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Experience advantage rests with the Heat
Players on the Miami Heat roster have combined for 194 games of Conference Finals experience.

The Indiana Pacers roster features one game of Conference Finals experience -- Ian Mahinmi played one minute for the Dallas Mavericks in 2011.

Best offense vs best defense
During the regular season, the Heat had the best offensive efficiency and the Pacers had the best defensive efficiency. This is the first playoff meeting between the most efficient regular-season offense and defense since the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns met in the 2005 Western Conference Finals. The Spurs, the team with the most efficient defense, won in five games.

The Heat ranked second in transition points per play and first in isolation points per play, but the Pacers ranked second in transition points per play allowed and fourth in isolation points per play allowed.

Inside the Heat’s struggles
The Heat were 1-2 against the Pacers during the regular season and really struggled to score.

Miami averaged 90.3 points per game against the Pacers, its lowest scoring average against any opponent. The Heat were unable to score effectively in the paint and in transition, two things they excelled at all season.

Miami struggled to get easy baskets, averaging 30.7 paint points per game against Indiana, its fewest against any opponent.

That's no surprise -- Indiana allowed the fewest paint points per game (35.5) and the lowest paint field goal percentage (48.1) in the league and was the only team to hold opponents under 50 percent shooting in the paint.

LeBron vs the Pacers
LeBron James played 121 minutes against the Pacers in the regular season and Paul George was on the court for 116 of them.

James averaged 21.0 points per 40 minutes with George on the court in those three games, down from his regular season average of 28.3 points per 40 minutes.

The Pacers also did a nice job keeping James away from the basket -- only 12 of his 46 shots came within five feet of the basket with George on the court.

During the regular season, James took 41 percent of his shots from that close.

James actually shot the ball well when specifically guarded by George (16-for-27), but getting his shot was a challenge. George forced James into 11 turnovers.

James averaged 21.0 points per game in three games against the Pacers, his fewest against any Eastern Conference opponent.

The Pacers were the only team that James averaged fewer than 10 paint points per game against during the regular season.

The Transition Game
The Heat shot 60.5 percent in transition this season, second in the NBA, but averaged only 9.3 transition plays per game against the Pacers (14.5 plays per game against all other teams).

The Pacers shot 63 percent in transition in the three regular-season meetings and outscored Miami 32-25.

The Heat have been dominant in transition during the playoffs, averaging 15.6 transition points per game, the most of any team remaining in the postseason.

Pacers could slow it down
No team played a slower pace against the Heat than the Pacers did this season (87.3 possessions per game). Indiana had the second-highest rebound percentage of any team against the Heat this season (58 percent), outrebounding them in all three meetings.

The Pacers played a slower pace, rebounded better and scored more efficiently against the Heat than they did against all other teams this season.

Once in a while a measurement can change everything.

For instance, if you were born since the middle of the last century, the beginning of your life was changed by a metric. he most essential and timeless human act (or, at least one of them) changed globally and instantly in the middle of the last century when a doctor named Virginia Apgar thought to score newborns on their health, as described by Atul Gawande in The New Yorker:

The Apgar score, as it became known universally, allowed nurses to rate the condition of babies at birth on a scale from zero to ten. An infant got two points if it was pink all over, two for crying, two for taking good, vigorous breaths, two for moving all four limbs, and two if its heart rate was over a hundred. Ten points meant a child born in perfect condition. Four points or less meant a blue, limp baby.

The score was published in 1953, and it transformed child delivery. It turned an intangible and impressionistic clinical concept—the condition of a newly born baby—into a number that people could collect and compare. Using it required observation and documentation of the true condition of every baby. Moreover, even if only because doctors are competitive, it drove them to want to produce better scores—and therefore better outcomes—for the newborns they delivered.

I think hoops is due for an Apgar moment.

We have lots of new measures, and they are changing the game bit by bit. PER has liberated us from a lot of dumb conversations about which boxscore stats matter more. Plus/minus, in its various forms, has started to shed light on the value of individual defense and 100 other tough-to-measure things.

But the real basic thing, the way that a measurement could change every NBA game for the better, every night, is to measure this one thing: Was that shooter open?

That's the thing I want to know.

Introduce that to the equation, and all of a sudden things get very interesting:

• It'll quickly become obvious that who's open matters more than making sure the most famous players shoot. Covered guys usually miss. Open guys usually hit.
• It'll help separate the very few players who are at all efficient when covered from chuckers.
• Like doctors competed with each other to have good Apgar scores, so will coaches compete to have teams with good open shot percentages -- after all, this is the measure of an offensive tactician. That's the antidote to Scott Brooks and Mike Woodson essentially saying "get it to the star" all through losing playoff series.
• I'm dying to know this about point guards: How likely are their teammates to get open looks?

There are some challenges. What is and is not open is open to debate. And the data is tricky to collect for other reasons too.

But the fact is that it's already tracked in various ways. Many teams dig into such things with their internal numbers. SportVu dabbles in it, as do other startups peddling data packages to teams. It's kind of knowable. What we need, though, is for it to be part of the boxscore, part of the daily dialogue, part of how every game is judged and discussed from the bar stool to talk radio.

Then we'll get quick and instant pressure on every team to play better, more effective basketball.

 

• Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News: As well as the Spurs played in Game 1, a letdown was almost inevitable. It didn’t happen until the fourth quarter, but happen it did with a 15-2 Memphis run — fueled by Manu Ginobili’s flagrant foul on Tony Allen (see below) — that forced overtime. The collapse prevented them from crushing the Grizzlies’ morale, but the fact remains: They lead the series 2-0, a point at which teams have won best-of-7 series 94 percent of the time, and the Spurs are 19-2. … So how to grade Tony Parker? From the standpoint of shooting, he suffered through a nightmare similar to the one that wakes Kevin Durant and Dwyane Wade in cold sweats in that Gatorade commercial: 6 for 20, including misses on his last five attempts. He was otherwise sublime, dishing out a playoff career-high 18 assists against just two turnovers. He was especially good in the third quarter, scoring or assisting on 24 of the team’s 30 points. … It was a generally quiet performance from Tim Duncan, who struggled with foul trouble late in regulation. He still amassed nine rebounds, three assists, four blocks, two steals and 17 points, including the first three baskets of overtime to carry the Spurs home — a driving layup, a putback and a Parker-esque floater that bounced high off the rim and in, , Don Nelson in the 1969 Finals style, for a 91-87 lead.
• Chris Herrington of the Memphis Flyer: The Grizzlies saved Saturday. Wait, I’ve used that lead before? Through two games, this series feels an awful lot like the first-round series against the Clippers: A discouraging 20-plus-point loss in Game 1 followed by a disappointing but ultimately encouraging close loss in Game 2. In that series, the Grizzlies then won four straight. That’s very unlikely here, but the Grizzlies seem to have regained some confidence and made some adjustments and certainly can return home with more hope than seemed possible at halftime of this one. … They couldn’t pull it out, but the Grizzlies really got into the Spurs for the first time in that fourth quarter, giving home fans a reason to believe that the growth pattern the team followed in the first and second rounds may yet be viable.
• Ethan J. Skolnick of the Palm Beach Post: LeBron James speaks of restraint as if it were a skill he has needed to perfect, little different from his passing, perimeter shooting or post moves. “It took a while, honestly,” James said. “I just think it’s a maturity, leadership. I can’t afford to get out of my game and get unfocused if the play out on the court becomes more than basketball.” That’s because he recognizes his importance. “I have to continue to know what’s the task at hand,” James said. “It’s difficult at times, for sure. There’s times where I want to retaliate, but, you know, I can’t. I just stay the course, and just play the game. I’m here to just play basketball and that’s it.” That’s what he will attempt to do in this series, whatever the Pacers’ intentions or distractions. Last spring, Danny Granger, not known as an enforcer, oddly embraced the role of agitator, repeatedly confronting James and Dwyane Wade following fouls, earning technicals for his antics. James called the ploy “stupid,” adding that “whatever he’s trying, it’s not working.” Granger won’t be working in this series, sidelined after knee surgery. Still, others, notably Tyler Hansbrough and Lance Stephenson, figure to try James’ patience. He must respond as he did in the just-completed series against Chicago, after Nazr Mohammed shoved him or Nate Robinson hit his chin with a hand in transition. … Chris Bosh spoke of being a skinny kid in Texas and accepting the reality that lesser players would try to rough him up, that “if they can’t hold you, they want to make it about everything but basketball. You just continue to play basketball.” Opponents still try to bounce Bosh around. But someone else gets more of opponents’ attention. “I’m not the best player on the floor every night,” Bosh said. “I know that. He is.” He, as in James. The best player, who again must show he has the toughest skin.
• Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star: This does not qualify as any great insight heading into Game 1, but here it is anyway: Hibbert is absolutely central to the Pacers’ chances against the mighty Miami Heat. If he’s as big against the Heat as he was against the Knicks, both defensively and offensively, the Pacers have a chance to scare the life out of Miami. The key is doing what he has done in these playoffs, and that’s to be a defensive force without fouling. Once upon a time, Hibbert was a walking foul. Over the years, he has painstakingly learned how to go straight up and, in the process, he has gained the respect of officials, who now seem to be giving him the benefit of the doubt. That goes for all the Pacers, who were 29th in the league last season in fouls and have improved to 14th. Foul trouble killed them in the last year’s Miami series. Along with the bench. “I think he’s the best in the league in terms of going up with verticality,” Vogel said. “I think he’s been that way the last two, three years.”
• Terry Pluto of The Plain Dealer: Yes, the Cavs grabbed the No. 1 pick in the NBA lottery, but it's a lousy draft. OK, it is a lousy draft ... so would you rather have the No. 6 pick in a bad draft? That was the worst the Cavs could have finished in this lottery. Nope, if you're a fan, you should be thrilled that your team has the top pick. Maybe they will end up taking Nerlens Noel, the 6-11 shot-blocking machine from Kentucky. Noel also is a thin 206 pounds, coming off knee surgery that may keep him out of action until Christmas. … The player best suited in terms of need is Georgetown small forward Otto Porter. He's projected as a top three pick. Is there a way the Cavs can trade with No. 2 Orlando, and still grab Porter while adding a future first rounder? You can be sure that will be discussed. Or perhaps the Cavs will think big. Real big. Huge as in the No. 1 pick and a player on the roster for a veteran forward who can score. They have the salary cap room to make that kind of move. At this point, I'm not sure what the Cavs should do. There is a certain appeal to Noel because he won't be 20 until next April. He can gain weight and strength and may keep growing. New coach Mike Brown wants defense, and Noel can deliver that because of his shot-blocking and leaping ability. But I'm positive the Cavs also are thinking trade. They have long liked Minnesota's Kevin Love. Golden State may have David Lee available, although his defense is "challenged," to be nice about it. Nonetheless, he can score. Even in a supposed bad draft, there are good players available. Remember, the Cavs also have the 19th, 31st and 33rd picks.
• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: Here's all you need to know about the quality of this year's draft: The No.1 pick might well be Nerlens Noel, the Kentucky center recovering from a torn ACL who might not even be healthy enough to play next season. For all of you Christmas carolers scoring at home, Nerlens would indeed be the Magic's first Noel, but he is far from a messiah. Who knows, he could be the franchise's next Dwight Howard -- or he could be the franchise's next Grant Hill. Is this really a chance you want to take with an early first pick in the draft? The Magic's young GM Rob Hennigan doesn't seem like the type to roll the dice with the team's future. If he were, he would have traded Dwight for Andrew Bynum and the Magic would be stuck with Bynum, who sat out this entire season with bum knees. … The upcoming draft will be just another way for Hennigan to add another young building block to a team that will most likely be right back here at the draft lottery next year. The fact is, there are no surefire saviors coming in this draft to rescue the Magic from another lackluster season. Unlike the past – when the Magic truly were built on lucky charms and pixie dust -- this overhaul is going to be slower and more methodical. Maybe it's a good sign that the Magic didn't win the draft lottery Tuesday night. Hennigan, after all, doesn't seem like the type who believes championships are built on a wing, a prayer and a bouncing pingpong ball.
• Mike Wise of The Washington Post: The worst thing the Washington Wizards could do at this moment is give in to public sentiment and view their unexpected surprise of a No. 3 pick in the NBA draft lottery as a nameplate above a cubicle in their locker room next season. The Wizards got lucky, moved up five picks from where they were projected to choose in the draft, and drew the third selection Tuesday night for the second year in a row. Their good fortune could allow them to keep a local college or high school kid close to home. But they should resist the temptation. … They have next season. Postseason or bust. That’s it. And as much as I think Porter could be an all-star within three years and Oladipo could be sixth man of the year off the Wizards’ bench in 2015, I’m not sure either one makes their mark next season. And if Ernie Grunfeld can secure an established veteran now for that pick, someone who could even help take this franchise to the second round for the first time since 2005, he’s got to take that chance.
• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: You can change the name, but apparently you can’t change the Charlotte Bobcats’ lottery luck.Roughly three hours after the Bobcats announced their intent to switch to “Charlotte Hornets,” the team got bad news in the draft lottery. They will pick fourth on June 27 after finishing last season with the NBA’s second-worst record at 21-61. This is the second year the Bobcats slipped in the lottery after a bad season. In 2012 they went 7-59 – worst record in NBA history – but drafted second behind the New Orleans (no longer) Hornets. … Bobcats executives Rod Higgins and Rich Cho met with the media following the lottery selection. They didn’t offer much detail on players available, except to say they’d likely work out at least six or seven for the fourth spot. The Bobcats have no second-round pick this draft. General manager Cho said the Bobcats’ current roster shouldn’t be relevant to who they select. “Ideally you take the best player available – my philosophy has always been you draft for talent, trade for need,” Cho said. Cho mentioned size, rebounding and shooting as the areas that need the most improvement.
• Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic: No. 5 is a thrill for new Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough, whose draft work in the Boston front office has not for a pick higher than No. 19 in the past eight drafts. “The guy who goes there might not be much different, or any different, than guys who go in the top three,” McDonough said. This will be the highest the Suns have drafted since 1987, when they took Armen Gilliam with the No. 2 pick after David Robinson had gone first. Like then, the Suns are in dire need of a young talent infusion. “I think generally we need to get more athletic,” McDonough said. “I think we need more shooting. My philosophy is always to draft the best available player. There are some good pieces in place here. But at the same time, we won 25 games here, so we need to get better across the board.”
• John Reid of The Times-Picayune: Pelicans General Manager Dell Demps hasn't ruled out the possibility the Pelicans could trade the pick in attempt to obtain more veterans. ``You never know,'' Demps said. ``There are trades, there's other opportunities that may present themselves. We're going to look at every angle to give ourselves the best possible chance to make our team better.'' The Pelicans interviewed 15 prospects during last week's NBA draft combine in Chicago, according to league sources. The Pelicans could be looking to improve the small forward spot with Al-Farouq Aminu becoming a free agent this summer. Aminu struggled to be a consistent scorer but improved as a rebounder. Williams said after Tuesday's lottery that any prospect the Pelicans select at No. 6 is capable of providing immediate help to improve their team. "Obviously, the higher that pick is, the better,'' Williams said.
• Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee: Last season, five of the top prospects refused to work out for the Kings. New ownership and stability might cause more players to be willing to embrace being a King. Regardless of who the selection is or who makes the final decision, the new ownership group could overhaul the roster, coaching staff and front office. The Kings also own the sixth pick in the second round, 36th overall. Players who could be available at No. 7 include point guards Trey Burke and Michael Carter-Williams and small forward Shabazz Muhammad. After projected top pick Nerlens Noel, Alex Len is viewed as the second-best center. Petrie noted that the draft has its limitations. "The idea that – except in certain cases that the draft is the stairway to success – except when you get that exceptional guy, (the draft) isn't necessarily the most important thing," he said.
• David Mayo of MLive.com: Joe Dumars said he still has no timetable for hiring a new Detroit Pistonshead coach but insisted the search would not extend into the opening of NBA free agency July 1. Dumars made his first public remarks on the coaching search in a conference call with local media Tuesday night, from New York, where the Pistons gotbumped down one spot in the NBA Draft Lottery and will pick No. 8 overall. The Pistons president of basketball operations did not dismiss any of the names reported to have interviewed for the vacancy created by Lawrence Frank's firing but seemed to delight in noting some interviews have escaped public scrutiny. "We've talked to a lot of people," Dumars said. "I'm waiting on you guys to get the names out there but you haven't gotten them out yet." Those known or reported to have interviewed with the Pistons include Mike Budenholzer, J.B. Bickerstaff, Lindsey Hunter, Maurice Cheeks, Nate McMillan and Darrell Walker.
• Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press: Congratulations to Kevin Love, who helped the Timberwolves hold onto their No. 9 position AND didn't get hurt at the NBA lottery. The Wolves now sport a lottery record of 0-7-8. They've never moved up, have drafted right where they should based on their record seven times and have tumbled backward eight times. Love, who on Tuesday represented the franchise at the event, brought enough good karma to allow the Wolves to hold serve at No. 9, which is just where they should be. Yippee. The lottery was created to prevent teams from tanking in order to improve their position in the draft, but it's a flawed system because it penalizes teams that consistently lose without subterfuge. For example, the Timberwolves always have been naturally good at losing basketball games. And for years, we all knew what to expect at the lottery: If there were, say, two impact players coming out of college, the Wolves would end up with the third pick. If there were four impact players, they'd draft fifth. It got to the point where the goal was just to survive the lottery.
• John Canzano of The Oregonian: Good organizations have a congruency of vision, and overcome mistakes. Bad organizations are disjointed, refuse to be accountable and are quick to accept failure as being unlucky. And if the Blazers want to distance themselves from the Kings, Raptors, Pelicans, Wizards and Bobcats/Hornets of the NBA world, the only way to do so is to make a solid series of wise decisions. The selection of Lillard -- No. 6 overall last June -- was a good start. But it can't end there. The burst of confidence Allen has demonstrated this season in allowing Olshey to work some is encouraging, but it must continue. Changing general managers six times in the decade has more to do with the lottery streak than coaching, bad knees or sad-story luck. And it's why Tuesday, a day this city may have wished for the No. 1 pick, instead ended with the sobering reality that a single player in this draft won't turn a flawed franchise into a champion. A change of vision will, though.

