ESPN NBA

• Phoenix Assistant Marc Iavaroni is psyched he didn't take the Portland head coaching job.
• Today's the day Stephon Marbury is scheduled to speak. Should be good, or not.
• The Wizards swept the Pistons this season, and will face Cleveland against whom they are 3-1.
• Boston and Minnesota ended up tied with the same mediocre records. Here's how they handle lottery tie-breakers. Why don't they just use the same criteria as playoff tie-breakers (in reverse)? And note that the chances of getting a good pick vary pretty significantly between the two spots in question.
• Via Eric Marentette: an incredible story about how it is that Paul Allen went from the lead dog at Microsoft to someone whose fortunes are largely seperate. It has do with Allen's diagnosis, some years ago, with Hodgkins Disease, and it's reported by PBS's Mark Stephens who goes by Robert X. Cringely: "But during one of those last long nights of working to finish-up DOS 2.0, something happened. I have heard this story from two people, each of whom was a friend of Allen�s and in a position to know. Each told me the same story the same way. I am not staking my reputation on the accuracy of the story, but I am saying I have it from two good sources. Paul Allen certainly won�t confirm or deny it, so I�ll just throw it out for you to consider. During one of those last long nights working to deliver DOS 2.0 in early 1983, I am told that Paul Allen heard Gates and Ballmer discussing his health and talking about how to get his Microsoft shares back if Allen were to die."
• Dwight Howard didn't catch Kevin Garnett for the rebounding title. He killed everybody in the rebounds per 48 minutes, though, with 16.2.
• Ray Allen set a record with 269 three-pointers.
• Mavericks fans get free airline tickets.
• Ira Winderman has two very important lines from the world of the Miami Heat: "Only a volley of 3-pointers by Chicago would figure to make it a competitive series," and  a discussion of Shaquille O'Neal "in a playful mode, this time pulling up his briefs in full sumo mode as he traipsed through the pregame locker room." Take that, Chicago.
• Ben Maller has a million juicy rumors, possibly none of which are true. But fun to read today. Larry Brown to Sacramento? Grant Hill for Allen Iverson? Jared Jeffries and/or Kiki Vandeweghe to New York? Kevin Garnett to the Bulls? Stephon Marbury to the Timberwolves? Shaquille O'Neal back to the Lakers? Mama mia! I can't even think as fast as these rumors are created.
• This is great stuff: sleuthing who the Nets are scouting by looking at the itinerary of Ed Stefanski. Those guys draft well. Hope the Blazers send John Nash in a chase group.
• Ian Furness counted at least three signs in the Portland stands from people begging the team to draft Adam Morrison.
• A two year plan for Kobe Bryant to win the MVP.
• Gnarls Barkley.
• A dangerous obsession with Stephon Marbury.
• Thinking about Jermaine O'Neal in Atlanta.
• A bombshell from Greg Boeck's article in USA Today: "NBA teams are realizing it's less risky to draft internationals because they're more coachable, more socialized, have no posses and have not been Americanized," says former college coach George Raveling, Nike's director of global basketball. Raveling's prediction: International players will comprise 50% of the NBA by 2010.
• Chicago is LOVING the Eddy Curry trade.
• Jalen Rose knows how the Knicks can win: "I put together our roster on 'NBA Live,' " Rose said, referring to a video game, "and we're pretty good."

What's amazing is that Raveling stands aside Sonny Vaccaro as the people most in charge of destroying the fabric of American basketball. One could make an argument that the system which has developed through greedy businessmen building on Vaccaro's success and exploiting the dreams of American teenagers is the major reason the European players have relevance in the NBA today. Basically, Raveling is criticizing himself, and he probably doesn't even know it. Raveling is among the group that "Americanizes" American players through the AAU/exposure culture.