In the lane
WHAT’S NEXT: What Jarnell Stokes accomplished this season in the D-League was remarkable, when he followed up his MVP regular-season for the Heat’s affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, by also being named MVP of the championship series won this past week by the Skyforce, especially when considering he spent the season as part of three NBA organizations: the Memphis Grizzlies, Heat and New Orleans Pelicans. What comes next for Stokes could define the D-League going forward, whether the player twice this season deemed as best in the league is afforded the opportunity to take the next step to the NBA. If not, then the D-League may be nothing more than its other minor-league basketball predecessors, tryout leagues so lacking in true big men that a power forward playing center is able to dominate with no legitimate path to the next level. There should be some way that earning D-League MVP translates into guaranteed dollars next season from the NBA, even if it has to come out of a league pool. If not, than the “D” in D-League becomes more about a dream deferred. Ineligible to return to the Heat this season due to an arcane NBA trade rule, Stokes will no longer have that restriction in the offseason.
SIMPLER OUTCOME: For all Hassan Whiteside accomplished in what truly was his first full NBA season, the greater (and likely most lucrative) gain might have been at the foul line. By the end of the season, intentional fouls against Whiteside disappeared from opposing scouting reports. Contrast that to the free-throw uncertainty with another impending freeagent center, Detroit Pistons’ Andre Drummond. By the end of the Pistons’ first-round sweep at the hands of the Cavaliers, Drummond was reduced to spectator by intention fouls. “You can’t do anything with him,” Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said of having to remove Drummond when he was needed most. The plan going forward could include persuading Drummond to shoot underhand. “Trying to correct mechanics and going into the gym to shoot a lot of free throws has not worked,” said Van Gundy. “So we’ve got to go somewhere else with that. Right now, everything is on the table.” Van Gundy offered comments at the Pistons’ season-ending media session. “There’s a lot of ways to attack this problem, and we’ll all have a hand in it.”
ALWAYS CONFIDENT: Having previously gone to the lengths of getting a Larry O’Brien Trophy tattoo before his Dallas Mavericks won the 2011 NBA Finals, Jason
Terry lost no credibility in the eyes of Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green when he incorrectly forecast aWednesday victory over theWarriors in the Houston Rockets’ season-ending Game 5 loss in Oakland. “I definitely heard about [Jason Terry’s] comments,” Green said in his ESPN diary, “but I got mad respect for Jet. He’s a guy that’s done it in the league for a long time. He was a big part of the championship team that beat LeBron [ James] and the Heat the year after ‘The Decision.’ If a dog don’t wag his own tail, who is going to wag it?”