According to a report by ESPN, former Bulls and Lakers head coach Phil Jackson is being targeted by the Toronto Raptors, who want to bring the 11-time NBA champion on board as team president. Former AEG chief Tim Lieweke, who now runs the Raptors, a major player in building Staples Center, is still close to Jackson from their time in L.A.

The ongoing Sacramento-Seattle debate plays into a potential move by Jackson. It was said that Seattle was a leading contender to land Jackson, should the city acquire the franchise from the California capital. Leading Seattle investor Chris Hansen was reported to have “hit it off” with Jackson.

However, now that it appears the Kings are staying put, the Raptors are believed to be the frontrunner to have Jackson in their front office. There remains some skepticism around basketball that Jackson would be willing to relocate to Canada.

In an interview last week with the San Francisco Chronicle, Jackson indicated that a number of teams had contacted him about various jobs. He also said none of those discussions had been about returning to the bench as a head coach.

Final, Raptors 114-90:

With Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry sitting out the entire game and Paul Pierce taking a seat for the second half, the Celtics closed the regular season with a blowout loss to the lottery-bound Raptors. DeMar DeRozan exploded for 15 points in the third quarter to finish with a game-high 24 points as Toronto led by as many as 33 points. Jordan Crawford led the Celtics with 16 points.

The Celtics next take the court this weekend in New York for Game 1 of their playoff series against the Knicks.

Fourth quarter, 6:35, Raptors 105-74: Ever since we expressed some reservations about DeRozan, he played like a man on a mission. DeRozan dropped 15 points in the third quarter alone to give him 24 points for the game, which should be enough for him. Raptors coach Dwane Casey has given guys like Lucas and Aaron Gray plenty of run in this fourth quarter, as both these teams look to just close out the regular season.

End third quarter, Raptors 96-70: We have a Fab Melo sighting, so if you did not believe what we were saying before about this game jumping the shark, hopefully you do now.

In five minutes of action, Melo had a very Melo-like line of zero points, zero rebounds, one steal and four fouls. The Raptors have followed the Celtics’ lead of emptying their bench, only unlike the Celtics, the Raptors reserves actually hit shots. Lucas has five points, and Landry Fields, who has not had success doing much of anything in his first season in Toronto, has six.

Third quarter, 5:26, Raptors 79-60: Not that we don’t enjoy your company or anything, but what are you doing here? Seriously, there is a perfectly good Jazz-Grizzlies game going on, with the Jazz fighting for their playoff lives, that is just begging for you to watch.

The game is on ESPN. Go ahead, click over. Just leave your laptop open and we will update you on anything worthwhile that occurs here. Honestly, get out of here. This thing is ugly — the Raptors got their lead up to as many as 23 points — and is likely to get uglier.

Third quarter, 10:34, Raptors 67-51: OK, this one is probably over, but Rivers does not want his players treating this game like it is over over.

Know what I mean?

After the Raptors opened the second half on a 9-2 run to extend their lead to 16 points — their largest of the game — Rivers took a swift timeout. This might be the last game of an 81-game season, but he does not want the Celtics going through the motions.

Halftime, Raptors 59-49: DeRozan seems like a nice kid, and at 6-foot-7 with decent athleticism, he should be a fine player. But at halftime he has just nine points on 2-for-6 shooting, one rebound and one assist against an opponent that has made it clear it is not approaching this game with all its ammo.

Gay and Valanciunas have had no such trouble. Gay has 15 points in more than 17 minutes and Valanciunas has 13 points and six rebounds in just over 18 minutes. Only Bradley has played anywhere near that much for the Celtics.

The Celtics got 11 points each from Bradley and Pierce, but do not expect to see them much in the second half. After an off day on Thursday, the Celtics are slated to practice Friday in New York to gear up for Game 1 of their playoff series against the Knicks. Rivers does not seem in any hurry to push his guys in Toronto.

Second quarter, 5:24, Raptors 46-39: Valanciunas had a nice preseason, an inconsistent first half of the season as he transitioned into NBA life, and since the All-Star break he has shown flashes of being great.

Valanciunas is giving Boston his full repertoire here, scoring nine points and blocking three shots early in the action. His play is nearly impressive as Williams doing his Terrence Stansbury impression with a Statue of Liberty finger-roll over Lowry on the break.

Second quarter, 9:20, Raptors 36-35: Courtney Lee, a starter for much of the season, took a while to make an impact in this one. He finally got in the scorebook with a 3-pointer to briefly help the Celtics take the lead, but the Raptors turned around and threw the ball the length of the court on the inbound to retake the lead.

D.J. White and Terrence Williams have joined Crawford, Randolph and Lee on the court. It may not be explicit, but this is probably Rivers’ signal that he is letting his main guys take it easy.

End of first quarter, Raptors 31-30: Just as Rivers drew it up (or at least we will give him the benefit of the doubt), Jordan Crawford tossed up a halfcourt shot at the end of the quarter, and…

Bank. Cash.

Crawford’s skillfull and not at all lucky shot helped the Celtics pull back within one after a fairly impressive first quarter by Toronto — or Gay, anyway. Gay put up 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting and 3-for-4 shooting from downtown as the Raptors surprisingly held the lead. We will see how aggressively Rivers deploys Pierce, Bass and Green from here on, as he has already given Shavlik Randolph ample playing time.

First quarter, 5:52, Raptors 17-15: As expected, Toronto offered a moment of silence and played “Sweet Caroline” before the game. The moment of silence was sweet, but honestly I wonder how many Raptors fans — or Celtics players, many of whom have probably never been to a Red Sox game — grasped the significance of that song.

Maybe it is rust from not playing in three days, but Bass has had a rough start. He failed to box out Valanciunas twice, then got caught committing a defensive three-second violation. Rivers loves to say Bass is a “rhythm” player, so it would make sense that Bass might struggle with the layoff more than some other Celtics.

Bass did recover with a man’s rebound on defense, and tip-dunked home a missed layup by Shavlik Randolph.

7:30 p.m.: With Tuesday’s unscheduled off day, the Celtics figured to play everybody in Toronto. Not so. Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry will sit out the game, Doc Rivers told reporters, and Paul Pierce, Jeff Green and Brandon Bass will play limited minutes.

The Celtics have two days off before they almost assuredly play Saturday in New York. The Rangers have a late afternoon home game at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, meaning the venue is booked for that day. That means the Celtics will have played one game in a stretch of six days.

The project starting lineups appear below.

Celtics
Chris Wilcox
Brandon Bass
Jeff Green
Paul Pierce
Avery Bradley

Raptors
Jonas Valanciunas
Amir Johnson
Rudy Gay
DeMar DeRozan
Kyle Lowry

5:55 p.m.: Tragedies have a way of bringing people together, and that appears to be the case in Toronto.

Two weeks ago, Torontonians were cursing everything Boston-related when former Blue Jays manager John Farrell made a trip to the Rogers Centre with his new team, the Red Sox. Now they will stand united with Bostonians prior to Wednesday’s game against the Celtics.

The Raptors will observe a moment of silence and play “Sweet Caroline” when they introduce the Celtics’ starting lineup, according to radio play-by-play announcer Sean Grande.

There will be a moment of silence tonight, and the Celtics will be introduced to "Sweet Caroline". That, Toronto, is how you stay classy.

—
Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) April 17, 2013

Be forewarned, it might get a bit dusty when the song starts to play.

8 a.m. ET: It is hard to say precisely how emotional it will be Wednesday when the Celtics take the court at the Air Canada Centre for their first game since Monday’s tragedy at the Boston Marathon. The Celtics canceled Tuesday’s game at TD Garden against the Pacers out of respect for the victims and security personnel whose efforts were better utilized at the crime scene, in a move that was impossible to argue against.

Just how Celtics coach Doc Rivers approaches this final game against the Raptors (32-48) could be interesting. He planned on parceling out rest to some key players in this final week, but now that the Celtics (41-39) will have had just one game in a seven-day span, the plan may have changed.

If you would like to take a break from the nonstop news coverage, please join us for updates and analysis during the game, which tips off at 8 p.m. ET.

Rudy Gay

Now Gay, who went to Toronto in January as part of a pre-emptive strike by Memphis against the luxury tax, is close to being shut down with back trouble and the reaction is a resounding, “meh.” This should be instructive for the Raptors front office, which have justified their desire to sign Gay to an extension by claiming the franchise’s alleged need “star power.” When that “star” is possibly done for the year and nobody outside the organization seems to care, maybe his “power” is not quite as powerful as you believed.

Just how much better the Raptors have gotten with Gay, if at all, is almost beside the point. The Raptors are 9-12 with Gay in the lineup since the trade, which is better from a win percentage standpoint than their 16-30 mark prior to the deal, so there is that. When general manager Bryan Colangelo made the unusual step of opening up his front office’s system of analyzing advanced statistics to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, the attempt to show the team’s progressiveness backfired. Rather than being portrayed as forward-thinking, the Raptors were questioned for giving away their trade secrets.

This struck me as nitpicking. No matter how limited the Raptors’ methods may appear, it is doubtful that any opponent could glean deep secrets of Toronto’s game plans from the eight screengrabs included in Lowe’s article. Dwane Casey has lost more than 60 percent of his games as an NBA head coach, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in that respect. He did help formulate the defensive game plan in Dallas that set loose Tyson Chandler and contributed to the Mavericks’ championship run in 2011, so clearly he has more in his playbook than a few two-dimensional slides will reveal. But this was the Raptors, who are easy to make fun of, so naturally allowing a member of the media to observe their procedures must have been a boneheaded move.

