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Suns

Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals will be played on Thursday, June 2. Remarkably, that date is the exact one-year anniversary of the Boston Celtics' announcing Brad Stevens had stepped away from head coaching duties to assume the role of president of basketball operations in place of the departing Danny Ainge.
Let's have a look back at what has been an extraordinary and almost unimaginable 12 months&hellip;
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During his eight seasons on the sidelines in Boston, Stevens was viewed as one of the league's better head coaches. He was regarded as an elite tactician and considered an important part of the Celtics' sustained success. Under his stewardship, Boston advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals three times in four years.
So when the club announced that its long-time top executive in Ainge was retiring and that Stevens would be promoted to team president last June, it came as a shock to most. Would Stevens be able to replicate the regular-season success he enjoyed as head coach? Could Boston get over the hump and advance all the way to the NBA Finals?
Although Ainge left a roster stocked with a budding superstar in Jayson Tatum, his All-Star caliber sidekick in Jaylen Brown, veteran stalwart Marcus Smart and a few promising youngsters, Stevens took control at a precarious juncture. Boston entered last summer capped out (with a directive from ownership not to incur a costly luxury tax bill) and lacking excess draft capital.&nbsp;
Stevens' first order of business was parting ways with Kemba Walker and his cumbersome contract. With two years and $73 million remaining on his deal, Walker was the team's highest-paid player. When healthy, the four-time All-Star Walker was highly productive on the offensive end for the C's, but his balky left knee had robbed him of his quickness. Some suggested the Celtics sit tight, hoping that an entire offseason of rest would allow Kemba to re-establish himself as a quality starter. If Boston wanted to trade Walker, Stevens would have to get creative.
The week before the 2021 NBA Draft, Stevens dealt Boston's first-round pick (16th overall) and a 2025 second-round draft pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Al Horford and a 2023 second-rounder.&nbsp;
At the time, Stevens' first significant move as team president was considered highly questionable.&nbsp;
Following the 2019-20 season, when Horford posted career-worst numbers for the Philadelphia 76ers after signing a monstrous four-year, $109 million pact, the veteran big man's contract was viewed as one of the worst in the league. In December 2020, the Sixers were forced to attach a future first-round pick and the draft rights to Vasilije Micic (who just won his second EuroLeague Final Four MVP) in a trade with OKC just to get out from under Horford's contract.
During his lone season in Oklahoma City, Horford appeared in just 28 games for the Thunder. After the trade deadline passed in February 2021, the Thunder shut him down for the rest of the season. At the time, it felt like Stevens was trading for a potentially washed-up 35-year-old center with two years and $53.5 million left on his contract ($41 million of it guaranteed).
But after struggling at times to find his groove in the regular season, Horford has been a crucial cog in the Celtics' run to the Finals. During these playoffs, he is averaging 11.9 points, 9.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.9 three-pointers,1.6 blocks and 0.9 steals per game, all while shooting 50.0% from the floor, a scorching 43.2% from downtown, and 83.3% from the free-throw line.
Per Basketball-Reference, Horford is just the third player in NBA history (joining Draymond Green and Rasheed Wallace) to average more than 1.5 blocks and more than 1.5 made treys in a postseason (minimum 15 games played). Horford is also the first player ever over the age of 35 to tally more than 25 blocks and more than 25 three-pointers in a single postseason.
To say the Walker/Horford trade has worked out well for Boston would be a dramatic understatement.&nbsp;
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After acquiring Horford, Stevens' next critical decision would be choosing a new head coach. After interviewing several candidates, Stevens zeroed in on Ime Udoka and officially hired him in late June. Udoka was a bit of a gamble, as he had never been a head coach, having spent the previous nine seasons as an assistant with San Antonio (2012-13 to 2018-19), Philadelphia (2019-20) and Brooklyn (2020-21).&nbsp;
Udoka's job was made that much more difficult when the C's stumbled out of the gates this season. By the turn of the new year, there was some finger-pointing in the locker room with the Celtics losing too many winnable games. Three weeks into January, Boston was still below .500 with a 23-24 record.
However, Udoka remained stoically stern, providing a calm and reassuring presence in the locker room and on the sideline. His ability to outcoach opponents and his command of the X's and O's gained him the trust of his team. Over the second half of the season, Boston ranked in the top three in Defensive Efficiency, and led the league in Offensive Efficiency (122.6) and Net Rating (plus-12.7) by a wide margin.
Udoka earned Coach of the Month honors on multiple occasions, and would go on to finish fourth in the NBA Coach of the Year voting. The league-wide respect he's garnered has only increased as he's helped guide his team to the championship series.&nbsp;
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When the free agency frenzy commenced in July 2021, Stevens had to decide what to do with shooting guard Evan Fournier. Ultimately, Boston opted to let Fournier leave for New York.
The Celtics' only free-agent addition of note last summer was inking Dennis Schroder to a team-friendly, one-year deal for $5.9 million. However, Stevens signed Marcus Smart (four years, $76.5 million) and Robert Williams III (four years, $48 million) to lengthy extensions.
The Smart signing, in particular, looks genius in retrospect.&nbsp;
It had been rumored that Ainge was seriously considering trading away Smart in different deals in years past. However, Stevens made it clear that he was committing to Smart for the long term. Just as importantly, Stevens let it be known he would entrust Smart with the team's primary point guard duties. This may seem like an easy decision with the benefit of hindsight, but it's important to point out that entering this season, Smart had started in just 228 of the 449 games he had appeared in. And a large percentage of those starts were alongside point guards such as Kemba Walker, Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas.&nbsp;
The C's flourished with Smart installed as the floor general, especially on the defensive end. Smart, as we know, would be named NBA Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the first guard to win the award since Gary Payton in 1996.
Starting in each of the 71 regular-season games he played, Smart finished the season ranked seventh in the NBA in steals per game (1.68), ranked fifth among all guards with a Defensive Rating of 105.2, and led the NBA with 1.1 loose balls recovered per contest. He was also near the top of the league in deflections, charges drawn and defensive rebounds. On the offensive end, he averaged a career-high 5.9 assists per game and posted an Effective Field Goal percentage above 50% for the first time.
Had Stevens not locked up Smart last summer, he would undoubtedly have been one of the most highly sought-after players on the free-agent market next month.&nbsp;
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Before being sidelined by a knee injury late in the season, Williams had also been enjoying a breakout 2021-22 campaign, averaging career-highs in points (10.0), rebounds (9.6), blocks (2.2), steals (0.9), field-goal percentage (73.6%) and free-throw percentage (72.2%). Like Smart, Williams' value now exceeds his salary.&nbsp;
In February, Stevens recognized Boston's backcourt needed an upgrade. Hence, he sent Josh Richardson and Romeo Langford and a top-four-protected 2022 first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Derrick White at the trade deadline. Udoka, who was familiar with White having spent time as an assistant in San Antonio, asked him to sacrifice some of his offense. White would serve as a reserve, which meant fewer field goal attempts and fewer minutes. White embraced the role, supplied solid defense on the perimeter and knocked down a handful of big buckets during Boston's run to the Finals.
Ironically, of all the trades and signing Stevens has made over the past 12 months, arguably the most important and impactful are the ones he did NOT agree to. It sounds outlandish now because the C's are four wins away from the franchise's 18th championship, but plenty of pundits and fans in New England had been calling for the Celtics to break up the duo of Brown and Tatum.
While there was no denying their collective talent, many argued the roster was unbalanced, and that the skill sets Tatum and Brown brought to the table were a bit duplicitous. Thus, some folks contended that the best path forward was trading Brown (possibly in a package with Smart) for a pure point guard (such as Damian Lillard).
Pressure and the corresponding rumors reached a fever pitch in the dark days of December and January.&nbsp;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Damnit I&rsquo;m holding everybody in Boston accountable, from the front office, to the coaching staff and down to Jaylen and Tatum. It&rsquo;s time to break them up! Carry on&hellip; <a href="https://twitter.com/FirstTake?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FirstTake</a> <a href="https://t.co/2fNHMFavfd">pic.twitter.com/2fNHMFavfd</a>
&mdash; Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) <a href="https://twitter.com/KendrickPerkins/status/1479494503765524483?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2022</a></blockquote>

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As noted above, Boston was below .500 for much of the season. On Jan. 15, the Celtics had a worse record than both the Knicks and Washington Wizards. Boston was 11th in the East, on the outside of the Play-in Tournament looking in.&nbsp;&nbsp;
But Stevens never budged, trusting in the roster he helped construct. And the results speak for themselves. Twelve months after he was hired, Stevens's squad is preparing for the NBA Finals.&nbsp;
Earlier this month, the NBA announced Memphis Grizzlies General Manager Zach Kleiman as the winner of the 2021-22 Basketball Executive of the Year Award. Stevens came in sixth, receiving only one first-place vote. However, that award is based on regular-season accomplishments.
Given how well Boston has performed in the playoffs, there is little doubt about which executive's moves have looked best in the postseason.&nbsp;
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Tommy Beer reviews Brad Stevens' first season as Celtics president with his one-year anniversary coinciding with NBA Finals Game 1.

