Phoenix Suns forward Amar’e Stoudemire announced today that he will, too, join the free-agent powwow with the other megastars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Joe Johnson.

After his team bowed out of the Western Conference playoffs despite a valiant effort against the Los Angeles Lakers, one has to wonder — what’s on the docket for STAT next season?

A few months ago, it was a foregone conclusion Stoudemire would depart Phoenix this summer. The last two seasons, his name was rumored wildly at the trade deadline, too. Thanks to the team’s overcoming a midseason lull and the aforementioned run through the postseason, no one’s so sure anymore.

That said, Stoudemire’s destination next season will largely depend on whether he can command a maximum salary from any given team. Will the Suns, clinging to the coattails of Steve Nash’s remarkable career, pony up and pay Amare the maximum? It remains a question.

Stoudemire will be an offensive force no matter where he plays. His explosiveness and athleticism paired with a solid shooting touch out to 18 feet make him a dynamic threat. Not withstanding his exceptional ability, there are questions about his character (his work ethic, in particular), his rebounding, his defense, and, most importantly …

The status of his knees. Stoudemire has played very good basketball in the wake of his microfracture knee surgery, a procedure that can be damning to the success of NBA players. Amar’e has dealt with it swimmingly so far, but as he gets older, it may become a much larger issue.

If Stoudemire decides to leave Phoenix, it would be a big blow to the long-term future of the franchise. While Nash plays through his final years, he’ll struggle to continue to lead a team without a true companion like Stoudemire — someone who pairs perfectly with the point guard in the pick-and-roll game. They’ll be confined to the lottery for years to come and will have to begin a lengthy rebuilding process.

On the contrary, the team that brings him on board will be in for quite a bonus. But if he wants to play on a true contender, that team will have to be solid on the defensive end already. The problems against the Lakers front court was evident, and unless Amar’e plays alongside a true defensive paint presence, it will be more of the same for that new team.

Assuming everything goes well for STAT in terms of his health and the condition of his knees, the future is bright for him. He still about eight or nine years left in his career, and for most of that, he will be an offensive dynamo. His decision this summer has a much larger impact on the Suns and any team he might join than it does on himself.

Maybe the other big stars have some advice for him.

• Rod Thorn, president of the New Jersey Nets, is ready to begin interviewing coaching candidates. He says he has about six in mind.

• Al Jefferson will receive two years’ probation after pleading guilty to a DUI.

On Thursday, impending free agent Dwyane Wade announced that before he makes any decision about where he’s going to play next season, he’s going to consult his partners in crime (Yeah, it’s a crime how much they’re going to yank from their teams next year) LeBron James, Joe Johnson, and Chris Bosh.

The nature of this conference is, and will remain, largely confidential, for the most part, but let’s call this what it is: a conspiracy to take all the power away from the GMs and reserve it for themselves.

They’re going to say that they will debate the merits and drawbacks of each team (the prospects of winning, the market, etc.), but the purpose of this meeting — and, more accurately, the announcement of this meeting — is to stir the pot, develop baseless “conditions” for signing one of these stars, and give the notion that there’s some semblance of a super team under construction.

Hey, maybe we’ll even hear that one of them will be willing to sign for one dollar under the maximum!

This whole deal stinks of corruption and misplaced sense of power. The closest comparison I can draw is Elaine, George, and Kramer’s collective demand for $1 million per episode for Seinfeld’s final season. Unfortunately, this is a lot more fishy.

The NBA has all kinds of strict rules about when and how teams can engage and discuss potential free agents in anticipation that a wheeling-and-dealing GM might secure a top player before anyone else has a chance. In effect, it is to protect the players.

Why, then, is this sort of meeting acceptable? Sure, you can say it’s simply freedom of speech for them to talk to one another, but if the league is going to go out of its way to ensure protection of the players, shouldn’t it do the same for the teams? The free agents have a lot more impact on this offseason frenzy than a lot of people would expect, so why the league allow them to wield even more in this de facto manipulation of teams in pursuit?

To put it simply, the league shouldn’t. But they’ll never change anything. This process has become way too much of a publicity stunt, and the NBA doesn’t want to see that dissolve.

Already we have the mere speculation that LeBron might leave, and its headlines dominate the press landscape on a daily basis. Hello? There are two competitive playoff series going on right now, and all most people care about is where “The Chosen One” will land next season. Granted, it could have implications far greater than one NBA title, but let’s save the analysis for when things are little more concrete, huh?

This meeting is going to boil down to just this: “Hey, guys. How can we get these teams to sweat a bit more and brighten the spotlight on us? I don’t even care about winning, just give me the fame!”

Well, that’s just great.

The Phoenix Suns played picture-perfect basketball in Game 4.

The Phoenix Suns have made the Western Conference Finals a lot more interesting than most could have hoped for after the Los Angeles Lakers took a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.

Behind the support of its home crowd, Phoenix took Games 3 and 4 against the defending champions after looking weak, uninspired, and apathetic.

I’ve already written about coach Alvin Gentry’s timely decision to have his squad try a zone defense on the Lakers, but in Game 4 on Tuesday night, that defensive scheme wasn’t what won the game for the Suns.

No, it was a return to fundamentals, instead, that sparked the Suns to a series-squaring victory.