Still, it is tough to see similar criticism arising if Lowe had spent his time with the brain trust in Houston, Oklahoma City or San Antonio. Replace every reference to the Raptors with “Rockets” in the ESPN piece and every stathead from MIT to Caltech would have been fawning over Daryl Morey‘s expanding genius. Heck, they might have called an emergency Sloan Sports Analytics Conference just to discuss the brilliance of Houston’s approach and their refreshingly open attitude about teaching the rest of the world the “right way” to analyze the game.

The point of all this is not that the Raptors were wise to give their SportVU system its day in the sun, or that the Rockets are doing something fundamentally wrong. Morey certainly knows what he is doing in constructing the Rockets’ roster. Colangelo, judging by the results, does not.

Morey has earned the benefit of the doubt in some instances, such as last month’s trade for Thomas Robinson, who did not finish well at the rim and took more long 2-pointers than he should have with the Kings. There was faith that the Rockets could rebuild the rookie out of Kansas, and in his first dozen games with his new team Robinson, shot has shot well within five feet (in a small sample size, but still) and substantially cut down on his long jump shots. The faith in Houston’s system has — so far — been rewarded.

Meanwhile, the Raptors have given fans plenty of reasons to be critical, even dismissive, of their moves — even moves as mundane as spending a few days with a reporter. Their acquisition of Gay (with the Grizzlies’ subsequent improvement at both ends of the floor) might top the list of their mistakes if they did not have Andrea Bargnani and DeMar DeRozan already locked up to lucrative, long-term contracts. To repurpose former Raptors coach Kevin O’Neill‘s infamous quote for our purposes, Toronto is selling neither wins nor hope at this point. They are simply selling punch lines, even unfair ones, and that is when they are not being overlooked altogether.

Have a question for Ben Watanabe? Send it to him via Twitter at @BenjeeBallgame or send it here.

Sebastian Telfair

Telfair, now 27, opened up about his self-inflicted trials early in his career, from his multiple gun charges to his brief tenure with the Celtics. The former Sports Illustrated cover boy blamed only himself for the troubles that have caused him to shuttle among seven teams in his nine-year NBA career. It all started in high school, where he never had to set screens, make a post-entry pass, play defense or do any of the fundamental things that are necessary to compete in the NBA.

“I had to learn the game,” Telfair told SI. “When I started, I didn’t know how to play the game, meaning coming from New York and Lincoln High School. They really don’t teach you how to play basketball, especially in a public school. When I got to Portland, I was playing with Zach Randolph. It was a big man’s league and I didn’t understand how to play with those guys, as far as getting those guys the ball, and that other guys can do what you can do. I’m from New York, where point guards, we dominate the game, and I [thought I] was the only one who could do that. It took me some years to understand.”

Telfair also had a lot to say about his lone season with the Celtics. He was part of a trio of mercurial point guards on the 2006-07 Celtics, splitting time with Rajon Rondo and Delonte West. The fact that Telfair already had a lucrative sneaker deal with Adidas made him think he did not have to work as hard as the two younger players, he said, and he wonders if events might have occurred differently if he had been more mature. He wonders if maybe the Celtics would have included Rondo in the Kevin Garnett trade instead, and that maybe he would have been the one to help the Celtics win the 2008 championship.

All that is history now, though. As Telfair finishes out this season with the Raptors, he sounds like he has come to grips with it.

Then Telfair went and got kicked out of Wednesday’s game against the Celtics when he took offense to Avery Bradley‘s pressure defense, so maybe he has not moved on as much as he says he has.

Final, Celtics 112-88:

Somewhere in the third quarter, the Celtics hit the easy button and turned a tight game into a laugher. They outscored the Raptors 60-40 in the second and third quarters combined, but it was not until Paul Pierce made a concerted effort to get to the line in the third that they really pulled away.

Jeff Green had 20 points to lead a balanced Celtics offense that placed seven players in double figures. The Celtics shot better than 50 percent from the field until late in the fourth, when they emptied their bench with the Chinese league all-stars. The Celtics got to the foul line at will, shooting 28-for-35 on free throws while the Raptors were just 17-of-19.

Rudy Gay and DeMar DeRozan, with 19 points and 17 points, respectively, led Toronto in scoring.

Fourth quarter, 5:28, Celtics 96-72: They say “you can’t trust the media,” but I’ve got to give “the media” credit on Crawford. Everything that was written or said about Crawford turned out to be true.

Crawford is every bit the wild scorer and flawed defender he was made out to be, and he can shoot his team into a game just as quickly as he can shoot them out of it. Right now, he is shooting the Celtics into a large lead, teaming up with Terry, who has three 3-pointers, to give the Celtics 12 points each from those backup guards.

Fourth quarter, 11:00, Celtics 81-62: Bradley started to get under Telfair’s skin in the third quarter, and it appears to have run the Toronto guard out of the game. Telfair, who swung an elbow at Bradley late in the third quarter, was hit with a second technical foul and ejected from the game some time around the end of the quarter or during the break.

End of third quarter, Celtics 81-62: The Celtics almost seem to have looked at their recent box scores, with their opponents shooting far more free throws than they have, and decided to make up for it all in this game.

Heading into the final 12 minutes, the Celtics are 23-for-29 from the foul line. The Raptors are just 11-for-12. Pierce alone is 9-for-11, and the Celtics shot 19 freebies in just the third quarter.

Crawford is showing signs of being just the “wild card” Rivers is looking for off his bench. The streaky scorer has scored just like that — in streaks — with back-to-back buckets late in the third to go with his back-to-back buckets in the first half.

The Celtics finally have the wide lead they should have had all game. Let’s see if they can keep this one intact.

Third quarter, 2:58, Celtics 69-60: The Celtics have once again extended their lead, only this time they are doing it with defense. That is the way Rivers probably prefers it, and it might be a method more likely to stick. Bradley’s open-floor layup after a turnover helped restore a double-digit lead momentarily. Anything less than an eight-point lead for the Celtics at this point is too much of a let-up.

Third quarter, 5:33, Celtics 60-56: Whoever wants to win this game, please stand up.

The Celtics and Raptors seem to be exchanging half-hearted attempts at taking over this game, but neither team seems all that committed to the idea. Since taking a 13-point lead on a pair of free throws by Pierce, the Celtics have been outscored 16-7 and have not really generated much in the way of a quality shot.

In milestone news, Pierce became the second player on the Celtics to pass a Hall of Famer on an all-time list in this game. Pierce just moved past Charles Barkley into the top 20 in scoring in NBA history.

Halftime, Celtics 49-40: Like Jeff Green, the Celtics just seem to be taking it too easy. That is why it’s fitting that Green has keyed the Celtics’ efforts to build their lead.

Green, who acknowledges that his style looks nonchalant at times, leads everyone in uniform with 12 points at halftime. His teammates are looking for him and getting him the ball in position to drive to the hoop, such as Pierce dishing to Green on a give-and-go for an and-one layup late in the first half.

Garnett has recovered from his horrible shooting night in Charlotte to go 3-for-5 from the field so far, adding seven boards and three steals. The Celtics are outrebounding the Raptors 18-16 and hold a 26-16 advantage in points in the paint.

Gay has nine points for the Raptors.

Second quarter, 4:03, Celtics 37-32: Well, it looked like the Celtics were about to run away with this thing, anyway.

Since Terry’s alley-oop to Garnett at the 6:33 mark, both teams have gone cold. Telfair hit a tough step-back jumper, but that is the only scoring either side has done in the last 2:30. The Celtics just cannot seem to keep from playing down to their competition, apparently.

Second quarter, 6:20, Celtics 37-30: The Raptors sorely need to talk things over, because Terry has finally shown signs of the Celtics seizing control of this game.

After a 3-pointer by Sebastian Telfair pulled Toronto within two points, Terry sized up Telfair before draining a three in his face from the top of the key. Terry then played some games with the ball on a string and tossed a lob to Garnett for a dunk out of a pick-and-roll.

Second quarter, 8:58, Celtics 26-24: Rivers complained about his team’s desire to “trade baskets” early in Charlotte, which led to their demise late when they could no longer match the Bobcats shot-for-shot. They may be doing the same thing here, as they have pushed back into the lead but are far from taking control of this one.

In the meantime, Garnett banked home a baby hook to pass Jerry West for 15th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.

End of first quarter, Raptors 22-21: The “cool” Celtics are back.

After leading the entire first quarter with hustle and rebounding, the Celtics suddenly stopped playing with the same fervor in the final two minutes of the quarter. the Raptors closed the quarter on a 10-3 run, helped along by technical fouls on Pierce and Terry.

This is the “cool” approach Rivers criticizes from time to time when the Celtics play down to their level of competition, as they did in their previous game against the Bobcats. That game had something of an excuse with Pierce resting, though. There would be no excuse for dropping this game.

First quarter, 2:37, Celtics 18-13: As they should against a team like the Raptors, the Celtics’ secondary players have made an imprint on the action. Picking up where Bass and Lee left off, Wilcox has attacked the basket as Rivers has implored him to do.

Wilcox finished a pick-and-roll with Pierce with a thunderous dunk, then picked up an and-one on a putback. Wilcox missed the free throw, but the message was clear. The Celtics are coming to play and will not be caught taking an opponent lightly for a second straight night.

First quarter, 5:23, Celtics 14-9: What started out as the Brandon Bass and Courtney Lee show finally got a few other members when the rest of the Celtics realized that it was OK to score.

The Celtics took a 9-7 lead on a baseline jumper by Lee, with all nine points being scored either by him or Bass, and Rudy Gay came back with a layup over Pierce to tie it. With that, Pierce and Garnett decided to get involved, and the result has been predictably positive for Boston. The Celtics have built a lead and Pierce looks rejuvenated after taking Tuesday’s game off.

