The NBA Intel side dish to your eight-game NBA playoffs weekend
The Jake Fischer Latest has all the latest around-the-league rumbles on what's happening away from the TV screen
It's the opening weekend of the NBA playoffs and that is naturally where the focus should be trained for the basketball public.
Executives around the league, mind you, are tracking other things as well.
Numerous team officials and scouts spent the latter part of the week at the annual Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in Virginia to get an up-close look at the college seniors who will be part of June's draft pool.
There are also two head coaching vacancies (Milwaukee and New Orleans) in addition to two franchises (Chicago and Dallas) looking for a new head of basketball operations.
In less than a month, of course, Mother's Day will double as an NBA holiday (as our publisher likes to put it) when the league's draft lottery is held in Chicago on May 10. (I am once again hoping to be in the sealed-off drawing room to witness how the lottery actually plays out off screen.)
This year's lottery, meanwhile, could be the last iteration of the format as we know it depending on how a special Board of Governors vote scheduled for May 28 plays out in terms of changes to the system that NBA commissioner Adam Silver has vowed to implement.
Let's dive into everything I’m hearing about all of the above ...
The only change so far in Milwaukee is on the bench. Doc Rivers has stepped down as Bucks coach and told Bill Simmons in a podcast appearance this week that he doesn't expect to coach again at the NBA level.
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