Brad Stevens deserves massive credit for the Celtics' success

The Oklahoma City Thunder came out of last Tuesday&rsquo;s NBA Draft Lottery as the night&rsquo;s runner-up, taking home the No. 2 overall pick.&nbsp;
The Thunder have never received the first-overall pick in their franchise history, which technically goes back to 1967 when they were still the Seattle Supersonics. They have selected second on two occasions though, and both worked out really well (Kevin Durant in 2007 and Gary Payton in 1990).
The Thunder have a war-chest of draft picks in the coming years, but those picks are meaningless if they don&rsquo;t select a franchise-altering talent. Fortunately, the No. 2 pick should provide an opportunity to do so. The 2022 draft class features a few &ldquo;can&rsquo;t-miss&rdquo; prospects, including Auburn&rsquo;s Jabari Smith, Gonzaga&rsquo;s Chet Holmgren and Duke&rsquo;s Paolo Banchero. All three have their pros and cons, but adding any of them to the existing core of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey should work out beautifully.
In the 2021 NBA Draft, the Thunder made six selections, but they traded three of those players. They added Giddey (who was named to the 2021-22 All-Rookie Second Team), Tre Mann and Aaron Wiggins &ndash; none of whom are bigs. The Thunder did trade for a seven-footer in the 2020 draft (Aleksej Pokusevski), but he&rsquo;s still extremely raw and is not the same caliber of player as the top-three prospects.
Of course, there is still a lot of work to be done through the scouting process to effectively evaluate all three of this draft's most-coveted prospects, but a look back at the last 10 NBA drafts reveals a murkier history than one might assume. After <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-the-success-of-teams-selecting-first-in-the-nba-draft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">examining the success of teams selecting No. 1 in the NBA Draft</a> last week, let's look at how recent No. 2 overall picks have fared.&nbsp;
2012 NBA Draft: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets
The Hornets bombed with the second pick in 2012. Kidd-Gilchrist had a fine career, averaging 12.3 points and 7.9 rebounds per game across eight seasons in the NBA. The thing is, Bradley Beal was selected third and Damian Lillard was selected fifth, and both of those guys are All-NBA-caliber players annually. Comparatively, that&rsquo;s a huge miss for Charlotte.
Verdict: Failure.
2013 NBA Draft: Victor Oladipo, Orlando Magic
The Cavaliers certainly surprised many of us by picking Anthony Bennett with the first overall pick, but the Magic stuck to the script. Oladipo was universally seen as a top-three player in this draft, and he became the second-best player in the class before knee and quad injuries derailed his career.
As much as injuries have robbed much of what Oladipo was, he is still an intriguing player, and he&rsquo;ll probably command some decent free-agent offers this offseason. Obiously, CJ McCollumn (selected 10th) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (selected 15th) are better players, but neither was being considered by the Magic. Considering that Oladipo is a two-time All-Star, an All-Defensive selection and a one-time All-NBA selection, I&rsquo;d say the Magic did a fine job in picking Oladipo.
Verdict: Success
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2014 NBA Draft: Jabari Parker, Milwaukee Bucks
The 2014 draft was a weird one. Neither the first nor the second pick ended up being the best player from this draft class. Andrew Wiggins found a good role, even if he is far less successful than most thought he&rsquo;d be, but Jabari Parker really underwhelmed. Granted, Parker stuck around in the league for eight seasons, including some of the current one, but his career simply never materialized even if it&rsquo;s not his (nor Milwaukee&rsquo;s) fault.
Parker tore his ACL twice. He looked like he was becoming a pretty darn good player (even if he was a defensive liability) before the second ACL injury, averaging 20.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in 2016-17. However good Parker could have been, the fact of the matter is that Joel Embiid was intriguing enough as of draft night to be taken one pick later, and that stings.
Verdict: Failure
2015 NBA Draft: D&rsquo;Angelo Russell, Los Angeles Lakers
Here&rsquo;s an instance where a player actually was worth a top-three pick. The problem is that the Lakers had the second pick, and there&rsquo;s a big difference between Karl-Anthony Towns or Devin Booker and Russell. Making matters worse, the Lakers sent Russell to Brooklyn before he matured. His immaturity was part of the reason he was traded, but that doesn&rsquo;t change the fact that the Lakers picked him and moved on very quickly. Russell may or may not end up being a franchise-altering talent, but he hasn&rsquo;t realized his full potential yet, and he clearly won&rsquo;t do so for the Lakers.
Verdict: Failure
2016 NBA Draft: Brandon Ingram, Los Angeles Lakers
Ingram is one of the best No. 2 picks in the last 10 drafts. He&rsquo;s a true number one option on a playoff team, a career 18.5 points-per-game scorer and a one-time All-Star. It&rsquo;s debatable that Jaylen Brown (selected third) and/or Jamal Murray (selected seventh) are as good or better players, but both have played alongside more talented teammates throughout their careers.
Ingram has been the best player on the New Orleans Pelicans for a few years now, and we shouldn&rsquo;t take for granted the fact that Ingram led a playoff team this season. Sure, the Lakers didn&rsquo;t cash in on him specifically, but he was part of the package that led to Anthony Davis landing in Los Angeles. So, it worked out for them too.
Verdict: Success
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2017 NBA Draft: Lonzo Ball, Los Angeles Lakers
The Lakers picked second overall again in 2017. They weren&rsquo;t as successful this time around. First, there&rsquo;s Jayson Tatum to consider. Tatum was selected third and is the best player in the 2017 draft class. Being selected by the Lakers wouldn&rsquo;t have changed that, and that should be enough. But there&rsquo;s also Ball&rsquo;s rough shooting mechanics to consider. Sure, he&rsquo;s grown into a good shooter, but the Lakers didn&rsquo;t benefit from that. It&rsquo;s hard to categorize Ball&rsquo;s selection as an outright failure because like Ingram, he helped facilitate Davis to the Lakers. Still, it's tough to classify his selection a success.
Verdict: Push
2018 NBA Draft: Marvin Bagley III, Sacramento Kings
Bagley might be the worst second pick in the last 10 years. The 2018 NBA Draft will forever be remembered as the Luka Doncic class. The Kings could have drafted Doncic, as he was still on the board, but they chose to go with Bagley instead. Bagley isn&rsquo;t even on the Kings any longer, and his time in Sacramento was not memorable.
Bagley is a sub-par defender and three-point shooter. He&rsquo;s scored the ball at a decent pace, averaging 19.5 points per-36 minutes, but he&rsquo;s never earned a big enough role to demonstrate what he can really do, and he&rsquo;s exclusively been on losing teams. Comparatively, Doncic and Trae Young (selected No. 5 in 2018) have turned their franchises around.
Verdict: Failure
2019 NBA Draft: Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies
Ingram was the best second pick in the last 10 years, until 2019. Morant stole that made-up accolade almost immediately in his rookie season. The thing is, the 2019 NBA Draft was supposed to be all about Zion Williamson. However, unlike Williamson, Morant has backed up all the hype and then some. So, while Williamson has dealt with injuries for much of his young career, Morant has brazenly become the face of his draft class.
Morant is drawing comparisons to numerous superstars, and he was named to the 2021-22 All-NBA Second Team. No one selected after him comes close to making the Grizzlies think twice about their decision.
Verdict: HUGE success
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2020 NBA Draft: James Wiseman, Golden State Warriors
Unlike his brother Lonzo, LaMelo Ball was deserving of the second pick in 2020. Instead, the Golden State Warriors went with James Wiseman, though the logic behind the pick is clear, even in retrospect. The Warriors already had two All-NBA guards. The thing is, Jordan Poole looks pretty good alongside Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, doesn&rsquo;t he? So, it&rsquo;s feasible to assume that Ball would have fit too.
After two seasons, Ball is a significantly better player, but he&rsquo;s also had plenty of opportunity to demonstrate that fact. Wiseman has had terrible health-related luck. He played in 39 of the Warriors' first 53 games in 2020-21, but he tore his meniscus in Golden State&rsquo;s 53rd&nbsp;game of the season and hasn&rsquo;t been seen since. Wiseman could still be a serious contributor, as his per-36 numbers were impressive for a rookie (19.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 1.1 assists on .542/.316/.628 shooting). This is one we&rsquo;ll have to continue monitoring.
Verdict: Unclear
2021 NBA Draft: Jalen Green, Houston Rockets
Basing the success of a pick on only a rookie season is tough. Green posted an impressive rookie campaign, but his defensive deficiencies were clear. That&rsquo;s an understandable flaw for a rookie. Green was the assumed second-best player in the class. Having the luxury of hindsight, we now know that Scottie Barnes (selected fourth) and Evan Mobley (selected third) translated to the NBA incredibly well. But wing scorers have a tougher time making the jump, as they must shoot deeper three-pointers and compete against far more athletic competition. Green&rsquo;s floor may be lower than that of Barnes and Mobley, but I'd argue that his ceiling is still higher. Let&rsquo;s give him a little more time.
Verdict: Unclear&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;
In the last 10 drafts, the second overall pick has clearly been one of the best players in the draft class just three times (2013, 2016 and 2019).&nbsp;
A deeper examination of No. 2 overall picks reveals a limited number of franchise-altering talents. For every Kevin Durant, Jason Kidd, Gary Payton, Earl Monroe and Bill Russell, there are a number of players who didn't live up to expectations. Sometimes, there isn't a generational player on the board; other times, the team picking No. 2 overall just overthinks it or goes in the wrong direction. Either way, No. 2 hasn&rsquo;t produced as many all-time greats as you might expect, but there have been quite a few significant contributors.
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Oklahoma City will pick No. 2 in the 2022 draft. A look back at the last 10 drafts reveals that there are no guarantees for No. 2 picks.

Examining the success of teams selecting No. 2 in the NBA Draft

The Golden State Warriors find themselves in familiar territory after failing to close out a series on the road and hope for familiar results when they return home.
For the third straight series, the Warriors lost their first chance to advance while playing on the road. But they can make it to their sixth NBA Finals in the past eight years by finishing off the Dallas Mavericks at home in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals on Thursday night.
The Warriors managed to rebound after those slipups in the first two rounds against Denver and Memphis and are hoping for a repeat after losing <a href="https://apnews.com/article/golden-state-warriors-dallas-mavericks-nba-sports-luka-doncic-4a70ca4c9a8f0b1f9a786f97cba535a1">119-109 at Dallas</a> on Tuesday night when the Mavericks got off to a fast start and didn't slow down until the fourth quarter.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a good lesson learned,&rdquo; guard Stephen Curry said. &ldquo;You tip your hat to them because they made a lot of shots. We had a couple breakdowns in our zone that gave them easy looks, and they made us pay. We knew to close them out, it&rsquo;s going to be tough. So you&rsquo;ve got to strap up on defense. When we go home, Game 5 and figure out how to slow them down, especially in the first quarter.&rdquo;
STAYING ALIVE
The Mavericks have staved off elimination three times this postseason, winning Games 6 and 7 against Phoenix in the second round and then again against the Warriors in Game 4. None of the games have been particularly close, with Dallas outscoring the opponents by 70 points in the three wins. Luka Doncic has led the way with 98 points and 35 rebounds in the three wins but says the key has been aggressiveness on offense and more commitment to defense.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to believe,&rdquo; Doncic said. &ldquo;I think our defense was way better today, and I think we attacked the paint. Those two things are key, and that&rsquo;s what we&rsquo;ve got to bring to San Francisco.&rdquo;
YOUTH MOVEMENT
The Warriors got back into the game in the fourth quarter thanks to a young lineup featuring 22-year-old Jordan Poole and 19-year-old rookies Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody. That trio, along with Nemanja Bjelica and Damion Lee, cut a 29-point deficit to eight points in the first 8:38 of the fourth quarter before Curry and the starters began to return.
The Mavericks closed it out from there but the flashes from the young group could earn them more time. Kuminga hadn't played at all the previous two games before scoring 17 points in just under 22 minutes in Game 4.
&ldquo;It was great because they had an opportunity to go out there and make their presence felt, impact the game, build some confidence and some experience in this series and what it feels like to be out there,&rdquo; Curry said.
ROLLER COASTER
It's been a up-and-down series for Dallas' Reggie Bullock and getting the best version of him will be key if the Mavericks want to stay alive. Bullock made six 3-pointers and scored 21 points in a Game 2 loss before becoming the fifth player since at least 1968 to take at least 10 shots and score no points in a playoff game.
Bullock responded in Game 4 by making 6 of 10 3-pointers and scoring 18 points. That took pressure off Doncic, along with bounce-back performances from Dorian Finney-Smith, who had 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting, and Maxi Kleber, who went 5 for 6 for 13 points after missing 12 of 14 shots the first three games.
&ldquo;We just made shots and we also was getting stops, so we got the chance to play a little faster, and we got them open shots early in the shot clock and not like end of the shot clock trying to shoot a bomb,&rdquo; Finney-Smith said.
TALL TASK
No team has ever rallied from 3-0 down to win a best-of-seven playoff series in NBA history and even getting it back to Dallas for Game 6 would be rare. Of the 146 previous teams to take a 3-0 lead, 90 finished off the series with a sweep with 42 more winning it in five. With a win Thursday, the Mavs would be the 12th team to force a Game 6 and only three teams have gotten to a Game 7 before losing.

The Warriors find themselves in familiar territory after failing to close out a series on the road and hope for familiar results when they return home.

Warriors look to close out Mavs and get back to NBA Finals

Jayson Tatum scored 31 points and the Boston Celtics took their turn pounding the Miami Heat early, jumping out to a 26-4 lead and cruising to a 102-82 victory that evened the Eastern Conference finals at two games apiece.
Miami missed 15 of its first 16 shots in the second straight game that was all but over after 12 minutes. The Heat led 39-18 after the first quarter of Game 3 of this bizarre series in which no game has been close down the stretch.
Game 5 is Wednesday in Miami.
Payton Pritchard had 14 points for the Celtics. Derrick White added 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists, and Robert Williams finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
The Celtics led by 27 points in the second quarter and stretched their advantage to 32 in the third. Each game in this series has featured a lead of at least 20 points.
Victor Oladipo led the Heat with 23 points. Miami&rsquo;s starting five of All-Star Jimmy Butler (six points), Kyle Lowry (three points), P.J. Tucker (no points), Max Strus (no points) and Bam Adebayo (nine points) were a combined 7 of 36 shooting. They all sat out the fourth quarter.
And the Celtics stymied the Heat without Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, who sat with a sprained right ankle he suffered in the second half of Game 3.
The Heat were without Tyler Herro, who suffered a groin injury late in Game 3.
Butler was in the starting lineup after missing the second half of Game 3 with swelling in his right knee. Lowry (strained left hamstring), Strus (strained hamstring) and Tucker (left knee irritation) all tested their injuries pregame before being cleared to go.
Boston&rsquo;s Williams returned after missing a game with soreness in his surgically repaired left knee.
Even with their banged-up roster, the Celtics enjoyed their fastest start of the series. Starting in place of Smart, White scored the game&rsquo;s first seven points as Boston took an 8-0 lead.
It quickly grew to 18-1, with Miami misfiring on its first 14 shots. The Heat didn&rsquo;t get their first points until Adebayo&rsquo;s free throw at the 7:56 mark. Miami made its first field goal at 3:22, a 3-pointer by Oladipo, and finished the quarter 3 for 20.
The Celtics took a 29-11 lead into the second quarter and led 57-33 at the half.
TIP-INS
Heat: Shot 33% (30 of 90). ... Finished with 64 bench points. ... Miami had one point in the first eight minutes, the lowest total by any team in a playoff game in the last quarter-century, according to ESPN Stats &amp; Info.
Celtics: Outrebounded Miami 20-8 in the first quarter. ... Several current and former New England Patriots were in the crowd, including Devin and Jason McCourty, Malcolm Butler and Damien Harris.

Jayson Tatum scored 31 points and the Celtics took their turn pounding the Heat early, jumping out to a 26-4 lead and cruised.

Celtics torch Heat early, even series with 102-82 blowout

DALLAS (AP) &mdash; The NBA fined the Dallas Mavericks for a third time in the playoffs on Sunday because of violations of rules regarding their bench.
The fine has doubled each time, with the latest at $100,000 after Game 2 of the Western Conference finals at Golden State on Friday. Game 3 in Dallas was scheduled for Sunday night. None of the fines was from games in Dallas.
Several Mavericks players have stood for most or all of the games during the playoffs, including home games. The fines have been for players and coaches standing for extended periods, straying too far from the bench and encroaching on the court during game action.
Both of the first two fines were from the West semifinals against Phoenix, after Games 2 and 7 in Arizona. The first fine was $25,000, the second $50,000 after a 33-point Dallas victory in the deciding game.
During the Warriors' 126-117 victory in Game 2, Stephen Curry threw a pass out of bounds with no teammate in the area. The pass was in the vicinity of Dallas' Theo Pinson, who was wearing a white shirt while standing and waving. Golden State was wearing its home white uniforms.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got his arms up, calling for the ball,&rdquo; Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after shootaround Sunday. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s too much.&rdquo;
Kerr added that Curry's turnover was the only time he was upset with the Dallas bench during Game 2.
&ldquo;In fact, I love their bench,&rdquo; Kerr said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got great chemistry, great energy. They&rsquo;ve had a phenomenal season, and part of it is because they&rsquo;re so connected.&rdquo;
Pinson signed a 10-day contract with the Mavericks during a COVID-19 outbreak early in the season. He ended up getting a two-year deal and has been leading cheers from the bench as his playing time dwindled. Pinson has been inactive in the playoffs.
Tim Hardaway Jr. also has gotten into the spirit of cheering from the bench. He's been out since January with a broken left foot and isn't expected to return during the playoffs.
They aren't the only two who have been standing for long stretches, and the Mavericks may not be ready to change their approach with the bench, if <a href="https://twitter.com/T_HardJR/status/1528427995240845316?s=20&amp;t=iDLysWHq5nUCda-BkYrbzA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hardaway's reaction on Twitter to the latest fine</a> is any indication.
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👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 <a href="https://t.co/hLquXrm5hO">https://t.co/hLquXrm5hO</a>
&mdash; Tim Hardaway Jr (@T_HardJR) <a href="https://twitter.com/T_HardJR/status/1528427995240845316?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2022</a></blockquote>

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In another incident from Game 2, Davis Bertans of the Mavericks got tangled up with Damion Lee after making a 3-pointer in front of the Dallas bench. The contact led to several Golden State players approaching the bench, but there were no confrontations. Bertans and Lee were assessed technical fouls.

