men's pro basketball

LAS VEGAS -- The Detroit Pistons thing went bad in the end and the New York Knicks thing went bad the entire time among other coaching stops. So Larry Brown joins the Charlotte Bobcats for his latest attempt to rehabilitate a 32-50 team and his reputation.

Sadly, the residents of Seattle no longer warrant our sympathy. Those days are gone with the SuperSonics. The once-supersize franchise is off to Oklahoma City, under an assumed name, with its carpet-bagging owner leading the procession of moving vans.

This is the time to lock the shop. The hunted have become the hunters.

This week the Los Angeles Lakers will enter the free-agent market, shopping for players and looking to improve.

About an hour after Patrick Ewing Jr. is introduced at the Sacramento Kings' practice facility over the weekend, my cell phone rings. The voice on the other end is familiar, eager and emotional. The big fella wants to rave about his son.

Hearken back to 2005. Milwaukee had the top pick in the NBA draft, with Atlanta on deck.

The Bucks sought to decide between center Andrew Bogut and forward Marvin Williams.

The Hawks were ready to pounce on whomever the Bucks didn't take.

So who came out the winner?

Utah and New Orleans.

Kevin Love is half the man he used to be. And he's proud of it.

Three months after he fought back tears in the locker room after UCLA's season-ending loss to Memphis, Love hardly resembles the doughy big man TV cameras routinely caught hunched over tugging at his shorts late in games.

Brook Lopez: Stanford man, opportunist.

In an NBA draft devoid of depth and likely stardom at center, a year after Greg Oden went first overall, Lopez might be the only top-10 pick from the position. Certainly, depending where DeAndre Jordan lands, he's the only solid bet at that spot in the lottery.

You might not be able to dunk like Kevin Garnett, or shoot like Ray Allen, or take the ball to the basket like Paul Pierce, but that doesn't mean we can't learn some lessons from the NBA champion Boston Celtics.

-- TRUST

The presumption among the faithful is that the young and blessed Los Angeles Lakers will be back to another NBA Finals again soon.

Maybe a few more times.

The reality may be something quite different.

My son and I happened to be in Boston last summer, on our annual ballpark trip, when the Celtics introduced their latest acquisition to the faithful.

They did it at Fenway Park on a perfect summer evening before an Orioles-Red Sox game. It was a surprisingly memorable moment.