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.

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…

Good for Dwight Howard. Dave McMenamin of ESPN has reported that Howard expressed "frustration" with Mike D'Antoni during his exit interview and all I can say is good for Dwight. Howard's free agency is a blessing in disguise Howard's free agency will hold the NBA hostage through the Summer. Despite the chance that he can leave the Lakers without any return, letting Howard decide what he wants to do is the best thing that can happen for both him and L.A. That's what an exit interview is for, right? To express what you think about the team's direction, what you would like to see changed, and the future. Howard is in line to be the leader of the Los Angeles Lakers -- should he accept that mission -- and the front office should, without pause, "pop" the question to him. "Will you marry this coach for the next two seasons?" The problem for the Lakers front office is clear. Through a season filled with injuries and a "mid-season early-season" swap of Mikes, the story is the Lakers played well after the All-Star break. They got back on track and looked better than they did to open the season, which wasn't a huge bar to clear. Howard's health improved dramatically. They finally had both Steves. Pau Gasol eventually crept back into the lineup and helped cap off their strong finish. Things were in working shape But how much better did they play? Take the win-loss increase away, look at the numbers, and there doesn't appear to be much of a difference. In fact, the uptick was not an empowered defense but a slightly-worse defense boosted by a mildly-better offense: By the numbers the largest leap is on offense where the Lakers averaged 2.1 points more every 100 possessions. The defense allowed .6 more points per 100 possessions, but who's counting, right? They played better. The remaining numbers look by and large the same. There are small percentage changes, but nothing that seems to correlate to the drastic shift in their results. So the Lakers won games. Post All-Star break the Lakers finished the season 20-8. Through the first 54 games they were only 25-29. They burst back into the playoffs after looking like they'd miss entirely. You remember those games though, right? The comebacks -- how Kobe Bryant hit an assortment of insane shots in multiple games to keep the Lakers floating, played nearly 48 minutes a game, and also had the help of the infamous New Orleans Hornets' botching of an inbound play along the way. Little things went the Lakers way in that second half. A few wins were considered miraculous finishes. But was there improvement on a team level? Without the overblown crutch that the Lakers played better after the All-Star break it's a fair question, and one that Howard has clearly considered if the report is accurate. The Lakers did this to themselves, though. Signing D'Antoni to a three-year guaranteed deal was giving a big window to a man with very little space to nurture giant expectations. The glass has officially shattered, the shark outgrowing the tank. Howard is 27 now, and if he does sign the five-year max with the Lakers he will be 32 by the time his contract expires. Beyond his prime as a big man who's defensive impact is based on his athleticism and quickness, and may or may not have developed a post move repertoire. Not a good spot for Howard to be once he reaches his next free agency period. If the Lakers weren't feeling pressure before, Howard has them by the jugular now. Not only will he consider other teams, but has also made his stance regarding D'Antoni clear. Take Howard out of the situation, though, and the Lakers had to seriously consider their coaching situation, right? The question becomes what's next for the Lakers. Multiple coaches are already lining up interviews, have already been inked to new deals, or appear to be off the market. Can the Lakers afford to wait much longer as the candidate pool shrinks? More importantly, can the Lakers afford to make their five-year pitch

On Tuesday’s episode of “The Fix,” The Jones preview and predict the Eastern Conference Finals before discussing the Spurs-Grizzlies, tonight’s NBA Draft Lottery, Bryan Colangelo’s confusing new role with the Raptors, and the return of the Charlotte Hornets! All that, plus long weekend voices, Plinko, Frank Vogel’s daughter, and Mark Morrison. ********* Subscribe to The Basketball Jones show on iTunes | Download the .mp3 directly

Bryan Colangelo is still president of the Toronto Raptors, but he's no longer the club's general manager.

Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and… David West? What could go wrong? David West has been a rock-solid veteran big man for the Pacers this season and has talked repeatedly about how much he loved playing there this year. But the NBA is a business and West is an unrestricted free agent this summer. Teams are…

It was around this time last year that the Miami Heat finished off the Indiana Pacers in the 2012 NBA Eastern Conference semifinals. There’s no doubt it was a disappointing outcome for the Pacers, who dropped three straight games after taking a 2-1 lead early on in the series. Tomorrow, the two teams kick off another seven-game series, this time in the Eastern Conference finals. Some of the context is the same. The Heat, now defending champions, are favored again and possess the home-court advantage. The series boasts Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Eric Spoelstra versus Roy Hibbert, Paul George, and Frank Vogel. And like last year, the overblown “war of words” has begun. But as we would expect, there are differences this time around, too. Here are a few of the main ones: 1. The Danny Granger injury. The Pacers have been so productive without him that’s it’s easy to forget that they’re playing without their best scorer from a year ago. Granger didn’t have a great series against the Heat last year, but he did take up a lot of attention from Lebron James and the Heat, attention that this year will probably go toward the Paul George. It will be interesting to see what kind of role the Miami Heat’s Ray Allen plays in the NBA Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Pacers. 2. The health of Chris Bosh. Last year, as you may recall, the Heat’s center and part of “the big three,” Chris Bosh missed most of the series with an injury. It definitely made things more interesting, but the Heat were able to get enough contributions from elsewhere to get the job done. Unless something changes, Bosh will be healthy this year. Against the Chicago Bulls, Bosh played a lot of minutes, scored in double digits in every game except one, and shot four for eight from three-point range. But that doesn’t mean he can guard Roy Hibbert. The two are very different kinds of players, and it should be interesting to watch. 3. The presence of Ray Allen. A year ago, Allen was preparing to take on the Heat as a member of the Boston Celtics. This time around, he plays for the Heat. Let’s be honest, Allen isn’t what he used to but he can still shoot the rock. He averages double figures in points on 40% shooting from 3-point land. Insert that kind of specialty into a lineup with the likes of James, Wade, and Bosh, and you’ve got all sorts of problems defensively. 4. No more Larry Bird. Last year, the Indiana legend and then-Pacers President of Basketball Operations made headlines by challenging the Pacers toughness late in the series against the Heat. He then departed from the organization after the season’s end. It remains to be seen whether the absence of pressure he created will be good or bad for the team. 5. Numbers-one-through-four on this list could suggest an advantage for the Heat, but the Pacers are better than they were a year ago. Their youth is further along in their development. They’ve showcased that fact at times during the playoffs, especially in dismantling the higher-seeded New York Knicks in six games. George and Lance Stephenson, among others, are much improved. During the regular season, the Pacers beat the Heat two out of three times, largely by dominating in the paint. But obviously these games mean more. Are the Pacers ready for the big-time? We will see soon enough.