The NBA fined the Dallas Mavericks for a third time in the playoffs on Sunday because of violations of rules regarding their bench.

NBA fines Mavs $100,000 for 3rd bench violation in playoffs

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) &mdash; Luka Doncic was dominating, yelling in celebration and flexing his arms in Stephen Curry&rsquo;s house.
Then Curry and the Golden State Warriors delivered one of those signature third-quarter flurries that have defined so many of their postseason runs &mdash; with this one being sparked by Kevon Looney.
Just like that, they&rsquo;re two wins away from getting back to another NBA Finals.
Curry scored 32 points with six 3-pointers and eight more rebounds, Looney had a career-high 21 points and 12 rebounds and the Warriors rallied past the Dallas Mavericks 126-117 on Friday for a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.
&ldquo;I feel honored just to be a part of the ride,&rdquo; Looney said.
Doncic scored 42 points and the Mavericks led most of the way before the Warriors took their first lead of the night on Otto Porter Jr.&rsquo;s 3-pointer 18 seconds into the fourth.
Doncic had 18 points in the first quarter &mdash; two shy of his 20-point Game 1 total. His 3-pointer with 13 seconds before halftime &mdash; the Mavs&rsquo; 15th of the first half &mdash; made it 72-58 at the break and gave him 24 points.
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&ldquo;Against someone that good you&rsquo;re just trying to limit some of the easy stuff,&rdquo; Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
Doncic even got a Twitter shoutout from&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://twitter.com/MCHammer/status/1527835832458960898" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oakland&rsquo;s own MC Hammer</a>: &ldquo;Ok young Luka &hellip; We see you.&rdquo;
But Golden State answered with a 25-13 third quarter to pull to 85-83 going into fourth &mdash; coming out of halftime with a performance reminiscent of those thrilling third quarters of past.
&ldquo;We know how good they are as a third-quarter team,&rdquo; Dallas forward Reggie Bullock said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just something that slipped away from us as the game continued to go on.&rdquo;
Doncic shot 12 for 23 and shined in a game of brilliant shotmaking &mdash; the Warriors finished 56.1% from the floor. In the first half alone, Dallas edged Golden State 52.3% to 51.2%, including a remarkable 55.6% to 53.3% from 3-point range.
The series shifts to Dallas for Game 3 on Sunday. Golden State is two wins from a return to the NBA Finals for the first time since making five straight trips from 2015-19.
&ldquo;We&rsquo;re on the road against one of the best teams in the league. It happens. They held serve,&rdquo; Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve seen this in Phoenix so now we have to go back and just focus on Game 3.&rdquo;
Jordan Poole scored 23 points off the bench, Andrew Wiggins had 16 and Klay Thompson &mdash; held scoreless in the first half of the series opener &mdash; added 15 points for a second straight game. Golden State scored 62 points in the paint.
Jalen Brunson scored eight of the first 14 Dallas points on the way to 31. The Mavericks didn&rsquo;t have to see as much of Draymond Green, who picked up his fifth foul with 6:01 left in the third, then returned with 6:33 left before fouling out with 2:25 to go.
The teams tangled with 8:03 left in the second quarter in front of the Dallas bench. Warriors reserve Damion Lee closed out as Davis Bertans hit a 3-pointer from the corner and Bertans tripped Lee and sent him in a flip hard to the floor. Lee had to be held back by official Eric Lewis.
The players were issued double technicals.
In Game 1 two days earlier, Doncic faced smothering defense from Wiggins and shot just 6 for 18 and 3 of 10 from deep. Kidd expected a far better outing in Game 2.
Golden State continued to push the pace and committed 16 turnovers after 15 in the opener.
RELIABLE LOONEY
Moved back into the starting lineup for the clinching Game 6 of the semifinals against Memphis, Looney shot 10 for 14 after making all five of his field goals in Game 1.
He notched his second career postseason double-double.
&ldquo;Tonight was my night to make a big difference and I just stepped up,&rdquo; Looney said.
TIP-INS
Mavericks: Dallas led by as many as 16 in the opening quarter. ... The Mavs were outrebounded again at 43-30 after a 51-35 disadvantage in Game 1. They committed one fewer turnovers with 12 after Doncic had seven in the series opener. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to take care of the ball because the Warriors once you turn the ball over, they&rsquo;re gone, and a lot of times it&rsquo;s an open 3,&rdquo; Kidd said beforehand.
Warriors: G Gary Payton II &mdash; who broke his left elbow on a hard foul when Memphis star Dillon Brooks clobbered him May 3 on a fast break for a Flagrant 2, ejection and one-game suspension &mdash; is doing light individual work on court that includes shooting with his non-dominant right hand and will be re-evaluated in a week. ... F Andre Iguodala missed his ninth straight game with a disc injury in his neck is continuing his rehab with physical therapy and training in the weight room with some light on-court work. The Warriors said they will provide an update when he&rsquo;s cleared to practice. ... Golden State improved to 8-0 at home this postseason and is 18-5 in Game 2s dating to the 2015 title run. ... Green was voted to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team.
QUOTABLE
&ldquo;Steph is the best-conditioned athlete in this game, he never stops moving.&rdquo; -- Kidd
</div>

The Golden State Warriors rallied from an early deficit to take their second straight win in the Western Conference Finals.

Steph Curry, Warriors rally past Mavs for 2-0 lead in West finals

The 2022 NBA Draft Lottery was last night, so we now have our top-14 picks!
Unfortunately, many of these teams &mdash; like the Sacramento Kings, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons and Charlotte Hornets &mdash; have grown accustomed to picking in the lottery year after year.
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Of those top-14 teams, some should try to win now. And no, that doesn&rsquo;t necessarily mean they have to trade their first-round pick, especially after observing how Rookie-of-the-Year winner Scottie Barnes and runner-up Evan Mobley impacted winning this season. But, for some teams, you could say that if they were better at development, they wouldn&rsquo;t be in the lottery this often.
But we digress. Here are some teams who should strongly consider using their lottery pick in a win-now trade so that they&rsquo;re not back in the same position next season in an increasingly wide-open NBA.
(Did we include specific trade ideas? No, we aren't firing up the trade machine here. It's May, and what do you want? 2,500 words? On the Lottery? During the Conference Finals?)
Sacramento Kings
The Kings, who were the only team to jump in the lottery last night, have picks No. 4 and No. 37 in the upcoming draft, <a href="https://www.prosportstransactions.com/basketball/DraftTrades/Future/Kings.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">along with all of their pending first-rounders</a> and many of their seconds.
Absolutely no team in the NBA needs to make the playoffs more than the Kings. The team was a perennial playoff participant from 1999 through 2006, which is hard to fathom since they haven&rsquo;t reached the postseason ever since. Their eight-straight playoff trips included four consecutive runs to at least the Western Conference Semifinals, with a Western Conference Finals trip in 2002. They have not made the playoffs since 2006; they&rsquo;ve only finished above 10th place in the West once, in 2019, when they went 39-43 &mdash; their best record in 16 years, and one of only two seasons in which they&rsquo;ve had more than 33 wins.
Last season, they made the now keystone Kings-Pacers trade, dealing Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield and Tristian Thompson for Domantas Sabonis (who represented them at the lottery), Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb and a 2023 second-round pick. With the pairing of Sabonis (26 years old) and De&rsquo;Aaron Fox (24 years old), it may make more sense to add a similarly aged starter who can help their 2022-23 presumed playoff push.
Also, expected on the roster next season is Davion Mitchell, who will enter his sophomore season but is already 23 years old and may earn an All-Rookie selection soon. Richaun Holmes saw his role take a hit once Sabonis arrived and missed much of the latter portion of the season <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/being-accused-ex-wife-domestic-010013091.html">dealing with a personal issue</a>. Otherwise, for now, Holmes, Harrison Barnes and Mitchell are among the players under contract for next season.
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Dealing the No. 4 overall pick could land them a damn good player. John Collins, Gordon Hayward, Julius Randle, Jerami Grant and Christian Wood are among those who <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/five-nba-players-who-feel-destined-to-be-traded-this-offseason" target="_blank" rel="noopener">may find a new home this summer</a>. Could the Utah Jazz look to move on from <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-desinations-for-donovan-mitchell-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donovan Mitchell</a> or <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-rudy-gobert" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rudy Gobert</a>&nbsp;in the coming months?
The Kings will have to attach players to the No. 4 pick, but imagine if Sacramento could put another win-now piece alongside Fox and Sabonis? They should make some calls to see what a package built around the No. 4 pick could return.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Despite all of the draft picks the Thunder own, they simply can&rsquo;t draft everyone. In this year's draft, OKC owns No. 2, No. 12, No. 30 and No. 34. Over the next five years, they will have 17 first-round picks and 30 selections in total. This is something you do in NBA 2K when you plan on building a dynasty, but at some point, most virtual GMs realize that you need to start having actual players on your roster to win rather than just continually flipping players for picks while toiling at the bottom of the standings.&nbsp;
At some point, Oklahoma City needs to make its run. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is about to enter the first season of his five-year, $172 million extension, which will see him earn just under $30 million next year. SGA turns 24 years old this summer and is a cornerstone for the franchise as their best player at the moment. Last year's No. 6 overall selection Josh Giddey looks like a keeper who almost certainly will be on an All-Rookie team this season. Lu Dort, Tre Mann, Kenrich Williams, Darius Bazley, Ty Jerome and Aleksej Pokusevski are all under contractual control for next season.
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OKC could quickly assemble a package for a high-level starter or borderline star to join SGA and Giddey, particularly with whoever else is retained. They have more than enough draft capital and could probably get close to anyone they want as a result. In terms of their roster, they just need good two-way players who fit what they&rsquo;re trying to build culturally and schematically. Literally, anything goes here.
At some point, the Thunder will have to package some of these draft picks or prospects. We'll see when Sam Presti decides to flip that switch.&nbsp;
Portland Trail Blazers
The Blazers are in a tough spot with Damian Lillard, and what Lillard wants will factor in to their decision-making. He clearly wants to win but, by all accounts, he prefers to stay in Portland. It may be difficult to check both of those boxes with the Blazers as presently constructed. In the Lillard-CJ McCollum era, Portland made the playoffs every season and reached one Western Conference Finals in 2019. They were <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/a-salute-to-the-defiance-of-damian-lillard-and-cj-mccollum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">often failed by suboptimal roster construction around Lillard and McCollum</a>, and then the elite backcourt would be unfairly blamed for the team's struggles.
With the No. 7 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, and the assumption that Lillard remains, what&rsquo;s their next move as they once again attempt to win with their elite 6-foot-3 shot creator? Lillard is due over $42 million next season, the second season of a four-year supermax that will include a player option worth close to $49 million in 2024-25.
Eric Bledsoe&rsquo;s $19 million and Josh Hart&rsquo;s $12 million are the only other big salaries on the books for next season. A decision awaits on dynamic guard Anfernee Simons, who is reminiscent of the aforementioned McCollum, as he is up for an extension this summer as he enters restricted free agency. <a href="https://nba.nbcsports.com/2022/02/25/restricted-free-agent-to-be-anfernee-simons-i-100-want-to-stay-in-portland/#:~:text=signed%20a%20three%2Dyear%2C%20%2451.8,board%20career%20highs%20this%20season." target="_blank" rel="noopener">He reportedly wants to stay in Portland</a>.
<img src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/screen-shot-2022-05-18-at-11-45-07-am.png" alt="" width="650" height="494" />
Ultimately, if the Blazers decide to package the No. 7 overall with some combination of players, could they look to include Simons via a sign-and-trade? It depends how aspirational a supposed deal could get and who they are getting in return. Only $3.9 million of Bledsoe&rsquo;s deal <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/nba/portland-trail-blazers/eric-bledsoe-6900/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">is fully guaranteed until June 29</a>, making him a prime trade-and-waive candidate between now and the draft.
Here's the reality: Portland&rsquo;s roster requires a full rebuild, but if Lillard is going to remain, selecting a rookie at No. 7 might not be ideal. And given their history and Simons' fit alongside Lillard, you might want to look at a big.

Bryan Fonseca argues that there are three NBA teams who should look to trade their lottery pick for a win-now piece.

Which NBA Draft Lottery teams should make a win-now trade?

