The race for the final playoff spot(s) in the Western Conference will continue tonight, when the Lakers play the Bucks in Milwaukee and the Mavericks host the Pacers in Dallas. As we look forward to those games, let's round up a few Thursday items out of the conference....

• Tony Allen is headed for unrestricted free agency this summer, and at least one Eastern Conference general manager thinks Allen will receive a modest raise. "Three years at $4MM per year sounds right," the GM tells Chris Mannix of SI.com. "He adds instant toughness and a defensive mentality to your team. He's a leader on the floor and he isn't going to back down from anyone. I think everyone in the league would love to have him." The Grizzlies have no interest in approaching luxury-tax territory, so it's unclear if they'll be able to bring back Allen.
• Chris Sheridan of SheridanHoops.com believes that both Los Angeles head coaches, Mike D'Antoni and Vinny Del Negro, could be on the outs with the Lakers and Clippers respectively if they don't finish the season strong.
• With Metta World Peace expected to miss six weeks after undergoing surgery on his left knee, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News wonders if the veteran forward has played his last game with the Lakers.
• Terrel Harris' new deal with the Hornets includes an second year that will become guaranteed if Harris makes the team's 2013/14 roster, reports Sam Amick of USA Today.
• Nuggets coach George Karl tells Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post that he thinks Gregg Popovich would be interested in the Team USA head coaching position, and that Popovich would be a great choice for the job.

With Mike Krzyzewski likely having coached in his last Olympics, there's a "near-unanimous feeling in basketball circles" that Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is the logical choice to replace him for 2016, writes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. But a source briefed on internal discussions regarding Coach K's replacement tells Berger that Celtics coach Doc Rivers shouldn't be ruled out.

"With Doc, I think it would keep the same chemistry going," a source told Berger. "If Pop comes in, he would want his own way of doing it - kind of the Spurs' secretive way of doing things - and out of Jerry [Colangelo]'s norm."

As Rivers and the Celtics prepare for tomorrow night's game against the Warriors, let's check in on a few other items from around the Atlantic Division:

• Former Celtics coach Rick Pitino, who coached Terrence Williams at Louisville, tells Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald that he believes Williams could be a great fit in Boston.
• Kenyon Martin isn't losing sleep over whether or not the Knicks will hang on to him beyond his first 10-day contract, as he tells Al Iannazzone of Newsday. "If what I do merits for me to be here the rest of the year, then I will be," Martin said. "And if not, then I won't. But I think the way my game is and the way I play, I'll let my play speak for itself."
• Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun acknowledges that it will hurt Andrea Bargnani's offseason trade value if the Raptors bench him now. However, Wolstat thinks it must be done, since Bargnani's current performance isn't helping the team or his trade value anyway.
• The Sixers helped create their current mess by sending a message to the team that Andrew Bynum was the only player who mattered, opines Marcus Hayes of the Philadelphia Daily News.

The Bucks sit atop the Central Division two weeks into the season, and with the Bulls missing Derrick Rose and the Pacers without Danny Granger, there's a chance they might stay in first place for a while. Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis can become free agents next summer, but they're off to a strong start in their first full season as teammates, observes Charles F. Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Nonetheless, Marcus Thompson II of the Bay Area News Group predicts Ellis won't be with the Bucks next year (Twitter link). While we wait to see how Milwaukee's situation plays out, there's news on Rose and others on a six-game night in the Association.

• Commissioner David Stern said the league is projecting it will rake in a record $5 billion of revenue this season, a 20% jump from 2010/11, the NBA's last full season, writes Ronald Blum of The Associated Press (via the Minneapolis Star Tribune).
• Jerry Colangelo has been re-elected as chairman of USA Basketball's board of directors through 2016, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. Chauncey Billups will also join the board as an athlete representative.
• In the same piece, Zillgitt notes that Colangelo said there's no rush to name a coach to replace the outgoing Mike Krzyzewski.
• Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau expects Rose to return at some point this season, writes Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com.
• Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun reiterates a point he's made before, suggesting the Raptors ought to trade Andrea Bargnani to bolster a position of weakness.
• Gino Pilato of Ridiculous Upside passes along details on this season's D-League showcase, which is set to take place in early January 2013.
• Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Kemba Walker are playing like legitimate building blocks for the 3-3 Bobcats, as Jim Cavan of The New York Times chronicles.

The Nuggets participated in the biggest trade of the offseason, getting Andre Iguodala in the four-team swap that sent Dwight Howard to the Lakers, and Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com speculates that GM Masai Ujiri might not be done dealing. Howard-Cooper, replying to a fan question on Twitter, says he thinks the team will look to move a wing player or a power forward to alleviate logjams at those positions, but cautions that Iguodala, Danilo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler, each of whom is owed more than $30MM, are not likely trade candidates. Here's the rest of the news from the Association with less than a month to go before the start of training camp:

• Jerry Colangelo wants to remain as chairman of USA Basketball at least through the 2016 Olympics, USA Today reports. He's likely to receive formal approval to stay in early 2013, and says he's spoken to Mike Krzyzewski in hopes of luring him back as coach.
• Agent Keith Kreiter of Edge Sports says via Twitter that the Spurs will bring in Brian Butch and Warren Carter for workouts next week, while the Celtics will audition Darryl Partin (hat tip to Michael A. De Leon of Project Spurs). Butch, a former University of Wisconsin center, was in camp with the Hornets before last season, while Carter, a forward from Illinois, got a look from the Knicks in camp in 2009. Partin, a guard, went undrafted this June out of Boston University.
• A shoulder injury forced Channing Frye to miss the Suns' de facto postseason play-in game at the end of last season with the Jazz, and while he's been cleared for contact, he might not be ready in time for opening night, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic reports.