7:05 p.m.: The Celtics will be back at full strength, or at least what amounts to full strength for them now, with Paul Pierce back in the lineup. Kevin Garnett will suit up as well, although Celtics coach Doc Rivers acknowledged that he would like to get the 36-year-old big man at least a game or two of rest before the regular season ends.

Rivers also had some interesting things to say about Wes Welker signing with the Denver Broncos, and found the situation similar to Ray Allen’s departure for Miami last summer.

Pierce will have a tough matchup across from him in Rudy Gay, who is active despite a sore back. There are not (new) significant injuries for either side.

The projected starters appear below.

Raptors
Jonas Valanciunas
Amir Johnson
Rudy Gay
DeMar DeRozan
Kyle Lowry

Celtics
Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Paul Pierce
Courtney Lee
Avery Bradley

8 a.m. ET: OK, so the first part of this back-to-back didn’t go the way the Celtics planned. With Paul Pierce taking the night off, the Celtics “laid an egg” in Charlotte on Tuesday, in coach Doc Rivers’ words, dropping their second straight game and losing a bit more ground in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Now, after failing to take care of business against the league’s worst team record-wise, the Celtics (34-29) get a crack at another of the league’s bottom-feeders. The Raptors (25-39) have been tougher since acquiring Rudy Gay, but they are still a team the Celtics should beat. The Raptors are 8-8 since the January trade with Memphis, but they have lost five of their last six games and have no realistic shot at the playoffs. This should be a walkthrough for the Celtics — emphasis on “should be.”

Join us for updates and analysis from TD Garden during the game, which tips off at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Hawks forward Josh Smith, Clippers guard Eric Bledsoe, Jazz big men Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap and numerous other players whose names came up in multiple trade rumors in the lead-up to the deadline surprisingly stayed put. Blockbuster deals involving Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett or Rajon Rondo never came to pass, with many of the bigger deals consisting of solid but unspectacular players like J.J. Redick and Ronnie Brewer.

After weeks of striking down reports that Garnett, Rondo and even Paul Pierce were on the trading block, the Celtics held true to their word and did not make a major shakeup. They did make a minor deal, adding guard Jordan Crawford from Washington in exchange for a couple of expiring deals, but the team’s three All-Stars will finish out the season as Celtics.

NESN.com’s Doug Kyed sat down with Ben Watanabe to talk about deadline day, which featured some interesting developments despite the lack of a star-studded trade.

Listen in the player below or subscribe on iTunes to download it there.

4:20 p.m.: 

Both players were moved for second-round picks, according to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. So, there’s that.

3:50 p.m.: Perhaps the biggest surprise of the trade deadline were the players who were not dealt. Eric Bledsoe stayed with the Clippers, Josh Smith stuck with the Hawks, Andrea Bargnani is still a Raptor and the Jazz kept Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo are all still Celtics, as well.

3:44 p.m.: As part of the J.J. Redick deal, the Bucks will send Doron Lamb, Tobias Harris and Beno Udrih to the Magic, according to Wojo. Gustavo Ayon and Ish Smith were sent to the Bucks along with Redick.

Harris and Lamb are both young players who have shown occasional flashes in Milwaukee. Udrih will serve as a backup to Jameer Nelson.

3:26 p.m.: Ronnie Brewer was one of the few members of this year’s Knicks who consistently defended his position, and now it appears he is gone. The Knicks sent Brewer to the Thunder for a second round pick, HoopsWorld’s Alex Kennedy reports, and the veteran guard/forward was just told of the move.

All in all, this is not a horrible move for Brewer. The Thunder are one of the league’s top teams and are all but assured of a deep playoff run. At the same time, Brewer’s main skills — defense and corner 3-point shooting — are somewhat redundant to Thabo Sefolosha’s. And Sefolosha has the benefit of already being entrenched in OKC’s rotation.

3:16 p.m.: Say goodbye to Jason Collins, Celtics fans. The veteran backup has been included in the deal that will bring Crawford to Boston, according to Wojo. (There is that guy again.)

This could mean that the traded involves more than a straight-up one-for-one swap that was reported earlier. Collins also makes the veteran’s minimum, and the Wizards are below the salary cap, so they could absord the extra expiring salary if they wish.

3:11 p.m.: The Hawks appear to have decided to hold on to Josh Smith, but Danny Ferry did not spend the deadline just sitting around. The Hawks have flipped Atlanta-area native Anthony Morrow to the Mavericks for Dahntay Jones, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, so there is that.

3:04 p.m.: Do not close the book on the Celtics’ deadline wheeling and dealing just yet. CSNNE’s Net’s A. Sherrod Blakely tweeted that he ran into Ainge, who was still on the phone, suggesting that Boston’s work may not be done.

As for that pesky Redick deal, Orlando is reportedly sending Gustavo Ayon and Ish Smith to Milwaukee as well. The Magic will get Hakim Warrick in a separate deal with Charlotte, while the Bobcats get Josh McRoberts.

Or something like that.

2:59 p.m.: Trying to sort this all out, but it appears that J.J. Redick has been traded to the Bucks, per multiple reports. Who the Magic will receive in return or whether there is another team involved is unclear. One thing that seems to be certain is that it is not a three-way deal involving the Hawks, according to Adrian Wojnarowski.

Also, Eric Maynor indeed is headed to Portland. The Thunder will get the Blazers’ trade exception in exchange for the backup point guard. Boston College alum Reggie Jackson now becomes Russell Westbrook’s primary backup.

Stick with us for updates well past the deadline in one minute, since teams can take extra time to finalize deals in process.

2:47 p.m.: Around the NBA, executives are picking up the phone and just punching numbers randomly, hoping to get a representative from another team on the line. If teams are in serious discussions as of 3 p.m. ET, they are allowed to continue those discussions.

As a result, the last-minute reports are coming fast and furious.

ESPN’s Marc Stein reports the Thunder are working on a deal to send Eric Maynor to Portland, and Orlando Sentinel beat reporter Josh Robbins reports that the Magic have a three-way deal in place that could send J.J. Redick to Milwaukee.

General managers, the clock is ticking.

2:38 p.m.: With a little more than 20 minutes remaining until the deadline, J.J. Hickson is still trying to work his way out of Portland. The 24-year-old forward has had a resurgence with the Blazers, but he would like to join the talented-laden squad in Brooklyn, according to Sheridan Hoops.

Dishing Hickson would not be the worst thing for Portland, either. His $4 million deal is not gigantic, but it does have some value on the trade market since he has far outplayed that number by averaging 12.9 points and 10.4 rebounds this season.

Regardless, Chris Sheridan adds that a deal getting done by 3 p.m. ET is unlikely.

2:10 p.m.: More huge news (not), this time out of Toronto. Sebastian Telfair appears to be headed north of the border. The Suns have completed a deal to send Bassy to the Raptors for Hamed Haddadi, reports Chris Broussard.

1:47 p.m.: Here comes the boom. Jordan Crawford AND Dexter Pittman will both be traded, according to Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Trade deadline excitement does exist.

Seriously, though, the Celtics’ reported pickup of Crawford does help Boston in its current roster crunch. Who has been sent to Washington is unclear, but it presumably is rookie center Fab Melo, who was connected in a deal with Washington earlier. Leandro Barbosa is also an option. Melo and Barbosa each make about the same as Crawford’s $1.2 million, so a straight-up trade could include one or the other, but not both.

Crawford would give the Celtics an extra body in the backcourt, where they are down to just three healthy rotation players plus Terrence Williams, who is on a 10-day contract.

Pittman’s deal is much less exciting. The Grizzlies agreed to take the 24-year-old center and a second-round pick in exchange for the trade exception Memphis received when it sent Sam Young to Philadelphia last March.

1:38 p.m.: We now take a break from your regularly scheduled trade deadline coverage to bring you a bizarre story involving Metta World Peace — as if there are any other types when it comes to this guy.

World Peace reportedly had to be woken up by police when his nephew and some of his nephews friends were “playing” with fake guns outside World Peace’s condo early Tuesday morning. The Lakers forward, donning Cookie Monster pajamas, apparently explained the situation to police and everybody walked away with a good laugh.

Hey, we told you deadline day wouldn’t be totally boring.

1:10 p.m.: The earl of NBA beat reporters, Adrian Wojnarowski, is feverishly working the rumor mill on this deadline day. And guess what he thinks will go down this afternoon?

Asked one GM what he had: "We're down to bulls--- text message offers from people who couldn't keep a straight face if they called."

—
Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 21, 2013

So, there you go.

12:57 p.m.: The San Jose Mercury News and The San Francisco Chronicle have been mostly silent on this, but we will forward this rumor anyway. Apparently the Warriors and Hornets have talked about a Klay Thompson-Eric Gordon swap, which has been reported by Warriors TV analyst Ric Bucher and reposted on numerous Warriors-themed blogs.

This seems unlikely. Truthfully, it seems outright idiotic for the Warriors, who would surrender a 23-year-old shooter on a long-term rookie deal for an injury-prone combo guard who is in the first season of a four-year, $50 million deal.

12:40 p.m.: Here is an often overlooked aspect of deadline day: The expiration of trade exceptions.

Eric Pincus of HoopsWorld has a look inside nine trade exceptions for seven teams that effectively expire if not used by 3 p.m. Thursday. The Lakers, Nuggets, Bucks, Net, Clippers and Grizzlies — all of whom have been active in actual or rumored deals in the lead-up to the deadline — have trade exceptions of $1.2 million each or more.

The Spurs also have an $854,000 trade exception for last year’s T.J. Ford deal, but they have been less active in trade reports beyond the long-standing knowledge that DeJuan Blair is available.