It’s a weird kind of party, the NBA draft lottery.

The 2013 version began on the Good Morning America’s repurposed Times Square set (complete with test kitchen) with an NBA staffer welcoming everyone by saying: “For those of you who are new to this, my condolences.”

Then they confiscated our cell phones.

Woohoo!

We were in the secret inner sanctum with the high ceilings, exquisite air conditioning and fake wood paneling. A collection of team representatives and a few others were gathered to witness the drawing of the pingpong balls that would decide who among the NBA’s worst teams got the first few picks of June’s NBA draft. The results would be determined here, but publicly revealed an hour or so later on national TV.

In the interim, we were not free to leave, even for the bathroom, lest we ruin the fun.

Just upstairs, in a different TV studio, the picks are revealed with the celebratory air of a Powerball drawing. But even that room is anxiety-ridden. Sitting in nervous silence is the essential task of the NBA draft lottery. The vibe’s beyond tense.

Once deputy commissioner Adam Silver had revealed the picks, however, at least one corner of the room went bananas.

The Cavs know how to party

The noisy posse in bowties, they’re screeching and hollering and pumping fists in the air. That’s Cavs owner Dan Gilbert and the many spirited people who traveled on his private jet for the occasion.

They won the NBA draft lottery again, they’re color coordinated and they don’t give a damn who knows it.

But even for Gilbert, in this moment of glory, with the TV cameras in his face to collect his acceptance speech, the lottery is bittersweet.

“We were hoping,” he said of his team’s potentially franchise-defining victory, “this would be our last.”

That’s the thing about the lottery. It’s nobody’s idea of perfect, and it's getting less so.

It’s some office building off the Turnpike, by day

Just as a run-of-the-mill Hollywood shopping mall can be transformed into the glamorous home of the Oscars, so did the NBA’s offices in Secaucus, N.J., used to become a wonderland of hoops glitz on the night of the NBA draft lottery. Gloved security men crowded the entrance, welcoming a steady procession of limos and fancy cars pulling up one at a time, dumping out a who’s who of NBA faces: players, owners, GMs.

