air Alamo’s Lead Editor Michael Rehome, joined me in a little email exchange to see what the hell exactly happened. John Diaz, Senior Staff Writer: So, where do I begin? I can’t state enough how shocked I was that this was a blowout. Did you expect us to win by such a huge margin? Michael Rehome, Lead Editor: To be honest, no.  I had a feeling that we would display the energy that we portrayed, but not the shooting that we did, especially from three.  Before this series started I was thinking back to 2011 and how hard it was to get anything going during this series.  It just showed the genius of Gregg Popovich and what he can do to break down an opponent.  In game one, we saw they exploited the defense of Zach Randolph’s slow moving feet, Tony Parker’s penetration and kick out.  This and the collapsing of the Memphis defense on Parker made it easy for others on the Spurs to have an open look and just launch and not think about it. JD: Yeah, it was definitely surprising to see how easily Parker was getting into the lane early on. The three-point shooting felt like just a bonus. Not to get overconfident or anything, but the Grizzlies defense looked so lost for all 48 minutes. I’m not sure how easily they can recover from that. Granted I don’t think the Spurs can maintain shooting 48% from three, but the looks in the paint are still there to take advantage of, no? MR: For San Antonio, I think so.  Parker during the season was second in scoring in the paint amongst guards.  He is brilliant at getting into the lane.  Even if the Grizzlies made their adjustments, because we know they will in keeping him out of the paint, you know he won’t let that go down without a fight. Parker is such an exceptional passer as he displayed in game one to find the open shooters.  Even if the defense collapses on him, he can easily dish to Duncan or Splitter. May 19, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol (33) shoots during the fourth quarter against the San Antonio Spurs in game one of the Western Conference finals of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at AT JD: Definitely agree there. So what do you see as any adjustments in Game 2? Let’s say the Spurs don’t match their Game 1 shooting or don’t try to exploit Memphis in the paint more. Is that enough? The Grizzlies weren’t just bad defensively, the Spurs forced them into holding the ball and playing a lot of one-on-one. Everyone keeps mentioning the Grizzlies will play better, so what do they have to do? MR: We know the Spurs are going to come out to try and continue the play they had in game one. We both know the Grizzlies that we saw in game one will not be whom we see in game two. Unless the game one onslaught really has a strangled hold on the Grizzlies, and they can’t seem to think they can do anything right against this team. I see the defensive pressure of the bigs from Memphis being there more to try and keep Parker out of the paint. The Spurs won’t do anything different on offense. Pick-n-rolls is what they live by and they just do a remarkable job finding a way to still get to the basket. Shooting wise, it would be nice if it continued. I see the Grizzlies doing a better job on the shooters, not sagging off of them so that Parker can find them while penetrating. JD: Yeah, the Grizzlies will definitely do a better job of closing out on shooters. And offensively, Memphis definitely didn’t live up to their “grind and grit” nickname. Watching Tayshuan Prince isolation and try to post up on

A year removed from losing out on the Anthony Davis sweepstakes, the Bobcats have a 19.9% chance of getting this year's first overall pick. There doesn't seem to be a consensus on which prospect should be taken with the first overall pick, but being able to choose before anyone else is a welcome advantage. Nerlens Noel was expected to be taken with the first overall pick, but teams are wary of his health after he tore his ACL in February. This allowed prospects like Ben McLemore, Anthony Bennett, and Otto Porter to garner some much-needed attention and keep the Draft interesting. The Bobcats cannot fall lower than the fifth overall pick and are most likely to receive the fourth overall pick with odds of 31.9%. Still, the chances of them missing a top-three pick are slim are about 45%. That may seem scary, but I wouldn't worry too much. The show starts at 8 p.m. EST on ESPN. Let's talk conspiracy theories, y'all!

And then there were four… With the NBA down to the final four in the conference finals, today Kay Adams and I talk about the Heat and the Pacers. The central matchup to me is Roy Hibbert and Chris Bosh — how much of a disruptive force can Hibbert be defensively if he is watching…