12:35 p.m.: J.J. Redick has been on the trading block for weeks, but the Magic may not want to part with him if they can help it. He may not be a part of Orlando’s long-term future, since he is a free agent at the end of this year, but if the Magic get any worse offensively it could get embarrassing.

Redick is one of the few shot-makers on the Magic’s roster. For the 12th straight game, the Magic shot a lower 3-point percentage than their opponent. That’s a lot of games and a lot of bad shooting.

12:18 p.m.: If the Celtics truly are interested in Jordan Crawford’s services, they may have some competition. The Mavericks are also said to be interested in the Wizards guard, whose shot selection is known to be, er, liberal. That said, Crawford is unlikely to bring much in return for Washington. As mention earlier, the Celtics would probably be willing to part with Fab Melo, but not much else.

12:06 p.m.: The Nets are never far from any trade talk, and from the sound of it they are extremely interested in adding Josh Smith. But if the Fighting Prokhorovs fail in their pursuit of the Atlanta forward, they are expected to stand pat at the trade deadline, Yahoo! Sports reports.

Since the Nets are far above the $70.3 million luxury tax line — they are responsible for more than $85.5 million next season in the first year of the new collective bargaining agreement’s more prohibitive luxury tax — they could not sign Smith outright this summer without making other moves to shed salary.

11:59 a.m.: Uh, oh. These Celtics-Clippers rumors simply will not die. Now Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald, who is usually on top of these things, reports that the Clippers are still interested in getting a deal done with the Celts.

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge expressed annoyance in an interview with Bulpett over other teams’ tendency to leak reports of their discussions. Ainge had to have been talking about the Clippers, and to a lesser extent the Hawks, who have been incredibly loose-lipped in the past few weeks.

11:35 a.m.: Tyreke Evans’ next stop could be… Boston?

The Celtics have expressed interest in the 6-foot-6 swingman before, and their interest may have been rekindled, according to ESPN. Marc Stein reports that the Celtics may make one more run at Evans Thursday, probably hoping to get some sort of discount in the waning hours before the deadline.

For what it’s worth, the trusted Jason Jones says, not so fast.

11:18 a.m.: The Kings might not be done dealing. According to Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee, the team could explore trading Tyreke Evans.

Also hearing Kings could revisit dealing Tyreke Evans. His knee injury slowed talks when he might have been traded earlier this season

—
Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) February 21, 2013

Ridding themselves of Evans, who has regressed each year since winning the Rookie of the Year award in 2010 (because Blake Griffin was injured), would not be the worst thing for the Kings. Evans has never been the player he was as a rookie, when he averaged 20.1 points per game and started all 72 games he played in.

Since then, Evans has lost his starting job to the deserving Isaiah Thomas and even been shifted to small forward on occasion.

11:09 a.m.: Thanks to Kosta Koufos’ emergence and JaVale McGee’s sizable contract, the Nuggets do not really have room for Timofey Mozgov in their post rotation. Reports over the last few weeks have indicated that they would like to deal the 26-year-old Russian, and the Heat have registered some interest, although it is unclear what Miami can offer that Denver would want.

10:43 a.m.: The Hawks really seem to want to rid themselves of Smith, but no other team appears willing to bite. That should tell you something.

Smith is a perfectly fine player and an enticing 6-foot-9, super-athletic wing forward, but he tends to fall in love with his shaky jumper and his impressive stats have never translated into much success in the wins department. What’s more, he is due to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, and he has told reporters that he fancies himself a maximum contract player.

If Smith wants $20 million or more per year, he is too pricey. But if some team acquired him at the deadline, they probably would feel pressured to give him his money to justify the move — then regret it for the next five years.

10:35 a.m.: Not quite sure what to make of these Josh Smith-Monta Ellis rumors. One minute, the Hawks and Bucks are talking. The next minute, one side or the other is striking down the rumor. Get used to this sort of back-and-forth in the next five hours.

10:25 a.m.: Fab Melo, we hardly knew you. According to ESPN’s Chris Broussard (I know, I know), the Celtics are dangling rookie center Fab Melo as bait to land a perimeter scorer like Washington’s Jordan Crawford.

With Fab Melo as the bait, Celtics looking to add perimeter scoring. Wizards' Jordan Crawford available @ on their radar

—
Chris Broussard (@Chris_Broussard) February 21, 2013

Crawford has one year remaining on his rookie contract before he becomes a restricted free agent after next season.

10:12 a.m.: The Maloofs are a menace that needs to be weeded out of the NBA. Fortunately, that time seems to be fast approaching. Unfortunately, it did not appear quickly enough to keep them from ruining their own franchise and, now, their current roster.

The Kings made the inexcusable move of dumping rookie Thomas Robinson, the No. 5 pick in the last draft, along with Francisco Garcia and Tyler Honeycutt on Wednesday night. In return, the Kings got Patrick Patterson, Cole Adrich and Toney Douglas, none of whom is anything beyond a role player. Patterson is an effective scorer but in non-existent on the glass or on defense.

Robinson, 21, has been far from a standout so far. He averaged just 4.8 points and 4.7 rebounds in 51 games in Sacramento, but he was a young player on an affordable rookie contract who was worth the project. He was the kind of player a new ownership group could have molded in the organization’s new image. Instead, he is the latest victim of the Maloofs incompetence and awfulness.

8 a.m. ET: Everybody is on the clock. The NBA trade deadline arrives Thursday at 3 p.m. ET, marking the last chance this season for teams to add that last pivotal player to put them over the hump — or to dump that extra salary or free-agent-to-be before it is too late.

As usual, the run-up to the deadline has featured no shortage of rumors. Some are intriguing. Some are absurd, like the Nets’ reported offer of Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks and a draft pick for Paul Pierce. Seriously, Billy King? That was the best you could come up with for one of the all-time great Celtics?

There are plenty of more realistic deals to ponder, however. The Hawks really seem to want to move Josh Smith, the power forward who stuffs the box score but has yet to lead Atlanta to any real success. Interest in Smith, as one might expect, is tepid. The Jazz are expected to move either Al Jefferson or Paul Millsap if they can, as both members of Utah’s front line become free agents at the end of the season. A Millsap-Eric Bledsoe swap with the Clippers makes tons of sense for the Jazz, but the Clips would need to be really sure Chris Paul is re-signing this summer before they send away the 23-year-old guard.

A few teams would love to have Dwight Howard, no matter how far below his potential he has played this season. But Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak threw cold water on any Howard trade scenarios by reiterating that the Lakers will not trade the big man this season. Sorry, folks.

Join us throughout the day for updates and analysis for the moves, big and small, that take place right up to the last minute.

Unless you are delusionally optimistic or lying to me right now, you would have predicted bad things ahead for the Celtics. With their top playmaker sidelined, it figured that their best scorer would need to come through with some gargantuan point totals to keep them afloat.

Instead, Pierce has exemplified his favorite mantra of “giving the game what it needs.” For the fourth time in five games — all Boston victories — Pierce posted a low scoring total on Wednesday in Toronto, going for just 12 points as the Celtics held off the Raptors for a 99-95 win. Kevin Garnett, who came through with a season-high 27 points and 10 rebounds, was the much more obvious hero for the guys in green. But in other ways, Pierce was just as crucial to the Celtics’ cause.

Pierce nabbed 11 rebounds against the Raptors, marking the fourth time in five games since Rondo’s injury that the Celtics’ captain recorded double-digit boards. While Rondo’s loss has fundamentally affected the Celtics’ style of play, the loss of Jared Sullinger may prove to be just as costly. Teams can learn to play differently on offense without a true point guard and have some success. Learning to play without a top-notch rebounder might be even trickier. Celtics coach Doc Rivers has gotten creative with a spread, motion-style offense since Rondo went down, but so far Rivers has been unable to magically transfer Sullinger’s boxing-out skills to Jeff Green.

“My responsibilities go up in other departments now, not so much scoring,” Pierce said last week. “But, hey, maybe some nights it will be. When you lose one of the best rebounding guards, one of the best rebounding guys off the bench, you just try to put the extra effort in to fill in in that department.”

Pierce also went for six assists on Wednesday, the third time in five games that he has handed out at least that many dimes, adjusting his game on a night when he shot just 2-for-11 from the field. Garnett, recognizing that the team’s best scorer was having trouble finding the net, adjusted his game accordingly. That was the most impressive aspect of Garnett’s offensive outburst — not the point total per se, but that he changed his approach to give the game what it needed.

Once Rondo went down, players and pundits fell over each other insisting that there was no way the Celtics could be better without Rondo. They were right. Pierce and Garnett’s abilities to shift focus, however, demonstrate that anyone who predicted the Celtics would fold entirely without their All-Star point guard was just as misguided.

Good players can play to their own strengths. If their talent is scoring, they can score. If their talent is dribbling, they can dribble. Rudy Gay and Kyle Lowry, respectively, are these types of players. They can provide one thing, maybe two if they are stretched, but if their primary tool is not working or the team needs contributions in other areas, they will struggle.

Great players play to their team’s strengths. If their No. 1 talent is scoring or defending, but their team needs a different emphasis on a particular night, they alter their games accordingly. This is the group in which Pierce and Garnett belong. They can be spot-up shooters, defensive backbones, go-to isolation scorers or garbage men from game to game. These are the sort of guys who help assure that, while their teams might not always been championship contenders, they will never completely stink. They have too much versatility — more importantly, too much pride — for that.

Have a question for Ben Watanabe? Send it to him via Twitter at @BenjeeBallgame or send it here.

Final, Celtics 99-95:

Kevin Garnett put up 27 points and 10 rebounds, posting his highest point total of the season. Paul Pierce chipped in in every area with 11 rebounds and six assists, making up for his rough 2-for-11 shooting night. Six players reached double figures for the Celtics, continuing their trend since Rajon Rondo went down for the season.