The NBA, bless them, puts on a lot of buffet meals for the media, but this was the one that was a hell of a buffet. The fish was peppered to taste, the roast beef sliced to order, the gorgonzola crumbled and ready to cascade across your chopped romaine. You have never seen cookies like these, and if you’re not big into cookies, please consider the finest fresh fruits, still shiny with a fresh coating of dark chocolate.

This was how the lottery used to run, back when it was easier to forget the lottery was about losers, not winners.

Sure, it wasn't all showbiz. It was tough to hide some of the workaday details. Most of the party took place in a rented tent out back, the kind you’d more commonly see used for weddings. The walk there from the front door was a long one, much of which bordered a drab cube farm.

But a half-decade ago, say, as then-Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard made the walk, he made it like a prize fighter. People emerged from all angles, offering high-fives and attaboys. Pritchard beamed, a proud man representing a basketball-mad city, entering the ring to do his job saving the Trail Blazers.

Pritchard’s shoulder was one of the few tapped early in the evening that night. Along with a who’s who of NBA front office personnel, he was invited upstairs to witness the pingpong reveal.

Every team in the lottery sent two representatives: One to take care of the real business with the pingpong balls, and another to be the face of the franchise on TV. The back room, as usual, had the power brokers.

Please come with me, sir. Up these stairs. Place your cell phones and all personal electronics in this sealed envelope.

Pritchard had even more pep in his step a couple of hours later, when the pingpong digits delivered him a dreamy choice between Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. (This was before the off-road portion of Pritchard’s freeway-to-the-top career.) Pritchard walked out of that building a front office champion.

Who knows how many times he told the story of what happened in that room, on how many radio shows and local TV shows. Hell yes, he circled up Blazers staff to inspire them with thoughts about the great ride that franchise was about to take. He talked about character, he talked about fortune, and it was hard not to get the feeling some Higher Power was smiling on the Portland Trail Blazers, thanks in no small part to the magic Pritchard mustered in some stuffy Secaucus boardroom.

New York, New York

A couple of years ago, the NBA downsized the Secaucus offices and the draft lottery has packed up for TV studios in Times Square. It’s ostensibly as nice. The roast beef is still delicately cooked, and is accompanied by mild horseradish, but it’s no longer sliced on demand and the chocolate chip cookies in the back room were all gone by 8:15.

The bigger change comes from the crowd. Sure, there’s a Damian Lillard or Andre Drummond here or there to enliven the proceedings, but in the big picture, to put it bluntly, this event is getting less cool by the minute.

My guess is that trend will continue, not because of how anything is run, but because of what everybody knows.

At the highest levels of running a team these days, on smart teams at least, are masters not just of basketball, but of decision-making. It's a different kind of person.

These are people who gather and process information professionally, from all angles, and turn it into strategy. People who read books about optimal decision-making. People who are obsessively connected with reality.

Getting excited about the draft lottery, meanwhile, requires divorcing yourself from reality, in one key way: You have to forget how you got here. To celebrate here means detaching from the fact that the team you’re charged with making great actually stinks.

In the days when NBA brain trusts were thick with grocery store magnates and retired players, maybe that was more doable, especially with a beer or two on board. In the era of smartphones, Twitter and non-stop information parsing, reality thickens the air, even after they confiscate your smartphone.

The NBA draft lottery might have the trappings of a Powerball drawing, but it’s different in a key way. A real lottery is a windfall for some lucky schmuck who happened to buy a ticket.

This?

This is a mindless game of chance open only to losers.

And, increasingly, they know it.

You know who was not on hand? Most of those with the most on the line. Michael Jordan, for instance, who owns the Charlotte “we’re betting the farm on the lottery” Bobcats. Same goes for his GM, Rich Cho, as well as most of the front offices of most of the teams represented.

New Sixers GM Sam Hinkie? Absent. Mark Cuban? Joe Dumars?

It’s not the event to be seen at. Not if you’re into winning.

Many teams sent a PR person. But very few sent the brain trust, because there’s nothing for them here.

Nobody has gotten more from the lottery than Gilbert, whose team just added another top overall pick to a collection that already included LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

He of all people must love this system, right?

“There’s no perfect way to do it,” Gilbert told me, literally minutes after winning. “I think of all ways it’s probably one that is not optimal. But there isn’t an optimal one. It’s probably the best of the worst you can do. You’ve got to give it to the guys at the NBA to even come up with something like this.”

And if all goes well, he won’t be back anytime soon.

He's 6-5. He shoots like Ray Allen. He dunks on people. He's a candidate to be the top overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft. And yet, he still gets confused, now and again, with that guy who raps about thrift stores.

The Los Angeles Clippers lost the most successful coach by winning percentage in the franchise’s history when they dismissed Vinny Del Negro, whose contract was due to expire June 30. Del Negro compiled a 128-102 record during his three seasons with the Clippers and for the better part of the past 14 months, had a strong case for a long-term extension, at least ostensibly. The Clippers beat the Grizzlies in the first round of the 2012 playoffs, then finished with a club-record 56 wins this season. No locker room outside of Bexar County, Texas, is perfect, and there were certainly frictional elements in the Clippers’ camp, but the overall culture was decent.

Del Negro was confident in what he was building, and turned down a one-year extension from the team last October. Yet despite the regular-season success, Del Negro could never shake the perception that he lacked the tactical feel for the game required to become an NBA championship-level head coach. Del Negro’s biggest fans during his five-year career have been owners, Jerry Reinsdorf in Chicago and Donald T. Sterling in Los Angeles. Basketball operations people have always been more skeptical of him.

Del Negro is charismatic away from the microphone and well-liked personally. He charmed Sterling at a dinner with the Clippers' brass at the Montage Beverly Hills in late June of 2010. The mood at the table was festive; Del Negro was a pleasure to be around and the spouses had a nice rapport. Del Negro exuded exactly what the Clippers felt they needed to fumigate the place after the final tumultuous seasons of the Mike Dunleavy era -- a happy warrior, both confident and communicative. Charm is infectious, but if it's a person's No. 1 personal attribute, it can also raise suspicions if not accompanied by success.

When Chris Paul arrived in Los Angeles, expectations soared far more quickly than either the Clippers or Del Negro anticipated. The bar was set at contender, and Del Negro would have to prove himself as not only a morale booster but as a coach who could design a plan that delivered.

Del Negro never claimed to be a tactician. He maintained that everyone in the league ran the same basic stuff. He summed up his philosophy best during the winter of 2012 when the Clippers were playing well. "I think it's important for guys to go out there and play off instinct instead of, 'Go here, go there,' or whatever," he said. "I like guys to play. I like guys to get a feel for what we're doing and how we're doing it and work off the instinct and play. I think guys enjoy the game that way a little bit better.”

Paul certainly appreciated his coach’s sentiment, as Del Negro happily ceded most of the play calling. It was also nice to have Del Negro go to bat for Paul’s personnel causes -- free-agent signings, potential trades and the like. But having never reached a conference finals eight years into a Hall of Fame career, even Paul realizes he needs a little help in the final five minutes of a basketball game.