When you think about Phoenix Suns basketball, fundamentalism isn’t the first thing that comes to mind for most. They run, they shoot a lot of threes, they have no back-to-the-basket post scorer, and they tend to “relax” on defense. But Tuesday’s game was a good illustration of how an unconventional team like Phoenix can win by embracing the basics of basketball.

This approach to the game manifested itself if three primary ways: (1) a balanced scoring effort; (2) superb bench production; and (3) exceptional shooting discipline leading to streaks.

In the usual Suns game, the offensive production is funneled through Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire, as they effortlessly run the pick-and-roll play for easy points. Throw in the occasional outburst from Jason Richardson, Grant Hill, or Leandro Barbosa, and that’s the typical makeup.

On Tuesday night, though, that wasn’t the case. The team’s leading scorer was Stoudemire, but he put up a modest 21 points. Steve Nash contributed only 15. More importantly, though, the Suns had six scorers in double figures, and everyone who played in the game posted no fewer than 6 points.

Spreading the wealth with that kind of ball distribution allows the whole team to get in to a groove, preventing the Lakers from keying in on anyone in particular on defense. Usually, Phil Jackson can sit back and expect his team will defend Nash and Stoudemire while not having to worry about anyone else. In Game 4, everyone was hitting shots, so it spread the Lakers’ defense thin to the point that it couldn’t keep up.

In a similar vein, the Suns’ bench played brilliant basketball against the Lakers. Led by a gritty performance in relief of Nash by Goran “Enter the” Dragic (8 points, 8 dimes), the Suns drilled the Lakers with 54 bench points and were absolutely on fire from the perimeter. At one point in the game, Channing Frye, Leandro Barbosa, and Jared Dudley hit consecutive threes to ignite the crowd and knock LA back on its heels — it was a meaningful turning point for the game.

The solid play by the reserves allows Nash and Stoudemire to get their well-deserved and much-needed rest without a cause for concern. In the fourth quarter, Gentry even elected to stay with his second unit a few minutes longer than usual because it was playing so well. That’s a good sign for your team.

Lastly, the Suns used the power of momentum to their full advantage. I mentioned above that streak of back-to-back-to-back three-pointers; those weren’t lucky shots. Phoenix spread the floor very well, creating space for the shooters on the perimeter. Each one of those shots was sufficiently open.

But it takes rare confidence for Barbosa and Dudley to fire off those long-range bombs after Frye’s make. They sensed the opportunity to create some distance between the Lakers and themselves, and they took advantage. They knew they could hit the shots, and they had the power of the crowd behind them as further encouragement.

If the Phoenix Suns can continue to pair this fundamental execution with their effective zone defense, the Lakers have to be careful. Sure, the series is going back to the Staples Center, where the Lakers play much better than they do on the road. That won’t stop the stranglehold that the Suns’ zone has on their paint production, though. If the perimeter players can find their rhythm from the outside like they did in Game 4, the Lakers won’t stand a chance.

It’s the Phoenix offense at its best — with a twist of defensive prowess and fundamental execution.

• The New Orleans Hornets have offered their coaching job to Celtics assistant Tom Thibodeau.

• Chicago’s Joakim Noah is confident the Bulls will be better next season.

Can Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol handle the Suns' 2-3 zone?

The Phoenix Suns showed the Los Angeles Lakers that they aren’t just going to roll over and allow the defending champs to waltz into the NBA Finals for the third consecutive year.

On Sunday night, the Suns defeated the Lakers on their home court by a score of 118-109 on the strength of a defensive effort absent in Games 1 and 2, in which the Lakers scored 128 points and 124 points, respectively.

But aside from the advantage of playing in front of their fans at home on Sunday, there was another reason the Suns excelled on defense. Noticing the Lakers’ complete obliteration on the front line, coach Alvin Gentry decided to make a change. Deviating from the man-to-man defense he instituted in the first two contests, in Game 3 he had his team playing a 2-3 zone defense.

Continuously discussed before and during the beginning of the series was the Suns’ deficiency in the front court against the trio of Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom off the bench. And that was only magnified by Amar’e Stoudemire’s comment that Odom “got lucky” with his 19 rebounds in Game 1.

The goal of the zone defense, particularly the 2-3, allows the defense to swarm easily on Gasol and the others down low (or deny the entry pass altogether and keep the ball out of the paint), nullifying their advantage and making any shot in the immediate basket area a difficult one.

There are typically drawbacks to such a defensive scheme, though. With a good passer in the post like Gasol for the Lakers, the Suns run the risk of a kick-out pass to an open shooter. With three men left clogging the middle, that leaves only two defenders remaining to close out on three possible jump shooters.

Luckily for the Suns, the Lakers are not a great perimeter-shooting team. Other than Kobe Bryant, who played very well (36 points, 9 rebounds, 11 assists), their other guards aren’t very good three-point shooters. Ron Artest, specifically, has been dreadful from the outside thus far.

If the Suns can continue to execute on defense, the zone should help them deep into this series. But as soon as the Lakers set in to the mindset that they have to attack the zone with drives from the outside, it could wreak some havoc and get Phoenix into early foul trouble.

That said, it’s really their only option right now. In Games 1 and 2, the Suns were lame ducks looking to be blown away by the Lakers. In Game 3, they showed what most were expecting coming off of a series sweep of the San Antonio Spurs. The series should get interesting from here on out.

• Steve Nash will not miss any time because of his broken nose.

• Jackson says Andrew Bynum will play his normal minutes tonight.

