Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun believes the Raptors will pursue a power forward this summer via trade in return for Andrea Bargnani, and he advocates that Toronto go after Carl Landry, as the team is reportedly considering (Twitter links). If Bargnani is successfully dealt, he joins Greg Oden, Andrew Bogut, Dwight Howard, and LeBron James on the list of #1 picks over the last ten seasons to either eventually leave or be traded from the team that drafted them. Here are a few more tidbits to relay from the Atlantic Division: 

• Raptors guard Kyle Lowry tells Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun that he's hopeful about returning to Toronto next season and wants to be back, but acknowledged that the decision is out of his hands. Ganter, who argues that the 6'1 point guard must become a 'jack-of-all-trades' player to fit Toronto's needs, also mentions that Lowry has a $6.21MM team exception for next season.
• Celtics star Paul Pierce still finds it difficult to fathom that Ray Allen left for the Heat, saying that his former teammate could have gone anywhere else - citing the Lakers as another exception - and he wouldn't have felt betrayed, says Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.
• Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com wonders why Doug Collins would want to return next season, when the 76ers may still be mediocre.
• Although P.J. Carlesimo would like to rest his key players as much as he can before the playoffs, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson aren't ready to sit just yet, writes Roderick Boone of Newsday. Williams and Johnson briefly mentioned the possibility of catching the Pacers, who are currently the third seed in the Eastern Conference. 

Here's this afternoon's look around the Association..

• As it stands now, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel sees the Heat using the amnesty clause on Mike Miller.  While the vet is a great locker room influence, it doesn't make sense for Miami to carry his contract.  There's also the possibility that Miami finds a trade for Miller, but that could prove difficult.
• The Bucks never made Ray Allen an offer to return when he was a free agent over the summer, writes Gery Woelfel of the Journal Times.  “I considered Memphis and Minnesota. That’s the plate I was looking at. Those were the teams that were offering me to go play for them," the guard said.
• More from Woelfel, who writes that two NBA executives who once considered UCLA swingman Shabazz Muhammad a legitimate top-three draft pick now have him outside their top ten.  It's possible that the news that the Bruins star is actually 20 as opposed to 19 has hurt his stock.
• Dwight Howard and Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni are divided on the club's offensive philosophy, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com.

A few notes from around the Eastern Conference.

• Heat guard Ray Allen says "it's a no-brainer" that his coach, Erik Spoelstra, should win Coach of the Year, writes Fox Sports reporter Chris Tomasson.  
• The Celtics have struggled all season with their backup point guard position. But since signing Terrence Williams and implementing him in the role, Boston's offense has been slightly better, writes ESPNBoston.com's Chris Forsberg. 
• According to CSNWashington.com's J. Michael, the Wizards are poising themselves for a playoff appearance next season. 
• The Sixers don't have any chance at making the playoffs this season, but their head coach swears they aren't giving up, writes CSNPhilly.com's Dei Lynam. 

The Knicks announced a pair of injuries today, as Kurt Thomas will miss approximately two to four weeks with a stress fracture in his right foot, while Tyson Chandler will be sidelined for a week with a small bulging disc (all Twitter links). As Howard Beck of the New York Times notes (via Twitter), with so many players injured, particularly in the frontcourt, it may be time for the Knicks to reconsider their decision not to waive Rasheed Wallace to open a roster spot for a replacement. While we wait to see if the club makes a roster move, let's check out a few more items from around the Eastern Conference:

• Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau isn't ruling out the possibility that Richard Hamilton's back injury may keep him out for the rest of the season, says K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. Hamilton is under contract for $5MM next season, but only $1MM is guaranteed, so he could hit free agency this summer.
• Although Ray Allen can opt out of his contract at season's end, Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel thinks Allen would have a hard time finding a better fit than the Heat for maximizing his skill set and extending his career.
• Jeff Green and Avery Bradley are looking like two pieces the Celtics can build around beyond the Big Three era, according to Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe.
• Following up on news of Andrew Bynum's season-ending surgery, John Denton of Magic.com once again praises Magic GM Rob Hennigan for passing on Bynum in last summer's blockbuster trade. Hennigan's "impeccable, dead-on foresight" should ensure that the team is in good hands, says Denton.
• A pair of Nets, Joe Johnson and Kris Humphries, are among the least cost-effective players in the NBA, writes Tom Ziller of SBNation.com.

