We?re into the Conference Finals after some of the best basketball games I never saw.  9:15 pm start in the Western Conference Finals? Why not just put them on OLN Channel 78?  Oh, right, they?ve got hockey.

What I learned this week:
? Sometimes it?s better to keep your pants on at the game.

? The Clippers had a nice run, but this was meant to be, right?

? If the Suns were that good without Amare, how good will they be with him and 2 first round picks?  

? I know one guy who is not watching the Western Finals: Kevin Garnett. This must be killing him.  

? Jason Terry was just the quickest, most athletic player on the floor in that Game 7, period. I can?t believe I?m saying this but the Spurs need to get younger and more athletic too.

? The Pistons can be beaten, especially when they shoot 30%.

? Am I crazy or is this just the same dudes in different uni?s over and over again?  Quentin Richardson aside (good thing for him his wife doesn?t suck) Antoine is no longer with the Mavs, now he?s on Miami. Michael Finley and Nick Van Exile or on the Spurs now. Former Maverick Tony Delk is a Piston. Hell, even Spur PG extraordinaire Avery Johnson is the head Coach in Dallas. The NBA is so incestuous.

? This has to be the first time in history that the Conference Finals are a rematch and each team has a new coach.  But while Flip Saunders will be credited as masterful in his job taking over for the Funeral Dirge we call Larry Brown, if Pat Riley does anything less than take the Heat to the Finals, replacing Stan Van with himself has to be seen as a dumb move.  Good thing for Pat, they?re up 3-1.
 
? Tampering, Part I:  Apparently Dave Stern is now giving Knickerbocker and MSG Chairman Jim Dolan advice on how to run his franchise, which may be a good thing for the Knicks, but is a bad idea for the NBA.  Stern has suggested to Dolan to hire Jerry Colangelo, currently in charge of putting together the USA Basketball team, as team President and former Knick Kiki Vandeweghe as General Manager, effectively eliminating Isiah Thomas.

For the record, this is a good idea.  My problem is that Dolan didn?t come up with it and even thought the NY Knicks are the cornerstone franchise for the league, the commissioner is supposed to act in the best interest of the game and all of the owners collectively.  Now, you can argue that the continued demise of the new York franchise will eventually lead to the overall decline of the NBA itself, but this is not the role that a Commissioner should be playing.  Why doesn?t he just do the hiring and firing for the Knicks, Bulls and Lakers?  No wonder Russ Granik is stepping down.

? Hey, didn?t you used to be Tim Duncan, Michael Finley and Nazr Mohammed?  Well, maybe not Nazr Mohammed.

? Tampering, Part II: LeBron?s Nike deal is dangerous, in fact someone should look into the legal ramifications of a deal like this. It is apparently stipulated that should LeBron ever play for New York, Chicago or Los Angeles (Clippers or Lakers) the remaining value of the Nike contract will automatically double. Commish Stern needs to be very careful of things like this b/c, though I believe Phil Knight and Nike are on the level, it would be very easy for a company of lesser scruples to take back-alley deals from teams to put these things in their endorsement deals.  There is a salary cap for a reason and the ease with which deals like this can help circumvent the cap is cause for alarm.

? Quote of the Week:  The Weekly Musings on LeBron James and his chances against the Pistons: ?That said, they are tied 2-2, but eventually his shot selection will cost them, mark it down.? LeBron took bad shot after bad shot in the final 3 games of the series, winning one and losing the final 2.  Bottom line, he didn?t trust his teammates to hit open shots, not that he should have.  The Cavs have some work to do if they plan on keeping LeBron around.

? Mark my words: The Pistons are not dead, not yet.

We?ll be back in the Musings to break down the NBA Finals and to start getting into some great draft coverage.  This draft should end up being one of the more exciting in recent memory b/c much of the talent is interchangeable.  For the Weekly Musings, I?m some guy from the Ukraine your team is about to draft.