• The New Orleans Hornets are getting close to a deal with Tom Thibodeau.

• Would Lenny Wilkens, the second-winningest coach all-time, consider a return to the NBA?

Alongside the jaw-dropping free-agent class that will hit the streets come July 1, there could be a significant change in head coaches next season. As it stands, the New Jersey Nets, the Chicago Bulls, the Atlanta Hawks, the Los Angeles Clippers, the New Orleans Hornets, and, after today, the Cleveland Cavaliers are all looking for new leaders next season.

We have already seen, too, TNT analyst Doug Collins come to a coaching agreement with the Philadelphia 76ers. Based on all that, here’s a list of the top-five coaches available this summer. The list will be limited to those who have coaching experience. ESPN analyst Mark Jackson is a compelling candidate, but I’ll leave him out of this rankings. Without further ado …

(5) Tom Thibodeau (current Celtics assistant coach)

Despite many years as a renowned assistant coach and defensive guru at the NBA level, Tom Thibodeau has yet to find an NBA head-coaching gig. There was speculation that he might find a spot a couple years ago, but he is still standing alongside Doc Rivers on the Boston Celtics’ bench. Because of his defensive knowledge, Thibodeau might be a candidate for any number of the teams looking for a new coach. He seems a good fit for the Nets, but the team brass seems set on “making a splash” and hiring a big name like some of the ones to follow.

(4) Avery Johnson (last coached the Dallas Mavericks in 2007-2008)

Avery Johnson is currently an analyst for ESPN, and many were baffled and upset by his dismissal from Dallas in favor of the more seasoned Rick Carlisle. Despite his firing, Johnson led that Mavericks team to some of their best seasons in a long time. Saving a catastrophic breakdown against the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 2007 playoffs, he might have come away with a championship that year, after garnering a No. 1 seed with a 67-15 regular-season record. He is a very animated and emotional coach, so he should have no problem motivating players on his next team. He has reportedly had two interviews with the Hawks already, so he might very well be Mike Woodson’s replacement in Atlanta.

(3) Jeff Van Gundy (last coached the Houston Rockets in 2006-2007)

Also an ESPN employee, Jeff Van Gundy has repeatedly made public that he is content with his broadcasting job and doesn’t want to get back in to coaching. Nevertheless, his name continues to make the rounds in the rumor mill. He had moderate success during his terms with the Rockets and, earlier, the New York Knicks, going as far as the NBA Finals in 1999 before falling to the juggernaut San Antonio Spurs. Furthermore, his insight on broadcasts has gotten many executives’ attention, and he seems like he has taken a step forward since initially retiring from the league.

(2) Mike Krzyzewski (current coach of the Duke Blue Devils)

Mike Krzyzewski’s name is also one that is being floated around the NBA, but he continually asserts his satisfaction in his current position. He nearly left Durham, N.C., for the Lakers job earlier this decade after a mammoth offer, but he decided to stay put at the time. Now, many suspect some NBA team will make him a more convincing offer and that he’ll finally make the leap to the professional level. After his most recent championship with Duke, it seems like he has accomplished all he can at the NCAA level, and it might be time for him to make the next step. After Mike Brown’s ouster from Cleveland, it has been rumored owner Dan Gilbert will make the type of offer to draw Coach K from Duke and keep LeBron on the team, too, as they have forged a close relationship through their work with the U.S. national team.

(1) Phil Jackson (current coach of the Los Angeles Lakers)

Phil Jackson isn’t out of a job yet, and he continues to coach the Lakers through this year’s playoffs. Even still, there have been reports that he’ll have to take a major pay cut to arrange another deal with Los Angeles, so when other teams are willing to pay the premium, he may see fit to leave Laker Nation. There have been discussions during the past offseasons of Jackson’s coaching only home games or limiting his attendance to some degree, so he may elect, instead, just to retire rather than take another job. All that said, Jackson is the clear No. 1 on this list. He has done everything in the NBA, and any team would be thrilled to have his tremendous knowledge grace its presence. Some think that new Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov might make Jackson an irresistibly astronomical offer to make the aforementioned splash this summer.

After all, at this point in his career, his offensive repertoire consists of little more than wide-open spot-up jump shots. On defense, he’s essentially spent. While he is scrappy and has reasonable strength, his lateral quickness is all but evaporated, and he cannot stay with quick opposing point guards at all. He’s the one flaw of a very strong defensive front.

But despite his reputation as an over-the-hill minor contributor, Derek Fisher has come up bigger than anyone could have expected or wanted so far in the team’s conference finals matchup against the Phoenix Suns.

Coming in, one of the primary concerns for Lakers fans was how he would even hope to counter Steve Nash on defense. Nash is too quick, everyone said. He’ll run rampant against D-Fish, everyone said.

Even facing appreciable physical disadvantages when compared to his Phoenix counterpart, Fisher has managed to keep Nash in check to a reasonable degree. In Game 1, Nash posted 13 points and 13 assists but committed four turnovers and didn’t hit a three-pointer. In Game 2, he contributed 11 points and 15 assists, but gave the ball away five times.

Surely Fisher’s reasonable defense on Nash doesn’t come from some heavenly reacquisition of quickness. Instead, he’s using what he has to the best of his ability. He has been particularly aggressive fighting through screens, never settling to go underneath the pick. And that is a major reason Nash hasn’t been able to find the range from deep in the series.