Del Negro’s approval rating has privately been described by those in the locker room as running about 50-50. He had his loyalists, players like Matt Barnes who were grateful for Del Negro’s faith. There were also a few players who felt his strategic shortcomings were tolerable given his affable demeanor. For others, those flaws ran too deep. Then there were the detractors, guys who not only didn’t care to have their minutes reduced, but felt Del Negro was disingenuous in his management and inconsistent in his willingness to communicate. Ballplayers also don’t react kindly when they learn their head coaches advocated trading them midseason. That was one of the unintended consequences of Del Negro assuming a spot at the table as a member of the management team last summer.

Despite falling short in the first round and a desperate coaching performance in Game 6 of the first-round series loss to Memphis, Del Negro still looked as if he might survive. The Clippers aren’t an organization predisposed to spend huge money on a head coach, and as decision-makers took an early survey of the coaching pool, they didn’t find many candidates they considered a dramatic upgrade from Del Negro. For all his imperfections, Del Negro was a known quantity.

Still, the series loss to Memphis confirmed all the lingering doubts that Del Negro was a schematic lightweight. He got better this past season, but the growth trajectory wasn't steep enough, and fell off when it mattered most. Ultimately, the Clippers decided risk aversion carried its own risks. Opportunities are precarious in the NBA, and conservatism doesn’t have a strong track record. Better to explore possibility than embrace certainty.

The Clippers will now have to set a budget, one that will determine the direction of their search. Stan Van Gundy is the best available coach on the market, but he’d give the Clippers sticker shock, assuming he’s even interested. Sterling is currently in San Antonio, scouting Memphis coach Lionel Hollins, the hottest candidate on the coaching market. The Clippers could win the news conference with a Hollins hire, the man who outwitted them in the first round, and someone who’d likely meet Paul’s approval. But Hollins has coached his way into some serious money. Given the number of suitors for his services, he would figure to earn in the neighborhood of $5 million per year, and the Clippers won’t be a favorite in any bidding war. Alvin Gentry would bring the right temperament, along with whiteboard skills and, most importantly, a solid quality-price ratio for a coach with that experience.

Whoever lands the job will encounter a bar even higher than the one Del Negro failed to clear. The Clippers’ job might be desirable, but it’s fraught with pitfalls. The most treacherous of those used to be history. Now it’s expectations.

There will be plenty of time to project picks as the draft nears, but here is a quick capsule on each lottery team’s biggest needs from an advanced stat perspective.

Charlotte Bobcats
Need: Defensive presence
The Bobcats were the worst defensive team in the league during the regular season, allowing the most points per play. The Bobcats were especially poor defensively in the half court, allowing opponents to score 44% of the time, worst in the league.

Cleveland Cavaliers
Need: One-on-one defender, post defender
The Cavaliers allowed the highest field goal percentage when defending isolations during the regular season. Cleveland’s opponents scored on 44 percent of isolation plays, the highest rate during the regular season. The Cavaliers allowed the highest field goal percentage on post-ups during the regular season.

Dallas Mavericks
Rebounding/transition defense
The Mavericks had a 21.8 percent offensive rebounding percentage (nearly five percentage points below league average). They were also fourth from the bottom of the league with 10.7 second-chance points per game during the regular season.

Despite committing the fifth-fewest turnovers, the Mavericks allowed 17.1 points off turnovers per game, ninth-most in the league.

Dallas’ opponents averaged 1.22 points off each Mavericks turnover, the highest rate in the league. Of the 10 teams that allowed the most points per turnover, eight failed to make the playoffs.

Detroit Pistons
Perimeter defender/playmaker
The Pistons were 29th in the league defending the pick-and-roll ball handler, allowing opponents to score on 40% of such plays.

Pistons guards Brandon Knight, Rodney Stuckey and Will Bynum, who faced this play most frequently for the team, ranked in the bottom third among 125 players who defended the pick-and-roll ball handler on at least 100 plays.

The Pistons ranked in the bottom third of the league with 21.2 assists per game this season. Detroit turned the ball over on 20% of its pick-and-roll plays, the fifth-worst rate in the league.

Minnesota Timberwolves
Interior defender
Timberwolves opponents converted 58.1 percent of their field goal attempts from inside 10 feet, the second-highest rate against a team in the league.

New Orleans Pelicans
On-Ball defender
The Pelicans’ defense allowed a league-high 0.90 points per play in isolation during the regular season, allowing opponents to shoot better than 40% on such plays.

Oklahoma City Thunder
Inside scoring
Post-up plays made up seven percent of the Thunder’s offense this season (the NBA average was nine percent).

Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka are the only Thunder players who rank in the top half of the league in post-up points per play.

Orlando Magic
Ball handler/transition scorer
The Magic bottomed out in two notable statistical areas. They averaged 1.01 points per play in transition, scoring on only 49 percent of their transition plays. That ranked last in the NBA. They also ranked third-worst in the NBA in how often their ballhandler scored in the pick-and-roll (34 percent of the time).

Philadelphia 76ers
Transition scorer
The 76ers averaged 1.08 points per play in transition during the regular season, the fifth-lowest rate in the NBA. Philadelphia scored on 51% of its transition plays, the fourth-lowest rate in the league.

Phoenix Suns
Defensive presence
Opposing teams ran plays off screens 449 times versus the Suns this season and scored 1.03 points per play on 45.7 percent shooting, both of which ranked worst in the league from a defensive perspective.

Portland Trail Blazers
Interior offensive and defensive presence
The Trail Blazers scored 38 percent of their points in the paint, the third-worst mark in the league.

J.J. Hickson accounted for nearly one-quarter of those and will be a free agent this summer.

The Trail Blazers allowed the most points in the paint in the league during the regular season –- by 100 points more than the next team. Opponents shot 47.4 percent from this area, second-highest against a team in the league.

Sacramento Kings
Interior defender
Sacramento’s opponents shot 58.5 percent in the paint, the highest opponents’ shooting percentage in the paint in the league.

The Kings allowed the most points and second-highest effective field goal percentage in transition during the regular season.

Toronto Raptors
Playmaker
During the regular season, 33 percent of all Toronto’s made field goals were unassisted.

Despite having the most field goals attempted off the dribble in the league, the Raptors were 20th in both points per play and effective field goal percentage off the dribble

Utah Jazz
Playmaker/post defender
The Jazz used plays involving the pick-and-roll ball handler eight percent of the time, the second-lowest rate in the league (league average was 13 percent).

When using this type of play, the Jazz ranked last in field goal percentage and second-last in how frequently they converted plays into points (score percentage.

Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap, who are both set to be unrestricted free agents, excelled at defending post-ups, limiting opponents to a 43.4 percent shooting. Their two primary back-ups, Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter, combined to allow opponents to shoot 46.5 percent from the field when defending post-ups.

Washington Wizards
Outside shooter
The Wizards struggled to shoot and opponents knew it. Despite being unguarded in catch-and-shoot attempts at the third-most frequent rate, the Wizards made 38.7 percent of such attempts, fourth-worst in the league.

