The Cleveland Cavaliers turned around their season with two trades that brought Timofey Mozgov, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to their team.

"He is so excited about the talent on this team," said Brian Windhorst. "He loves playing with Mozgov. He loves J.R. Smith. He was the guy who pushed for that trade. The Cavs were trying to get Shumpert; that's what the conversations were and of course the Knicks were saying 'we'll give you Shumpert, but you have to take J.R.' They went to LeBron and he said 'No, you get J.R. and if you get Shumpert with him that's great.' He, I think, really loves their top-7."

Smith has a .563 True Shooting Percentage since coming to the Cavaliers after posting a .487 mark with the New York Knicks.

Russell Westbrook has accumulated nine triple-doubles this season and seven of those came within a 12-game stretch.

In 1961-62, Oscar Robertson averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists to become the first and only player to put up a triple-double season.

The NBA played at a much faster pace in 1962.

According to records from Basketball Reference, Robertson's Cincinnati Royals averaged 105.2 field goal attempts per game, which was actually on the low end that season compared to the league norm.

If you adjust Westbrook's season averages of 27.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 8.6 assists to a pace-adjusted number for 1962, he would average 36.1 points, 11.2 assists and 9.4 rebounds per game.

When you also factor in that top players almost never left the court in that era, Westbrook's era-adjusted stat line is 46.9 points, 14.6 assists and 12.2 rebounds per game.

Dwight Howard disputes comments from Kobe Bryant that he was uncomfortable with Bryant's "combative" approach during their one season together.

“It wasn’t that I was uncomfortable with who [Bryant] was as a player or a person, that was never the issue to me,” Howard said. “I think that kind of gets twisted because of how things ended up. Everybody on that team got injured. I think we had five games together before somebody was injured. …  I didn’t have an issue back then how Kobe was. Kobe wanted to win as badly as I did. Our personalities are different. I’m not a guy who is going to go off on my teammates. I tried that approach and for me it didn’t work. For Kobe, it works. He’s won a couple championships. He’s also played with some great talent. For the most part, it just wasn’t the time for us to win.”

Howard was asked if his relationship with Bryant has informed how he and James Harden get along.

“We’re not super close but we do talk, we sit down, we have conversations,” Howard said of Harden. “I’ve never had any issue with James. The biggest reason for me to come to Houston was to play alongside James. I knew I made [the right decision] when I first made it, watching him play and now how he’s grown as a player and a person. It’s great to watch. I came to win. There’s no ego with me, it’s not about me. It’s about us, what we can do together. I’ve won all the individual awards, besides the MVP, and at this point all that stuff is irrelevant. What’s more important is us coming together to win a championship."

Shaquille O'Neal returned to the Orlando Magic on Friday to be inducted into the franchise's Hall of Fame.

O'Neal was drafted by the Magic in 1992 and helped lead the team to the 1995 NBA Finals. O'Neal left the Magic in 1996 to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.

"It's unexpected because I came here to win. We won games, and then I made a business decision," said O'Neal, who becomes the third member of the Magic's hall, joining co-founder Pat Williams and first-ever draft pick Nick Anderson. "It's never personal. The [team owner Rich] DeVos family knows that. And I accomplished [a championship] somewhere else. It's not like I didn't think they weren't going to be upset or anything. But it's business. It was all business.

"Do I regret it? I never fully answer it. I regret it sometimes. Is this where I started and should have stayed? I actually wish they made it a law that whoever drafts you, you gotta stay there your whole career."

O'Neal said the DeVos family deserves "a couple" of championships and that the Magic's 1995 Finals team, which also featured a core of Penny Hardaway and Anderson, had a chance to get back.

"That's why I kind of regret it, because we had a young, fabulous team," O'Neal said. "We really did. And it's a shame that we got torn apart. But I think about that all the time. I try not to live my life now on 'ifs' or 'would've, should've,' but do I regret leaving here in '96, yes I do."

The NBA changed their rules concerning players coming off a rookie contract after O'Neal left the Magic.

"I wish I would have had more patience," he said. "I wanted to be protected from the bashing. What I mean by that is I wanted to win then. Even when I got [to Los Angeles], I still got bashed. It took four years to win. But I was very impatient. I was very young, and I thought that if I go there, with those guys out there, I could win right away and that wasn't the case.

"Now that I'm older now, I wish as a youngster I would have had more patience."

Dan Gilbert purchased the Cleveland Cavaliers for $375 million ten years ago this month.

Gilbert's net worth at the time was estimated to be worth $800 million and is now north of $4.7 billion. Gilbert's holdings has expanded from mortgages and venture capital to casinos, real estate, consumer products, tech, minor league sports franchises and a Cavaliers' team worth more than $900 million.