Furthermore, his hands and feet are always active. He is constantly knocking balls away with well-placed fingers and closing off Nash’s pick-and-roll passing lanes to Amar’e Stoudemire and the other Suns.

Fisher’s contributions to the Lakers don’t just come through his defensive presence, though.

Fisher is one of the most experienced players on the team, and many of his teammates see him as a key leader alongside Kobe Bryant. He certainly has a strong passion and fire for the game, and his leadership seems to have quite an effect on the rest of the Lakers.

Moreover, Fisher is always ready to hit the big shot. It seems like every time I see him heave the ball in a late-game clutch situation the ball hits the bottom of the net following a smooth, lazy, high-arching delivery. As he lacks the athleticism to put up big points or really run the offense at his best from the point-guard position, his clutch shooting is at the crux of his viability.

As the series progresses, Fisher shouldn’t give up on trying to defend Nash. While it seems a foregone conclusion that LA will win the set and advance to the NBA Finals for the third consecutive year, further refining his defense of a big-name point guard will hopefully prepare him for the even larger challenge at that position that awaits should Boston seal the deal.

The Boy Wonder, Rajon Rondo.

It’s no secret that success for the Orlando Magic begins and ends with Dwight Howard. His impact on the offensive and defensive end is so crucial to the team’s culture of winning.

It’s also no secret that Howard often has his troubles coping in the paint on offense and in his personal-foul management on the defensive end. When he succumbs to these issues, the Magic tend to lose.

With the team down to the Boston Celtics 2-0 (and well on its way to a third loss to their Eastern Conference counterparts), D12 hasn’t yet had a good game. Looking back on his dominance in the first two playoff series against the Charlotte Bobcats and the Atlanta Hawks (and the team’s according blowout wins), it is evident that the problem isn’t with Howard; instead, it is mostly because of the effort of the Celtics defense that the Orlando center has provided so little offensive production.

Looking at Howard’s role in his team’s offense, his post skills and scoring ability down low play only a small part in his effectiveness. His ability to draw double-teams and create open shots for his teammates is where his true value manifests itself. As a result, it stands to reason that opposing teams who can get by without doubling Howard are better off on the defensive end.

During the regular season, 18 of Orlando’s 20 losses came to teams who have centers capable of defending Howard in single coverage. That says something about his passing ability and the detriment of helping on him on defense.

In the playoffs, the Magic quickly dispatched the Bobcats in Round 1. Nazr Mohammed, the Bobcats’ starting center, isn’t exactly equipped to handle the load.

But in the second round, they squared off against the Hawks. Al Horford was one of the players I counted as someone who can counter Howard on his own. He definitely can. So why did they sweep the Hawks and now face a troubling deficit to the Celtics?

Well, both Atlanta and Boston have the resources to play single coverage on Superman. The Celtics, however, have a particular advantage. Whereas the Hawks must to resort to Zaza Pachulia to guard Howard when Horford is on the bench, the Celtics never lose a step; there’s always someone who can keep him in check.

Whether it is Kendrick Perkins, Rasheed Wallace, Kevin Garnett, or, to a lesser extent, Glen Davis, there’s always someone roaming to cause trouble for Howard. But the advantage doesn’t stop there. In addition to the depth of the front court on defense, each of these guys has his own particular niche in his game.

One minute, Howard’s facing Perkins, who relies primarily on his strength to deny Howard position and make him take more difficult shots. The next minute it’s Garnett, who takes advantage of exceptional finesse, timing, and positioning to protect his basket. Later, Howard might see a defensive matchup from Wallace, who tends to frustrate Howard and can affect his shots with his length.

The variation in the defensive styles that the Boston forwards use is undeniably frustrating to Howard, and it prevents him from getting into any reliable rhythm. And if there’s one thing that no one wants to see, it is Howard’s playing in rhythm.

Sure, Boston’s defense is immaculate overall. But at the core, at least in this series, is a deceptively inconspicuous front designed to limit the key cog in the Orlando offense. And that’s why they might not lose one this series to a team that previously hasn’t suffered a defeat in a month.

Why is it that even in the conference finals we can't seem to get an interesting game?

I was on my way to Tufts University this evening from Boston on I-93 when I saw a billboard on a vacant office building looking for lessees. It read: “Sitting in traffic? Not anymore if you work here.”

While I was neither sitting in traffic nor looking for office space at the time, the message was intriguing nevertheless. In fact, it got me to start thinking about the NBA and the shortcuts it has taken (If I don’t want to sit in traffic, I can just work here!”) to try and establish competitive balance. As a result, there is a complete lack of competitive balance present in the league today, something that David Stern and his cohorts need to address to stimulate interest in professional basketball here in the United States.

Amid playoffs in which five of the six matchups in the conference finals and semifinals could be sweeps, there is definitely a problem with the balance of the game. So let’s take a look at the plague of disparity around the league, shall we?

The MLB is the only sports league in the United States that doesn’t have a salary cap. And as long as the players association lives and breathes, there will never be a salary cap in baseball. That said, Major League Baseball succeeds where other leagues don’t in promoting a compelling, competitive league.

For one, the nature of baseball (and the construction of multi-game series during the regular season) is such that any team can beat any other team on any given day. In a three-game series between the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates, there’s a considerable possibility that Pittsburgh will squeak one game out during the set. In the NBA, when the Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves meet, nobody’s betting on the T’Wolves and rightly not.