Objectively, Damian Lillard is as accomplished as nearly anyone in the NBA, but the legacies of all-time greats are judged against other all-time greats. Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal teases Charles Barkley on "Inside the NBA" about having won zero championships because he can. Win one, and you&rsquo;re forever a member of the club. Fail to do so, and you&rsquo;ll remain on the outside looking in.
Granted, being an all-time great is a good club to be a part of, but failing to win a championship can be utterly haunting. Just watch players like Barkley and Patrick Ewing talk about failing to win on the biggest stage. You hear regret in their voices. And pain. And there&rsquo;s nothing they can do about it.
It&rsquo;s premature to lump Lillard in with the aforementioned greats. After all, he&rsquo;s still only 31, meaning he has years remaining before we can have an honest discussion about his place amongst league legends (with or without a championship). I&rsquo;ll happily wait until he&rsquo;s retired to assess his legacy.
What I will address now is the fact that Lillard&rsquo;s inability to deliver a championship to Portland in his 10 seasons is actually not his fault. In fact, I posit that that no superstar in recent memory can be blamed less than Lillard for his team&rsquo;s shortcomings. Lillard has faced a grueling uphill battle since joining the Trail Blazers as a rookie, and his presence has resulted in Portland consistently outperforming their talent.
First, let&rsquo;s inventory how Lillard&rsquo;s Trail Blazers have fared in the postseason. In total, Portland has missed the playoffs twice since Lillard was drafted: once during his rookie year and again in 2021-22, a season in which Lillard was shut down in late December due to abdominal surgery. Had Lillard been healthy all season, his Blazers may have made their ninth consecutive postseason appearance.
Once there, Lillard is an impactful postseason player, posting 25.7 points and 6.2 assists per game in 12 career postseason series. Across his playoff career, he&rsquo;s shot 41.2% from the field, 36.9% on threes and 88.7% on free throws. He&rsquo;s also had several epic shots that were either game-winners or series-enders, which probably inspired Robert Horry, an all-time great shooter himself, to recently refer to Lillard the best clutch shooter ever.
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Robert Horry calls Damian Lillard the best clutch shooter ever over Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant &ldquo;He has hit a clutch shot versus every team in the NBA.&rdquo;<a href="https://t.co/lg34EjTZNB">https://t.co/lg34EjTZNB</a>
&mdash; NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheNBACentral/status/1525203234650050562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Despite his heroics, Lillard&rsquo;s Trail Blazers have never reached the NBA Finals. They did succeed in reaching the Western Conference Finals once in 2019. They ultimately lost to the Golden State Warriors. They also lost to the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Semifinals in 2014, the 73-9 Warriors in the Western Conference Semifinals in 2016 and the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers in the first-round in 2020. So, four of Lillard&rsquo;s eight postseason appearances ended against either the eventual champions or the dynastic Warriors.
Like Barkley and Ewing before him, Lillard has been a victim of time and circumstance, as his prime fell right in the middle of the Golden State Warriors&rsquo; historic run. But in Lillard&rsquo;s case, his struggles have been about more than his opponents. After all, Lillard is not dominated by any one player like how Jordan dominated his era. His circumstances are more a result of his supporting cast, or lack thereof.
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Lillard&rsquo;s stance on recruiting is that he wants to remain in Portland. He&rsquo;ll assist in recruiting free agents to Rip City, but he will not entertain recruiting pitches from other teams&rsquo; stars, a fair and respectable stance. For whatever reason, Lillard has been unsuccessful in recruiting others thus far. For example, he failed to land Kelly Oubre in Portland just last summer. However, there are limited examples of a dedicated push by Lillard in recruiting. Whether he foregoes recruiting or fails at it , the result is the same, and it hurts.
But as much as Lillard could participate in team building, there is a management team that is paid a handsome salary to build the team into a legitimate contender, regardless of Lillard's recruitment style. Frankly, that front office has failed to surround Lillard with top-tier co-stars.
A quick inventory of recent NBA champions reveals that Portland&rsquo;s talent is simply insufficient. Seven of the last 10 champions had multiple All-Stars. The other three were San Antonio in 2014, Cleveland in 2016 and Milwaukee in 2021, and we know all three teams had far more talent than any Portland team. Comparatively, battling all-time great competition, Lillard&rsquo;s only active All-Star teammate has been LaMarcus Aldridge, and they only overlapped as All-Stars twice.
There is also CJ McCollum, who was the 2015-16 Most Improved Player. Despite not being named to an All-Star team, he&rsquo;s certainly been an All-Star caliber player for much of his career. He&rsquo;s even (slightly) better in the playoffs, where he&rsquo;s scored 20.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in 13 series.
McCollum's and Aldridge&rsquo;s better seasons sadly didn&rsquo;t overlap. Aldridge&rsquo;s final season in Portland (2014-15) was McCollum&rsquo;s sophomore season, and McCollum wasn&rsquo;t yet the McCollum we've come to know.
Portland could be on to something now. Anfernee Simons could prove to be a valid backcourt mate for Lillard. The former IMG star had a breakout season last year, averaging 17.3 points per game on 40.9% on three-pointers. If Joe Ingles can regain his pre-injury form and Jusuf Nurkic can remain healthy, there are some promising pieces in the mix.
However, the Trail Blazers still need at least one more creator. Fortunately, Portland has a 37.2% chance of sneaking into the top-four in this year&rsquo;s NBA Draft. Doing so would equip them with a valuable trade chip that could deliver exactly the type of player they need and maybe get them closer to becoming NBA Champions.
Regardless as to what happens with Portland in the immediate future, a closer look at Lillard's body of work reveals just how great he really is. Soon, he may join that elusive and exclusive championship club, but even if he doesn&rsquo;t, we should be careful how we refer to his failures. Because more so than practically anyone in NBA history, not winning a championship shouldn't paint our perception of Lillard.&nbsp;
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Damian Lillard is already an all-time great. We can't ignore his postseason failures, but he can't be defined by them, either.

Damian Lillard's inability to win isn't his fault

Klay Thompson knocked down eight 3-pointers on the way to 30 points, Stephen Curry scored 29 with six 3s, and the Golden State Warriors advanced to the Western Conference finals by beating the Memphis Grizzlies 110-96 in Game 6 on Friday night.
Curry found his shooting touch late and made two straight baskets late in the third for a 78-77 lead entering the final 12 minutes. Draymond Green contributed 14 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists. Kevon Looney grabbed 22 rebounds and Andrew Wiggins scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth with a pair of timely 3s.
Golden State &mdash; eliminated by Memphis in the play-in tournament last year &mdash; withstood a testy series to advance to the conference finals for the first time since 2019, when the franchise reached its fifth straight NBA Finals before losing to Toronto in the deciding Game 6.
The third-seeded Warriors will face the Phoenix-Dallas winner in the conference finals. Game 7 of that series is Sunday in Phoenix.
&ldquo;Whoop that trick!&rdquo; the delighted, raucous home crowd chanted in the waning moments, the fans&rsquo; steal away from Memphis.
Dillon Brooks scored 30 points with a career-best seven 3-pointers but picked up his second flagrant foul of the series. Desmond Bane added 25.&nbsp;
Curry checked back in for the final 8:21 and delivered a 3 with 5:45 remaining off a beautiful bounce pass by Green. Looney found Green for an easy dunk the next time down, capping a decisive 10-0 run.
After Wednesday&rsquo;s 134-95 debacle on the Grizzlies&rsquo; home floor in which they trailed by as many as 55 , the Warriors were determined to do everything better, especially cutting down on the 22 turnovers leading to 29 points.
Bane scored the first two baskets of the game before the Warriors ran off 10 consecutive points, with a pair of layups by Green and a 3 by both Curry and Thompson.
Looney started after Jonathan Kuminga had the previous three games following the injury to guard Gary Payton II. He broke his left elbow in an awkward fall after being hit over the head by Brooks in Game 2 that earned Brooks a Flagrant 2 foul and one-game suspension.
He was booed loudly again at every chance by the sellout crowd at Chase Center. When Payton was shown on the big screen during a first-quarter timeout he received a rousing ovation and touched his hand to his heart before encouraging them to get louder.
Memphis again played without All-Star guard Ja Morant, who missed his third straight game with a bone bruise in his troublesome right knee that the Grizzlies blamed on Jordan Poole pulling on the knee while going for a loose ball in Game 3.
Center Steven Adams limped off gingerly on his right ankle and headed to the locker room 3:23 before halftime but returned. At the same time, Brooks received a Flagrant foul 1 for taking down Curry and the Grizzlies forward and Thompson were hit with double technicals.
THOMPSON&rsquo;S TOUCH
Thompson, back shining in the playoffs after his 2 1/2-year absence with a pair of serious injuries, notched his fourth career postseason game with eight 3s &mdash; tying Ray Allen, Curry, and Damian Lillard for most in NBA history.
TIP-INS
Grizzlies: Brooks had three flagrant points and finished one from an automatic one-game suspension. ... Memphis missed its final 10 shots of the second quarter. ... The Grizzlies held a 55-37 rebounding advantage in Game 5.
Warriors: Curry was 6 for 17 from deep. ... Looney&rsquo;s 11 first-quarter rebounds are a career high for any quarter and they match a Warriors playoff record in the team&rsquo;s West Coast era also accomplished by Larry Smith on May 12, 1987, on the road vs. the Lakers. ... F Otto Porter Jr. was out with soreness in his right foot. ... Veteran Andre Iguodala, still sidelined with a left cervical disc injury, is scheduled to be re-evaluated again later next week.
FRIDAY THE 13TH
The Warriors had a playoff game on Friday the 13th for just the second time in franchise history, previously when they beat the Bucks 100-86 on April 13, 1973, in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals to clinch the series 4-2, according to Elias. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored a game-high 27 points and led the Bucks with 14 rebounds. Jim Barnett scored 26 for the Warriors.

Klay Thompson knocked down eight threes on the way to 30 points, Stephen Curry scored 29 with six threes and the Warriors advanced.

Curry, Thompson send Warriors into Western Conference Finals

Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane and Tyus Jones each scored 21 points and the Memphis Grizzlies routed the Golden State Warriors 134-95 on Wednesday night to avoid elimination and force a sixth game in the Western Conference semifinal.
Dillon Brooks added 12 points for Memphis. Ziaire Williams and Brandon Clarke had 11 apiece and De&rsquo;Anthony Melton 10. Steven Adams had 13 rebounds, six offensive.
The Grizzlies never trailed, turning in their best performance of this series to pull to 3-2 even with All-Star guard Ja Morant sitting out his second straight game because of a bone bruise in his right knee. They improved to 4-11 when facing elimination.
Memphis scored 77 points in the first half, the most in franchise postseason history. The Grizzlies pushed their lead to 55 in the third quarter, threatening the three biggest postseason blowouts in NBA history. Their 52-point lead after three tied for the largest in a playoff game in the past 70 years.
When Memphis fans chanted &ldquo;Whoop That Trick! Whoop That Trick!&rdquo; early in the fourth, Stephen Curry laughed on the court laughing while Draymond Green swung a towel in unison with the crowd.
Game 6 is Friday night in San Francisco, where the Warriors have won five straight playoff games and their last seven overall.&nbsp;
Klay Thompson led Golden State with 19 points, Jonathan Kuminga added 17, Curry had 14 and Damion Lee and Moses Moody each had 10.
The Warriors lost for the first time with assistant Mike Brown filling in for coach Steve Kerr, who missed his second straight game since testing positive for COVID before Game 4.
The Grizzlies got back to doing the things that helped the post the second-best record during the regular season. They outrebounded Golden State and dominated on the offensive boards. They forced plenty of turnovers and got their best production from the bench of this series.
Golden State, thanks to Poole coming off the bench, had outscored Memphis&rsquo; reserves each of the first four games. Facing elimination, the Grizzlies had a 28-8 edge through the first two quarters and finished with a 52-35 margin.
Memphis led 38-28 at the end of the first quarter and continued a 24-8 run into the second quarter to go up 53-36t. They finished the second on a 20-4 run, including 14 straight, to outscore Golden State 39-22 for a 77-50 lead at halftime.
Then the Grizzlies opened the third quarter outscoring Golden State 20-6, prompting fans to start chanting &ldquo;Whoop That Trick.&rdquo; Memphis just pushing, outscoring Golden State 42-17 in the third for a 119-67 lead going into the fourth.
Brown benched most of his starters by 3:44 of the third, and Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins followed to start the fourth resting up for a flight to California and Game 6.
TIP-INS
Warriors: The 77 points allowed in the first half matched the most allowed all season. They also gave up 77 on Jan. 13 at Milwaukee. ... The Warriors also fell to 12-4 in Game 5s since 2015. ... Nemanja Bjelica started the third quarter in place of Jonathan Kuminga. Bjelica had played only four minutes in this series. ... Otto Porter Jr. played 12 minutes before being sidelined by a sore right foot.
Grizzlies: They matched their most first-half points, also scoring 77 against New Orleans on March 8. They did it by outscoring Golden State 24-5 on second-chance points with a 18-4 edge on the offensive boards.
POSTSEASON BLOWOUTS
The Bucks also led Philadelphia by 52 (124-72) on March 30, 1970. Denver beat New Orleans by 58 on April 27, 2009, matching the margin Minneapolis beat St. Louis on March 19, 1956. Golden State beat the Los Angeles Lakers by 56 on April 21, 1973.
GRIZZLIES&rsquo; D
Memphis scored 25 points off turnovers in the first half &mdash; most by any team in the 1st half over the last 25 postseasons. The Warriors had been averaging 19 turnovers a game in this series and had 14 by halftime and finished with 20.
BROWN&rsquo;S FIRST LOSS
Brown, the next coach of the Sacramento Kings, had been 12-0 coaching the Warriors in the postseason, winning 11 straight in the 2017 playoffs. He also won Game 4 when the Warriors took the lead for the first time with 45.7 seconds left to pull out a win for a 3-1 series lead.&nbsp;

Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane and Tyus Jones each scored 21 points and the Grizzlies routed the Warriors 134-95.

