During a panel at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Bryan Colangelo admitted that the Toronto Raptors were attempting to tank during his tenure.

"Admittedly, I will say I tried to tank a few years ago," said Colangelo.

The Raptors finished the 10-11 season with a 22-60 record (.268 winning percentage) and a 23-43 record in 11-12 (.348 winning percentage).

The Raptors drafted Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross with the picks that came as a result of their record.

Colangelo added that during those seasons he was also trying to develop young players.

Other than a truly elite player such as LeBron James or Kevin Durant, draft picks have become the NBA's most valued commodity.

Teams were reluctant to even trade second round picks at the deadline due to their increased value. Not only do picks represent an opportunity for teams to improve with young talent, but they also give teams the ability to do so on a cheap salary.

"Firsts are so valuable with the new rules and tax," an Eastern Conference GM texted Sunday. "For the better teams who are picking late as well as teams close to the tax, they are so valuable because you can get players on cheap contracts and control them for four years."

The NBA has attempted to improve competitive balance in every collective bargaining negotiation over the past two decades.

Adam Silver once said that he believes every team that is managed well should have the opportunity to make a profit and compete for a title.

The NBA attempted to level the playing field by hardening the salary cap, but it has acted more as cost-cutting measures and revenue redistribution.

In examining the standard deviation of winning percentage since 99-00, Tom Ziller find that parity remains relatively unchanged. There appeared to be some progress made leading up to 07-08, but the trend then began going the other way.

Adam Silver had his first press conference as NBA commissioner on All-Star Saturday.

Silver deflected a question about expansion.

"It's not on the top of my list right now," Silver said. "My job is to ensure that 30 teams are healthy and competitive, and so that's what my priority is right now as opposed to expansion."

NBA owners would receive a significant lump sum payment in the form of an expansion fee should a team be awarded to Seattle or another potential city.

Silver also said that the NBA is "not close at the moment" on sponsors on jerseys but he believes "ultimately it will happen in the NBA."

The NBPA's executive committee met for 2 1-2 hours on Saturday to interview finalists for the job of replacing Hunter as the head of the union.

The meeting was attended by approximately 30 players, with Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and LaMarcus Aldridge the only All-Stars.

David White and Michele Roberts are the two finalists.

White is executive director of the Screen Actors Guild, while Roberts is an attorney in Washington D.C.

Sources tell Ken Berger of CBS Sports that agents have expressed frustration over the search.

David White, executive director of the Screen Actors Guild, has emerged as the frontrunner to replace Billy Hunter as executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, according to sources.

There had been debate whether a vote will take place at All-Star weekend, but no vote is scheduled.

Chris Paul and the executive committee's members have interviewed White.

White is a graduate of Stanford Law and a Rhodes Scholar.

White recently led a reorganization of SAG's union.

The NBA has tremendous popularity around the world and Adam Silver will attempt to continue that growth as commissioner.

"The league that David Stern inherited had our Finals on tape delay, so I'm inheriting a league where games and Finals are televised in 215 countries, 50 languages," said Silver in an exclusive interview with Sam Amick. "But beyond that, I'm inheriting a social media community of over a half a billion followers on a global basis. And what's rapidly changing in the world around us right now is the explosive ramping up of cell phone usage by consumers.

"And so I guess I see someone saying, 'Where's the opportunity?' But to me, the U.S. is less than 5% of the world's population. So when I look at markets like the billion people in Africa, the over billion people that live in India, the (1.3 billion) that live in China, just those markets alone where we're just barely scratching the surface, there is so much opportunity out there for us."

Silver will also go after the NFL for supremacy in the United States.

"I'm also very focused on growing the game in the U.S.," said Silver. "I see enormous upside, both in consumption of new media; largely digital media — but just as importantly, for conventional television."

The NFL has considerably larger revenue from television than the NBA.

"I look at the enormous gap between NFL ratings and NBA ratings and see enormous room for growth," 

The NBA is not ready to add an expansion team to the Seattle market.

"Seattle is a wonderful market. It would be very additive to the league to have a team there," Adam Silver said in an interview this week with ESPN. "But we're not planning on expanding right now, so it's not a function of price."

The Sacramento Kings nearly relocated to Seattle last year.

The Milwaukee Bucks are the next team in danger of facing relocation issues, with their lease expiring in 2017.

The NBA owners would receive a sizable expansion fee if Seattle was awarded a franchise, but they're likely to wait until new television deals are done before seriously considering the issue.

"Ultimately I'm responsible for the financial and competitive health of a 30-team league, and while we made tremendous strides in the last collective bargaining agreement, we're still not there yet. We don't have 30 profitable teams in the NBA, and while we've made progress, there are still teams that aren't competitive enough."

The NBA Players Association appears unlikely to vote on a new union leader during All-Star Weekend.

Billy Hunter was formally relieved of his duties as union chief during All-Star Weekend in 2013.

There is also a push by some union members to start the search over for a replacement for Hunter.

Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan are the same age, but their career salary earnings are considerably different due to their decisions on when to enter the NBA.

Garnett entered the NBA directly from high school at the age of 19 and became the fifth overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft.

Duncan, graduating from high school at 17, went to Wake Forest for four years and was the first overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft.

Garnett has $315 million in career earnings compared to $224 million for Duncan, a difference of $91 million.

Garnett had a two-year head start and was earning $14 million when Duncan was making $3.4 million in his second season. Garnett signed a six-year, $126 million contract during the 97-98 season, which ultimately triggered a response from the owners in the 1999 lockout and impacted the earning potential of Duncan.