In addition, the MLB went about establishing two systems to help curb extravagant spending by big-market teams. It instituted a revenue-sharing program and imposed a luxury tax on high-payroll teams. While these policies don’t quite dissuade teams like the Yankees from blowing large sums on free agents, it does well to control spending near the middle (in terms of payroll) of the league.

But the NBA does have a salary cap. Isn’t the whole point of the damned thing to keep games close? In theory, it sure is. But keep in mind that the NBA’s cap is a soft one, and there are plenty of channels by which to circumvent the loose limit.

The most prominent of those is via Bird Rights, which allow teams to go over the payroll cap in order to re-sign free agents who have been with the team for three years or more. That’s why the Lakers are allowed to sign Kobe Bryant to a 3-year, $90 million extension despite with will be over $85 million in payroll next season with a projected $56 million cap. So that’s one way in which teams in big markets with rich owners can weasel their way to greatness. Needless to say, you wouldn’t see the Maloofs offer that kind of money to keep a player around on the Kings because they just can’t afford the salary itself or the accompanying luxury tax.

In addition, to continue the comparison to baseball, the dollar goes a lot further in the NBA game, so going over the salary cap is more valuable to success. In baseball, starting pitchers (who command very high salaries these days) go only one out of five games. And those position players who do play nearly every game, they are only expected to contribute three out of ten times from the plate and once in awhile on the defensive side (depending on the position).

In the NBA, everybody’s playing every game, and each of the five players contributes to every offensive and defensive set. Besides scoring and the other major stats, there are ways to help your team: setting effective screens, moving well without the ball, affecting shots, and denying your assignment the ball, to name a few.

For a practical illustration of this mess, look at the payrolls of the four teams left in the playoffs: $91,314, 026 (Lakers), $83,875,420 (Boston Celtics), $82,087,014 (Orlando Magic), $74,012,783 (Phoenix Suns). The salary cap this year is $69,920,000. So none of the remaining teams is working under the s0-called “limit.”

With all this established, let me go about setting a few suggestions for bringing true competition back to the NBA.

(1) Make the cap a hard cap.

Much like instituting a salary cap or removing the DH in baseball, this will never happen. Setting up a hard-cap system infuriates both conflicting parties: the NBAPA because in such a scenario star players would have to take major paycuts to make payrolls work and the NBA because all the luxury tax payments go straight to the league anyway.

Nobody really wants this except concerned fans. Not the Laker fans that think they’re devoted because they know who Pau Gasol is but the fans of teams like the 76ers who can tell you the stat line of every player from Andre Iguodala to Jrue Holiday for the past season. If it is so obvious that you need to shell out the cash like the four teams mentioned above to compete, there’s no way all 30 teams can never hope to contend for a championship; it’s just not feasible.

(2) Cut down on the teams that make the playoffs.

Right now the NBA playoffs are a bit, well, imperfect. There are 16 teams, four 7-game rounds, and over two months of 20-game blowouts. No one wants to see that. No one wants to see the Magic beat up the Bobcats in four circus games. Certainly, the thrill of an underdog upset like the Warriors over the Mavericks in 2007 is great, but you have to play the odds. That type of series doesn’t come around too often.

One could argue that even the conference-finals round is bad this year, but again, play the odds. This is atypical of the NBA playoffs. Cut the the pool that makes the postseason in half, and the league will have a lot more satisfied and less exhausted fans.

(3) Oust owners who aren’t in it to win it.

Nothing serves as a greater doomsday to a fan base than an owner to has ulterior motives for owning a basketball team. Guys like Donald Sterling and Bruce Ratner who use the franchise as leverage for their real-estate ventures are true parasites to the league and bad for the game. Get rid of them, somehow, or else you’ll have more teams that fail to ever be in contention.

I know these rules aren’t terribly practical (and simply “getting rid” of unsatisfactory owners would prove to be a nightmare: Are there objective qualities? Who gets the team? Etc.). But something needs to be done to protect the integrity of the league. If we keep seeing blowout after blowout and sweep after sweep in the playoffs, fans will start to lose interest, and no one wants that. Just try and represent the little guy a little better because I can’t stand seeing the Lakers win anymore.

• The NBA has suspended official Joe DeRosa one game for tossing a basketball at a heckling fan.

• Mark Cuban says the Mavericks are getting in on the LeBron chase.

• Former Mavericks coach Avery Johnson is  not a contender for the Chicago Bulls’ coaching vacancy.

• The Nets, after saying they wouldn’t renew general manager/interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe’s contract this summer, have eliminated the former position altogether and have merged it with Rod Thorn’s president position.

That face says it all for the Boston Celtics.

It’s October 2009. You’re a Boston Celtics fan. The season is about to start, and your team has just added Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels to a troupe of stars. Things are looking great, and you’ve already forgotten the exit in the conference semifinals during the playoffs.

Fast forward a few months, and things don’t look so great. Paul Pierce is playing poorly, Ray Allen can’t seem to hit a shot, and Kevin Garnett seems way past his prime. The one bright spot is Rajon Rondo, the point guard of the future. The team has blasted with disappointments, not the least of which is a home loss to the lowly New Jersey Nets. The quest for another title seems lost, and the days of the Big Three seem over.

No so fast.

