The latest from the NBA's coaching carousel

While we catch our breath after a frenetic Game 1 in the NBA Finals

It's been rather difficult to try to separate the NBA playoffs from the NBA's annual springtime coaching carousel.

That applies even to the NBA Finals.

On Wednesday night, San Antonio defensive coordinator Sean Sweeney's 42nd birthday coincided with a rather significant day at work: The Spurs' first Finals game since 2014. Just two days earlier, of course, Sweeney was officially named as the new head coach of the Orlando Magic.

Sweeney was coveted by essentially every team that has had an opening since the end of the regular season apart from Milwaukee, which quickly zeroed in on Taylor Jenkins. Yet three coaching vacancies remain leaguewide even after Orlando swooped for Sweeney to punctuate a process also headlined by Billy Donovan and Jeff Van Gundy, prompting The Stein Line's publisher and twice-weekly contributor to join forces on this around-the-league notes compilation that will catch you up on everything happening in Portland, Chicago and Dallas.

Let's start in North Texas ...