The Clippers coaching situation has been uncertain since the team picked up Vinny Del Negro's option last summer. They decided not to offer him a new contract, and now the search for a new coach begins. It's always out there at some level, but the last few days have brought a new crop of "Vinny Del Negro on the hot seat" stories. Marc Stein of ESPN.com had him on the warm throne in his Weekend Dime, then Sekou Smith put him on the toasty chair in his Hangtime blog at NBA.com. Zach Lowe writing in Grantland about unimaginative offense in the NBA didn't mention Del Negro by name, but took several swipes at the Clippers lack of invention in their offensive sets, a clear indictment of the coach. Let's look at what some of these fine NBA writers had to say. Things like this... Vinny Del Negro insisted before a recent loss in Dallas that he has "a great future no matter what." The signals are nonetheless getting stronger and stronger that said future won't be at Staples Center, with Del Negro working on the flimsy final year of his original Clippers contract and L.A. looking nothing like the team -- whether that's due to health woes, locker-room fissures or coaching issues -- that won 17 straight games in December. Could a deep playoff run save him? Even that might not be enough entering the most critical summer in the Clippers' history, with Chris Paul becoming a free agent July 1 and Clips management having always planned to let Paul have a big say (assuming he wants one) before any coach gets another long-term deal from them. Marc Stein and this... Del Negro has just as many detractors as he does supporters these days. Three different league executives have suggested that he's done a much better job than he gets credit for, when you consider how raw the Clippers' frontcourt remains with youngsters Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan still coming into their own. Del Negro's critics quickly point out that an All-Star and one of the top 10 centers in the league is a pretty good place to start your frontcourt rotation. Plus, they say, Griffin and Jordan's rawness has as much with Del Negro (and his staff's) inability to polish them up as it does anything else. The Clippers have dealt with health issues and rumored locker room drama all season, but they also kicked off the NBA's season of win streaks with a 17-gamer early in the season that cranked expectations (on the team and Del Negro) to unattainable proportions. The only thing that might solidify Del Negro's status is a run to the Western Conference finals ... and that might work. Sekou Smith and this... Predictable offenses with otherworldly talent can still get a team far; the Clippers can win a lot of games with 45 Chris Paul-Blake Griffin pick-and-rolls and 45 Griffin post-ups.... Coaches with stale offenses - think Utah, Brooklyn, the Clippers - are hurting their teams, even if those teams have enough talent to produce some solid overall scoring numbers. Zach Lowe So is any of this criticism fair? Probably not. I'm not going to try to justify that Vinny Del Negro is a great X's and O's guy. He's not, and he'd admit as much. But it seems to me that there's a basic disconnect occurring when people are complaining about the fourth most efficient offense in the NBA. The Clippers score 110.6 points per 100 possessions according to basketball-reference, the fourth best efficiency in the NBA. The teams ahead of them are the Thunder, the Heat and the Knicks. One wonders where Lowe might expect the Clippers offensive efficiency to be, were Del Negro not "hurting" the team so much. Offensive "geniuses" like Gregg Popovich of the Spurs and George Karl of the Nuggets, coaching talented teams that are offensive juggernauts, don't achieve the same offensive efficiency as Del Negro's Clippers. Now, I've said many times and it remains true, that having Chris Paul on your team hides a lot of coaching flaws. Critics of Del Negro can reasonably argue that he's done li

OK, so a little refresher on what’s on the line tonight: The Thunder own the Raptors first round pick, acquired from Houston in the James Harden trade. (The Rockets got it by trading Kyle Lowry to Toronto.) The pick is top-three protected, meaning if the ping-pong balls bounce in the top three for the Raptors, they get to keep the pick. Anything 4-14, the Thunder use it. If the pick lands in the top three, it then rolls over to next season where it is top-two protected. The 12th worst record has seven combinations in the lottery, or 0.7 percent chance to win. That’s not seven percent. That’s zero point seven percent. There’s a 0.8 percent chance for the No. 2 and a 0.10 percent chance at No. 3. Between pick four and 11, there’s zero chance. There’s also a zero percent chance at No. 14. So, if they get to use it, the Thunder are guaranteed to be picking between 12 and 13, with a 93.5 percent chance of No. 12 and a 3.9 percent chance at No. 13. The Raptors were 7-2 in April after going 4-11 in March and dropping to the seventh worst record. But they finished strong and the Blazers lost their last 13. In draft lottery history, the 12th worst record has never won the lottery. So after tonight, we’ll know if all this talk about Gorgui Dieng and Cody Zeller and C.J. McCollum and whoever else is actually worth our time.

As expected, Michael Jordan took to the podium in Time Warner Cable Arena's practice gym to announce the team has indeed submitted papers to claim the Hornets name, with the estimated process being completed to be ready by the 2014-15 season. Jordan cited the overwhelming support of a name change from the fanbase in regards to Charlotte reclaiming the 'Hornets' name in making the decision, which gained a lot of steam in the past couple years from the Bring Back The Buzz grassroots movement. In the next months, the name must be approved by the NBA Board of Governors, which is probably a just a formality. Then the organization will likely undergo an extensive rebrand from everything including jerseys to highway signs. Pete Guelli, the executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer, said that the rebrand will cost an estimated $4 million. As for the teal and purple colors (which I fondly adore), Jordan said it's too early to tell and that they haven't thought about colors or logos at this point. Though it should be noted that teal and purple were all over the backdrop and the new site, Back The Buzz, which advertises season tickets and flashy jacket. The rebranding could offer a healthy revitalization of energy and nostalgia to drive a new feel to the team as they continue to try to build a consistent winning team for years to come. As Jordan mentioned, the main focus is still on good basketball, so with that in mind, let's turn our focus toward the draft lottery at 8:30 on ESPN.

Echándole un vistazo a la temporada 2012-13, vamos a analizar cada uno de los jugadores que están en la lista. Vamos a ver sus estadísticas, altas y bajas de la temporada, un momento especial y analizamos su papel para el futuro.