The Celtics won their fifth straight by sharing the ball (21 assists as a team), taking care of the ball (only 13 turnovers) and clamping down on defense (they held the Raptors to 41 percent shooting). Rudy Gay was the high man for the Raptors with 27 points.

Fourth quarter, :17.6, Celtics 97-93: Green had a chance to make this thing much less interesting, but he must enjoy keeping fans at the edges of their seats. After a tip-in by Gay, Pierce missed a contested jumper, but DeRozan lost the ball out of bounds. Green was fouled on the inbounds, then missed one of two free throws to give Toronto a slight chance unless Boston executes perfectly here.

Fourth quarter, :46.6, Celtics 96-91: If customs asks Garnett if he has anything to declare, he can respond: “Yeah. I didn’t want to lose tonight.”

Garnett has taken charge down the stretch. He has hit two big jumpers and also directed his teammates into the right places on offense. He has 10 rebounds to go along with 27 points, his highest point total of the season.

Fourth quarter, 3:12, Celtics 90-87: Pierce is once again having a tough night shooting-wise, but he is doing other things to give the Celtics a chance to win. Pierce grabbed his 10th rebound of the night and earned another trip to the foul line, where he has four of his 10 points.

The Celtics need those contributions. Barbosa is still playing his butt off, chasing down a loose ball in the corner that the Raptors curiously did not try to save, but he remains a liability on defense. Amir Johnson was the beneficiary of that when Garnett was forced to come over and help after Barbosa was beat defensively, leading to an easy dunk for the rotating Johnson.

Fourth quarter, 5:50, Celtics 86-85: Barbosa will not let the Celtics die. Yup, you read that right. The guy that could not crack the rotation before Rondo’s ACL injury is now carrying the Celtics after the team lacked any sort of energy earlier in the half.

Barbosa drained a three from the right wing after Green threw a skip pass from the left wing, and then rushed up court for an and-one layup the recapture the lead for the Celtics. Barbosa has 10 points in this quarter.

Fourth quarter, 9:50, Raptors 79-76: Hey, look. The Celtics really do have a pulse.

Barbosa, who has been criminally silent in this game, took and made his first shot of the game as he was fouled. The three-point play sparked a 7-0 run that culminated in a pull-up jumper by Terry on the break to make it a one-point game.

The Celtics’ four-game win streak is on the line with a showdown against the Lakers looming on Thursday. This is pretty much a must-win.

End of third quarter, Raptors 79-69: If you saw Rivers toward the end of that 17-4 run, you were lucky enough to see the closest thing possible to smoke literally coming out of a human being’s ears.

The Celtics did everything wrong in the final four minutes of the third quarter. They took bad shots, missed layups when they found them and scrambled directionlessly on defense. The worst moment was when nobody came to receive the inbounds pass after a made basket by Toronto; Terry had to fire a desperation pass to halfcourt, which was picked off and led to a three-point play.

Speaking of Terry, heading into the fourth quarter he has taken two shots and has zero points.

Third quarter, 4:02, Raptors 69-65: In one sequence, the Raptors summed up everything about why they are winning this ball game.

Lowry, all six feet of him, out-leveraged Green for an offensive rebound. The Toronto guard then fed Bargnani streaking to the hoop for a dunk. When point guards are beating out forwards for offensive boards, and Bargnani is attacking the hoop with abandon, it is safe to say the opponent is not playing tough.

Third quarter, 5:09, Celtics 65-62: Brandon Bass is playing with vigor, but not all of his teammates are following suit. Bass has 10 points, six in this quarter alone, but the Celtics are struggling to shake the Raptors. The Celtics have yet to force a Toronto turnover since halftime, and as a result their offense has ground into those halting halfcourt sets that never seem to lead to good things for them.

Halftime, Celtics 50-45: Led by Garnett, the Celtics found the flow they needed in the second quarter. They held the Raptors to only 40 percent shooting, leading to easier scoring chances for the Celtics as the Raptors scrambled back. Garnett tacked on eight points to bring his game-high scoring total to 14 points, and the Celtics shot better than 56 percent from the floor as a team.

Just as importantly, Pierce began to find his stroke. The captain did not score a field goal until he hit a 3-pointer with less than three minutes left in the first half. To that point, all his offense came at the charity stripe. But he added another three ball a few minutes later to help the Celtics take a six-point advantage, their largest of the game.

Bargnani scored all 11 of his points in the second quarter, and that also happens to be Toronto’s team high for the game.

Most encouragingly for the Celtics, they have 13 assists on 19 field goals and three players — Pierce, Garnett and Lee — already are in double figures.

Second quarter, 5:53, Raptors 36-33: We sure make a lot of fun of Bargnani around here, and most of it is deserved. (Honestly, a 7-footer whose best offensive weapon is his jumper and who does not do a whole lot defensively?) But he is making any of his critics look pretty silly in his first game back in almost two months.

Bargnani hit his first three shots, including a twisting layup in the post, to help the Raptors continue to hold of the Celts. Green, whose ability to defend fours is key to the Celtics’ long-term success without Rondo this season, is not having a great time trying to rein in Bargnani.

Second quarter, 8:52, Raptors 32-31: Of all the Celtics who need to be more aggressive, Jeff Green is at the top of the list. He was extremely passive in the first quarter and his first basket of the second quarter, an elbow jumper, was a passive shot.

To his credit, Green took the ball strong to the basket the next time he touched the ball, picking up a foul and dropping for foul shots. The Celtics need to shore things up defensively, though, as Green looked bad when he and Barbosa messed up a pick-and-roll, leading to a three-point play by Bargnani.

End of first quarter, Raptors 23-20: Anybody who claimed the Celtics are better without Rajon Rondo got a close look at why that assertion is bonkers. Without Rondo, the Celtics have to walk a very thin line of generating ball pressure and a transition game to beat any opponent. If they fail, they risk falling behind to teams like the Raptors.

The Celtics walked to right side of that thin line for the last four games, but in the first quarter in Toronto, they fell off to the wrong side. In spite of forcing four turnovers, a reasonable amount for one quarter, the Celtics never really got out on the run. They mostly played on their heels as the Raptors were the ones pushing the ball. When Lee, who has eight points, was not scoring on layups or floaters in transition, the Celtics had a tough time getting decent shots.

First quarter, 2:57, Raptors 17-14: These are the sorts of lulls Doc Rivers worries about, although at least in the last two games the Celtics waited until they had a big lead to suddenly go in the tank.

The Celtics seem to be a step slow against the up-tempo Raptors, who took their first lead of the game on a 3-pointer by Kyle Lowry. The Villanova product has been liberated by the Raptors trading Jose Calderone to Detroit, and the Raptors seem to be playing in his image: run, run, run.

First quarter, 5:59, Celtics 12-10: Rudy Gay is a perfectly decent player on a ridiculously expensive contract, and in some fans’ minds that overshadows his very real skills. He is showing those early against the Celtics, hitting two tough running jump shots to help the Raptors keep it early despite Kevin Garnett’s hot start.

Garnett has drilled three long jumpers to open the game, and none of them have come within a sniff of touching the rim. The Raptors are prone to gambling and defensive breakdowns, so forcing them to extend their defense will only lead to open lanes for dunks like the one Courtney Lee capitalized on moments ago.

6:20 p.m.: Kevin Garnett is not walking through that door — on his way to Denver.

Garnett reportedly used the power of his no-trade clause to shut down trade talks between the Celtics and Nuggets before it even started. As Garnett said at practice on Tuesday, he bleeds green, not the epileptic combination of neon they rock in Denver.

Much to the dismay of the Nuggets, Clippers and surely numerous other teams, Garnett will be wearing his favorite color in Toronto. Opposite him (off the bench, anyway) will be Raptors “big man” Andrea Bargnani, who has not played since Dec. 10. A torn ligament in his right elbow and a strained right wrist have caused the 27-year-old to miss the last 26 games.

The projected starting lineups appear below.

Celtics
Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Paul Pierce
Courtney Lee
Avery Bradley

Raptors
Aaron Gray
Amir Johnson
Rudy Gay
DeMar DeRozan
Kyle Lowry

8 a.m. ET: The Raptors got a whole lot more interesting last week when the perennial Atlantic Division also-rans picked up Rudy Gay in a three-team trade with the Grizzlies and Pistons. They still sit comfortably outside the playoff picture — at 17-31, they are 7 1/2 games behind the Celtics in the race for the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference — but they did begin Gay’s tenure by beating the Clippers and making things interesting for a while against the Heat.

The Celtics (24-23) are more vulnerable than their four-game win streak suggests. They admitted after Sunday’s victory over the Clippers that they let up after building a large lead, the second time in as many games that they have done so. The Celtics were guilty of that toward the end of their last win streak, which grew to six games before the uninspired play translated into a six-game losing streak. The new-look Raptors are just dangerous enough to halt the Celtics’ momentum if Paul Pierce and company do not keep up a reasonable level of play for 48 minutes.

The Celtics won their only meeting with the Raptors this season thus far, scoring a 107-89 victory at the TD Garden in November.

Join us for updates and analysis during the game, which tips off at 7 p.m. ET.

Rudy Gay

And in a perverse sort of way, he might be perfect for the Toronto Raptors.

No, this is not some lame joke. Gay is bad. The Raptors are bad. They’d be perfect together, har har. I’ll be here all week! Honestly, while the salary figures might be tough to match up, reports that the Raptors are interested in trading for the flawed forward actually make tons of sense.