Since this year’s playoffs began, the Boston Celtics have looked more like the champions of 2008 rather than the underachievers of 2010, and more than anything, it has been thanks to some intangible factors.

Foremost, there seems to be a newfound desire to win amid the team — and no Cetics player has embodied that shift in philosophy than Wallace. Often the butt of jokes about lacking effort and the object of criticism that he could be one of the best players of all-time if he tried, ‘Sheed has noticed the potential to come away with a title this year. All it took was a little prodding and nudging from his coach, Doc Rivers, to get him on the right path. Since Rivers’s encouragement, Wallace has been playing to win the game: taking quality open shots instead of chucking up three-pointers, playing inspired defense, and realizing the concept of teamwork that makes the Celtics run.

But the improvement in that area is not limited just to Wallace’s actions; everyone on the team seems passionate about the team’s success. Watching Game 2 against the Magic, whenever a player hit the floor after a foul, three or four other Celtics on the floor swarmed around him to help him up and scowl at the offender. It’s that kind of backing that can sway the outcome of close games.

So when Matt Barnes elects to help Rondo up after a tough foul, and Mark Jackson adeptly pointed this out, it’s a sign of weakness. It’s not a display of competitive nature to help your opponent up even if it is “nice.” Barnes’s action is indicative of how the Magic just don’t seem in it to win it. It’s more of a game than a battle of life and death, as the Celtics see it.

And the competitiveness and passion translate into greater basketball success on the court: more offensive rebounds, better looks, grittier defense, and just more balls in the basket. When you are motivated to score, the form on your jump shot is that much sounder, the timing of your block attempt is that much more precise, and the finish of your dunk is that much more vicious.

The Celtics have figured this out, and the Magic still need to get on board; that’s why they’re down 2-0 going to the TD Garden for two road games.

After a season of woeful play resulting in a 12-70 record, the Nets had the best chance at securing the NBA Draft’s top pick going into the lottery Tuesday night — they had a 25 percent shot.

Nevertheless, they will be limited to picking third next month. The second pick will go to the Philadelphia 76ers, and the No. 1 pick will go to the Washington Wizards.

Though a completely random process, the lottery sometimes seems a little unfair. Instead of going to the team that struggled under the guise of a totally disinterested owner, the first pick will, instead, fall into the hands of the Wizards, who are already paying a point guard on the roster $126 million over five years.

But those are the breaks, I guess. Maybe Derrick Favors or whomever the Nets choose will wind up being drastically better. Can’t I dream?

*           *           *

The Phoenix Suns made me look pretty bad last night after posting my sincere admiration for Steve Nash.

They turned the ball over at an embarrassing rate, couldn’t find the range, and played defense like, well, the Suns of old. The Lakers took everything they wanted from their opponents in Game 1, and Kobe Bryant contributed a true playoff performance.

All that said (and I hate to ride the officials), there was certainly some questionable officiating over the course of the game. Kobe got his calls — that’s a given. But down low, on the perimeter, basically anywhere, the whistles were blowing in favor of the Purple and Gold.

Attribute it to home-court officiating at the Staples Center in part, but there was a larger factor. All year, the Lakers constantly berate and batter the referees after every call against them (regardless of validity) in one of the most unsportsmanlike trends in all of sports.

But it has its benefits.

When you continually pressure the officials after their decisions, they begin to doubt themselves, and you begin to establish some credibility for your case.

That the Lakers cashed in on their accumulated credibility was evident Monday night. And the dubious calls were so well-timed, in fact, that it played a significant role in Phoenix’s falling to a 20-point deficit.

Hopefully, as the series progresses, the officials work it out and stop coddling L.A.

If you’d like to see my take on what each lottery team needs going into the draft, take a look at this article I wrote for thehoopsreport.com. It lays out the top-five options for each and every lottery club.

http://thehoopsreport.com/article.aspx?id=499

Draft lottery reactions and a response to Lakers-Suns Game 1 after the lottery. In the meantime, I’ll be nervously jittering.

• The Lakers took it to the Suns in Game 1 behind solid shooting and “compassionate” officiating.

• Speaking of the Lakers, fans prostest Phil Jackson’s stance on the recently passed immigration law in Arizona.

Steve Nash is one of the the finest competitors the NBA has ever seen.

There isn’t much Steve Nash can’t do.

The Phoenix Suns point guard is a wizard with the basketball, eliciting more “ooh”s and “ah”s on a nightly basis than one might expect from a 36-year-old hailing from Canada. Nevertheless, his gift for the game is palpable. And like so few others before him, Nash has managed to seamlessly integrate individual skills with the success of his team in the absence of even slight egotism or entitlement.

His passing ability is immaculate. Nash currently resides in eighth among the list of all-time assist leaders, and one more healthy season could allow him to supplant Gary Payton and Isiah Thomas on that leader board. But the sheer number of dimes doesn’t tell the whole story. His assortment of behind-the-back, no-look, through-the-legs, side-winding, and alley-oop dishes has made him the envy of even the staunchest critics and transformed his Suns team into the best squad in the league to watch for six seasons and counting.

His pick-and-roll game is delightful. It is no less certain that Nash will thread the ball to a diving Amar’e Stoudemire after a well-set pick than it is that Rasheed Wallace will be whistled for a technical foul during the season, but that is what makes Nash’s talent so admirable. Despite the benefit of expectation, any defense will be burned by that play. Nash is so in tune with every move his power forward will make that the pass is simply unstoppable. He is so adept, that he ranks as possibly the greatest executor of this scheme, with the exception of John Stockton, maybe. But that’s not bad company, to be sure.