Here's tonight's look around the Association..

• Heat guard Ray Allen says that he won't make any decision until after the season on whether he will pick up his 2013/14 contract option, according to Chris Tomasson of FOX Sports (on Sulia).
• The Sixers can't afford to let center Andrew Bynum walk this summer, even though the trade has backfired on them, writes John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News.  General Manager Tony DiLeo recently explained that re-signing Bynum is the club's Plan A but they will look to use their increased financial flexibility to make a splash if that doesn't happen.
• NBA.com's Sekou Smith rounded up a handful of articles speculating about LeBron James returning to the Cavaliers in free agency in 2014, and shares his own thoughts on the subject.  In the eyes of Smith, the only thing that will silence the chatter is LeBron returning to Cleveland in the summer of 2014.
• After returning from a NCAA suspension, Myck Kabongo of Texas needs to reestablish his value if he hopes to declare for June's draft, writes Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com.
• Chris Bernucca of Sheridan Hoops offered up a glimpse of what the upcoming free agent market could have to offer.  For a complete list of 2013/14 free agents, you can check out Hoops Rumors' list right here.

Sunday's nationally televised tilt between the Heat and Celtics will mark the return of Ray Allen to Boston, and the erstwhile Celtics guard spoke to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports about the "collection of everything" that led him to sign with Miami. In addition, Allen has told those close to him that he felt he ranked behind Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Rajon Rondo on coach Doc Rivers' list of favorites, as Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News shares. Rivers is nonetheless calling for Boston fans to cheer Allen when he's introduced, but a hostile greeting seems more likely, as LeBron James surmises in Chris Tomasson's report for Fox Sports Florida.

• Last night Ken Berger of CBSSports.com shared that he's hears the Raptors would prefer to trade Kyle Lowry over Jose Calderon, but according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun, the front office is split on which point guard it likes best. Wolstat speculates that a trade that sends both away is more likely than a scenario in which Toronto deals Lowry and keeps Calderon (All Twitter links).
• While some members of the Knicks organization were worried several days ago that Rasheed Wallace might miss the season, coach Mike Woodson said that if the team had a playoff game today, Wallace would play, as Newsday's Al Iannazzone observes. That appears to make it less likely the Knicks would sign Kenyon Martin, as their interest in him is reportedly tied to Wallace's ability to return.
• While the Celtics' strengthening affinity for J.J. Redick may not be likely to result in a deal, CSNNE.com rounds up opinions on what a trade for the Magic sharpshooter and other moves could do for Boston. The problem isn't a lack of talent, according to CSNNE.com scribe A. Sherrod Blakely, adding that he believes Rivers' job is safe.
• Hall of Famer Robert Parish is campaigning for an NBA front-office or coaching job, but isn't expecting a hand from many of his former Celtics teammates, as Stan Grosfeld of the Boston Globe observes.

So far in Miami, Ray Allen has played the role many expected he would. Averaging just 25.5 minutes per game, a career-low by a wide margin, the veteran sharpshooter has remained efficient, shooting 43.2% from three-point range and posting a 16.1 PER to go along with his 11.2 PPG. Despite his early success with the Heat, Allen tells Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times that there's no guarantee this season won't be his last.

"It’s possible, yeah," Allen said of retiring after this season. "Who knows what’s going to happen over the course of the summer? I have two years left on my contract. We’ll see how it goes."

Allen's deal includes a 2013/14 player option worth about $3.23MM in what will be his age-38 season. If he continues to be healthy and productive for the rest of '12/13, I'd be pretty surprised if Allen called it a career. However, it sounds like the 10-time All-Star doesn't necessarily want to stick around long enough to see his skills significantly deteriorate.

