SH Blog: Melo ponders playing for Tom Thibodeau

Next time I write a blog for Sheridan Hoops, barring unforeseen circumstances, it’ll be the first day of the playoffs. This is what the whole season has been building towards, and it’s always a fun time. Every year has one of those “where were you when” moments. In 2012, I was mowing the lawn when Derrick Rose tore his ACL when he should have been on the bench, and I was debating whether or not to stay for the last set of a weekend-long music festival when the Heat won the title.

In 2013, I managed to actually be in front of the TV for the big moments, including my fellow Calvert Hall College alum Gary Neal going off in the Finals, and Steph Curry and the Warriors knocking off the Nuggets and kickstarting the Great Denver Exodus.

This year could be just as memorable. The Heat will be gunning for a threepeat, the West will be insane, and the Raptors, Wizards and Bobcats will be there. They might even win a few games. The Knicks, Celtics and Lakers, on the other hand, will be sitting at home. Internet points to anyone who can figure out when the last time that happened was.

Now let’s get to the latest news from around the NBA:

HOW DOES PAT RILEY DO IT?

Dan Le Batard of ESPN.com and the Miami Herald (click through for the whole piece, it’s lengthy and outstanding):

A lot of teams talk about how they are family. Aspire to it. As if saying it makes it so. But very few live it the way this Miami organization does. Sometimes, you pretend to be a family when things are good, giving Stephen A. Smith an interview as a team because you want to speak in one star-less voice, but then adversity strikes for the first time, and the biggest guy in your locker room is calling everyone else selfish.

The Heat sold family to James the first time they visited him, and have spent all the days since proving it so. So Jackson can only sell/imagine/promise what Riley has already and actually delivered — what James has already seen grow with his own eyes and felt grow with his own heart. Jackson can talk of possibility, but Riley can counter with proof.

And, no, this isn’t about just championships. Championships are at the center of it, sure, a validation of a vision, but only part of the portrait. Look around James. Widen your view beyond what now shines on his fingers, as babies are born and marriages are started and funerals are attended and birthdays are celebrated … and men and friendships grow together though life’s biggest moments.

What got lost in James’ recruitment four years ago, as the splashy Riley literally placed all his championship rings on the table, is what was being sold everywhere else in that same room. The people surrounding James? Sent to represent and introduce him to the Heat way?

There was Mourning, now a team executive, whose journey from All-Star-to-kidney-illness-to-champion-to-Hall-Of-Famer unfolded at Riley’s side, in sickness and in health.

There was Eric (sic) Spoelstra, who rose from Riley’s knee as video coordinator to the coaching job everyone in the sport would covet.

There was Andy Elisburg, who began as an intern when the team was born in 1988 and is now Riley’s general manager.

And there was the father-son team of Micky and Nick Arison, who quietly feed the Riley As Closer legend from the shadows because it is good for their family business.

MELO WONDERS WHAT PLAYING FOR THIBODEAU IS LIKE

Frank Isola of the New York Daily News:

Carmelo Anthony recently approached a former Chicago Bulls player and asked a loaded question that should make Phil Jackson a little nervous.

“What is it like to play for Thibs?” Anthony said.

Anthony’s interest in Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau can be taken one of several ways. Anthony, who lives and breathes basketball, is merely interested in learning something about one of the NBA’s top coaches. In fact, Anthony will be working with Thibodeau, who was named to USA Basketball’s coaching staff last June.

Of course, Anthony’s impromptu background check on Thibodeau could also be his idea of due diligence since the Bulls loom as an attractive option this summer for the free-agent-to-be.

The Bulls are emerging as one of several teams, along with the Lakers and Rockets, who are expected to pursue Anthony if and when he opts out of his contract on July 1. The Knicks can still offer Anthony the most money, and Jackson, the new Knicks president, is intent on re-signing the All-Star forward.

But with the Knicks getting eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday night by virtue of Atlanta beating Miami, Anthony, now in his 11th season, is well-aware that the clock is ticking on his career. He won’t be in the playoffs for the first time and knows the Knicks won’t have cap space until next summer.

WHAT IS RICKY RUBIO WORTH?

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune looks at the possible futures of three key Timberwolves: Rubio, Kevin Love, and coach Rick Adelman:

The Wolves can negotiate a contract extension starting July 1 and they will make it a priority during a window that lasts through October. But this one could get complicated.

If former Wolves boss David Kahn insisted Love take a four-year deal so he could save his one five-year maximum “designated player” slot for Rubio, well, the third-year point guard hasn’t played nearly well enough to deserve it, even if he is finishing the season with a flourish.

Look for the Wolves to position themselves offering something less than the four-year, $44 million deal Stephen Curry signed or certainly the four-year, $48 million contract Ty Lawson received.

Both sides want a deal done, but the disparity between what each thinks Rubio is worth could create a situation similar to those involving Utah’s Gordon Hayward, Phoenix’s Eric Bledsoe and Detroit’s Greg Monroe. All three didn’t sign extensions last fall and this summer will test the restricted free-agent market. Their current teams will have the right to match any offer.