Grizzlies rout Warriors to avoid elimination, force Game 6

Joe Cronin has been named the Portland Trail Blazers' general manager after serving in the interim role since December.
Cronin became interim GM after Neil Olshey was fired following an investigation into allegations of a toxic workplace environment.
Cronin has since been reshaping the Blazers' roster, making several trades before the February deadline that put the team under the luxury tax threshold and freed up cap space. In the most significant move, guard CJ McCollum was traded to New Orleans, ending his lengthy run as Damian Lillard's partner in Portland's backcourt.
The Blazers finished 27-55 this season, their worst record since 2005-06 when they won just 21 games. Portland also finished 13th in the Western Conference in Chauncey Billups&rsquo; first year as the Blazers&rsquo; head coach, snapping a streak of eight straight playoff appearances.
The Blazers await their fate in next week's NBA draft lottery ahead of the June 23 draft. Free agency opens in July.
"We&rsquo;ve established a great working relationship in the last six months and have the same vision for what it takes to win a championship in this league," Billups said in a statement Tuesday. "I look forward to bringing Joe&rsquo;s vision to life with our entire front office.&rdquo;
Cronin signed a four-year deal with the Blazers.
He has been with the Blazers since 2006 and became a pro scout and salary cap analyst in 2010. He was named the team&rsquo;s director of player personnel in 2014 and was promoted to assistant GM last year.

Joe Cronin became interim GM after Neil Olshey was fired following an investigation into allegations of a toxic workplace environment.

Joe Cronin becomes Blazers GM after serving in interim role

The Sacramento Kings officially announced the hiring of Mike Brown as their new head coach with hopes he can end the NBA's longest playoff drought ever.
General manager Monte McNair said Monday that Brown was picked to replace interim coach Alvin Gentry. The Kings fired Gentry after a season during which they set an NBA record by missing the playoffs for a 16th straight year.
“Mike has consistently demonstrated his ability to lead winning teams throughout his long and successful coaching career,” McNair said in a statement. “He has worked with some of the best players in the NBA and is one of the league’s premier defensive minds. I am excited to bring his extensive experience to Sacramento.”
Brown currently is an assistant with Golden State and will remain with the Warriors for the rest of their playoff run. Brown previously had two stints as head coach in Cleveland, where he guided the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in 2007, and had one stint as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Brown is the latest former Golden State coach to take over the Kings.
Kings owner Vivek Ranadive took over the franchise in 2013 after being a minority owner with the Warriors and immediately hired Michael Malone off Golden State’s staff as his first head coach. 
Ranadive then hired former Warriors assistant Luke Walton as head coach in 2019 and promoted former Warriors assistant Gentry to interim coach after Walton was fired last November.
None of the moves have led to success for the NBA’s worst-performing franchise of the past 16 years.
The Kings have failed to make the playoffs in each of those seasons, setting the record for the longest drought in NBA history. They went 30-52 this past season under Walton and Gentry and their .366 winning percentage was their worst since the 2017-18 season.
Since moving to Sacramento in 1985, the Kings have had only one stretch of success, making the playoffs in all eight seasons under coach Rick Adelman from 1999-2006. Adelman was fired in 2006 and remains the only coach in the Sacramento era to post a winning record in any season.
Brown comes with a strong pedigree, having worked as an assistant under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio and Steve Kerr at Golden State.
He got his first head coaching job in Cleveland in 2005. He helped LeBron James and the Cavaliers make the Finals in his second season before getting swept by the Spurs. He was fired in 2010 after winning 127 games the previous two years but failing to get back to the Finals.
After a year off, Brown replaced Phil Jackson with the Lakers and didn’t have nearly the success he had in Cleveland. The Lakers went 41-25 in his first season and he was fired after starting the next season 1-4.
Brown returned to Cleveland the following season and went 33-49 before getting fired again after one season.
Brown was then hired in July 2016 by the Warriors to take over as lead assistant after Walton left to take over as head coach of the Lakers.
Brown takes over a team that allowed the second-most points in the NBA despite getting a lift on that end of the court from rookie Davion Mitchell. 
Point guard De’Aaron Fox was in and out of the lineup, missing 23 games with a variety of injuries. Two-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis arrived in a deadline deal by general manager Monte McNair. Sabonis made a big splash in Sacramento before sitting out the final nine games with a knee injury.
Although McNair has brought some order to the front office, he still hasn’t been able to build a roster capable of contending for a playoff spot.
___
More AP NBA coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Kings general manager Monte McNair said Monday that Mike Brown was picked to replace interim coach Alvin Gentry.

Kings announce hiring of Mike Brown as new coach

In the 2020 Summer Olympics, which took place in 2021 due to COVID, France matched up with Team USA in the men&rsquo;s basketball gold-medal game for the third time.
The first gold-medal meeting between the two nations took place was in 1948, with France <a href="https://www.usab.com/history/national-team-mens/games-of-the-xivth-olympiad-1948.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">losing 65-21 in that final</a>.
Despite having been historically good since then, it took another 52 years for the Frenchmen to return to that stage for a second time; unfortunately, Team USA awaited again. The game was much closer in 2000 than in 1948, but the Americans &mdash; led by Vince Carter, Kevin Garnett, Alonzo Mourning and Ray Allen among others &mdash; outlasted Antoine Rigaudeau, Laurent Sciarra, Frederic Weis and France, 85-75.
(No, that wasn&rsquo;t the game Carter <a href="https://youtu.be/WihbbVEmppI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dunked on Weis</a>; that was earlier in The Games.)
And in last year&rsquo;s gold-medal game, in the countries' third meeting on that stage, France <a href="https://www.espn.com/mens-olympics-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401347899" target="_blank" rel="noopener">got even closer</a>.
France's best Olympic team ever was defeated by the Americans, 87-82. Team USA started Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bam Adebayo, answering the French quintet of Nando De Colo, Evan Fournier, Nicolas Batum, Guerschon Yabusele and Rudy Gobert.
Contributions from the U.S. bench came from Jayson Tatum, Zach LaVine, Draymond Green and Khris Middleton, while Timoth&eacute; Luwawu-Cabarrot, Frank Ntikilina, Thomas Heurtel and Moustapha Fall were key components of France's second unit. The Frenchmen trailed by as little as 3 points with just eight seconds remaining before Durant iced the game with two free throws.
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Now imagine that game with Joel Embiid... playing for France.
The 28-year-old NBA MVP candidate, who was born and raised in Cameroon and has never played for his home national team (despite <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/things-to-monitor-as-the-next-fiba-world-cups-next-qualifying-window-arrives">coming close in 2017</a>), is reportedly <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/2022/05/02/joel-embiid-could-change-nationality-play-french-national-team-report">eyeing an opportunity to suit up for France</a>.
Embiid has family in France, and is <a href="https://rmcsport.bfmtv.com/basket/basket-joel-embiid-superstar-de-nba-se-rapproche-de-l-equipe-de-france_AV-202205020664.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">considering changing his nationality</a> in order to play for the Frenchmen in the 2024 Olympic Games, where they&rsquo;d enter as one of the favorites to challenge Team USA again for the gold. According to French basketball general manager Boris Diaw, Embiid is <a href="https://actucameroun.com/2022/05/03/boris-diaw-manager-general-de-lequipe-de-france-confirme-les-demarches-entamees-par-joel-embiid-pour-jouer-avec-les-bleus-en-vue-des-jo-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">taking the necessary steps</a>.
(Looks like we won't ever see the Embiid-Pascal Siakam tandem for Cameroon, unfortunately.)
In FIBA, each team is allowed one naturalized player on its roster. Current and recent instances of this include American-born players to suit up for different countries, such as Javonte Green (Montenegro), Matt Costello (Ivory Coast), Anthony Randolph (Slovenia) and Andray Blatche (Philippines). Non-American examples include Congolese center Serge Ibaka playing for Spain, Cuban native Ismael Romero playing for Puerto Rico and French-born Aaron Cel playing for Poland. Another famous occasion where this occurred saw Hakeem Olajuwon playing with Team USA in the 1990s.
Regarding American-born WNBA players, known examples include Bria Hartley representing France, Becky Hammon representing Russia and Leilani Mitchell representing Australia. Non-American examples in the women&rsquo;s game include Bahamian Jonquel Jones playing for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Senegal native Astou Ndour playing for Spain.
Now, it may be long before we see Embiid actually playing for France if this process gets finalized, or less than we think if he decides not to wait for the Olympics.
The next major European basketball tournament is EuroBasket 2022, <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/eurobasket/2022">which will run from Sept. 1-18 later this year</a> across Italy, Germany, Georgia and the Czech Republic. France will be one of 24 teams competing, but seeing Embiid there would be surprising.
The 2023 FIBA World Cup, which France is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/where-things-stand-after-the-second-window-of-fiba-world-cup-qualifiers">currently attempting to qualify for</a>, will take place from Aug. 25 through Sept. 10, 2023. Qualifying for the World Cup will run through next February before the final pool of 32 teams gets decided.
And the 2024 Summer Olympics, assuming we avoid another global pandemic, is expected to actually run that summer. The host of the Games? France, who will automatically qualify for the tournament <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/pr-n34-brazils-national-teams-granted-automatic-places-at-2016-olympic-basketball-tournament" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by rule</a>. Embiid will be 30 years old by the next Olympics.
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Since Embiid is reportedly targeting the 2024 Games, let&rsquo;s look at some players who might be his teammates.
The oldest players from the silver-medal-winning squad last summer were De Colo and Batum, who&rsquo;ll be 37 and 35 by the 2024 Games, so expect many of the same players to run it back if possible. One name that could join the fray is Boston Celtics second-round pick Juhann Begarin, who is just 19 years old and was the No. 45 overall selection last summer. Isma&euml;l Kamagate and Hugo Besson, both of whom are 21, are in the 2022 NBA Draft pool; the same goes for 18-year-old Ousmane Dieng, who is quickly rising up draft boards. There's also plenty of hype surrounding fellow 18-year-old, ASVEL star and 7-foot-2 sensation Victor Wembanyama &mdash; a lock to be a high draft pick in 2023.
<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/draft">BasketballNews.com Sr. NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock</a> has Dieng going No. 21 overall, Kamagate at No. 40 and Besson at No. 51.
But really, there&rsquo;s one question we need to answer, and it has to do with a three-time Defensive Player of the Year already on the roster who holds down the 5 position. Could an Embiid and Gobert frontcourt lead France over Team USA?
If you haven&rsquo;t realized, the American pool of bigs is slighter than you think.
Many of the best centers in the NBA aren&rsquo;t American and don&rsquo;t represent America internationally. Examples include Embiid, Gobert, Nikola Jokić (Serbia), Karl-Anthony Towns (Dominican Republic), Nikola Vučević (Montenegro), Kristaps Porziņģis (Latvia), Clint Capela (Switzerland) and Jonas Valančiūnas (Lithuania).
The best centers that have represented Team USA, and/or have Team USA eligibility, have been Adebayo, Green, Jarrett Allen and JaVale McGee. Deandre Ayton (Bahamas) is a player to watch <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/nba/suns/2021/06/22/suns-big-deandre-ayton-ideal-team-usa-2024-summer-olympics-paris/5307682001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who could represent Team USA in the future</a>, along with younger bigs like Evan Mobley and Chet Holmgren.
Assuming health, so the 2024 American team could start either Adebayo, Ayton or Allen, if not 2 of the 3. Team USA is generally harder to guess in advance, but your starting lineup could look like some combination of Ja Morant, Anthony Edwards, Booker, Tatum and Adebayo. Maybe, to match size, Ayton gets in there instead of Edwards.
Maybe a Trae Young, LaMelo Ball, Bradley Beal, Jaylen Brown and Donovan Mitchell sneak into the backcourt instead. Maybe someone we&rsquo;re not projecting to make another huge leap does &mdash; like Jordan Poole, Tyler Herro or Tyrese Maxey &mdash; or maybe Jaden Ivey or Jabari Smith are more ready than we think by 2024. Even so, you&rsquo;d throw, at best, Adebayo, Ayton, Allen, and Mobley at the Embiid-Gobert combo, and that tandem could be backed up by Dieng, Yabusele, and Vincent Poirier for France.
It&rsquo;s a lot to project, no doubt, but giving <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/rankingmen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the No. 4 team in the world</a> a top-four player in the world could be what it takes for someone to snatch the gold medal away from Team USA in the Olympics for the first time since 2004.
But a lot can happen in two years, so we'll table this... for now.&nbsp;
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Bryan Fonseca looks at the potential of Joel Embiid joining France in international competition.

