- The Washington Wizards have a conflict of schedule at home should their series against the Indiana Pacers go to a Game 6, from Michael Lee of Washington Post: “The dates for the seven-game series have already been set, but if the series extends to six games, the Wizards would have a scheduling problem on May 15 because of a Lady Gaga concert that is already booked for that night. The Wizards released a statement on Saturday night that read, “We are aware of the potential conflict and are working with the promoter in the event Game 6 is necessary, more information will be released when it becomes available.”
Jeremy Lin had another up and down season and explained what it stemmed from and how he could become more consistent, from Jason Friedman of Rockets.com: ““It was an up and down year,” Lin said. “A lot of good things and a lot of bad things. A lot of adjusting. I would go through stretches where I’d play about 35, 40 minutes consistently and then back down to 15-to-20 – just a lot of up and down. One thing I want to work on is just being able to be more even-keeled throughout the course of a season. A player I want to look more at is (Manu) Ginobili and what he’s done. Maybe not so much his game because we’re very different, but his approach in terms of coming off the bench and what that looks like and how to be effective every night and how to maintain a consistent level of aggression.”
- Lin also addressed the possibility of getting traded: ““I’m human, I definitely wonder about it,” he conceded. “But next year will be my fifth season. My first year and a half I dealt with my name being surrounded with getting cut and things like that, and from then on it was with my name being surrounded with trades. I’d much rather take the second than the first so I’m not really too worried about it. Whatever happens, it’s all in God’s hands and I understand it’s all part of the business, and there’s going to be a lot of names and a lot of rumors, but most of them don’t come true.”
- For resurrecting his team from the dead after Rudy Gay trade, Dwane Casey has quickly been rewarded, from Doug Smith of The Toronto Star: “Raptors have agreement in principle with Dwane Casey on a three-year deal, according to sources.”
Deron Williams says his ankle is good to go and paid some compliments to Mario Chalmers, from Youngmisuk of ESPN NY: “I got an injection right after the game,” Williams said at the team’s hotel in downtown Miami. “Kind of knocked all the swelling out of it. I’ll be ready to go.”… “Rio [Mario Chalmers] doesn’t have to do as much for Miami [compared to Lowry for Toronto],” said Williams, who averaged 16.9 points and 5.6 assists against the Raptors. “But if you look at the runs they’ve had the last few years, [Chalmers] has always been instrumental with runs. “He’s one of those guys, when the playoffs start, when the bright lines turn on, he’s at his best. He hits big shots. You want to try and help off of him, but you really can’t. … We don’t want, of course, LeBron [James] or Dwyane [Wade] going crazy or Chris [Bosh] going crazy, but you can’t let another guy go crazy — and he’s one of those guys that can definitely do that.”
- Not that this makes any difference because everyone knows it’s true, but LeBron James said Kevin Durant deserves to be the MVP of this season, from The AP: “LeBron James of the Miami Heat says Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant would be a deserving winner of the NBA’s Kia MVP award. It’s expected that Durant will be announced as this season’s MVP later this week. James has lauded Durant’s play this season several times in recent weeks, doing so again on Monday. James says: “Much respect to him and he deserves it. He had a big-time MVP season.” James is a four-time winner of the league’s MVP award, taking the honor in each of the previous two seasons.”
- Mike Woodson wants to coach again, from Ian Begley of ESPN NY: “Since he was let go as coach of the New York Knicks, Mike Woodson has been working as an analyst for NBA TV and putting together some of the final details for his Coach Woodson Invitational, a three-day golf outing in Las Vegas to benefit the Nations of Coaches program. But he has also been focused on something else. “Keeping my eyes on coaching,” Woodson said during a phone interview to promote his golf tournament. “I want to get back into coaching. So that’s my next move. So we’ll see what happens. … That’s a big goal. That’s what I’m going to push to do, absolutely.” Woodson did not delve into specifics when talking about his next move. He also politely declined to talk about the Knicks.”
