Here’s tonight’s look at the latest from the Eastern Conference, where we’ve rounded up a bit from each division out east:
- Jason Kidd indicated that the team had sincere interest in bringing free agent Ray Allen to the Bucks, writes Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel. “We did contact Ray,” Kidd admitted. “He’s weighing his options to see where he wants to go. But we did have interest.” Allen started his career in Milwaukee before getting traded for Gary Payton during his seventh season as a Buck.
- Brad Stevens is making a conscious effort to more closely align the playbooks of the Celtics and their the D-League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, as the second-year coach explains to ESPNBoston.com’s Chris Forsberg. “We’re trying to make [the playbook synergy] even more of a priority this year,” Stevens said. “I didn’t do a great job of that as I was balancing everything [last season]. [Red Claws coach Morrison Scott] has been here now for, really, the better part of [two months]. He’s been able to learn what we’re doing and they’ll play very similar to us.”
- The Magic‘s decision to trade away a pair of first-rounders just to move up two spots in June’s draft looked questionable at the time, but early returns from Elfrid Payton, the player Orlando selected with that pick, are making GM Rob Hennigan look brilliant, opines Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel.
Chris Crouse contributed to this post.