Certain teams in the NBA will always struggle to attract star players. San Antonio and Oklahoma City have gotten lucky with humble superstars and impeccable player-development models, but Utah’s fall since the Karl Malone and John Stockton era ended is an instructive example of how those advantages can disappear in a generation. Dwight Howard, Chris Paul and Josh Smith are among the biggest names set to test free agency next summer, and Utah has not been mentioned among their desired destinations.

The Raptors are in much the same boat. Toronto is a beautiful city — so are Salt Lake City, Indianapolis and Charlotte — but the team has not signed a big-name free agent since its inception in 1995. Some cities simply do not generate buzz among 24-year-old millionaires looking for the best place to have fun and grow their personal brands. Some cities are not sexy.

Thus, although they have made the playoffs five times and produced some of the NBA’s top talents, the Raptors for the most part have acted as a feeder system for the league’s contenders. Damon Stoudamire, Marcus Camby, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and Chris Bosh all went on to make perennial All-Star games or playoff appearances elsewhere. Even Kevin Durant, who rooted for the Raptors as a kid because he liked their jerseys, probably would not be caught dead in red, black and silver.

In lieu of signing a superstar, then, the Raptors have some fairly limited options. They can build through the draft, even if that requires losing lots of games for a lot of seasons and then losing those players to free agency four years later, or they can trade for players already signed to long-term contracts. The only other option, really, is to eagerly re-sign any near-star who shows a desire to play where nobody else will.

The Raptors have done the latter with Andrea Bargnani and DeMar DeRozan. Bargnani is a 7-foot-tall jump shooter who has never been as good a scorer as his statistics suggested. DeRozan is a humble, driven wing player who, sadly, might never be as good as he clearly wants to be. But both guys are said to like making their homes in Toronto, and they committed to the Raptors when the organization came with higher-than-market-value, multi-year contracts. Those deals were ridiculed by many experts, but the Raptors were pragmatic. They had to try to hold on to any marginal stars that were willing to stay, even if the cost was slightly high.

Gay, in a similar way, makes sense for the Raptors. If they trade for him, he can’t leave. Gay has one year left over on the maximum contract he signed in 2010, plus a $19 million player option for 2014-15. No matter how unhappy he might be in Toronto in two years, he is assured of opting in for that final year, since no team is going to give him anywhere near that amount in free agency. He would be tied to the organization for the next two years, forming a flawed but somewhat workable foundation with DeRozan and Bargnani.

Anyone who has observed the Grizzlies at any sort of length knows that Gay’s contributions are of fringe importance to that team. He is the Grizzlies’ leading scorer but also their most inefficient offensive player, with a .408 field goal percentage and a 14.3 player efficiency rating. The Grizzlies dumped salary last week to get below the luxury tax line, which allows them to keep Gay if they want but mostly just chased away the sharks. (Feeling that the Grizzlies were desperate to cut salary, other teams were apparently offering absurd deals to capitalize on the Grizzlies’ position.) Now safely below the tax line, the Grizzlies can make more favorable trades, such as the rumored deal that would bring Jose Calderon and Ed Davis to Memphis while sending Gay to Toronto.

This is what the Raptors are. In the NBA landscape, they are a mid-market franchise that has to seize on opportunities for impact players whenever possible. No team seems to want Gay, and no players seem to want to play for the Raptors. In that way, they are perfect for each other.

Have a question for Ben Watanabe? Send it to him via Twitter at @BenjeeBallgame or send it here.

That didn’t stop Raptors forward Amir Johnson from getting away with it on Wednesday night, taking a long pause in between dribbles before scoring a runner against the Trail Blazers. Portland seemed more stunned than anything else afterward, and Johnson looked like someone who knew he had gotten away with something as he ran back down the court.

Check it out for yourself in the video below, and try to figure out how three NBA referees missed the call.

Comedian Gerry Dee busted out his sports skills and visited the Raptors this week, talking to Toronto star Jose Calderon about the NHL lockout. But the interview took a far more interesting turn when the ever-entertaining Mickael Pietrus, who played for the Celtics last year, turned up on camera.

It turns out Pietrus was surprised to find Dee sitting in his locker as he interviewed Calderon. Pietrus wasn’t too flustered, though, and complimented Dee on the upgrade.

“It’s always good to be Mickael Pietrus for a day,” Pietrus said.

While that could have been the end of it, Pietrus circled back around to give his own — albeit uninformed — view on the lockout.

“Even though I don’t like hockey, we want to watch hockey,” he pleaded.

You can’t argue with this man’s reasoning, and it’s just nice to see Pietrus out and about again, with the Celtics’ locker room less vibrant now that the Frenchman has moved on. Check out his guest appearance in the video below.

In the last two weeks, the Raptors have seen quite a lot. Reserve forward Amir Johnson got tossed for a bizarre incident in which the referee would not let him feel the ball after another player’s free throw attempt. Amid a winless five-game road trip, the team called a meeting to address the many issues and grievances, and the rousing result of that catharsis was a 32-point loss to the Jazz. They went to Portland to finish that trip, and left with serious injuries to Andrea Bargnani and Kyle Lowry.

By the end of it, Raptors beat writer Doug Smith described the attitude in the locker room this way for The Toronto Star: “I don’t know what it’ll be, but something’s gotta give before people start punching each other.”

So, that’s bad.

In subjecting myself to three Raptors games so far this season (let it never be said I don’t take this job seriously), my professional opinion is that the Raptors are terrible. They are aggravating to watch not simply because they are terrible, but because for all their flaws they really should not be terrible. It is like watching that friend of yours who could be a perfectly average, respectable member of society if he could just get his act together, but is repeatedly guilty of being his own worst enemy. No one expects the Raptors to be championship contenders any more than they expect your buddy to become president, but both of these abject failures really should be capable of achieving a happy medium.

The Raptors do not lack for talent. Bargnani purportedly is a decent offensive player, although it is only a mild exaggeration to say I have never seen him hit a shot. (Bargnani’s .398 field goal percentage reveals that his cold shooting is not a figment of my imagination.) Jose Calderon is a heady player who can hit an open shot and never turns the ball over, even if the trade-off is that he never really makes anything happen. Lowry was thrilling to watch the last two seasons in Houston. DeMar DeRozan is as skilled as any player in the league. Johnson and Ed Davis do some intriguing things. Terrence Ross is a promising prospect. John Lucas plays hard. Landry Fields allegedly is on the team.

Yet still they stink. They entered Wednesday at 7-19 even after their three-game win streak, and there again is the aggravating part. Without two of their best players, the Raptors managed to keep every Cavaliers player other than Kyrie Irvin and Anderson Varejao in check for a 14-point win on Tuesday. One night before Jeremy Lin went off in New York, the Raptors rendered him useless at the Air Canada Centre. They even held O.J. Mayo scoreless from beyond the 3-point arc, which has been just about impossible for any of Dallas’ opponents this season.

A big part of the inconsistency, admittedly, is the personnel. Bargnani is such a drain on the defense that the team is better on the whole not having him on the court. Calderon protects the ball largely because he does not make any of those risky, creative plays that make for winning basketball. DeRozan’s fundamental problems are legion. Lowry, who seemed to be one of those guys who would will the Raptors to improve simply with his fierce attitude, has sounded either frustrated or out of place, when healthy.

Every team — save maybe the Thunder — has flaws, however. The Heat have no true center to speak of and a troupe of aging sharpshooters. The Knicks have trouble with opponents who have two strong offensive post players. The Grizzlies are susceptible to dead spots that allow their opponents — hello, Clippers — to go on huge runs.

Other teams, like the Celtics, Pacers or Magic, have managed their flawed personnel to at least float around .500. By contrast, the Raptors seem either unconcerned or unaware that Bargnani and DeRozan are an awful duo. They have played more minutes together than any two players on the team, yet they have made Toronto six points worse overall per every 100 possessions. Then again, Bargnani plus anybody is a bad combination right now. One of the most common offensive sets in coach Dwane Casey‘s playbook appears to be an isolation on the wing for Bargnani, leading to a missed shot by Bargnani. Not surprisingly, the Raptors’ improved play has coincided with Bargnani’s absence.

Adding a layer of complications is that two of Toronto’s four best players play the same position. Lowry and Calderon, while imperfect, present differing skill sets that can benefit the Raptors. Lowry is often too aggressive. Calderon is too staid.

Largely because of injuries to both, Casey has been unable to play them together for significant portions of time. But even if both were healthy, Casey’s lineup decisions suggest he sees both as competing, rather than complementary, players. Trade rumors have circled around Calderon all season, even though Casey trusts him more than Lowry, by virtue of having worked with him longer. In limited action together this season, Lowry and Calderon have not provided encouraging results, but 104 minutes is too small a sample size to draw conclusions.

The Knicks and Nuggets have shown that good things can happen when a team has two facilitators on the court at the same time. Lowry and Calderon may not be Jason Kidd and Raymond Felton, or even Ty Lawson and Andre Miller, but there is no harm in experimenting at this point. The alternative is to wait for Bargnani to magically get better or for DeRozan to suddenly become consistent. The Raptors can sit back and continue to underachieve from their already modest potential, or get creative and see if they can surprise some people — especially themselves.

At the very least, Lowry and Calderon together in the backcourt would be interesting to watch, for better or worse.

Have a question for Ben Watanabe? Send it to him via Twitter at @BenjeeBallgame or send it here.

After all, none of our award winners get actual, tangible trophies they can hold in their hands. (Sorry, guys.)

Almost every one of our choices is somewhat controversial. That is the way it should be. Nobody should be lapping the field in any award category this early, and the great thing about midseason award-giving is that the selections are still open to debate.

