In actual basketball news, the Spurs put away the Golden State Warriors last night to advance to the Western Conference Finals; where the Memphis Grizzlies await. The Grizzlies and Spurs will kick off their series starting Sunday, May 19th, in San Antonio at 1:30 p.m. MT. The Miami Heat are waiting on either the Pacers or Knicks – I’m not sure either team has enough offense to do proper damage to the Heat.
In NBA draft news: the Nuggets still have the 27th pick in the June 27th draft, but the team might be looking to move up if you read into a Tweet from Sports Illustrated writer Chris Mannix:
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p>Lot of teams looking to talk to Lehigh’s CJ McCollum. 15 total interviews scheduled. Thunder, Magic, Nuggets and Cavs already talked to him</p>— Chris Mannix (@ChrisMannixSI) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ChrisMannixSI/status/335085382699999232″>May 16, 2013</a></blockquote>
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We discussed this Tweet or at least CJ McCollum previously in the comment sections of draft talk, but McCollum is a very interesting prospect who appears to be very NBA ready (I know a lot of you Stiffs like his game). Our friends over at Draft Express have McCollum slated as the No. 8 pick today. That pick belongs to the Washington Wizards – who already have John Wall and Bradley Beal set in their backcourt. The Wizards have previously traded with the Nuggets (JaVale McGee for Nene, remember?!) – perhaps another deal could be in the works?
McCollum is a nicely sized point guard, but could easily slide over to play the shooting guard spot in a George Karl offense (two point guard lineups). I could see McCollum in the Lawson role from 2009-10 where he played in 65 games and averaged 20 minutes a night. CJ could easily make Andre Miller expendable either next season or the season after – when Miller’s contract can be bought out.
Check out his highlights from our guys over at Draft Express:
In other Nuggets news: Ty Lawson has been working out and training with the WBO Super Featherweight champion Adrien Broner in Las Vegas. Check out a couple of these Tweets:
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p>Footage from me and @<a href=”https://twitter.com/tylawson3″>tylawson3</a> hoop game going up in 5…4…3…2…1…</p>— Adrien Broner (@AdrienBroner) <a href=”https://twitter.com/AdrienBroner/status/335246610609086464″>May 17, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p>A great whiteaint scary until you swimming right next to one RT @<a href=”https://twitter.com/adrienbroner”>adrienbroner</a>: Bout to give @<a href=”https://twitter.com/tylawson3″>tylawson3</a> buckets <a href=”https://twitter.com/search/%23strapUP”>#strapUP</a></p>— Ty Lawson (@TyLawson3) <a href=”https://twitter.com/TyLawson3/status/335128439730348032″>May 16, 2013</a></blockquote>
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I'll be on the lookout for that hoops footage that Broner is promising. If you don't know a lot about the eccentric Broner – know this: he's 26-0 with 22 knockouts and has his own TV type show on YouTube that chronicles his life aka "About Billions" … here is the trailer for his "show":