If Kevin Martin has his way, anyone other than the Thunder will have a tough time signing him this summer, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. The ninth-year veteran is averaging career bests in three point shooting (45.7%) and free throw shooting (93.2%) in addition to producing 15.8 PPG in 30.0 MPG. He is currently in the final year of his contract, and is slated to make nearly $12.4MM this season. Here are some more of tonight's miscellaneous notes from around the Association:

• Despite recent reports that Phil Jackson wouldn't be interested in coaching the Nets, Chris Sheridan of Sheridan Hoops talks about why we probably haven't seen the last of the Zen Master just yet. 
• Cavaliers coach Byron Scott is confident about the front office's patience with him, writes Jodie Valade of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. 
• HoopsWorld's Steve Kyler tweeted that an Andrea Bargnani trade is inevitable since he is no longer in Toronto's long-term plans, and that the Raptors will only play him when he comes back in order to prove that he's healthy.
• Kyler (via Twitter) also says that the Lakers aren't currently looking to trade any of their bench players and are more focused on continuing to establish rhythm, Bargnani's elbow injury effectively hurts any if not all of his trade value right now, and that the current feeling around Brooklyn is that P.J. Carlesimo will get a chance to finish the season if none of the candidates they want are available. 
• Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune shared some of David Kahn's comments on Brandon Roy's decision to undergo non-invasive treatment, noting that it would not be the same Regenokine therapy that Roy underwent last spring and that the upcoming process could take three to four weeks (Twitter links).
• Shams Charania of RealGM says that Ray Allen was not contacted by the Bucks during the free agency period this past summer and admitted that he probably would not have considered a return to Milwaukee regardless. 
• Nets guard MarShon Brooks is hoping to capitalize on what appears to be a fresh start with coach P.J. Carlesimo after not being able to mesh with Avery Johnson, writes Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. 
• Without much practice time, Carlesimo will have to rely on much of the same offensive schemes that the Nets players have been familiar with up to this point along with additional help from the assistant coaches as he continues to make a transition into his interim head coaching role (Roderick Boone of Newsday reports). 
• While the departure of Joe Johnson might have signaled a rebuilding year to some, the Hawks' climb to 3rd place in the East after 27 games has definitely contradicted that notion, writes Jarrod Rudolph of RealGM. 

Lamar Odom, preparing to face the Mavericks on Wednesday for the first time since they traded him to the Clippers, called his season in Dallas "a blur," as Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times documents. "Sometimes we make pit stops in some places," Odom said. "I remember the people and the city. Basketball just wasn't there for me at that time." Odom added that he has no hard feelings for owner Mark Cuban, and spoke highly of the Mavs to former teammate Derek Fisher after the point guard signed with Dallas last week. If the reunion of Odom and the Mavs along with the rest of tomorrow's slate can live up to the drama of tonight's six-game schedule, we're in for a treat. Here's more from around the Association.

• The Heat have gotten plenty of return on their investment in Ray Allen, as he's fit in seamlessly as a complement at shooting guard to Dwyane Wade, who tells Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today that he was always on board with the signing and never concerned that Allen would take his minutes.
• Bill Oram of The Salt Lake Tribune chronicles the arduous journey DeMarre Carroll took to becoming a valuable part of the Jazz rotation on a minimum-salary deal.
• Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News chatted with readers to discuss the ripple effect of the Fisher signing and the possibility of trades involving the Mavericks.
• Sixers coach Doug Collins and GM Tony DiLeo will meet to determine the best time to send this year's 27th overall pick, Arnett Moultrie, to the D-League, as Tom Moore of PhillyBurbs.com notes.
• Ben Golliver and Rob Mahoney of SI.com delve into several reasons why the Cavs shouldn't trade Anderson Varejao, and offer up some trade ideas that would offer fair value to Cleveland if the team were to pull the trigger.

At 10-3, the defending champion Miami Heat own the best record in the Eastern Conference. Here are the latest notes and rumors surrounding the team on Sunday afternoon:

• Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel wonders whether the Heat will pick up the $4MM option on guard Mario Chalmers' contract for next season.
• Winderman also notes that Mike Miller is likely to be waived at some point using the amnesty clause.
• Winderman writes that the Heat's decision to use Ray Allen as a sixth man is paying off for the team.
• Signed for the veteran's minimum, it was unknown what kind of contribution Rashard Lewis would make to the Heat, but Winderman says that he has been a valuable part of Miami's rotation thus far.
• Jeff Zillgett of USA Today notes that Udonis Haslem is the first undrafted player ever to lead his team in rebounding this season.