We’re not talking enough about Joel Embiid possibly playing for France

This past week, the Tampa Bay Pro Combine was held in Wesley Chapel, Florida, hosting 36 draft-eligible prospects, 24 of which had an opportunity to showcase their skills in front of NBA scouts. BasketballNews.com's Senior NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock also serves as executive director of the combine.
Last year, Darryl Hepburn launched the inaugural Tampa Bay Pro Combine. The event proved to be a success as we saw four participants play in the NBA in their rookie seasons: Terry Taylor (Indiana Pacers), Brandon Williams (Portland Trail Blazers), Micah Potter (Detroit Pistons) and Jordan Goodwin (Washington Wizards).
Thanks to title sponsor Florida's Sports Coast, Adam Thomas and Consuelo Sanchez, the event returned for a second year with hopes of helping more players find success as they transition from college to the pros. Last Friday, we wrapped up the event. Here is a recap of the 2022 Tampa Bay Pro Combine:
Arrival
Last year, we had nearly 50 players come to the Tampa Bay Pro Combine. However, we decided to change things this time around, bringing in a smaller group &mdash; 24 draft-eligible prospects &mdash; to participate in two days of simulated pre-draft workouts. Another big difference was that the workouts would be in front of NBA scouts and executives this year. We also welcomed 12 additional prospects to participate in some workouts and games. All in all, we had 36 players visit Tampa.&nbsp;
As we prepared our list of potential invites, we looked to put together a talented group of players with pro-potential, primarily fourth- and fifth-year seniors coming out of college who would be eligible for the 2022 NBA Draft. We targeted players from all over the country. We brought players to Tampa from various schools, including Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, Houston, Kansas State, Kentucky, Oregon, Providence, Tennessee, Texas Tech, Washington State, West Virginia and more.
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Ready to get going - Let&rsquo;s run it. 🏀🏁<a href="https://twitter.com/deemintz1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@deemintz1</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/_davwarr3n?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@_davwarr3n</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/BallForever_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BallForever_</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/fulkerson_john?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@fulkerson_john</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/AbuKigab?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AbuKigab</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/JericoleHellems?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JericoleHellems</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/Mark_Smith_13?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Mark_Smith_13</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TampaBayProCombine?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TampaBayProCombine</a> <a href="https://t.co/5z7XKUqMiS">pic.twitter.com/5z7XKUqMiS</a>
&mdash; Tampa Bay Pro Combine (@_TBPC) <a href="https://twitter.com/_TBPC/status/1518974087460184065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2022</a></blockquote>

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The players arrived throughout the day on April 25, and we arranged rides to our event hotel, the brand new Residence Inn in Wesley Chapel. We provided them with Adidas gear and had dinner before going to our rooms. A good night's sleep was in order as the next two days were important since the players would be showcasing their talents in front of NBA scouts. A lot was on the line!
NBA Sessions
The next day, April 26, NBA scouts from a wide variety of teams arrived at the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus and sat along the sideline as trainers from Yo Murphy Performance warmed up the players for our first "NBA session." Shortly after, Coach Bob MacKinnon had the players and our staff huddle up, shouting out his signature "1, 2, 3&hellip; hard work!" before we broke off for the first workout.
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That day, the first group of six players started things off right. You could feel the intensity in the gym immediately. It was clear that the players and coaches were there with a purpose. After a series of shooting drills and skill work, MacKinnon directed the group as they transitioned into competitive play, starting with 1-on-1 and finishing with 3-on-3. I don't think there is any denying that the workout was challenging and competitive. The remaining groups matched the same level of competitiveness over the two days.

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As executive director of the Tampa Bay Pro Combine, I'm responsible for inviting the players and convincing them to come. All of the young men that came to Tampa trusted me when I told them that we were putting together a platform that would help them gain exposure as they pursued their dream of playing professional basketball. Being able to contribute to helping them get closer to accomplishing their goals is beyond rewarding for me.
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Many players helped themselves those first two days, including Michael Flowers from Washington State, Noah Horchler from Providence, Nate Johnson from Xavier and Davion Warren from Texas Tech, just to name a few.
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Three-Point Shootout
After a couple of intense days working out in front of NBA teams, we put together an optional workout on April 28, which was light, and then former NBA player Shelden Williams interviewed a number of the guys throughout the day for BasketballNews.com.
In the afternoon, we gave guys plenty of time to relax, with many of them even taking advantage of Tampa's beautiful weather by lounging at the pool of the Residence Inn and enjoying the sunshine. Later that night, we had some fun. The facility hosted a local high school All-Star game and had one of our players, Taze Moore from the University of Houston, do some dunks at halftime &mdash; he put on a show!
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To finish up the night, we held a Three-Point Shootout. The participants included Jalen Adaway (St. Bonaventure), Michael Flowers (Washington State), Noah Horchler (Providence), Nate Johnson (Xavier), Davion Mintz (Kentucky), and Cole VonHandorf (Fairmont State). Mintz started hot in the first round, but it wasn't enough as Flowers ultimately won the shootout.
Double-Header
Our last session on the court was on April 29, with some 5-on-5 play. We had three-time NBA champion and current BasketballNews.com writer and podcaster James Posey and former college standout player at Arizona and South Florida Jesus Verdejo coach the teams in both games.&nbsp;
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The first game was competitive from start to finish, ultimately seeing Team 1 win over Team 2, 100-92. Davion Mintz and Davion Warren led Team 2 in scoring with 24 and 22 points, respectively. Team 1's Amadou Sow won game MVP, scoring 26 points and grabbing an impressive 12 rebounds.
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Team 3 started fast on Team 4 in the second game, leading 26-11 after the first quarter. Kalob Ledoux and Ronaldo Segu led Team 4 in scoring, with 21 and 20 points, respectively. Meanwhile, West Virginia's Malik Curry scored 24 points, earning himself MVP honors.
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Thank You, and Good Luck
To cap off the week, our title sponsor, Florida's Sports Coast, and their manager, Consuelo Sanchez, hosted our entire group at Chuck Lager in Wesley Chapel for dinner to celebrate the successful week before everyone flew back home the following day.
That's another year in the books for the Tampa Bay Pro Combine. As our players set out to make the next steps in the pre-draft process and their respective careers, I'd like to wish everyone the best and thank them for allowing us to play a small part in their journey. Thank you to all of our staff and partners who worked so hard to make this past week happen!
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BasketballNews.com's Senior NBA Draft Analyst Matt Babcock shares an outlined recap of the 2022 Tampa Bay Pro Combine.

Recapping the 2022 Tampa Bay Pro Combine

In spite of Luka Dončić only playing half of the series, the Utah Jazz have been eliminated by the Dallas Mavericks in the opening round of the NBA Playoffs, which can only mean it&rsquo;s time to blow them up!
Okay, not really... but maybe? Virtually everyone is expecting organizational changes given the team's recent underachievement in the playoffs stemming from successful regular seasons. This incarnation of the Jazz was established in 2017-18, behind then-rookie Donovan Mitchell&rsquo;s quick rise to stardom and Rudy Gobert&rsquo;s emergence as an annual Defensive Player of the Year candidate.
That season, Mitchell &mdash; filling the void left by Gordon Hayward &mdash; finished his first season as a 20-point-per-game scorer despite being picked No. 13 overall and averaging just over 14 points per game in his first 19 appearances. Gobert, even having played only 56 games, was awarded his first of now three DPOY awards.
In these five years, there have been as many playoff trips &mdash; three as the No. 5 seed (including this season), one as the No. 6 in the Orlando Bubble, and another as the top overall seed in the Western Conference last year.
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In 2017-18, the Jazz overachieved, taking down the Russell Westbrook-Paul George-Carmelo Anthony-led Oklahoma City Thunder in six games before losing to the No. 1 seed Houston Rockets in five contests.
In 2018-19, Utah lost to the Rockets again in five, this time in the first round, and Houston even led 3-0 with a +55 scoring margin before dropping Game 4.
In 2019-20, the Jazz squandered a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets, losing Game 7 in the final seconds of the opening round.
Last season &mdash; despite the Los Angeles Clippers losing Kawhi Leonard to a torn ACL (that he&rsquo;s still not back from) &mdash; the Jazz <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2yBy-EqnU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lost in six games to the Clippers</a> in the West semifinals, and Gobert was dunked on by both Terance Mann and social media in the ending.
And finally, this postseason &mdash; in a series with Dončić missing the first three games with a calf injury, in which Utah still trailed 2-1 upon his return &mdash; Utah lost on yet another last-second heartbreaker.&nbsp;
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THE PLAYOFF DROUGHT IS OVER. THE DALLAS MAVERICKS ADVANCE TO THE SECOND ROUND SINCE 2011!<a href="https://twitter.com/dallasmavs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dallasmavs</a> | 📺 BSSW | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/dALLasIN?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#dALLasIN</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBAPlayoffs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBAPlayoffs</a> <a href="https://t.co/VcWGAdSOL4">pic.twitter.com/VcWGAdSOL4</a>
&mdash; Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) <a href="https://twitter.com/BallySportsSW/status/1519896562079518727?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Given <a href="https://twitter.com/tribjazz/status/1482077811019902980">the sniping back-and-forth between Mitchell and Gobert</a>, the Jazz's inability to break through and how far behind they appear from the top teams in the West, this seems like the summer where sizeable moves will be coming.
Personally speaking, it feels like we&rsquo;re heading toward Mitchell requesting a trade and moving on, but either way, one of Mitchell or Gobert &mdash; perhaps both &mdash; may be on the move in the coming months. Our Evan Sidery <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/examining-potential-trade-destinations-for-rudy-gobert" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently looked at five trade ideas involving Gobert</a>.
Today, let's look at where Mitchell could end up, <a href="https://fanspo.com/nba/trade-machine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">using this trade machine</a>.
Mitchell is due $30.3 million next year, $32.6 million in 2023-24, $34.9 million in 2024-25, and has a player option for $37 million in 2025-26. Keep that in mind as we embark on this journey together. (Why did I sound like Professor Oak there?)
New York Knicks
Mitchell&rsquo;s father, Donovan Sr., works with the New York Mets organization. The 25-year-old Mitchell himself is a native of Elmsford, New York. Naturally, with the New York Knicks, there will be Mitchell smoke until a deal (or something else) actually happens. Because Tommy Beer already <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/expect-the-knicks-to-make-a-real-run-at-donovan-mitchell-this-summer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broke down the possibility of a Mitchell-to-New-York trade</a>, we won&rsquo;t stay here too long.
Regarding the Knicks&rsquo; actual proposal, the first look would be to RJ Barrett, who is extension eligible this summer, entering year four and making $10.9 million next year. The idea, for New York, should be to team Barrett and Mitchell together. If that&rsquo;s not possible, and the Mitchell deal were to have to get done, Barrett is your chief trade chip, along with first-round draft picks. The Knicks have all their own first-rounders as of this writing.
Usable salaries for the Knicks next year include Evan Fournier, who&rsquo;ll be at $18 million, Derrick Rose at $14.5 million, Alec Burks at $10 million, Nerlens Noel at $9.2 million and Kemba Walker at over $9.1 million. Rose, Burks and Noel all have team options for 2023-24, so they have ostensibly expiring deals. Walker&rsquo;s next season is his last under contract, and Fournier is signed through 2025, but that also includes a team option. Cam Reddish and Taj Gibson also enter the last year of their respective deals, at about $6 million and $5.1 million each, respectively.
The contract elephant in the room is Julius Randle&rsquo;s, which is a four-year, $117 million extension that begins next season at $26.1 million. It&rsquo;ll gradually increase until his player option for $32.4 million kicks in for 2025-26. The Knicks might try to move Randle instead, but what sense does that make for Utah? And if Utah isn&rsquo;t getting Barrett, would they want a package of the aforementioned veterans (say, Fournier and Burks), along with one or two of Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes, or Miles McBride (who make between $1.6 and $2.3 million next year) and picks?
It&rsquo;ll be hard to do without Barrett, and maybe Randle gets involved in a three-team deal, but the Knicks have the picks, salaries and prospects to make it work, if that&rsquo;s the route the Jazz want to go.
Detroit Pistons
The Pistons seem like a team that could be a version of this past season&rsquo;s Cleveland Cavaliers &mdash; not in terms of play style or once being a top-four team in the Eastern Conference standings necessarily, but from the standpoint of being competitive a year sooner than we think and playing meaningful games down the stretch (like one or two in the Play-In Tournament).
Given that 20 of 30 NBA teams will have games beyond the regular season, the Pistons may (should) attempt to get one of those spots.
Last year&rsquo;s No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham is <a href="https://youtu.be/I9OLPXxgYWk" target="_blank" rel="noopener">someone you can build with</a>. Saddiq Bey should be a more efficient scorer with more experience and better teammates. Most of the rest is to be determined, but Detroit can start by using Jerami Grant&rsquo;s near $21 million expiring deal next summer.
What comes next depends on what stage the Jazz want to be closer to. If this is a rebuild, you can ask for a combination of Killian Hayes and Hamidou Diallo (both of whom make over $5 million next year), for example, and Hayes has a $7.4 million team option for 2023-24. If not, Kelly Olynyk has $12.8 million coming to him next year that&rsquo;s usable. Utah can in throw in, hypothetically, Royce O&rsquo;Neale&rsquo;s $9.3 million deal next year and get Olynyk anyway.
So the player framework can look something like:
<ul>
<li>Donovan Mitchell for Jerami Grant and Kelly Olynyk</li>
<li>Donovan Mitchell for Jerami Grant, Killian Hayes and Hamidou Diallo</li>
<li>Donovan Mitchell and Royce O&rsquo;Neale for Jerami Grant, Killian Hayes, Hamidou Diallo and Kelly Olynyk plus a sh*t ton of draft picks. The Pistons would be moving something like three first-rounders in the deal, and potentially multiple first-round pick swaps.</li>
</ul>
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Miami Heat
I brought this up during <a href="https://youtu.be/XBQwn0pOAa4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BasketballNews.com's NBA Trade Deadline stream</a>.&nbsp;
The Heat didn&rsquo;t do it then, but it might still be on the table depending on how these playoffs go. The Heat might not offer the best return package because of their draft picks, but they did unlock additional firsts by moving KZ Okpala to Oklahoma City in February. And, for Miami, we&rsquo;re mainly talking about one package. But again, it depends on the results of this postseason.&nbsp;
Currently, the Heat are getting ready to face the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, a matchup they&rsquo;re favored to win (albeit narrowly). If they lose this particular series, or if they win and Tyler Herro continues to struggle in the playoffs, or even if Miami makes a deep run and Herro elevates from a slow start, he&rsquo;d be the primary chip in a Mitchell deal. Furthermore, the <a href="https://twitter.com/GregSylvander/status/1482101290964504580" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heat are on Mitchell&rsquo;s shortlist</a>, according to Greg Sylvander of Five Reasons Sports.
The deal, as I mentioned on our stream, would include Herro &mdash; who is still on a rookie-scale contract ($5.7 million next year), but is extension-eligible this summer and wouldn&rsquo;t kick-in until 2023. Then comes Duncan Robinson, who&rsquo;ll enter the second year of a five-year, $90 million deal next season, which bookends with a near $20 million player option and rises to $16.9 million next season.
According to the trade machine, Omer Yurtseven&rsquo;s $1.7 million next season makes the math work, and would give Utah a Gobert backup who&rsquo;ll, if nothing else, get you 10 rebounds in 15 minutes on occasion. Would the Heat have to throw in at least one of Gabe Vincent, Max Strus or Haywood Highsmith (all of whom make between $1.7 and $1.8 million next year)? Perhaps. And from there, Miami has tradeable first-rounders in 2022, 2024 and 2026. So, in summation, it could look like this:
<ul>
<li>Donovan Mitchell for Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson, Omer Yurtseven, one of Gabe Vincent/Max Strus/Haywood Highsmith, draft capital</li>
</ul>
But if Herro has a big playoff run moving forward, the Heat may instead opt to move Robinson in a separate, smaller deal for a worthy big man in their rotation, and mostly run it back otherwise.
Atlanta Hawks
Alright, now you saw what the Heat did to Trae Young in the first round. The Hawks clearly are not only poised to get Young some help, but make a 3-for-1-ish deal to consolidate some depth into a higher-end starter &mdash; or in the case of Mitchell, a fellow offensive starter. His teammate, Gobert, is probably the better fit, but one, I&rsquo;m not writing about Gobert (our Evan Sidery will handle that) and two, if Gobert is frustrated with Mitchell&rsquo;s defense...
But anyway, you gotta start somewhere. And for Atlanta, part of why the Heat neutralized Young is their malleability defensively, but also, the Hawks don&rsquo;t have another true star to account for on the perimeter. Mitchell would give Young a viable tag team partner offensively to spread the defensive focus. To do so, the Hawks could play this a few different ways.
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The obvious trade chip is John Collins, and there could be questions about his fit next to Gobert, but it&rsquo;s not a bad place to start if you&rsquo;re moving someone of Mitchell&rsquo;s caliber. Collins will make $23.5 million next year, and between $25.3 and $26.6 million through 2025-26. Collins has had rumored friction with Young, though they&rsquo;ve downplayed it over the years. From there, if you use Collins in a possible deal, it gets interesting.&nbsp;
De&rsquo;Andre Hunter &mdash; who makes $9.8 million next year in the last season of a rookie deal and is extension-eligible this summer &mdash; seems logical for both the Jazz to want and the Hawks to keep. Hunter was Atlanta's best player against the Heat, and has been a quality two-way wing when healthy. Is a framework of Collins and Hunter for Mitchell straight up enough of a deal for both sides? Sheeeeeiiiiit, ask them, but it sounds good to me!
<ul>
<li>Donovan Mitchell for John Collins and De'Andre Hunter</li>
</ul>
No Collins? Okay. You&rsquo;re not moving Clint Capela&rsquo;s long-term deal for Utah in a Mitchell move, so that&rsquo;s out of the picture. Kevin Huerter would absolutely have to be part of this, and no, that&rsquo;s not a white Utah joke. Hu-why would you think that?&nbsp;
Huerter begins his $65 million extension next year, the first of four, banking $14.5 million in 2022-23. Hunter probably stays in the deal because Utah has to get something really good, and the Hawks simply can&rsquo;t extend everyone. Again, Atlanta should want to keep Hunter, but this is the price of doing business. But if you&rsquo;re throwing in Huerter instead of Collins (which does work on the trade machine since different rules apply in the offseason than in-season), you&rsquo;ll need multiple first round picks &mdash; of which the Hawks have all their own &mdash; so that could get done.
Could Utah also want Onyeka Okongwu? Sure, but he seems like Atlanta's 5-man of the future, and a separate deal moving off Capela might be more likely. So the second proposal could look like this:
<ul>
<li>Donovan Mitchell for De'Andre Hunter, Kevin Huerter, draft capital</li>
</ul>
Now, the Hawks would still need to figure some things out defensively, seeing as how they&rsquo;d be led by two 6-foot-1 scorers in the backcourt. They could just became the new Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum to some extent, but <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/a-salute-to-the-defiance-of-damian-lillard-and-cj-mccollum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Portland Trail Blazers are as much to blame for that &ldquo;not working,&rdquo;</a> and the Hawks can learn from those team-building mistakes.&nbsp;
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Bryan Fonseca takes a look at four logical landing spots for Utah Jazz star guard Donovan Mitchell.