So whether you feel that Damian Lillard still has a way to go to surpass Anthony Davis for Rookie of the Year or if you are still on the fence about the Sixth Man of the Year, take a look at our picks and then offer yours if you disagree.

Check out the NBA quarter-season award winners>>

Have a question for Ben Watanabe? Send it to him via Twitter at @BenjeeBallgame or send it here.

Johnson was ejected during the third quarter of the Raptors’ loss to the Blazers after a rather bizarre incident. Portland forward J.J. Hickson had just made a free throw, and Johnson — for some strange reason — really wanted to get his mitts on the basketball. When Jones refused to hand the rock over to Johnson, the Raptors forward seemingly took offense to it, and he was quickly ejected from the game.

The true oddity of the situation, however, came after the ejection. A visibly upset Johnson had to be restrained, at which point he chucked his mouthpiece off Jones’ back.

“He turned his back; I really wanted to know what happened,” Johnson told reporters after the game. “Nothing was said. I lost my cool right there. I never had any problems all the eight years I’ve been in the league. I never argued with a ref or did anything wrong. From there, I just lost my cool.”

Losing his cool will likely cost Johnson. There’s no way the league will let this little incident go unnoticed, especially after Kings guard Aaron Brooks was fined $25,000 for throwing his mouthpiece into the crowd back in November.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Toronto Raptors.

Check out the weird situation in the video below.

Photo of the Day

Yup. Monday was a laugher.

Quote of the Day

I’m not a big threat, I’m not RG3 or anything, but I can make a first down.
–Tom Brady, describing his 6-yard, first-down scamper against the Texans

Tweet of the Day

Hey, why not, right?

A little Biggie Smalls before the work out this morning! #dreamin #grind

— Bryce Harper (@Bharper3407) December 11, 2012

Video of the Day

Coming in hot!

There have been single-digit scoring games, like when he failed to make a basket in a win over Utah. There have been games in which he has been underused, such as the win in Washington when he clocked less than 18 minutes on the court. Yet the Celtics signed Terry for games like Saturday’s, when he showed no hesitation in letting fly his shots at crucial moments and was pivotal to Boston’s blowout win over the Raptors.

“The looks that I get this year are different,” Terry said. “They’re not in my comfort zone. They’re not in the spots where I’m used to getting my offense. I have to be patient and take what comes to me, but when it comes, take it like it’s the game-winning shot.”

Terry was the biggest beneficiary of Toronto coach Dwane Casey‘s move to employ a zone defense in the second quarter. With the Raptors packed into the paint to combat Kevin Garnett‘s post looks and Paul Pierce‘s dribble penetration, Terry was in the clear unbelievably often for a guy who has hit more 3-pointers than every NBA player in history except Ray Allen, Reggie Miller and Jason Kidd.

The Raptors must not have checked the scouting report, though, because they let Terry go off for 20 points while shooting 4-for-7 from downtown. Terry is comfortable facing zones because Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle used them during Terry’s time in Dallas, most famously against the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.

“If you’re going against a zone, you need Jason Terry on the floor because he’s a zone breaker,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.

“Honestly, he’s played a lot of zone. In Dallas they play a lot of zone defense, so that would tell you he probably had a lot of practice against it. You could see that.”

The zone was not all that sparked Terry’s offense, though. Terry was one of the first to give a nod to Rajon Rondo, who came back after missing one game with a sprained right ankle to dish out 20 assists and extend his streak to 33 games with double-digit assists. The Celtics as a team moved the ball as well as they had all season, handing out 37 assists on their 43 field goals. Six of Terry’s seven baskets came off assists from Rondo.

Terry called Rondo the best point guard in the league. Rivers called Rondo “an offense in itself.”

“We used to say that — we’ve always said that about him,” Rivers said. “We have an offense, and then he creates another offense at times. He’s a tough one. I sit with a lot of coaches and we brainstorm how to guard him, and I love hearing them because I know the wrong ones. I don’t ever say much.”

The trouble for opponents is that Rondo’s skill set is a moving target. He scored only six points on Saturday, but two games earlier he dropped 20 points on the Bulls. He grabbed only two rebounds, but against Chicago he nabbed nine. He can also shift between being a tenacious on-ball defender and being a sneaky ball-swiper playing the passing lanes, and when his jumper is falling, he is virtually unstoppable.

The defensive aspect, which has earned him a steals title and four All-Defensive team selections, sets Rondo apart from other point guards in Garnett’s mind.

“I’ve never played with a point guard who is in control of the flow of the game the way he is,” Garnett said. “The guy who comes to mind is Sam Cassell. He was pretty good at controlling the flow. He could score the ball, but as far as controlling the game at both ends, understanding their role, knowing when to slow it down, [Rondo] is the best.”

Any direct comparison to Rondo is difficult because he is so unique. Rivers invoked Jason Kidd, Magic Johnson and John Stockton. Courtney Lee mentioned Peyton Manning. Then Terry brought up potential candidacy for the league’s Most Valuable Player award, provided the Celtics continue to win.

All those titles are nice to debate about, but very little about Rondo’s performance on Saturday was debatable. On a gimpy right ankle, Rondo helped a struggling teammate break out of his shell and deliver the shooting show everyone expected when the Celtics signed Terry in July.

Terry is no longer in his comfort zone, but thanks to Rondo he may be finding a new one.

Have a question for Ben Watanabe? Send it to him via Twitter at @BenjeeBallgame or send it here.

Game over, Celtics win 107-89: Even as he was slightly hobbled by a twisted right ankle, Rajon Rondo directed the Celtics to a decisive victory over the Raptors.

Rondo dished out 20 assists to extend his streak to 33 games with at least 10 dimes. Jason Terry, with 20 points, and Paul Pierce, with 19, led an even scoring attack as nine Boston players scored at least six points. The Raptors got double-digit scoring efforts from six players, but their defense was too awful to make any offensive aspects relevant. The Celtics shot 57 percent and had 37 assists on 43 baskets, easily moving two games above .500.

Fourth quarter, 2:52, Celtics 103-83: Casey opted to stick with his bench, still that was the group that cut into the lead. It did not go so well for the Raptors.

A Quincy Acy goaltend, Bass jumper, Barbosa free throw and Wilcox layup stretched Boston’s lead back to 20 points and pretty much put this one in the books.

Gino time.

Fourth quarter, 5:15, Celtics 93-80: Ross has not gotten a ton of burn (only 64 minutes of action total) but he made it count during apparent garbage time. The rookie out of Washington scored seven points in a four-minutes span to cut Toronto’s deficit to 13 points.

Thanks to Ross, there was a chance that “garbage time” would turn into “meaningful time” if the Raptors maintained the attack.

Fourth quarter, 8:31, Celtics 85-69: Contrary to all evidence, the Raptors are allowed to score.

After Bargnani hit a three with 5:28 left in the third, the Raptors decided not to make any baskets again for a little while. That strategy backfired — or at least worked out exactly the way anyone would expect — as they fell behind by as many as 21 points. Finally, rookie Terrence Ross hit a three more than three minutes into the fourth quarter to end the drought.

End of third quarter, Celtics lead 79-64: The Rondo-to-Wilcox alley-oop combo is so easy, it is almost as if opponents do not even scout it.

Rondo lobbed the ball to Wilcox for the third time in the game to bring the fans to their feet at the TD Garden. Since Bargnani’s free throws, the Celtics were on a 16-3 run and Wilcox’s dunk made it seem like even more. Once again, a dunk may have proved to be worth more than just two points for the Celtics.

Oh yeah, and ‘The Jet’ glided down the court again after rattling home a three.

Third quarter, 1:55, Celtics 71-62: The Jet took flight. It remained to be seen if the Celtics did, too.

After draining his second trey of the quarter, Terry stuck out his arms and “flew” back down the court as Casey signaled for a timeout. As close as two points a moment ago on a pair of Bargnani free throws, the Raptors saw their deficit balloon to nine points thanks to Terry and Sullinger, who banked home a tough driving layup in traffic.

Third quarter, 2:49, Celtics 66-61: The Raptors have an annoying tendency to forget that Bargnani is not Dirk Nowitzki. They call a handful of Nowitzki-like isolations for the 7-foot shooter every game, and those possessions rarely generate anything positive.

Moving Bargnani around is the better course of action, as he showed in the third quarter. Bargnani flashed off a screen and was fouled by Bass as he attempted a jumper. It was the second straight Raptors possession on which Bargnani was fouled.

Rondo connected with Wilcox on another lob — naturally — and Terry drained a 3-pointer to keep Boston’s lead intact, but the Raptors could put more pressure on the Celtics by avoiding those stagnant plays with Bargnani.

Third quarter, 10:07, Celtics 51-42: The Raptors apparently forgot about their push to get back into the game in the second quarter, because they came out of halftime playing a lot like they did after the opening tip.

Bass dunked and Garnett hit a step-back jumper off Pierce’s assist to extend Boston’s lead to nine points, drawing a swift timeout from Raptors coach Dwane Casey. The Raptors were not playing exceptionally well, but Casey probably realizes this is a chance to steal a win against a division opponent and they should not let the opportunity slip away.

Halftime, Celtics lead 47-42: Somewhat overlooked in the Celtics’ chemistry struggles, their efforts to adapt without Garnett on the court and Rondo’s balky ankle has been Pierce’s continued difficulty with his shot. He came into this game shooting .412 from the floor, the lowest of his career next to the 2003-04 campaign, when he barely cracked 40 percent from the field.

He found his way to a team-high 13 points at halftime against the Raptors, mostly by trying really, really hard to create his offense. Pierce was 2-for-5 from the field in the second quarter alone and 5-for-11 overall, and was just 1-for-4 from three.

