- At this point, Houston is definitely the frontrunner for Dwight Howard. He's leaning toward the Rockets, but we'll see what happens in July.
@AlexKennedyNBAAlex Kennedy - For more on the possibility of Dwight going to Houston, let’s turn to Deepi Sidhu of Sports Radio 610 in Houston, who spoke with Jeff Van Gundy recently: “Van Gundy, a self-proclaimed Houston enthusiast, definitely sees the draw for Howard to play for the Rockets’ organization. “Houston is an enticing place. One, to live, financially it’s enticing. The team is extremely well-managed with (owner) Les (Alexander) and (general manager) Daryl (Morey) doing a tremendous job and then I think they are very well-coached,” said Van Gundy. “I think when you look at everything from a player’s perspective that may enter into it, Houston hits everything a player would want. You’re inserting Howard for, I suspect, (Omer) Asik and I think to consider it you’d have to consider obviously trading him and what you could get for Asik but Dwight is a heck of a player.” “
And in case you forgot, the other Van Gundy, Stan, reminds us that Dwight is still head and shoulders (figuratively) above every center in the league, including Roy Hibbert, who is having a star-making postseason. Eric Pincus of the LA Times writes: “Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert has been a force as his team battles the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. Former Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy went on radio Thursday to remind listeners that Dwight Howard is a better center than Hibbert. “Come on, that one’s not close,” said Van Gundy on Open Mike with Mike Bianchi on am740 the Game, “You could put that question to 30 general managers in the league — and give them the choice — and Indiana, out of loyalty, might take Hibbert although I would doubt it. The other 29 would not even hesitate. Everybody’s taking Dwight.” “- Tony Mitchell hasn’t played to his ability yet, but as NBA.com’s Scott Howard-Cooper writes, someone will want the former North Texas player in the draft: “This is the part where Tony Mitchell puts his mind on display. His physical gifts have never been in doubt. Physical gifts are why Mitchell began his sophomore season at North Texas as a lottery possibility and are now the reason he still has a good shot at the first round of the Draft — despite his best efforts at playing his way out of guaranteed money. “He’s the best athlete here,” is how one general manager described Mitchell at the Chicago pre-Draft combine a couple weeks ago, a gathering of most of the top prospects. “It’s not even close. He’s a freak of nature.” Now Mitchell, given the chance to pass blame the way a lot of prospects would have, has decided to go with honesty. The effort last season? Lacking. Understanding that NBA teams are skeptical after the 2012-13 showing? Absolutely. Admitting it could force him down into the second round? Even that.”
Chris Mannix of SI.com has an excellent breakdown of the top international draft prospects. Here’s the section on Dario Saric: “While draft boards across the league will fluctuate wildly over the next few weeks, many agree on this: Saric is the most talented international import. An Eastern Conference executive described Saric as “skilled beyond his years”; a Western Conference talent evaluator said Saric is “the best passing big man in the draft”; and several personnel men cited his diverse offensive repertoire as proof that the 19-year-old Saric will be able to play right away. Perhaps more important, Saric has the drive to get better. “He’s a workaholic,” a scout said. “He lives in the gym. With his basketball IQ, you’re talking about a kid with All-Star potential.” “- More on Saric, this time from Wendell Maxey of Ridiculous Upside: “While reports have surfaced that the Dallas Mavericks are interested in adding Saric to the mix, it’s still unclear of Saric will be able to attend individual workouts with teams as he’s in the thick of the finals in Croatia and then heads straight into training with the U-19 team. Mavs GM Donnie Nelson was able to attend one of Saric’s games at the end of the regular season so Dallas is certainly familiar with what Saric can do. But will he remain in the draft long enough for the Mavs to make Saric theirs? He has said before that unless he is a lottery pick, he would not remain in the draft (June 17 is the early withdraw deadline), which makes you wonder what kind of promises Saric is really receiving as the NBA Draft draws near. If Saric opts to wait and decides to re-enter his name in the 2014 NBA Draft instead, he’s looking at facing the potential of a stronger draft class. He’s also risking another year overseas and the tough spot of placing himself in compromising positions.”
- Mavericks continuing to shop the No. 13 pick to preserve cap space for this summer. Several execs say they are not asking for much, either
@ChrisMannixSIChris Mannix - The draft is rapidly approaching and still nobody is sure who the #1 pick will be. Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio writes that maybe even the Cavs don’t know: “While the Cavs and other teams think Noel will turn into a presence in the NBA, they don’t necessarily think he’ll become anything close to a physical specimen. Noel is just 19 years old and played less than one full season as a freshman at Kentucky. But there’s no getting around the fact he weighs just 206 pounds. Along with his weight, the Cavs seem to be concerned with Noel’s knee, and if true, understandably so. Early projections have him returning to the court in December, but according to sources, the Cavs think that’s a bit optimistic. February or March may be more likely. So the bottom line on Noel and the No. 1 pick as of today: When Cavs general manager Chris Grant said the top spot in the draft was wide open, he wasn’t just blowing smoke. It appears the Cavs still aren’t sold on any one individual just yet.”
- Fascinating story from Daniel Brown of the San Jose Mercury-News on Stanford student Muthu Alagappan’s revolutionary analysis: “Two years ago, Alagappan was an intern at Ayasdi, a Palo Alto-based startup company, using the company’s proprietary software to tackle complex problems such as cancer research and accelerated drug discovery. On a lark, he asked his boss if he could see what the software would do with basketball stats. Within an hour, the program spit out clusters of color-coded notes that Alagappan now calls “the true positions of the NBA.” His discovery has opened up a whole new basketball debate — a Pandora’s Box-and-One, if you will. Alagappan argues that basketball’s traditional five positions are as outmoded as James Naismith’s peach basket, insisting instead that there are at least 10 distinct positions. And he has the topological data analysis to prove it. “The positions are kind of the alphabet by which everything around basketball revolves,” Alagappan said. “If we can redefine the alphabet in terms of these 10 or 13 positions, then we can hopefully change all of the strategy that the game is built on.” “
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Dan Malone just finished his third year as a journalism student at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He blogs, edits and learns things on the fly for Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on Twitter.
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If bird comes back it’s to Indiana