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• What happened to Jeff McInnis in New Jersey? Dave D'Alessandro reports: "All I can tell you is he’s been a good soldier, never gave the coaches a hard time when he wasn’t being used, always supported his teammates, and rehabbed diligently. Of course, he had little choice: If an underachiever complains about how he is treated by a top-six team, he’d sound like a fool. He couldn’t act the way he did in Cleveland -- where he would literally tear down Drew Gooden every chance he got, and even belittle LeBron to his face on occasion – but in retrospect, some of these churlish outbursts were rooted in the frustration of losing. Jeff’s not a bad guy. I think he’s just an unlucky one."
• Oh my, it's time to say goodbye to Greg Ostertag. He's hanging them up. Phil MIller tells it the Salt Lake Tribune: "The lifestyle is posh, the game is fun and the money is, well, unimaginably fantastic. But a homebody like the self-described country boy from Texas gets a little tired of it all after a while."
• Allen Iverson wants to stay in Philadelphia and says he doesn't want to chase a championship, he wants to win one. Then he talks to Phil Jasner about his skill-challenged teammates: "Guys might be giving all they've got; that just might not be enough. I don't think any of these guys I played with don't give effort; I honestly don't, or I would have said something to them a long time ago.
• Victory is ours! The Blazers clinch the largest number of ping pong balls in the lottery. This is really a tribute to an organization-wide effort that starts at the top.
• This is a bit of a head-scratcher.
• What to see a whole bunch of pictures of Chris Paul?
• A grassroots effort to help Terry Porter buy the Blazers. The creators of the site swear they have no connection to Porter's business partners, and they would work with other potential purchasers. This is "John" who answered some of my questions about the group by e-mail: "The Green Bay Packers model of community ownership keeps being thrown out there but I don't think that the $300-$400 million dollars needed to fix this mess can be raised that way. We're just trying to find a way to open the purse strings of some of the wealthier citizens of Oregon along with the average fan while giving satisfaction that some good can come out of this. $2 per ticket going to schools doesn't seem like too much when you consider that $21 per ticket is going to Zbo and $15 per ticket is going to Miles, lol."
• Pistons beat writer A. Sherrod Blakely says New Jersey, Miami, and Dallas are the only teams that might be able to beat Detroit: "I see them having to really step up their game to get past either Miami or New Jersey, one of which should be in the conference finals. If they're still playing after that, the only team out west I believe they might have some major problems with is Dallas. This is the one team I believe has as much depth, if not more, than Detroit. And with Avery Johnson getting this bunch to play some solid defense, they can definitely create the kind of problems for Detroit that no other team out West can cause ... not even San Antonio."
• Looks like Stephen A. Smith is having a hard time rustling up a studio audience.
• David Stern taking heat in Seattle. (via SonicsCentral)
• Chad Ford on Rudy Gay: "While NBA scouts believe that Gay has the most potent combination of athleticism and skill in the draft, everyone still wonders why he doesn't use it more regularly."
• A few of the Knicks bothered to go through the whole tired "put on a uniform and play basketball" routine last night. A friend who was there told me they were very nice in making Jake Voskuhl, Alan Anderson, and Melvin Ely look good. It was the first season sweep of any team in Bobcats history. And you know what else? That Raymond Felton is good. Highlights.
• J.E. Skeets is getting seriously podcasty for the playoffs.
• Wild speculation from Frank Isola about who would replace Larry Brown if he leaves--even though there's no evidence he will: "Last Friday, Florida's Billy Donovan sat in Dolan's seats between Garden president Steve Mills and Garden vice chairman Hank Ratner. And since the Knicks have a habit of trying to rebuild by dealing with the Chicago Bulls, perhaps Thomas will try to negotiate the release of his old friend, Scott Skiles. Think of it this way; Skiles found success with both Marbury (with the Suns) and Eddy Curry. Brown can't say that. Not yet, anyway."
• The Clippers and Grizzlies don't want to win.

UPDATE: Lots of good Blazer ownership stuff on the Playbooks and Profits blog, including a tiny suggestion that Phil Knight hasn't totally abandoned the idea.