Fortunately for the Celtics, Rondo was back to his surgical ways with the offense. He handed out 11 assists — we won’t comment on the legitimacy of three or four, which came after Garnett, Pierce or Terry dribbled, up-faked, pivoted and then, finally, scored their baskets — to stretch his streak of double-digit assist games to 33. He had all except six of Boston’s 17 assists, which came on 20 baskets.

Do not give the Celtics too much credit for their offense, though. The Raptors allowed more than 100 points per game, the fourth-most points allowed in the league.

Second quarter, 3:26, Celtics 40-36: Watch out for John Lucas III. The diminutive point guard, who has struggled the latch on with an NBA team, scored eight of Toronto’s first 19 points in the second quarter, and his 3-pointer suddenly made it a four-point game. Rivers looked exasperated several times, and not just by Lucas’ hot shooting.

Jared Sullinger decided to take Linas Kleiza one-on-one, and when Sullinger was blocked at the rim, Rivers stood looking stern with his hands on his hips. When Pierce was trapped in the corner, Rivers called a timeout, not looking pleased.

Second quarter, 8:55, Celtics 33-19: The Raptors will never be mistaken for the Steel Curtain on defense, so it was pretty surprising to see the Celtics held without a basket more than three minutes into the second quarter. But while Boston was not converting field goals, Garnett at least got to the line. All three of the Celtics’ points came at the charity stripe, where Garnett was 3-for-4.

After logging almost 10 minutes in the opening quarter, Rondo took a seat to begin the second. Barbosa started the quarter at the point.

End of first quarter, Celtics lead 30-17: Maybe it was Toronto’s defense (or lack thereof) or maybe it was Rondo’s presence, but Boston’s offense was almost flawless in the opening quarter.

The Celtics assisted on 11 of their 14 baskets and shot 74 percent from the floor. Rondo had seven dimes and only two turnovers, while Pierce, who is struggling with his shot from the field, went 3-for-6 for a game-high eight points.

First quarter, 4:22, Celtics 18-11: If Rondo felt any ill effects from that twisted right ankle that kept him out of Thursday’s game in Brooklyn, he did not show them early in Saturday’s game. The exception was when he had trouble twisting around a screen and got out on Calderon late, fouling the Raptors point guard in the act of shooting.

Other than that, Rondo was active. He assisted all three of Garnett’s hoops and tossed an alley-oop to Chris Wilcox. (Those two are good for at least one of those a game now.)

12:09 p.m.: Courtney Lee admitted his schedule was thrown all out of whack by the early tip. Normally, the fifth-year veteran gets lunch and a two-hour nap between shootaround and gametime, but because of the early turnaround he only had to time for a quick breakfast and walkthrough before getting ready for the game.

Did he expect to be sluggish?

“We’ll see today,” Lee said. “I haven’t had one of these games in three years. Other than that, it’s still a game. Gotta approach it the same way, home team versus away team. Refs are going to be there, crowd’s going to be there, so like I said, just gotta approach it the same way.”

Afternoon games are a treat for Rivers, who enjoys having extra time after the game to prepare for the next one. In the Celtics’ case, that is Sunday in Detroit. Rivers admitted he never loved these games as a player, however, even though there were far more of them in the 1980s and ’90s when he played.

“We used to have tons of them,” Rivers said. “I never liked them, but we had a lot of them. With an afternoon game, as a player, if you were playing great you loved it that day. But if you were playing poorly, you always felt it was very difficult to pull yourself out of it, because you haven’t had your normal mental preparation to get ready for the game.”

With that, Rivers hopes his team — particularly Rondo, who will be testing his injured ankle early on — gets off to a fast start.

12 p.m.: Rajon Rondo refused to divulge any information about his playing status in the locker room before the game, saying only that he was a gametime decision. Thankfully, Celtics coach Doc Rivers was less coy.

“Rondo is playing,” Rivers told reporters about an hour before gametime, before anyone had a chance to even ask the question.

After Rivers provided that update, a reporter dropped an even bigger bombshell on the coach. Rivers was unaware Hostess was going out of business, drawing a dismayed reaction.

“Twinkies went out of business! That sucks,” Rivers said. “I haven’t had one in like 30 years now, but I’m sure it’s still in my body.”

The projected starting lineups appear below.

Raptors
Jonas Valanciunas
Andrea Bargnani
Dominic McGuire
DeMar DeRozan
Jose Calderon

Celtics
Kevin Garnett
Brandon Bass
Paul Pierce
Jason Terry
Rajon Rondo

8 a.m. ET: Anybody watching the last couple of Celtics games might come away assuming point guard is the most hazardous job in sports. Rajon Rondo is questionable for Saturday’s game against the Raptors, who are also missing their own point guard in Kyle Lowry, who is out for at least another week with a bruised ankle.

To top it off, Nets point guard Deron Williams came up lame but did not leave the game during the Celtics’ loss in Brooklyn on Tuesday.

With the head floor generals sidelined, both teams will lean on some guys who might not be totally comfortable playing the point. Jose Calderon is one of the best backup ones in the league, but Raptors coach Dwane Casey may need to get minutes at the position from DeMar DeRozan and even John Lucas III. The Celtics do not have a backup as capable as Calderon, so coach Doc Rivers may need to keep his committee approach with Leandro Barbosa, Jason Terry, Courtney Lee and even Paul Pierce and Jeff Green.

Join us for updates and analysis from the TD Garden during the early game, which tips off at 12:30 p.m. ET.

The competition in the Atlantic Division could be the most intriguing in the Eastern Conference, as there are four teams in the running for the title.

The Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets were two of the most active teams in the offseason and should be improved. Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics added depth, while the New York Knicks boosted their roster, too.

The Toronto Raptors will most likely be cellar dwellers, but the race for first in the Atlantic is wide open.

Boston Celtics
Odds to win NBA title: 12-1

The Boston Celtics are still the old guard in the division, but it appears retooling on the fly might just work. Kevin Garnett looked rejuvenated in the playoffs last season, and if he keeps it up the Celtics will contend.

He should have more help inside with the return of Brandon Bass and the addition of first-round picks Jared Sullinger and Fab Melo. The Celtics also added Courtney Lee and Jason Terry to the mix while bringing back Jeff Green.

The Celtics now have plenty of depth, and matching that with their experience should lead them to a division title.

Brooklyn Nets
Odds to win NBA title: 28-1

The Nets make their move to Brooklyn this year and they'll unveil what should be a much-improved roster. While they missed out on Dwight Howard, they still acquired All-Star guard Joe Johnson to pair with Brook Lopez, Gerald Wallace and Deron Williams. Overall, that's a pretty good starting lineup.
Depth is a concern as players like Andray Blatche, C.J. Watson and Josh Childress can be hit or miss. However, the Nets should be among the most improved teams in the league considering they won just 22 games last season.

Philadelphia 76ers
Odds to win NBA title: 40-1

The 76ers should probably be getting more love on the betting lines considering the offseason they had. They shipped off Andre Iguodala, who wasn't quite a fit in Doug Collins' schemes, and brought in center Andrew Bynum. Bynum is the second-best big man in the league and can easily take the Sixers from a decent team to a championship contender.

The Sixers need to replace Iguodala's scoring, leadership and clutch performance. They started to do that last season and will hope that the additions of Nick Young, Jason Richardson and Dorrell Wright can do the trick. If Bynum is healthy and the new additions fit, this could be the second-best team in the East.

New York Knicks
Odds to win NBA title: 35-1

The New York Knicks didn't have a great offseason as they whiffed on Steve Nash, then let Jeremy Lin sign with the Houston Rockets. Then they went out and signed Jason Kidd, who is far past his prime, and Raymond Felton, who they ran out of town just a few years ago.

This team is still just an odd concoction of talent without chemistry. Carmelo Anthony is great, Amar'e Stoudemire can be dominant and Tyson Chandler is among the best defensive players in the league. However, the team just lacks cohesion and that's likely to be their downfall once again.

Toronto Raptors
Odds to win NBA title: 250-1

The Raptors are still in rebuilding mode but they're hoping that the addition of two first round picks boosts their foundation. Last year's first-round pick, Jonas Valanciunas, will join the team this year and hopefully provide a much-needed boost at the center position. Meanwhile, this year's first-round pick, Terrence Ross, should provide the much-needed scoring.

Even so, the Raptors are thin on depth and rebounding. Coach Dwane Casey improved the team's toughness on defense but until they find a primetime scorer and a supporting cast, they'll find themselves in the Atlantic basement.

LeBron James

James will appear with Anthony Davis, this year’s No. 1 NBA
draft pick, along with Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and others in My Life as an NBA Rookie on Disney XD,
debuting Oct. 29, according to The Associated Press. The series reportedly will
feature footage of players going through the draft process and preparing for
training camp.

The question is, why should Disney stop there? They
shouldn’t just put James in a TV show. They could turn him into an actual
animated character, like Pocahontas, or transform him into an animal for no discernible reason, like they did to Robin Hood. While the Disney animators are
at it, they could get the Pixar gang to make Bryant and Durant into the next
Woody and Buzz.

Until this becomes a reality, we threw together a list of
some of the NBA’s top players and imagined which existing Disney character they
most closely match up with. The only real purpose is to entertain, so enjoy.

Clik here to see NBA players and their Disney character counterparts>>

Photo via Facebook/LeBron James isn’t the next MJ, he is the first LeBron James

Before the unhappy dunker was shipped out, though, he and head coach Sam Mitchell purportedly had an altercation in the training room during Carter's final season north of the border. The incident was unknown to the public until now, thanks to ESPN's Jalen Rose.

Check out Rose's account of the event in the video below.

Credit an alley-oop pass to Grantland.

Thumbnail via Facebook/Vince Carter Fan Page