The 2016 Summer Olympics may be four full years away, but with London's games behind us, it's not too early to start looking ahead to Rio de Janeiro. NBA players are expected to maintain Olympic eligibility at least through 2016, so Tom Zeller of SBNation.com provides an early preview of what Team USA's roster might look like in Brazil. Zeller predicts we could see five new faces on 2016's squad, including plenty of players who missed the London games due to injuries: Dwight Howard, Blake Griffin, Derrick Rose, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Kyrie Irving.

Here are a few more Monday odds and ends from around the NBA:

• Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio says there's "no validity" to the Derrick Williams-to-the-Cavs whispers we heard over the weekend (Twitter link).
• What are the expectations for the newly-tattooed Jason Terry in Boston? Chris Forsberg of ESPNBoston.com weighs in and passes along input from a few other Celtics scribes.
• New Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts intends to take his time in hiring four assistant coaches in addition to Kaleb Canales, tweets Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune.
• Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register doesn't think the Lakers or their fans have to worry about Dwight Howard's health or role in Los Angeles.

Mike Krzewzyski is set to step down as head coach of USA Basketball. He will finish with an all-time record of 62-1. Following the USA's victory over Spain to capture the gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics, people including LeBron James and Doc Rivers weighed in on who should be his successor.

James and Rivers both endorse San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich to succeed Krzewzyski, although Rivers adds that Philadelphia 76ers coach Doug Collins would also be a strong candidate, and that Rivers himself would accept the position if offered to him.

Who do you think should coach Team USA going forward? Should it be Rivers, Popovich, Collins, or someone else? Share your thoughts in the comments.

4:40pm: FIBA unveiled a few proposals it will take to the International Olympic Committee, and one of them is designed to address concerns NBA teams have had about the wear and tear of the Olympic competition by shortening its length, Zillgitt writes (via the Detroit Free Press). FIBA wants to increase the number of teams from 12 to 16 and reduce the number of games in pool play from five to three.

"It's certainly wear and tear - 19 days of London, plus the preparation time," said Baumann, the FIBA secretary general. "When you finish the (NBA) season on 20 of June, the beginning of July you are in Las Vegas, by the end of July you are here and by the time you get home and put your things down in a cupboard, that's a pretty long time." 

2:45pm: FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann today told reporters, including USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt, that he feels his organization will not propose an age limit for the 2016 Olympic games (Twitter link). Ian Thomsen of SI.com reported earlier this week that a 23-and-under restriction was unlikely for 2016, but Marc Stein of ESPN.com hears the NBA will keep pushing for an age limit. A source tells Stein "this will eventually happen" despite FIBA's resistance.

Part of FIBA's unwillingness to restrict older players from the Olympics is the feeling that doing so would make Team USA even more dominant, Stein writes, adding that many from overseas feel American players generally develop faster.

Team USA chairman Jerry Colangelo has expressed a desire to know soon whether or not the age limit will be in place for 2016. Colangelo said that he will make multiple rosters for each contingency, Stein reports. Colangelo is not sure that Mike Krzyzewski can be persuaded to return as coach for 2016, despite lobbying from players, but is more optimistic that LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony will be back (All Twitter links).

Baumann said he would like to move basketball's World Cup, formerly known as the World Championships, back a year to avoid conflict with soccer's World Cup, Zillgitt tweets, meaning the 2018 competition might not take place until 2019. NBA commissioner David Stern has spoken about making the World Cup of Basketball the marquee international basketball competition instead of the Olympics.

This week may not represent your last chance to watch LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and other NBA stars play Olympic basketball after all. The NBA continues to push for an age limit for men's basketball at the Olympics, but according to Ian Thomsen of SI.com, such a rule is unlikely to be instituted in time for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.

Commissioner David Stern and the NBA have hoped to create a new World Cup of Basketball that features the game's biggest stars, while modifying Olympic play to include only 23-and-under players. That plan is still in the works and could be in place by the 2020 games, but according to Thomsen, it's "highly unrealistic" that FIBA will move quickly to introduce an age limit by 2016. Thomsen points out that the involvement of the International Olympic Committee would complicate talks, and that the new rule would "require the ratification of 213 national basketball federations around the world."

Whether or not NBA stars are still playing for Team USA in Brazil in 2016, managing director Jerry Colangelo hopes to oversee the U.S. basketball program through those Olympics. Asked by SI.com if he planned to continue representing Team USA for another four years, Colangelo replied, "Yes, I think so."