Daryl Morey admits that he is very disappointed with how things ended and doesn’t think the Rockets are “there” quite yet, from Feigen of Houston Chronicle: “Very disappointing we weren’t able to advance. We continued growing as a team, getting more experience. I felt the West this year, really anybody could win it. That makes it sting a little more. That said, we took a big leap forward. I think we can take a big step forward again next year and put ourselves in even better position and with a better team. Obviously, there is a lot of work for myself, for the players, for everybody, to win the West.” Q: Did you learn anything about your team that you didn’t know? A: “We’re not there. Yet. We were competitive in this series. Very evenly matched teams. But if we’re going to win the title, we’re going to have to win four tough series. To win four tough series, you have to be able to have leads going to the final minutes. You have to be up more. You can’t have it come down to a shot this way or that way. Or a loose ball. We just have to get better if we’re going to make it all the way like we want to.”
Steve Kerr explained why he voted Tim Hardaway Jr. for the Rookie of the Year award, from Marc Berman of NY Post: “I base all my votes in every category on players impacting games that matter,” Kerr told The Post. “[Michael] Carter-Williams and [Victor] Oladipo played well, but for teams that were way out of the playoff race all year. Hardaway played important minutes for a team that went down to the wire in the playoff race. Rookie of the Year and All-Rookie teams were the most difficult votes for me this year due to so few rookies impacting winning teams.”
- Speaking of Kerr, he may come to a conclusion on whether to accept the coaching job of the New York Knicks by this week, from Begley of ESPN: “It has been about 10 days since Phil Jackson publicly acknowledged that Steve Kerr is a candidate to coach the New York Knicks. And it seems like we could be entering the home stretch of the Jackson-Kerr courtship this week. Kerr worked as an analyst for TNT’s Game 7 broadcast of Thunder-Grizzlies on Saturday night. Following the broadcast, Kerr planned to travel back to San Diego to huddle with his family and discuss the opportunity to coach the Knicks, an NBA source confirmed. So Kerr could conceivably come to a decision on the Knicks’ job early this week.
Jermaine O’Neal may be leaning towards retirement, from Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area: “It’s been a fantastic run,” O’Neal said late Saturday night, after a 126-121 loss to the Clippers at Staples Center bounced the Warriors from the playoffs. “I tried. All you can do is try. You feel much more comfortable sleeping at night when you know that you’ve tried.”… “I never pictured that what could be, if it is, your last game, you’re not able to be effective in a Game 7,” the 18-year veteran said. “That’s a tough pill to swallow. “But I’m proud of the guys.”… “Being a kid that was raised without his father, I know how hard these last few years have been for my son,” O’Neal said. “I’m going to sit down and have another conversation with an eight-year old, again, and see where the blessings are for me. “But I can say this: I appreciate what my teammates have done for me this year, injecting life back into my soul. I appreciate what our organization has done for me. I appreciate what the fan base has done for me, giving me love for basketball again. I appreciate what coach Jackson has done for me. I appreciate what the owners have done for me. “I wish we could repay everybody by winning it all, but this year it wasn’t in the cards.”
Here is a touching story about Trevor Ariza’s brother, from Michael Lee of Washington Post: “While spending some time with his oldest son, Tajh, in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, Trevor Ariza was startled by a question that required both a response and an explanation. “How come you didn’t name me Trevor?” Tajh, 6, asked his father. Ariza was planning to share the story with his son, waiting for a time when Tajh would fully understand what the name meant and why it will always serve as an inspiration. Whether or not Ariza felt Tajh was ready, the opportunity had arrived. “I told him, ‘Because I named you after a better person,’ ” Ariza recalled, his eyes welling up. “I told him, ‘I named you after my brother, who was the best person I ever met in my life.’ ”… Ariza remembers leaning against a railing and looking toward the ceiling before catching a ride on the back of a moped to the hotel, which was surrounded by police and emergency vehicles. When he made it up to the room, Ariza found out Tajh had fallen from an open window, more than 30 floors up, to his death.”
- According to Mark Heisler, Donald Sterling still keeps in touch with V. Stiviano: “Donald T. Sterling has left the building, even if they have yet to pry his fingers off the franchise, but the madness continues. Incredibly, as NBA officials began stripping the Clipper owner of his powers, Sterling remained in touch with V. Stiviano, the woman who audiotaped the racist comments that got him barred from the league for life, a Clipper source told me.”
James Park is the chief blogger of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.
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