Whether Ben Simmons should be shooting with his left-hand or his right-hand has been a topic of discussion since before he entered the NBA.

Doris Burke believes Simmons may switch from lefty to righty over the offseason.

“I think he might be shooting righty next season,” said Burke.

Russell Westbrook turned Oklahoma City's first round matchup against the Jazz personal with his comments after Game 3 that Ricky Rubio wouldn't replicate his offensive output.

Westbrook was aggressive on defense and ultimately was limited by foul trouble.

The Jazz attempted to keep their play team-oriented.

"We just stayed within ourselves," Donovan Mitchell said. "We always say the strength of our team is the strength of our team. I said this morning we're not really worried about one individual comment. I think if we get caught up in that it takes us out of our own game, and our play showed tonight that we really just focused on each other and made the right plays when we needed to."

The Portland Trail Blazers finished the regular season with the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference but were swept in the first round by New Orleans Pelicans.

Lillard believes the Pelicans did an excellent job of taking him out of the offense.

"The reality of it is, their game plan was to take me out," said Lillard. "I come across halfcourt and there are two guys guarding me. There's really no excuse on my behalf. You've got to take the good with the bad. I can accept the credit when I do great things and I accept the criticism."

Lillard believes the Blazers currently have potential to hit another level the way the Warriors did after their first round exit to the Clippers in 2014.

"I honestly feel like our team is capable of something like that," Lillard said.

Lillard also disagrees with the suggestion that the Blazers may be better off breaking up his backcourt pairing with CJ McCollum.

"I mean, I don't agree with it. I think it's that simple. That's the easiest thing to say, but I don't agree with it."

Manu Ginobili joined a Spurs' team in 2002 that perennially won 50 games but hadn't reached The Finals since 1999.

Steve Kerr believes Ginobili gave Gregg Popovich and the Spurs a new element with his creativity. Kerr spent the majority of seasons late in his career with the Spurs.

“We were a vanilla team,” Kerr said. “Very successful, but we were like a football team that just ran the ball every play, played great defense, won the special teams battle. There was nothing exciting about us. Manu came up and sort of shook up the organization in a good way, shook up Pop, changed the way he looked at the game. We needed that creativity, that fire.”

“Changed the culture of basketball, in my opinion, even if it doesn't get talked about,” Kevin Durant said. “Changed what the Sixth Man (award) means. A lot of people think he's from Europe, which he's not. South America. But all the guys I played with from Venezuela, Argentina, all the guys in the league just bring that toughness and that fight. Manu's one of those guys that means more to the game than people think.”

LeBron James reflected back on the Cavaliers' season before Wednesday's Game 2 against the Pacers and lamented the changes they team went through.

"I think we spent so much time trying to figure out who we were in the regular season and getting the right lineups and guys in and out and things of that nature, we could never build for the playoffs. It was kind of like, build for the next game. So the postseason finally hit us and it hit us very well. And I think that can be the best teacher for us to know exactly what we should be ready for tonight."

The Cavaliers acquired Rodney Hood, George Hill, Larry Nance Jr. and Jordan Clarkson at the deadline while sending out Isaiah Thomas, Dwyane Wade, Jae Crowder and Derrick Rose.

Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson also missed significant time.

Rob Pelinka would often meet with Jerry Buss and Kobe Bryant at the owner's home in Playa del Rey.

Buss died in 2013 and Pelinka wondered what he would make of their rebuilding state.

“I think there became a comfort in the banners,” Pelinka concluded. “No one saw the progress, the pioneering of new things, which is what we used to be known for. No one was saying, ‘We want to do what the Lakers are doing.’ It was the opposite. It was, ‘No one wants to go there anymore.’ ”

The Lakers are effectively following the Thunder model and the Heat model at the same time by developing a young core and also maintaining significant cap space.

“That’s the beauty of it,” Pelinka says. “Whatever the road becomes—Is it two max guys this summer? Is it one this summer and one the next? Is it splitting up the space and just growing this young core?—it’s a good road to be on.”

Kevin Durant carried the Warriors' offense in the first half of their Game 2 win over the Spurs as they were taken out of their normal flow.

“I thought in the first half they took us off everything, and so our default when we are not running our offense is go to KD, because he's our best player,” Steve Kerr said.

“I give them credit for taking us out of our offense. You know, we got disjointed there. But I thought we did a much better job in the second half. We only had four turnovers and the ball started to move, and I thought we just stayed with it.”

Durant was asked if he takes pride in scoring a quiet 32 points.

“Yeah, I mean I'm not a big screamer anymore,” Durant said. “I don't beat my chest anymore. So after every shot, I just run down the court and get back on defense. I can make it a loud 32 if I really wanted to, I guess, but that would take a lot of energy out of me.

“I'm not really flashy with how I play anymore. I just try to look for the best shot and be simple and easy with my game — I guess fly under the radar a little bit. But I'm glad I can put points on the board for our team and try to help our team as much as I can.”

Steve Mills said James Dolan is fully supportive of his rebuilding plan with Scott Perry.

Mills and Perry took over for Phil Jackson to run the New York Knicks last summer.

"Jim has given us the room to be patient which, again, is not something that's been common in this organization," said Mills. "Patience hasn't been one of our biggest attributes here ….I don't have any doubt that he's comfortable with the plan we're on and (that he) wants us to be patient and not do things that are just you know for the quick hit."

The Knicks have typically looked for quick turnarounds during Dolan's tenure as owner.

Chris Wallace remains confident in the Memphis Grizzlies' capacity to become contenders again without embarking on a full rebuild.

“I understand the frustration of this past year,” Wallace said. “But, I’m not going to take sole credit for this, the front office teams I’ve presided over won the most ever games in the history of this franchise. We were seven straight years in the playoffs. We also brought in four of what I call the extended Mt. Rushmore or six most import players in of the franchise. One year out of the playoffs doesn’t necessarily mean we’re out of touch and no longer capable of doing the job.”

The Grizzlies missed Mike Conley and Chandler Parsons for most of the season.

“The plan on the short-term side of it is to get back in the swing of things,” Wallace said. “I don’t see any reason why we can’t be a very viable competitive team next year. … I’m excited about next year. I think we’ll be a pretty good team next year.”