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Berry Tramel on Mo Cheeks: “I don’t know who gets credit in Thunderville for Russell Westbrook’s development. My best guess is Russell Westbrook. But to whatever degree Cheeks helped Westbrook into becoming an elite point guard, it’s been impressive. So really, I don’t know what Detroit is getting as a head coach. But I know what Cheeks is getting. A wayward franchise. The Pistons were historic in their consistency early in the 2000s. Now Detroit is consistent again. The wrong way.”

Seth Wickersham of ESPN the Mag on the Spurs and international players: “Near a mural in his office, Spurs general manager R.C. Buford has just finished reading an article. The mural is an action shot of a Spurs game, but it’s really of an era and a mentality frozen in time. Parker’s arms are extended, following through after a pass to Ginobili, who’s shooting a layup. Duncan is under the glass, not leaping to dunk a potential Ginobili miss but boxing out. Three future Hall of Famers, including one whom many fans — and not just in San Antonio — consider the premier player of his era, all playing hero-agnostic basketball. The article that Buford has finished, printed from ESPN.com, sits on his desk. Its headline: “The Entitlement Culture of Elite HS Hoops.” In it, recruiting analyst Dave Telep writes about not only witnessing AAU players complain about the food at a Ritz in California during a tournament but also what he calls the slow and steady crumble of American grassroots basketball: loafing, lousy fundamentals, a pervasive disinterest from players in showcasing anything but themselves.” Keep Reading…

Kevin Pelton ranks the top 50 playoff player runs and KD 2012 ranks 35th: “Durant opened the playoffs with a game-winning jumper that kicked off a four-game sweep of the Dallas Mavericks and rode the momentum all the way to the NBA Finals. Despite facing the opposition’s best defender and double-teams, Durant made 57.5 percent of his 2-pointers and 37.3 percent beyond the arc. He scored at least 20 points in every Oklahoma City game and averaged 30.6 ppg during the NBA Finals, which wasn’t enough to avoid a five-game loss to the Heat.”

John Rohde: “Teenager Steven Adams knows he has a long way to go to become the finished product as an NBA center, but he already has come a long way figuratively and literally. Referred to as the “Kiwi Phenom,” the 19-year-old Adams is about to become just the fourth New Zealand native to play in the NBA — joining former Miami and Los Angeles Clippers guard Kirk Penney (six career games), current San Antonio reserve center Aron Baynes (16) and former center Sean Marks (230 with six different teams over 11 seasons). Adams had modest statistics as a freshman at Pittsburgh last season, but he wasn’t expecting to post numbers similar to those back home.” Keep Reading…

So Serge Ibaka told a foreign media outlet that Kevin Martin wasn’t re-signing. “There will be changes, like the departure of Kevin Martin,” he said. But Ibaka backtracked off that hard on Sunday. “I definitely don’t know nothing about it,” he said. “I’m a player like him, so we just go play. That’s the kind of question you need to ask the (general) manager.” Ibaka also followed it up with a tweet too: “Just to clarify what I didn’t say: I’m a player not an executive so don’t know what 2will happen with K-Mar He’s a great teammate”

Patrick Rishe of Forbes: “With Kevin Durant joining Roc Nation, do not be surprised to see a Domino Effect ensue in the coming months…especially among football and basketball players who are currently in the midst of their off-season. If Jay-Z wanted to rock the sports agency establishment, the signing of Kevin Durant accomplishes this task more than any other moves made to this point. That said, the smartest thing Jay-Z did was partner with a brand like CAA. Without their contractual and sports law expertise, Jay-Z’s venture into athlete representation would have been far less attractive.”

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