Odds & Ends: Howard, Profits, Suns, Draft

It was another wild night of playoff basketball that included more unfortunate injuries, this time to the Bulls Joakim Noah and Avery Bradley of the Celtics. Here's what's been going on off the court while you've had your eyes fixed on the hardwood:

  • Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel dissects the latest comments from Dwight Howard, who told TMZ that he would never quit on his team or Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, with whom D12 says he's had several conversations since the start of the playoffs.
  • Commissioner David Stern says that most NBA teams will turn a profit this year, and predicts all 30 franchises will be profitable within two years, according to a report from Jonathan D. Salant of Bloomberg News, who rounded up comments Stern made on a Bloomberg Television show airing this weekend. Stern had said during the latest CBA negotiations that NBA teams had lost a combined $300MM over the previous three seasons.
  • Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic examines the desire of the Suns to keep restricted free agent Robin Lopez
  • HoopsWorld unveiled its mock draft, with all four contributors agreeing on Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Bradley Beal for the top three spots. Steve Kyler adds a report that Arnett Moultrie and Andrew Nicholson are rocketing up some teams' draft boards.
  • Brian T. Smith of The Salt Lake Tribune compares the approaches of Jazz GM Kevin O'Connor and Spurs GM R.C. Buford, both of whom share a connection with longtime NBA coach Larry Brown.
  • Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports Florida breaks down the potential U.S. Olympic team roster, and Rob Mahoney of The New York Times examines what the team needs.  
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