ESPN NBA

I'm on a train, battling a spotty connection and a dwindling battery. So I'm publishing an early version of this, while expecting -- but not promising -- that it'll be beefed up shortly. So refresh!

• I LOVE this: Check out what the D-League is doing (from a press release): "New for the 2009 postseason, the three division winners will have the unique opportunity to select their first round opponent from the teams ranked five through eight. The top-seeded division winner will select its opponent first, with the second and third ranked division winners following in that order. The fourth seeded team will play the remaining team."
• As an owner, do you leave big decisions to others, or do you want to get involved yourself? It was an issue for a minute in a panel this weekend, and Mark Cuban left no doubt. With eyebrows up and a nod he said "yeeeeeah," as in -- of course -- when asked if he liked to have his say on big issues. That's no surprise, as he's plainly hands on, and here's exhibit 985 to prove it: He recently added a new player to the Mavericks' roster ... of TV broadcasters.
• Noted: An absence of evidence that the Warriors have made good on a promise to apply Monta Ellis' $3 million fine towards reducing prices for season ticket holders.
• Tom Ziller of Sactown Royalty on the Kings' big win against the Nuggets: "The top five Kings shot-takers combined for 98 points on 71 adjusted shot attempts (FGAs + 1/2 FTAs), for 1.38 points per shot or 69% True shooting. The top four Nuggets shot-takers: 96 points on 88 adjusted shot attempts, for 1.09 points per shot or 54% True shooting. That's the ballgame, right there."
• Brian McCormick: "Last year, I said that I would take O.J. Mayo as the #1 pick because I thought he had the attributes to be a star in the NBA, and when picking first, you have to draft a star. I favored Kevin Durant over Greg Oden for the same reason, and going back a couple more years, I favored Dwight Howard over Emeka Okafur because Okafor was going to be a safe pick and a pretty good player, but Howard had superstar potential. At #1, you cannot pass up the superstar. ... Right now, if I had the #1 draft pick -- before watching players in the NCAA Tournament -- Tyreke Evans would be near or at the top of the list. I have not watched him closely enough to say for sure that I would take him #1, but, of all the players likely to be in this year's draft, Evans is the player who I believe has superstar potential. He's 6'5 and playing point guard and leading Memphis toward a #1 seed."
• A forward-looking basketball blog is laying the groundwork to reach the Chinese market.
• John Hollinger on the "hot hand" research presented this weekend: "John Huizinga, who, when he's not teaching economics at the University of Chicago, serves as Yao Ming's advisor, delivered a fairly ironclad analysis showing that the hot-hand phenomenon almost certainly doesn't exist, and that players who have just made a jumper are far more likely to take and miss a jumper on the next trip -- what might be called the Jamal Crawford phenomenon. Huizinga studied high-volume shooters over the past five seasons and took note of players who had made a jump shot on the previous trip. On the subsequent trip, they shot about 16 percent more often and converted 3.5 percent less of those shots. The finding was statistically significant and pointed to a tendency by players to act as if they were hot after one made J … and a counterproductive tendency to feed the allegedly hot hand by both the player and his teammates. Proving that something doesn't exist is always vastly more difficult than proving it does, but Huizinga's analysis hammered the hot-hand theory from so many angles that its proponents are reeling. And as luck would have it, the scenario played out at the end of the Boston-Orlando game: The Celtics ran a play to feed their hot hand, Ray Allen, and he missed a difficult 3-pointer after a strong contest by Dwight Howard that would have tied the game. Interestingly, Huizinga's study showed this phenomenon was almost entirely confined to perimeter players -- most likely because it's far more difficult for post players to ignore the offense and call their own number. (Though I suspect Zach Randolph and Dirk Nowitzki may be exceptions)."
• Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol speak Spanish to each other on the court.
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says Andrew Bynum is very coachabl