Examining potential trade desinations for Donovan Mitchell 

Toronto forward Scottie Barnes was voted NBA Rookie of the Year on Saturday, edging Cleveland's Evan Mobley in a close vote.
Barnes got 48 first-place votes and 378 points from a global panel of 100 sports writers and broadcasters. Mobley received 43 first-place votes and finished with 363 points.
The difference of 15 points was the smallest margin in the rookie category under the current voting format that began with the 2002-03 season. Players receive five points for a first-place vote, three points for a second-place vote and one point for third.
The award was announced shortly before the Raptors hosted Philadelphia in Game 4 of their first-round series, trailing 3-0. Barnes returned after missing the previous two games with a sprained left ankle.
Barnes averaged 15.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 35.4 minutes per game, starting all of the 74 games he played. He led all rookies in minutes and was third in points and rebounds.
The No. 4 draft pick after one season at Florida State joined Vince Carter (1999) and Damon Stoudamire (1995-96) as Toronto players to be voted Rookie of the Year. Barnes was&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/Raptors/status/1517922023137288192?s=20&amp;t=Px1mLbJvuL2tbI38-9_c4A">informed he had won by Carter</a>&nbsp;during a video appearance at practice.
Barnes helped engineer a turnaround in Toronto, where the Raptors went 48-34 after finishing 27-45 last season. He was the only rookie to rank in the top five in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.
&ldquo;What you see on the court is exactly who Scottie is: enthusiastic. Joyful. Athletic. Skilled, and a winner," Raptors President Masai Ujiri said in a statement. "We &ndash; and our fans - loved seeing his development through this season, and we can&rsquo;t wait to see what the future brings.&rdquo;
Mobley, taken one pick before Barnes, helped spark a similar turnaround in Cleveland. The forward averaged 15 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks as the Cavaliers fell just shy of returning to the postseason for the first time since LeBron James left in 2018.
Detroit's Cade Cunningham, the No. 1 pick in the draft, finished third.

Scottie Barnes has been announced as the recipient of the 2021-22 NBA Rookie of the Year award.

Scottie Barnes wins NBA's Rookie of the Year award

Grayson Allen made five 3-pointers and scored 22 points and the Milwaukee Bucks dominated the Chicago Bulls 111-81 on Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series without the injured Khris Middleton.
Giannis Antetokounmpo added 18 points, Bobby Portis had 18 points and 16 rebounds and the defending champion Bucks made it look easy coming off two shaky performances at home.
Coming off two shaky performances at home, Milwaukee quieted a raucous crowd watching Chicago&rsquo;s first playoff game at the United Center in five years almost as soon as it started. The Bucks led by 24 in the second quarter and remained in control the rest of the way.
Middleton is expected to miss the rest of the series after spraining his left knee in Wednesday night in a loss. Game 4 is Sunday in Chicago.
Antetokounmpo scored all but two of his points after the first quarter. The two-time MVP finished with nine assists and seven rebounds.
Jrue Holiday added 16 points to help the Bucks beat the Bulls for the 18th time in 20 games.
Nikola Vucevic led Chicago with 19 points. Zach LaVine had 15 and DeMar DeRozan finished with just 11 after setting a career playoff high with 41 in Game 2.
The Bucks had it going right from the start, racing out to a 60-41 halftime lead even with Middleton sidelined.
Allen helped squash the &ldquo;Let's go Bulls!&rdquo; chants, nailing four 3s and scoring 14 in the half. That had to make it even tougher for fans still upset about his hard foul that resulted in a broken wrist for Alex Caruso during a game in Milwaukee in January. They showered him with boos but couldn't throw him off his game.
Antetokounmpo started a 13-0 run early in the second quarter with a 19-footer and dunk. And Allen finished it with a driving layup that bumped the lead to 46-22.
TIP-INS
Bucks: Portis wore goggles after missing most of Game 2 with a right eye abrasion. He took a hit to the face from Chicago&rsquo;s Tristan Thompson late in the first quarter Wednesday as both players were going after a rebound. ... G George Hill (abdominal strain) missed his fourth game in a row. And coach Mike Budenholzer said he doesn't appear close to returning. ... Milwaukee has won 12 of 13 at the United Center dating to the 2016-17 season
Bulls: The Bulls have not won a home playoff game since beating Cleveland in Game 3 of the 2015 Eastern Conference semifinals. Chicago lost that series in six games. ... Assistant coaches Chris Fleming and Damian Cotter were back with the team after missing the first two games because of COVID-19. Assistant Maurice Cheeks, however, was out because of a non-COVID illness, coach Billy Donovan said.

Grayson Allen's 5 three-pointers led the charge for Milwaukee in a redemptive Game 3 win over the Chicago Bulls.

