According to what Dan Pompei of National Football Post has learned, we can expect to see former Raiders first-round pick Darrius Heyward-Bey heavily involved in this area: “The Colts believe they have the resources to be one of the better teams in the league at stretching the field. Part of their enthusiasm has to do with the acquisition of Darrius Heyward-Bey. Indy coaches see him as a potentially explosive playmaker who can get behind coverage. The Colts will be trying to get Heyward-Bey more opportunities than he ever had in Oakland. And they also want to use second year tight end Coby Fleener more as a vertical threat down the seam. With his speed and size, Fleener should be able to take advantage of man to man matchups as well as zone coverages.”

That all sounds great, but the reality of DHB’s career has not come close to matching expectations thus far.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Rams featured Chris Givens and Austin Pettis as their two outside WRs with the first-team offense through the OTAs and minicamp, with rookie Tavon Austin in the slot. This seems like a red flag regarding Quick, though the coaches are attempting to push the narrative that it’s more a result of Pettis playing well than Quick taking a step back.

“Quick’s doing a lot better,” OC Brian Schottenheimer claimed. “He’s stepped up this year. He’s just much more comfortable.”

Training camp and the preseason contests will give us a better idea of whether that’s true.

According to a report from the Boston Herald, Terry said his knee was inflamed throughout the season and was a constant issue.

“I felt it all season,” he said. I finally had to alleviate the discomfort. It definitely inhibited me a lot. I was limited. I hadn’t really been in that position before, playing under that kind of condition. I don’t know ultimately how much it limited me, but I was definitely cautious with the way I was playing.”

A couple weeks ago the former Maverick had his knee scoped out. He should be healthy to go next season at the age of 36.

The options for the Magic are the Bakersfield Jam, Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Iowa Energy or Reno Bighorns. The Magic didn’t assign any of their players to the D-League but the organization still wants to make the D-League a part of their player-development strategy. Last October, Magic Gm Rob Hennigan said he prefers to have an affiliate that is closer to Orlando. The NBA determines the affiliations but the league does seek input and preferences from teams.

Six teams own and manage D-League teams: The Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs.

The Mavericks have a one-to-one affiliation with the Texas Legends. There are no D-League teams near Orlando so the Magic should be attracted to the franchises based in Fort Wayne and Iowa because of their better geographic proximity compared to others.

He posted a video Saturday on his Vine account saying “I’m back,” while attempting to break his crutches and shooting a basketball into a pool. The caption said “No more time for those thangs!!! Time for some work!!!!! #whynot.”

Westbrook’s timetable for recovery was roughly 4-6 weeks but that varied. It has been just over six weeks since he had surgery to repair his torn meniscus. He began his rehab process the same day as the surgery. The team and Westbrook had a choice to either do a full meniscus repair or let him play with it damaged after doing a “clean up” procedure.

There is a short-term benefit from the simple procedure. Obviously Westbrook could have done the “clean up” procedure and returned immediatedly but that could have ended up having an effect on his longevity in the league, especially if he would have re-injured his knee some kind of way throughout the playoffs. He’s young. It wasn’t worth it. Westbrook is expected to be ready and fully healthy for training camp in October.

“He’s one of the all-time great point guards and he played under Coach P also,” Siva said of the Warriors coach, who played under Pitino for two years with the New York Knicks. “Just that connection right there. It would be great. He’s great coach and they had a great year this year. It’d be wonderful.”

Siva averaged 10 points and 5.7 assists in 31.2 minutes per game in his last college season. He shot only 28.8 percent from the arc. His offensive game is mostly based on his ability to penetrate and run the pick-and-roll effectively. He’s more successful knocking down the mid-range shots. Defense is in specialty. He’s extremely quick and aggressive. He averages 2.8 steals per 40 minutes. Most scouts project him to get selected in the final 10 picks of the draft.

The flop happened during the second quarter. Bosh was trailing Spurs forward Tim Duncan as the two headed back down the court when Duncan established position in the paint to post up Bosh. As Spurs guard Gary Neal approached with the dribble, Duncan posted up Bosh who arrived to the spot late and tried to seal him away from getting involved with the play. Bosh then flailed his arms as if he was hit hard and fell to the ground immediately. Duncan was then called for the foul which eliminated the layup for Neal.

The flops we’ve seen in the playoffs are ridiculous. As long as fines are only $5,000, players will keep putting on Hollywood acts. Five thousand dollars to a NBA player is the equivalent of fining a normal person $12.50. The league needs to increase the fine amount if they want players to stop flopping. The coaches don’t like it and the fans dislike watching it on television. It takes the fun out of the game. Apparently owners hate flopping too. Of course out of all NBA owners Mavs boss Mark Cuban would be the first speak on it.

According to ESPN, onne of Cuban’s businesses has provided $100,000 to Southern Methodist University to do an 18 month invesigation of the forces involved in basketball collisions and attempt to figure out if video or other motion capture techniques can identify legitimate collisions and instances of flopping.

“The research findings could conceivably contribute to video reviews of flopping and the subsequent assignment of fines,” SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who leads the research team, said in a statement.

Hopefully flopping comes to an end next season. There has been a ridiculous amount of flops during the post-season, often by the veterans and superstars of the league.

After returning to Russia earlier this month, Karasev had the belief that teams may not get the opportunity to see him before the draft. He still has not received a first round guarantee yet. Karasev is a 6-foot-7 swingman that has drawn much interest due to his shooting and playmaking abilities. He averaged 20 points and shot 49 percent from the three-point line in this season’s European Cup. With the ninth and 26th first round selections, the Minnesota Timberwolves have scouted Karasev. The ‘Wolves are looking to add shooters and Karasev could be a target to be drafted.

The Spurs will have to make adjustments. One adjustment could be less Tiago Splitter and more Gary Neal.  Even if Splitter doesn’t start, he needs to provide more effort on the floor. He has too big of a body to go up so soft and get blocked three times in one game by shorter players. There is no excuse for that. Another key factor is Tony Parker’s hamstring. He tweaked it in Game 3. It didn’t seem to bother him much in the first half of Game 4 but in the second half as the Heat made defensive adjustments and put more pressure on the Spurs’ offense, it was obvious Parker’s injury was bothering him. He recently said his hamstring could tear at any time. Knowing that, it could have a mental effect on his performance as well. Tim Duncan is going to have to play more aggressive. There is no reason why he shouldn’t be able to post up and score. He should be consistently knocking down those 10-15 foot jump shots. The role players, including Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard, have been playing well this series. Manu Ginobli is going to have to give something on offense. He looks as if he just doesn’t have it anymore. The Spurs could use his penetration and jump shooting abilities. On defense, the Spurs can’t just force LeBron, Wade and Bosh to shoot anymore. They knocked down shots in Game 4. Spurs may try a similar strategy and force the Heat to shoot but Wade and LeBron will then attack the basket. If the Spurs close out the lanes, Miami’s slashers will look to dish the ball out. The problem with that is when the Heat’s shooters are hot, that’s trouble. The Spurs have their hands full. They will need to perform excellent defensive rotations tonight.

I think at this point, it’s just a matter of execution for both of these teams. They know each others strengths and weaknesses. They are both very well coached. Unlike the past few games, this one should be close. I don’t expect a lopsided victory here. But I do think the Heat’s Big 3 have their swagger back and are very dangerous. The Spurs usually don’t have two straight bad games but the Heat are fired up and ready to take this series away. When Miami is playing their best ball, no team can beat them. The winner of each game in this NBA Finals series has had the least amount of turnovers. That’s something to watch during an expected, competitive, close Game 5.