Gilbert has withdraw publicly, but sources inside and outside of the organization say his involvement in the Cavaliers' day-to-day operations has increased.

"If you had a 1-to-10 scale of an owner's involvement Mark Cuban would be a 10," said one prominent league agent. "Dan would be a 9."

Gilbert continues to live in suburban Detroit, but regularly flies to Cleveland to attend home games. Gilbert is known to monitor the design of the Cavaliers' jerseys, what's on the scoreboard during timeouts and many other details of the franchise.

Gilbert has become more active in Cavaliers' trade talks, contract negotiations and the draft process.

It is not unusual for Gilbert to speak directly to an agent or to up the ante in trade talks by calling an opposing owner, sources said.

Gilbert disagrees with the idea that he's heavily involved in basketball decisions.

"I don't think that's accurate," Gilbert said. "The way I look at it is it's the owner's job to say yes before you say no. I believe an owner is there to set the philosophy and to establish the culture but you let your guy pull the triggers."

The Cavs went from $23 million under the salary cap in July to $18 million over the cap and into the luxury tax in the same season, which is unprecedented in NBA history.

"Every owner is more involved than they show publicly," said one league official who knows Gilbert well. "But Dan has worked hard to get the organization to where he wants it."

J.R. Smith has had the biggest Box Plus-Minus improvement of all the players traded this season as he's become a critical part of the Cleveland Cavaliers success following his arrival from the New York Knicks. 

Smith had a -4.3 BPM with the Knicks and +3.4 with the Cavaliers for a difference of +7.7.

Enes Kanter ranks second with a +5.9 difference since arriving to the Oklahoma City Thunder from the Utah Jazz. The Jazz have also benefitted from his absence as it has given more minutes to Rudy Gobert.

Will Barton, Mo Williams, Anthony Tolliver, Ramon Sessions, Timofey Mozgov, Iman Shumpert, Tarik Black and Goran Dragic round out the top-10.

Overall, the Heat have the best Trade Score at 6.10, ahead of the Charlotte Hornets at 5.90 and Cavaliers at 5.10. The

Brandon Knight has had the biggest drop since being traded, going from +2.3 with the Milwaukee Bucks to -4.0 with the Phoenix Suns. The Bucks replaced Knight's +2.3 with a -2.0 from Michael Carter-Williams and they have struggled since the trade.

The Dallas Mavericks are also one of the losers of in-season trades as Rajon Rondo has struggled and they also lost the production of Brandan Wright.

The Bucks have the worst Trade Score at -4.30 with the Mavericks ranking next to last at -3.70.

The Oklahoma City Thunder were blown out on Wednesday by the San Antonio Spurs, losing 130-91.

Russell Westbrook didn't understand why the media asked him about their defense following the game.

"Uh, defensive issues carrying over. I'm confused," said Westbrook. "You didn't say that when we won four games in a row. I'm just a little confused."

The Thunder had won four straight games before Wednesday, but they also were struggling on defense.

"You can play bad defense [and win], but you don't mention it when we win," Westbrook said. "But when we lose you want to mention it. I'm just a little confused."

Points Per 100 Possessions Allowed over past five games
Mar. 18: 116.0
Mar. 20: 121.0
Mar. 22: 84.1
Mar. 24: 121.2
Mar. 25: 136.9

LeBron James has tried to make the situation with Kevin Love work, but he's grown frustrated by it, according to sources close to the situation. James reportedly is "frustrated by Love's inability and in some ways unwillingness to get with the program."

James pushed for the Cleveland Cavaliers to trade for Love last offseason.

Love can become a free agent this offseason or in 2016 when the cap rises.

The Cavaliers traded away Andrew Wiggins as part of the package for Love.

LeBron James and John Calipari have grown increasingly close over the years after they were introduced by a "family friend" believed to be William Wesley.

James said his close friend and former St. Vincent-St. Mary teammate Brandon Weems was on Calipari's coaching staff at Kentucky for two years, and "I gained even more of a relationship" with Calipari.

"What I admire is how he's able to take, year after year, these high egos coming out of high school and turn it into a team," James said of Calipari. "He makes them believe, not even believe, it's what it should be, that the team is more important than the individual. No matter who you are, no matter where you come from, in order for the team to have success everyone has to buy in.

"I love that about him, he doesn't cap, he doesn't put a cap on his talent, on those guys," James continued. "He gives them the reins if they play the right way, and he wants them to succeed at the highest level. So, you can respect that."

The Golden State Warriors currently have the fourth point differential since the NBA introduced the three-point line.

The top-6 teams in point differential before the current season have all gone on to win the NBA championship.

The 12-13 Oklahoma City Thunder rank eighth in point differential and made the Western Conference Semifinals despite losing Russell Westbrook in the first round.