Nash’s dominance, though, stems not from just his exceptional distribution; instead, it is his collective dynamism and versatility that pave the way for his excellence. A key facet of that protean nature is his deadly yet gorgeous shooting stroke. Most of his long jumpers come off the dribble; give him an open catch-and-shoot look, and it is probably going in. Nash is so good shooting the ball, in fact, that ESPN’s John Hollinger went so far as to rank him the NBA’s best of all-time — above the greats like Reggie Miller, Steve Kerr, and Larry Bird, who were much more renowned for their accuracy.

And that assertion was certainly grounded in stats, as all Hollinger’s analyses are. Nash is a four-time member of the 50-40-90 club (50 percent shooting, 40 percent three-point shooting, 90 percent free-throw shooting) and would have accomplished that feat a fifth time with another tenth of a percentage point on his free-throw average in 2006-2007. The other members of the club? Bird, Miller, Mark Price, Dirk Nowitzki, and Jose Calderon — and the only one of them to achieve it even twice was Bird.

Nash already overcame one barrier in dispatching the Spurs. Is this the year he comes away with a championship?

His free-throw stroke is one of the most admired in the sport. He calmly steps to the line, politely denies the ball from the referee, takes two empty-handed simulated attempts, then drills the actual ones 90 percent of the time.

All that said, passing and shooting do not complete Nash’s offensive game, as his intangible skills are just as pivotal to his success as his ball handling. Nash is so focused on the game that he never misses a beat. He is constantly aware of the position on the floor of each of his four teammates and each of his five defenders. He knows exactly where to put the ball at any given time, when to put the team on his back and control the offense, and how much time is on the clock — that all comes second nature to Nash.

More crucial than all of that, though, is his unremitting desire to win. That is represented well in his willingness to play hurt (with a gushing nose or swollen eye), his willingness to take the last shot, and his overall stoic demeanor on the court.

So where has all this gotten Nash as an individual? He, of course, boasts two league MVP awards, from 2005 and 2006, and fell just short of securing a third straight in falling to his former teammate Nowitzki. He is also hailed as one of the greatest point guards of all time.

Nonetheless, as he and the Suns prepare to square off against the Lakers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals tonight, there is a conspicuous scarlet letter that continues to brand Nash.

He has never won an NBA championship.

In fact, he has amassed the most career playoff games (112) of any NBA player without even making it into the NBA Finals. Amid all the talented players in the league right now, there is no honor more important to a player’s patrimony than the number of titles he secures for himself. As LeBron James and Kobe Bryant continue to wrestle for the crown of league’s best player, the one fault of LeBron than holdouts accentuate is his lingering failure to come away on top when it counts.

When Nash and his crew take the floor Monday night, the hunger for a win will be more evident. Clear underdogs against the juggernaut Lakers, the Suns will have to play flawless basketball to dethrone the defending champs, and Nash will have to play a prominent role.

In a recent interview with Michael Wilbon, Nash downplayed the importance of individual regalia.

“At this stage of my career, the only goals worth chasing are team goals. To win a championship is still the greatest thing to play for and the greatest motivator. So it’s a fantastic situation right now, where this team that wasn’t expected to get here is here and we got a real chance,” he said.

If Nash and the Suns can come out on top, the fruit will be that much sweeter. After all, they are coming off an improbable series sweep over the San Antonio Spurs, who had previously plagued the Suns in the postseason this decade.

Ousting the Lakers, knocking the championship monkey off his back, and finally enshrining himself in the peak tier of NBA greats in the process?

That’s an accomplishment worth being selfish about.

• The Golden State Warriors will begin the sale process in earnest Monday, when they will begin taking bids for the team.

• The Atlanta Hawks are looking at Mavericks assistant Dwane Casey as a candidate for their coaching vacancy.

• The Clippers are throwing a “LeBron Parade.”

In impressive yet shaky fashion, the Beantown Green disposed of the Orlando Magic, previously undefeated in the playoffs and winners of every game in the last month. That’s a hell of a way to show what they are still capable of.

Rasheed Wallace was a factor in Boston's win? Really?

Not getting nearly enough credit for their series win over the coddled Cleveland Cavaliers, the Celtics are showing fans, pundits, and, most importantly, opposing teams that they can still make a successful run.

To be fair, though, the outcome was looking bleak. After middling performances during the regular season, Boston sidled up on everyone by blowing out the Miami Heat — a feat that not many perceived as very impressive. Accordingly, everyone was expecting LeBron and his pals to deliver a swift kick to the Celtics’ bum and oust them from the playoffs.

Not so fast. While the Celtics have seen dips in offensive output and field-goal percentage since the regular season, they have simultaneously rediscovered the defensive prowess that propelled them to a championship just two years ago.

During the regular campaign, Boston surrendered 95.6 points per game to their opponents, ranking them a solid fifth in the league in that category. Since the playoffs started, though, they’ve completely shut down opposing teams, giving up only 91.7 points per contest in their first two series. That ranks second to only the Orlando Magic, who did, well, magical things on defense against the Bobcats and Hawks.