Five dribbles of chatter from the league's front-office and coaching grapevines:

Among the immediate concerns for the Indiana Pacers heading into the Eastern Conference finals against Miami is the state of David West's right calf. One of the longer-term worries, though, is West's forthcoming free agency.

The Pacers' veteran leader openly loves his situation in Indiana, which certainly gives Indy justified cause for optimism when it comes to re-signing the 32-year-old this summer. Yet the whispers are already swirling that Chris Paul's Los Angeles Clippers, in particular, are going to make a hard run at West in the offseason.

Indy will certainly have the ability to pay West more to convince its locker-room sage to stay, given that the Clips would presumably have to structure an offer with the $5.15 million midlevel exception available to nontax teams. But you have to figure that the former Hornet -- who rose to All-Star prominence playing alongside CP3 -- is going to want to hear the details of a proposal pitching a reunion with his old point guard ... as long as Paul himself, of course, decides to stay. If Paul re-signs with the Clips as most league insiders continue to expect, L.A. will be seeking to add the final piece or two to cement itself as a contender with some staying power.

Yet Indy's brass must feel some reassurance when it hears West say things like he said in the wake of the New York series when he described the Pacers as "the most together group I've ever been a part of."

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Early estimates suggest that the Toronto Raptors would be willing to offer Masai Ujiri an annual salary in excess of $2 million to leave the Denver Nuggets' front office.

The Nuggets, I'm told, nonetheless remain positive that they'll be able to hang on to Ujiri -- just named the NBA's Executive of the Year for the 2012-13 season -- while knowing they'll obviously have to raise his reported salary of $500,000 to keep him from wanting to leave.

It should be noted that, as of Monday night, Toronto had yet to secure permission from the Nuggets to officially woo Ujiri. But that hasn't stopped the Nigeria native from being billed as the Raptors' top target after it became apparent that Phil Jackson -- despite his longtime friendship with new Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment president and CEO Tim Leiweke -- was in no rush to embrace Toronto's interest.

Jackson has said repeatedly in recent weeks that he wants the opportunity to run a team from the top, a la Pat Riley, for the first time in his basketball career. After ESPN.com reported that the 11-ringed coaching legend wanted to let the fate of the Sacramento Kings play out before deciding anything about his future, Jackson said in a subsequent visit to "The Tonight Show" that his discussions about running basketball operations for the Chris Hansen-led group trying to purchase and relocate the Kings to Seattle were "serious talk."

Some league observers, however, remain convinced that Jackson's flirtations with teams are largely aimed at convincing Lakers lead basketball decision-maker Jim Buss to cede his organizational power to sister Jeanie Buss ... which would theoretically enable Jeanie to bring Phil, her fiancé, back to Lakerland as L.A.'s next front-office chief.

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At least two teams came away from last week's Board of Governors meeting in Dallas convinced that the 22-8 vote in favor of keeping the Kings in Sacramento would have been a lot closer if NBA commissioner David Stern wasn't so determined to lobby owners in the room to keep the franchise right where it is.

Yet a third team consulted told ESPN.com that Sacramento likely would have prevailed anyway, with or without Stern's hard push, since a simple majority of just 16 votes was all that was needed to block the proposed relocation to Seattle.

My follow-up question: Does the league's ultimate decision to keep the Kings in Sactown do anything to erase at least a little of the bitterness that locals still harbor about the way the 2002 Western Conference finals against the Lakers played out?

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On the coaching front ...

One reason the Nets' coaching search isn't moving too quickly: Lionel Hollins and Brian Shaw, two of Brooklyn's foremost targets, are still at work in the playoffs.

Sources say the Grizzlies remain determined to sign Hollins to a new deal after the playoffs. Contract discussions were mutually tabled by both sides until the postseason plays out, but that does expose Memphis to a high-dollar offer from Brooklyn in July that gets Hollins' attention.

The Clippers, while still deliberating the future of incumbent coach Vinny Del Negro, are now widely presumed to be in the running for Hollins as well after owner Donald T. Sterling -- who doesn't even attend all of his own team's playoff games -- showed up courtside Sunday in San Antonio to watch the Grizzlies get thumped in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals. But skepticism persists, even if the Clips do soon have an opening, about Sterling's appetite to pay what it would take to extricate Hollins from Memphis, where he is revered locally.

Interesting footnote about the Nets' coaching search: Italian legend Ettore Messina, reported by Yahoo! Sports to be a candidate who is tempting to Atlanta Hawks GM Danny Ferry, is not on Brooklyn's list. If the Hawks make Messina the first European head coach in NBA history, he would have to find a way out of Russian superclub CSKA Moscow, which for years received considerable financial support from Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.

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Lakers assistant coach Steve Clifford, who previously interviewed for the Milwaukee Bucks' head-coaching job, interviews Tuesday for Charlotte's opening. The Bobcats are also scheduled to interview Utah assistant Jeff Hornacek later this week, with both Clifford and Hornacek likewise in the mix for the Phoenix Suns' job.

• Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News: Prepare for the correction: The Spurs left the AT&T Center after Game 1 uniform in their belief that they were unlikely to make 14 3-pointers again this series. “I’m a math guy,” Matt Bonner said. “It’s highly improbable we’re going to shoot that clip again.” The trick for the Spurs in Game 2 will be to generate offense once the Grizzlies have located their perimeter shooters. As per usual, that effort will begin with Tony Parker, who must continue to attack off the pick-and-roll, put pressure on the Memphis defense in the paint and make good decisions from there. Protect ball and boards: With a lack of perimeter shooters, the Grizzlies can often struggle to score in a half-court offense. They generate much of their offense off turnovers and offensive putbacks. The Spurs did a decent job of limiting giveaways in Game 1 (11) and keeping the Grizzlies to a manageable 10 second-chance points. Without either of the above, it will be difficult for Memphis to score with the Spurs, even if its defense reverts back to norm. Adjust to adjustments: It’s no secret Memphis will want to get Zach Randolph going in Game 2. One way coach Lionel Hollins could accomplish this is to give more minutes to Quincy Pondexter and Jerryd Bayless, his best floor-spreading bench shooters, instead of the more offensively limited wings Tony Allen and Tayshaun Prince. That move would likely change the way the Spurs are defending Randolph, making it more difficult for guards to help, but it would also make Memphis a less potent defensive unit.
• Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News: Carving out space for Randolph could be every bit as difficult unless Memphis, which made the fewest number of 3s in the NBA this season, can prevent the Spurs from neglecting shooters in order to collapse on the interior. Gasol described a clear set of tactics from the Spurs: Play tight on him to negate his high-post passing skills, front Randolph and ignore the corners in order to “pound the paint.” It’s nothing the Grizzlies haven’t seen before, he said, but it proved to be highly effective as the Grizzlies made only five 3s and Randolph was limited to one meaningless basket. “We just need to keep moving the ball, keep being patient, get it some other way,” Gasol said. “But we cannot hold the all. Once we hold the ball, we’re allowing them to load up.” Conley said the team’s perimeter corps has to take more responsibility, not only by making the Spurs pay but by getting Randolph — who said he was so distraught over his play in Game 1 that he barely slept — involved.
• Bob Kravitz of The Indianapolis Star: According to several sources close to the situation, LeBron James does not, in fact, put his pants on one leg at a time. That being the case, it’s astonishing that Frank Vogel has “dismissed” the mighty Miami Heat as the “next team” in the Pacers’ way -- not “just another team,” as James misquoted him -- but the next team. Shame on Vogel for not genuflecting when he mentioned the Heat, or for volunteering to kiss James’ ring -- ring singular, not rings -- when the two teams meet up in the Eastern Conference finals beginning Wednesday in Miami. The gall of Vogel, who last year suggested strongly (and expensively) that the Heat were the biggest floppers in the NBA. Doesn’t he know he’s talking about LeBron and the Big Three and a team that has gone 45-3 in its last 48 games? (If you’re not picking up on the facetiousness here, go back to school and enroll in a reading comprehension class). … Of course, this is a non-story that has become a story, which means it’s a nice easy column. Because we love conflict, even when it’s artificial conflict. Because it’s a lot easier than calculating D.J. Augustin’s PER rating in the second round against the Knicks. Because we’re like that kid on the playground who used to try and stage fights, a la Don King. Did you hear what Johnny said about your girlfriend? Silly. But wonderful. Wonderful because there’s still some bad blood after last year’s compelling six-game series between the Pacers and the Heat.
• Joseph Goodman of The Miami Herald: Much will be different about this year’s matchup between the Heat and Pacers, and it all starts with Chris Bosh being healthy and at the top of his game. But how the Heat’s reserves affect the series might be the most significant key to the game. The Heat’s bench scored 55 points last week in Game2 of its Eastern Conference semifinals playoff series against the Bulls. In last year’s conference semis against the Pacers, it took the Heat’s reserves nearly three full games to reach that total. The major differences between the Heat’s bench now and the rag-tag group that slugged it out the with Pacers in 2012: Ray Allen, who was with Boston this time last year and gearing up for a match-up with the Heat, is averaging 12.2 points per game in the playoffs. … Chris Andersen, who was on his couch in Denver this time last year, has provided much-needed muscle and energy to the Heat’s second unit. … Norris Cole was a minor footnote against the Pacers last year, averaging 2.0 points and less than 13 minutes per game.
• Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: Our next chance to judge the James Harden trade — as if it hasn't been scrutinized enough — has come. The NBA Draft Lottery is Tuesday night. It will reveal this year's draft order and determine whether the Thunder will receive Toronto's first-round pick. It's a selection Oklahoma City received as part of a package that included Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and two other picks. Whatever happens, the team's fan base, as well as close followers of the trade's fallout, likely will be split. If the Thunder lands the pick, it'll be the 12th overall selection and perhaps viewed by most as a disappointment. If the pick remains with Toronto and rolls over into next year, the Thunder seemingly will get criticized for failing to receive an asset in exchange for Harden that could help sooner rather than later. A perfect storm put the Thunder in this position of possibly picking at the back end of the lottery. No way could this have been what the front office had in mind when the powers that be insisted on Houston including Toronto's first-rounder before pulling the trigger on the deal. But here they are, stuck with a worst-case scenario after everything that could go wrong for the placement of this potential pick did go wrong.
• John Reid of The Times-Picayune: Since the regular season ended just more than a month ago, New Orleans Pelicans backup guard Brian Roberts hasn’t paid much attention to the upcoming NBA draft lottery set for Tuesday night. But whether the Pelicans pick up the option on Roberts' contract to retain him could largely depend on where they are slotted for the upcoming June 27 NBA draft. The Pelicans have only an 8.8 percent chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick going into the lottery. But they have a 26.15 percent chance of staying at the fifth spot, where several mock drafts have them selecting Michigan point guard Trey Burke. Most have Burke, 6-feet, 190, being taken no higher than fifth and not lower than seventh. If the Pelicans draft Burke and they already have starter Greivis Vasquez, they could opt not to keep Roberts, especially with Austin Rivers having the ability to play both guard positions. But some of the mock drafts also have Pelicans addressing their need to improve their small forward spot by drafting Georgetown's Otto Porter or UNLV's Anthony Bennett if they can land one of the top three draft spots. ``Right now I’m just trying to see how things play out,’’ Roberts said.
• Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer: Will the Bobcats select a long-term keeper? History suggests the odds aren’t great. Since their inception in 2004, the Bobcats have made top-five selections four times. An Observer study last spring demonstrated top-five picks are precious: Thirty-six of the top 100 players in the league, as identified by that study, were top-five picks, including 15 of the top 20 players. … The Bobcats’ draft pick retention history is pretty threadbare. Of the 10 players chosen in the lottery (the first 14 picks) six are gone (two no longer in the NBA). Gerald Henderson will be a restricted free agent and three others – Kidd-Gilchrist, Bismack Biyombo and Kemba Walker – are still playing in Charlotte under their rookie contracts. These next two drafts could provide the Bobcats’ a do-over. Along with the 2013 pick, the Bobcats might have three first-rounders in 2014 and all could be lottery picks. The Bobcats figure to miss the playoffs next season and are owed picks from the Portland Trail Blazers and Detroit Pistons that could come due in ’14.
• Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon-Journal: As all of the NBA’s non-playoff teams gather in New York tonight for the draft lottery, the Cavaliers have to like the odds they carry into Times Square. The Cavs enter with the third-best chance (15.6 percent) at winning the lottery. The league is celebrating its 20th anniversary of the revamped weighted system, and the team with the third-best odds has won five of the first 19 years. No other lottery position has been more successful. The overwhelming question now is how excited it’s worth getting for a lottery victory when the draft is expected to be so dismal. The projected top pick, Kentucky’s Nerlens Noel, is offensively challenged and isn’t expected to play until close to Christmas while recovering from a knee injury. And that’s the best prospect. It only goes down from there. Nevertheless, the Cavs will follow the same protocol as the previous two years. Minority team owner Jeff Cohen will represent the Cavs in the sequestered room where the numbers are actually drawn and Nick Gilbert, son of owner Dan Gilbert, will again represent the Cavs on the podium during the television broadcast when the draft positions are revealed.
• Peter Botte of the New York Daily News: Iman Shumpert revealed that he will play for the Knicks in the Las Vegas summer league for the first time after missing it last summer while rehabbing a torn ACL and the year before because of the lockout. “They want to see me be more decisive offensively, which I already knew, but that would be big for me to work on this summer…and come in for training camp ready to do that,” Shumpert said.
• Michael Hunt of the Journal Sentinel: Given the NBA's willingness to relocate franchises far more freely than the other big leagues, the decision last week to keep the Kings in Sacramento in lieu of a crazy-money offer from Seattle was surprising. What wasn't surprising was the local reaction. The Bucks-to-Seattle drum was put out there and then beaten by politicians and community leaders who needed the news to throw another log on an arena-debate fire that isn't exactly raging at the moment. Two things: None of this was coming from Seattle. And if it is suddenly convenient to have the nation's 12th largest TV market looming as a bogeyman to jump-start serious arena discussions here, well, that is how the game is played. Of course, there is another way to look at this unexpected turn of events as it applies to the Bucks. Not long after the NBA prevented the small-market Kings from moving, NBA commissioner Stern, for the first time in a decade, began warming to the idea of expansion. In a Sunday story, the Seattle Times portrayed expansion as the city's best chance to reclaim the team that was stolen five years ago in the Oklahoma City rustle. … If Seattle is an imaginary threat to the Bucks, that doesn't mean the pressure is not there to make the organization worthy of a new arena. Since advancing to the Eastern Conference finals 13 years ago, the Bucks have made the playoffs five times, are 7-20 and have not gotten out of the first round. The effort to pull the Bucks from their self-dug pit should be from within, not from without.
• Doug Smith of the Toronto Star: Bryan Colangelo’s tenure as the top basketball savant at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is at an end. His relationship with the sports conglomerate is not. In a move that should be officially announced as early as Tuesday morning, Colangelo will cede control of basketball operations as the president and general manager within the company and move to some unspecified corporate role, according to multiple NBA sources. Colangelo’s future has been cloudy since the arrival of new MLSE chief executive officer Tim Leiweke; the Raptors held an option on a final contract year for Colangelo and Leiweke seemed lukewarm from the start about picking it up. But the veteran NBA executive, seven years on the job in Toronto after more than a decade with the Phoenix Suns and a two-time NBA executive of the year, has always been a loyal and valued part of the organization, a fact not lost on ownership. Sources suggest minority owner Larry Tanenbaum may have been involved in the process of finding a suitable and significant position for Colangelo, a process that was still being finalized Monday afternoon, according to sources.
• Jeff Schultz of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: What you are about to read is pure speculation. I feel compelled to declare that up front, unlike so many NBA coaching rumors you read on the internet that quote "well-placed sources," which often is the Ouija board sitting next to the author or, even worse, an agent. So here goes: It wouldn't surprise me if Hawks general manager Danny Ferry, who has been looking for apotential replacement for coach Larry Drew, is waiting to interview Brian Shaw. Shaw is an assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers, who just upset the New York Knicks in the second round of the playoffs and now will face (and lose to) Miami in the Eastern Conference finals. … No, I'm not declaring Shaw as the favorite for the Hawks' job. But it would make sense if he's a candidate, especially if Ferry can't land Stan Van Gundy (who figures to have better options) and believes he and Shaw will be on the same page in terms of how to build a team. (This is why I believe San Antonio assistant Mike Budenholzer is a strong possibility.) And if you're wondering, yes, Ferry and Shaw did cross paths once: in Italy. Both played in the Italian League for Il Messaggero Roma in 1989-90. In fact, I've even located NBC News raw video links of the two walking together in Italy.
• John N. Mitchell of The Philadelphia Inquirer: Although he no longer plies his trade here, former 76ers coach Larry Brown still keeps his eyes and ears focused on all things basketball in Philadelphia. Brown, who coached the Sixers from 1997-2003, expressed some skepticism about the direction of his old team. Now the coach at Southern Methodist, he also bemoaned the loss of his chance to coach in the Big East Conference. Brown was one of eight inductees Monday night into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. The 72-year-old Brown is an old-school coach who is not sold on the heightened focus on advanced statistics in the NBA. "I'm not that kind of guy," Brown said when asked his opinion on the hiring of new Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie. "You're asking the wrong guy. This is not baseball. Guys hit better during the day than they do at night. You have lefties and righties. But this is not baseball. In this league, it's about teaching players and making them better." However, Brown said he does not rule out the role of analytics in building a better basketball team. "All the information, I'm sure, helps," Brown said. "But at the end of the day, this is a basketball town. They love kids that play hard, play together, play smart. And the best way to tell that about a kid is to look him in the eye in the most crucial moments of a game. That tells you so much. But you have to give this a chance.”
• Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee: For the better part of three years, they had one of the most thankless jobs in the industry, trying to sell season tickets when their franchise was forever on the move? Good luck. Good night. And break out the suitcase. So imagine how the remaining members of the Kings' depleted ticket sales department felt Wednesday when NBA Commissioner David Stern announced the team was staying in Sacramento and negotiations were under way to transfer controlling interest to a deep-pocketed investment group headed by software entrepreneur Vivek Ranadive? There was relief, and disbelief. There were high-fives, and tears. There were jobs, and more jobs.

