Thursday Bullets

Thursday Bullets:

• Video of the play that's already in the Cavs' playbook that can get LeBron James going.
• Big news for the Suns: It looks increasingly likely that Robin Lopez will be back in action. The Suns have been fantastic in the playoffs, but were at their best in the regular season when Lopez was in the starting lineup.
• A statistical suggestion that small forward may not be the best position to build around.
• It's almost taken as a given that the NBA would love to have big stars in big markets, but that's not what David Stern says.
• So, you want to be an NBA agent? Nasty little business, and hard to break into. The legal documents arising from a dispute between Kim Grillier and his former boss Henry Thomas will help disabuse you of the notion that once you start signing up big name clients your troubles will melt away.
• John Hollinger (Insider): "In the backcourt, the biggest issue has been how to hide Mo Williams on defense. The best answer, it seems, is to just put him on Rajon Rondo and live with the consequences. Cleveland has lost three of four since switching the matchup so that Parker would guard Rondo, with Williams guarding Allen. While Rondo has had his way with Williams, this arrangement at least allows Parker to contain Allen. Since the empirical evidence suggests Parker can't guard Rondo either, the Cavs really gain nothing from the switch."
• Kevin Durant says he's game for next year's dunk contest. As he's an Aaron Goodwin client (like Dwight Howard was, and Nate Robinson and DeMar DeRozan are) they'll probably allow him in.
• Fantastic news if you speak Mandarin, and want to follow Red94, the TrueHoop Network's Rockets blog.
• Mark Blucas is an actor, and a former Wake Forest teammate of Tim Duncan's (Blucas, by the way, has torn up the NBA Entertainer's League in the past). Here's Blucas in character, making merciless fun of Duncan with some PG-13 talk.
• A Celtics fan wouldn't mind some credit for his team's play.
• We have heard the case for John Wall, now here's the case Evan Turner should be the top overall pick if the Nets win the lottery. A big part of that conversation hinges on whether or not you think Devin Harris is the long-term solution at point guard. If you think he needs to replaced, Wall plays the proper position. But if you're building around Harris, Turner can do a lot of things.
• The Hawks say they'll make Josh Childress his qualifying offer, which ties up some of the cap space but lets them retain his rights if he stays overseas.
• Omar Samhan is on his way to the NBA, which is good for all of us. Kyle Weidie of Truth About It can tell you why: "Of half-Egyptian and half-Irish descent, Samhan used his tourney performance to magnify his NBA prospects, but almost even more so, to magnify his personality. He was a quote machine who quickly stood out to blogs and MSM outlets alike. My favorite is his advice to Baylor coach Scott Drew before they faced each other, 'Make sure your shoes match your belt. That’s important. A lot of people are going to be watching this game. You want to look good. Oh, and make sure you guard me one on one.'"
• Building a D-League Twitter directory.
• Musing about LeBron James in Miami.
• That's confidence. Eddy Rivera of Magic Basketball calmly refers to this as "the midway point of the postseason."
• Endless video of Larry Bird passing the basketball, just 'cause.