Bucks rout Bulls 111-81, take 2-1 lead without Khris Middleton

It's not uncommon for high-profile athletes in New York to experience ups and downs throughout their careers. Yet, in just the three seasons Julius Randle has spent as a Knick, he's endured nearly unprecedented swings, from extreme lows to intense highs and everything in-between...
After making the difficult decision to trade away Kristaps Porzingis in February 2019, the Knicks inked Randle to a three-year, $63 million deal the following summer, hoping Randle could carry the team offensively and help them return to respectability.
However, Randle struggled to handle the bright lights of Broadway during his first year in NYC. After averaging over 21 points per game on 52.4% shooting during his sole season in New Orleans, Randle's scoring average dipped to 19.5 points per game on 46.0% shooting in 2019-20. And while his overall counting stats were solid (19/10/3), his inefficiency and defensive lapses contributed to the Knicks' putrid 21-45 record.
In an article he <a href="https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/reputation-julius-randle-new-york-knicks-basketball-nba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">penned for the Players Tribune</a>, Randle acknowledged that he wasn't quite prepared for the pressures that came along with being the top dog in the Big Apple.
"To be honest, I don't think I realized everything that goes into being a No. 1 option in the NBA," Randle <a href="https://www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/reputation-julius-randle-new-york-knicks-basketball-nba" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a>. "Another problem, looking back, is that I think I was so focused on proving myself as a No. 1 option, that I lost sight of some of my other responsibilities to the team."
Randle added: "I know you only get one chance to make a first impression in a city &mdash; and I was so disappointed in myself for how that first season in New York had gone."
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Well, his second impression was incredible.&nbsp;
Randle wasn't just good during his second season in NYC; he authored one of the finest all-around seasons in Knicks franchise history.
The winner of the NBA's Most Improved Player, Randle finished the 2020-21 campaign averaging 24.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 6.0 assists per game, ranking in the top-20 in all three statistical categories. Prior that that, the only other players in NBA history to average at least 24 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists over an entire season were Wilt Chamberlain, Nikola Jokić, Larry Bird, Russell Westbrook and Oscar Robertson.
Randle also averaged 2.3 made three-pointers and 0.9 steals while shooting 45.6% from the floor, 41.1% from downtown and 81.1% from the free-throw line. According to Basketball-Reference, Randle was just the second player ever to average more than 10 rebounds and 5 assists while shooting over 40% from three-point territory and over 80% from the charity stripe. (The only other player in this exclusive club is Bird, who posted those numbers in 1984-85 en route to winning the Most Valuable Player award.)
Knicks fans inside MSG would serenade Randle with boisterous "MVP" chants nearly every time he stepped to the free-throw line over the last two months of the season.&nbsp;
Randle would finish eighth in MVP voting and be named to the All-NBA Second Team alongside Chris Paul, Damian Lillard, Joel Embiid and LeBron James.&nbsp;
Last summer, fresh off his career year, the Knicks inked Randle to a four-year contract extension worth up to $117 million.
Consequently, expectations were sky-high for Randle and his Knicks entering the 2021-22 campaign...
As we know, New York instead finished the year with a disappointing 37-45 record, failing to qualify for the playoffs for the ninth time in the last 10 years.
While Randle's counting stats were once again solid, his offensive inefficiency and porous defense were crippling. After shooting 41.5% on mid-range jumpers in 2020-21, he converted just 33.3% of his mid-rangers this past season. Of the 66 players who attempted more than 500 jump shots this past season, Randle was the least efficient. Every other player in the league who attempted more than three such shots per game converted over 35% &mdash; except for Randle.
Randle also struggled from long distance. After shooting over 41% from behind the three-point arc in 2020-21, that percentage tumbled all the way down to below 31% in 2021-22.
To put Randle's inefficiency in context, consider this: In 2021-22, Randle became the first and only player in NBA history to attempt more than 300 three-pointers and 300 free throws, yet shot below 42% from the floor, below 31% from downtown and below 76% from the charity stripe.
Oh, and his assist average decreased (from 6.0 to 5.1) while committing a career-high 245 turnovers.
Yet, if only his subpar production were an issue, the Knicks front office &mdash; led by team president Leon Rose &mdash; might be far more comfortable bringing Randle back in 2022-23 and hoping he can rebound from a rough year.
However, there are a number of concerns that complicate the situation.&nbsp;
The relationship between the burly power forward and Knicks fans turned toxic at various points over the past six months. During a home game against the Boston Celtics in early January, some New York fans inside Madison Square Garden booed Randle and his teammates after the Knicks fell behind by 25 points. Randle aimed a thumbs-down gesture at the crowd at one point in the fourth quarter. He acknowledged the gesture was directed at the fans after the game (which included a miraculous Knicks comeback, capped by RJ Barrett sinking a miraculous buzzer-beater).
When asked by reporters what it was for, Randle <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/01/06/julius-randle-gives-knicks-fans-thumbs-down-shut-the-f-k-up/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">replied</a>: "To shut the f&ndash;k up."
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Unsurprisingly, the relationship remained rocky the rest of the way. As New York piled up losses and Randle continued to miss shots he had made a year earlier, the crowd continued to get on the team's highest-paid player. Making matters worse, <a href="https://tommybeer.substack.com/p/thibs-needs-to-send-a-strong-message?s=w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Randle's lack of effort</a>, especially on the <a href="https://tommybeer.substack.com/p/thibs-needs-to-send-a-strong-message?s=w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defensive end</a>, drew the intense ire of the fan base.
Poor shooting or effort errors (such as giving up an easy bucket because you close out too hard) are frustrating but forgivable. However, New Yorkers won't tolerate consistently failing to box out or hustle back on defense. And, for long stretches this winter, Randle was guilty of such offenses.&nbsp;
Last month, <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/03/29/julius-randle-could-be-forcing-way-off-knicks-in-james-harden-type-of-way/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marc Berman of the New York Post reported</a> that people around the league felt Randle was "acting in a 'James Harden type of way' that suggests he wants a new place of work next season."
Berman <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/03/29/julius-randle-could-be-forcing-way-off-knicks-in-james-harden-type-of-way/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a> that "some NBA sources believe the Knicks will shop Randle for a package revolving around a center if they lose Mitchell Robinson."
Randle has said publicly he wants to remain in New York, but has also stated that his wife and young son were forced to leave their courtside seats at some home games this season due to unwelcome comments from the crowd. Being traded to a new franchise could allow Randle to start fresh and hopefully re-establish himself as an All-Star.
The best resolution for both the player and the team may be parting ways this summer.&nbsp;
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://cdn.basketballnews.com/images/story/body/usatsi_17643895-1_lg.jpg" alt="" width="585" height="390" />
From the Knicks' perspective, trading away an All-Star less than a year after you ink him to a max extension is never ideal. The front office hoped Randle would be a foundational cornerstone for the remainder of his prime. However, New York must acknowledge that this past season was a mess in more ways than one.&nbsp;
Interestingly, one bright spot over the second half of the season was the awe-inspiring play of Obi Toppin. When a sore quad sidelined Randle in late March, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft stepped in and most definitely stepped up. Fans who had been begging for Toppin to see more minutes finally got their wish.
Toppin started each of the Knicks' final five games and averaged 27.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.8 made three-pointers, 2.8 assists and 1.0 blocks. He shot over 55% from the floor, over 46% from downtown and over 86% from the charity stripe. He was one of just seven players to average more than 27 points and 6 boards per game in April. The other six were Jokic, Embiid, LeBron, Luka Doncic, Pascal Siakam and Kevin Durant. (And of this group, Toppin and Doncic were the only players to knock down more than three treys a night.)
While it's foolish to make too much out of relatively meaningless games late in any season, it's impossible to watch Toppin and not recognize he possesses tantalizing upside. And remember, this is the same dude who was named the NCAA National Player of the Year in 2020 due to his dominant play at Dayton, where he averaged 20.0 points to go along with 7.5 rebounds while shooting a scorching 63.3% percent from the field and 39.0% from behind the arc.&nbsp;
Toppin will be due for a contract extension of his own soon, and the Knicks need to determine if he is worth a hefty investment. Trading Randle would open a spot in the starting lineup for Toppin, who is closer in age to the Knicks' young core of Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes, etc.
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The issue for New York is that it would have to "sell low" on Randle relative to where his league-wide value was just six months ago. Would the Knicks be content to trade him away if they would only be able recoup around 70 cents on the dollar? On the other hand, would another team be willing to trade for the $100+ million remaining on Randle's contract?
My guess is that the all-around skill set Randle showcased in 2020-21 will be more than enough to entice a few general managers.
Keep in mind that even in a "down year" in 2021-22, Randle averaged 20.1 points, 9.9 boards and 5.1 dimes. The only players to exceed those numbers in each category this season were Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo. In addition, although Randle's contract is certainly not a bargain, it's not an albatross by any means &mdash; even with its 15% trade kicker.&nbsp;
More than 50 players in the league will earn more than Randle next season. A contract averaging around $26 million a year is reasonable for a player with Randle's immense talent and proven durability (he's appeared in 207 of a possible 222 games over the last four seasons).&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
Also, the fact that Randle is under team control for at least three more years (he has a player option for 2025-26) would appeal to several teams, especially small-market clubs.&nbsp;
Furthermore, there are always other GMs looking to move their own high-priced players due to positional log jams or salary constraints.
For instance, <a href="https://theathletic.com/3243084/2022/04/11/whats-next-for-lakers-notes-on-nick-nurse-russell-westbrook-and-more/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">multiple</a> league insiders have <a href="https://marcstein.substack.com/p/indiana-intrigue?s=r" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the Indiana Pacers are "open to trade conversations around Malcolm Brogdon and Buddy Hield this offseason." Brogdon, whose name has been bandied about in trade rumors since Indiana acquired Tyrese Haliburton in February, has three years left on his deal. He and Randle have nearly identical salaries for next season, meaning they could be swapped straight up for each other.&nbsp;
With the Knicks still in desperate need of a point guard, which side would say no to a potential Brogdon-Randle deal?
It's also worth noting that <a href="https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10032521-who-will-lead-lamelo-ball-and-promising-hornets-into-their-prime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report</a> recently reported Charlotte Hornets forward Gordon Hayward is "interested in a change of scenery this offseason." A swap sending Kemba Walker, who is still beloved in Charlotte, and Randle to the Hornets in exchange for Hayward works under the cap. Would Charlotte be willing to include draft capital to get a deal done?
We know the Los Angeles Lakers would love to rid themselves of Russell Westbrook, who has just one year left on his current contract. And if we're thinking outside the box, would the Knicks be willing to consider a reunion with Kristaps Porzings?
The point is, if New York is genuinely willing to make Randle available, the franchise will have plenty of interested parties, which could make for a very interesting offseason.&nbsp;
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Tommy Beer analyzes what went awry for Julius Randle in his third season with the Knicks and ponders options for both parties.

Julius Randle and the Knicks should part ways this summer

Following last year's inaugural Tampa Bay Pro Combine, several participants &mdash; including Terry Taylor, Brandon Williams, Micah Potter and Jordan Goodwin &mdash; turned their dreams into reality by signing deals and playing in the NBA in their rookie season.
Now, the Tampa Bay Pro Combine is <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/tampa-bay-pro-combine-returns-with-24-nba-draft-prospects" target="_blank" rel="noopener">back for another year</a>, and our new group of participants is looking to find the same level of success. The TBPC will be held from April 26 to April 29 at Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus in Wesley Chapel, Florida.
We are providing 24 draft-eligible prospects an opportunity to audition in front of NBA scouts, compete in a slam-dunk contest and three-point shootout on April 28, and play in a doubleheader on April 29.
NBA scouts and personnel will be allowed to attend workouts on April 26 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST and April 27 from 9:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. EST.
Here is the list of participants:
Alex Barcello, BYU
Evan Battey, Colorado
Luka Brajkovic, Davidson
Savion Flagg, Sam Houston State
Michael Flowers, Washington State
John Fulkerson, Tennessee
John Harrar, Penn State
Noah Horchler, Providence
Nate Johnson, Xavier
Abu Kigab, Boise State
Kimani Lawrence, Arizona State
Kalob Ledoux, Santa Cruz Warriors
Davion Mintz, Kentucky
Taze Moore, Houston
Justyn Mutts, Virginia Tech
Tyler Polley, UConn
Taz Sherman, West Virginia
Jaylen Sims, UNC Wilmington
Mark Smith, Kansas State
Amadou Sow, UC Santa Barbara
Au'Diese Toney, Arkansas
Davion Warren, Texas Tech
Marcus Weathers, SMU
Jacob Young, Oregon
In addition to the 24 invitees, we will also be welcoming 12 additional draft-eligible prospects who will participate in workouts and games. Our video partner, <a href="https://event.veo.co/">Veo</a>, will record the action and distribute it via BasketballNews.com's YouTube channel, and <a href="https://instatsport.com/basketball">InStat</a> will also provide video and data from the event.
The 2022 Tampa Bay Pro Combine is presented by Florida's Sports Coast.

The 2022 Tampa Bay Pro Combine will be held from April 26 to April 29 at Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus in Wesley Chapel, Florida.

2022 Tampa Bay Pro Combine announces list of participants

MILWAUKEE (AP) &mdash; Giannis Antetokounmpo had 27 points and 16 rebounds, and the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks recovered after blowing a 16-point lead to beat the Chicago Bulls 93-86 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series Sunday.
Jrue Holiday sank a go-ahead 3-pointer with 5:03 left as part of an 8-0 run that gave the Bucks an 85-78 edge. The Bulls got the margin down to one but could never regain the lead, as Zach LaVine missed a potential tying 3-pointer from nearly 30 feet away with 29 seconds left.
The Bucks have won 17 of their last 18 meetings with the Bulls, including all five matchups this season. The Bulls&rsquo; lone victory during this stretch came in the 2020-21 regular-season finale when the Bucks rested all their starters.
Milwaukee kept that pattern going Sunday by holding Chicago to the lowest single-game point total of any Bucks opponent this season. But the Bucks also continued their habit of struggling in opening games of series.
The Bucks won last year&rsquo;s title despite dropping Game 1 in three of their four series. They had lost the opening game in five of their last six playoff series before Sunday, the exception coming when Khris Middleton hit a 3-pointer in the final second of overtime against the Miami Heat last season.
Brook Lopez scored 18 points, Holiday had 15, Khris Middleton had 11 and Bobby Portis added 10. Portis also had 12 rebounds.
Nikola Vucevic had 24 points and 17 rebounds for the Bulls, making their first playoff appearance in five years. LaVine had 18 points and 10 rebounds. DeMar DeRozan had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists.
After the Bucks grabbed an early 32-16 lead and threatened to put this game out of reach early, the Bulls chipped away and finally pulled ahead by scoring 13 straight points late in the third quarter. Coby White scored the last five points of the run, including a 3-pointer that gave the Bulls their first lead at 67-64 with 3:11 left in the third.
White&rsquo;s layup made it 69-64, but the Bucks ended the third quarter with a 10-2 spurt to pull back ahead.
Vucevic&rsquo;s inside basket put Chicago back ahead 78-77 with 5:56 left. The Bucks regained the lead on Holiday&rsquo;s 3-pointer, which was just Milwaukee&rsquo;s second basket of the fourth quarter.
Lopez made it 83-78 with 4:34 left by converting a three-point play for his first points since the opening period. Holiday capped the 8-0 run by sinking a jumper with 3:58 remaining.
The Bulls cut the lead to 87-86 on Alex Caruso's layup with 1:36 left, but they wouldn&rsquo;t score again.
GOING BACK TO CHICAGO
With the two cities separated by only about 90 miles, the Bulls are heading back to Chicago after Game 1 before returning to Milwaukee for Wednesday&rsquo;s Game 2.
&ldquo;If we would have had to play Sunday-Tuesday, I think we would have definitely stayed here,&rdquo; Bulls coach Billy Donovan said before the game. &ldquo;But I think because we have two days, we have a chance to get home at a decent time, those guys can sleep in their own bed, practice tomorrow, practice Tuesday and then come back up.&rdquo;
TIP-INS
Bulls: Caruso was in the starting lineup. Caruso had started just 18 of the 41 regular-season games he played. ... The Bulls were missing assistant coaches Chris Fleming and Damian Cotter, who had tested positive for COVID-19. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re still in protocols right now with the league,&rdquo; Donovan said before the game. Donovan added that &ldquo;they have never really been in a situation where either one of them has felt bad at all, so that&rsquo;s been a positive.&rdquo;
Bucks: Reserve guard George Hill (abdominal strain) and reserve forward Jordan Nwora (back soreness) were unavailable for Sunday's game. Hill also was held out of the Bucks&rsquo; regular-season finale. ... This is the Bucks&rsquo; sixth straight playoff appearance, which matches their second-longest such streak. They reached the postseason 12 straight times from 1980-91.
UP NEXT
Game 2 is Wednesday in Milwaukee.

Giannis Antetokounmpo battled foul trouble to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a Game 1 win over the Chicago Bulls.