Accompanying that defensive improvement for the Celtics is a drop in opponent three-point field-goal percentage and a noticeable rise in turnovers forced on defense. That successful effort on the long ball is exactly what the team needs to contend with the Magic; it is no secret Orlando shoots the triple with unmatched abundance, so if Boston can be effective in its close-outs and perimeter defense, it can hinder Orlando’s production severely.

Why do I mention all this defensive jargon about the Celtics? Well, they excelled on that end of the ball on Sunday, and that was the primary justification for the Game 1 victory.

First of all, Boston was superb in containing Dwight Howard on the inside. And that is due in large part to the play of Rasheed Wallace off the bench. Since Doc Rivers publicly criticized his play following Game 1 of the series with Cleveland, Wallace has come back with much more inspired basketball. While it hasn’t always translated into success on the offensive end (he only scored five points in Games 3, 4, and 5 of that set), he has shown a greater commitment to defense and a more evident passion to win overall.

If you watched the game Sunday, you could see how frustrating Wallace was to Howard on defense. He denied the entry pass, pushed and shoved aggressively, and forced him into turnovers and errant shots. Giving up quite a bit of weight to Superman, ‘Sheed used his length perfectly to shut down one of the league’s most dominant interior forces.

Kendrick Perkins isn’t half bad on the inside either, but he is often in foul trouble. Rivers will call upon Wallace to play key minutes on the defensive end, so if he can duplicate his Game 1 showing, he will put the Celtics in great position to advances to the NBA Finals.

On display, too, was the Celtics’ containment of the other half of Orlando’s offense — the three-point ball. After every kick out or skip pass to the open shooter there was a Boston defender already en route to close out. When they start to miss from deep, they begin to take more threes off the dribble and in traffic, which causes problems. That commitment and effort translated into a paltry 23 percent from long range for Orlando. The Magic will never win a game if Howard can’t score and they can’t hit their three-point attempts.

The one concern for Boston following the Game 1 win is Orlando’s back-court production. Jameer Nelson and Vince Carter combined for 43 points on 17-36 shooting, as both were aggressive and rewarded in driving the lane. Kevin Garnett looked more vulnerable than ever in the pick-and-roll game on defense, which is a primary reason Nelson and Carter were so successful going to the rack. That said, their scoring is a small price to pay for the fine defense on Howard and the three-point shooters.

After a month of smooth sailing, Orlando is now the team on the hot seat. With that decisive win, you have to consider Boston the favorite from here on out. The Magic will need to respond in kind by forcing the issue on the inside with Howard. If he can wreak any significant havoc near the rim, shots will start to open on the perimeter. As long as they take easy three-pointers, they will eventually fall, and that’s what they need to emerge victorious.

Is it a good idea for Shaq to return for a 20th season?

Nearly immediately after his Cavaliers were eliminated from the playoffs, Shaquille O’Neal straightforwardly dispelled any rumors that he might retire this year, saying, “I still have 3.7 years left.”

As he prepares to play in his 20th NBA season, is it still worth it for Shaq to put forth that effort for half the year? After all, over the last few seasons, his production has seen a fairly steady decline from his glory days in Los Angeles to his injury-hampered campaign with Cleveland in 2009-2010.

That said, he’s still a capable defender: the Cavaliers were going to look to him as their primary defender for Dwight Howard in the conference finals before their unfortunate exit. Furthermore, despite worsening numbers, he is rather impressive from an efficiency standpoint. His PER was eight hundredths of a point shy of 18 (three above average), and his field-goal percentage (56.5 percent) and per-40-minute lines (20.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists) were not half bad.

Notwithstanding the fairly productive minutes, he is a liability to the teams he plays for. First of all, he demanded the ball way too much for someone with questionable importance to his team’s offensive scheme. His usage rate of 22.8 was over a point higher than that of Brook Lopez, the focal point of a bad Nets offense.

Moreover, he simply doesn’t play enough minutes or games to be a factor, especially as a starter. The Diesel averaged only 23.4 minutes a game with the Cavaliers this year, a six-and-a-half point decrease from the previous year in Phoenix. Furthermore, excluding the anomaly that was 2008-2009, Shaq hasn’t played 60 games in a year since his first season in Miami. By basically promising his team that he is going to miss over 20 games, he puts the franchise in a bad situation when they need to struggle to find effective minutes at the center position.

Aside from his play on the court, though, Shaq will expect to cash in on a lucrative contract based on his past accolades and not what he can offer to his team at present. While he will surely not get a deal resembling anything like his five-year, $100 million contract he signed with Miami, he will be the beneficiary of a higher rate than younger centers at his level of production.

Lingering still is the question of whether he will start for his next team or come off the bench. His current level of health and fitness are better suited for the latter option, as he won’t be expected to put up big minutes on the floor. But how many teams are going to be willing to pay Shaq’s price for a backup center? In addition, this is a guy who has started all his life. In 1170 career regular-season games, the Big Cactus has only come off the bench in 10 of them. Will he be able to cope with a diminished role and importance to his roster, or will he break down like Allen Iverson did when he was faced with that dilemma? If there’s one thing we know about Shaq, it is that his ego is as large as his 7-foot-1, 325-pound frame. I doubt he’ll be able to handle the second-string role.

So Shaq can play for three or more years if he wants to, but he should probably cut his losses. He has already accomplished way more than anyone could hope to in the NBA, so it is best for him to call it quits now before he further tarnishes his sterling résumé.