Here's a snapshot look at three statistical storylines for Tuesday night's NBA Draft Lottery, the results of which will be shown on ESPN beginning at 7:30 pm ET.

No. 1 usually doesn't go to worst record
The Orlando Magic have a 25 percent chance of winning the lottery, the best chance among the 14 teams.

Since the Draft Lottery began in 1985, the Magic have held the No. 1 overall pick three times (Shaquille O’Neal in 1992; Chris Webber in 1993; Dwight Howard in 2004).

Since the lottery moved to its present format in 1994, the team with (or tied for) the best odds has won three of the 19 lotteries.

Those were the Philadelphia 76ers in 1996 (selected Allen Iverson); the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003 (selected LeBron James); and the Magic in 2004 (picked Dwight Howard).

The teams with the third and fifth-best odds have won four times.

Cavaliers, Trail Blazers could tie a record with a lottery win
Since the lottery began in 1985, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers and Orlando Magic have made the first overall pick three times, most among all teams.

Of the 14 teams in the lottery, the Cavaliers and Portland Trail Blazers have made the most No. 1 overall picks during the Common Draft Era (since 1966), with four each. On the other end, the Charlotte Bobcats, Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves and Utah Jazz have never held the top pick.

If the Cavaliers or Trail Blazers end up with the top pick, they will tie the Houston Rockets for the most No. 1 overall picks in the Common Draft Era (since 1966).

One other item of note involving a team playing after the lottery concludes:

The draft lottery began in 1985. Since that time, every team in the NBA has had at least one lottery pick. The San Antonio Spurs have had the longest drought among all teams, having not selected in the lottery since taking Tim Duncan No. 1 overall in 1997.

No. 1 team may celebrate, but many No. 1 picks haven't recently won titles
Since the ABA-NBA merger in 1976, five No. 1 overall draft selections have gone on to win the NBA Championship with the team that drafted them. Those who have won have won big: Magic Johnson (Lakers, 1979), James Worthy (Lakers, 1982), Hakeem Olajuwon (Rockets, 1984), David Robinson (Spurs, 1987), and Tim Duncan (1997).

Adonal Foyle thought the Western Conference finals would mark the next great step in Kevin Durant's career.