When the Portland Trail Blazers offered Roy Hibbert a max $58.4 million, four-year deal it seemed like it was asking a lot from a one-time All Star who had a strong start to the shortened 2012 season, but struggled to the end. Hibbert was improving and had become a good player, but perhaps not someone you throw a max contract at and build a team around.

There were concerns when the Pacers decided to match that offer sheet, locking them into Hibbert and Danny Granger long term with David West's free agency upcoming and an untapped talent in Paul George. Hibbert and Granger were borderline all stars but did not have the consistency to be the bedrock of a championship franchise. For a team on the rise, that did not seem to fit in.

Or so we thought.

Hibbert was clearly a big part of what the Pacers want to build. Good centers are hard to find. Even with countless examples of centers overpaid simply for the use of their size.

His first year on that massive contract was not near the all star levels he displayed in the lockout-shortened 2012 season. He averaged 11.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game this year but established himself as one of teh contenders for the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year Award. His Pacers were the third seed in the Eastern Conference for the full 82-game season and many feel they have a chance to make the Conference Finals and -- gasp -- challenge the Heat.

That is all a ways away. The five-year pro still needed to prove himself in the Playoffs crucible.

Against the Knicks, his play has been absolute key to the Pacers' 2-1 series lead.

One of the biggest stars in music today is aggravated with a certain NBA playoff team choosing to play his music to pump up their home fans.  Seattle based rapper Macklemore was informed by a Twitter follower that the Oklahoma City Thunder was playing his latest hit, "Can't Hold Us", to excite the home fans in the arena.  Macklemore's response was less than enthusiastic...

Colangelo's contract has a team option for next season with the Raptors, but it may be declined if the team heads in a complete rebuilding mode

I wrote back a few weeks ago that the Toronto Raptors were pursuing Phil Jackson for team president, a new role for the title-winning head coach. But now, with current president and general manager Bryan Colangelo facing a team option to determine his future role with the Raptors, the franchise--out of the playoffs for the last five seasons and 34-38 in the 2012-13 campaign--has a choice to make: Either keep Colangelo around and risk the continuing of futility or cut him loose, go all-out for Jackson, and drum up some more interest in the team if not improve it significantly.

As Frank Zicarelli of the Toronto Sun notes (note: In the column, he refers to the Nets as being from "New Jersey" still, not Brooklyn. Newspapers, I tell ya), the new president of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (the parent company of the Raptors), Tim Leiwecke, probably wants to distance his reign over the Raptors from the previous one by replacing the president and GM that fans of the team associate with the franchise's recent cold spell in terms of playoff appearances and overall success, of which has nose-dived since Chris Bosh left Toronto to join up with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in Miami with the Heat.

Lakers' Metta World Peace sat in on a local L.A. broadcast after the Warriors OT win over the Spurs and opened up about a lot of things ranging from his thought on Dwight Howard being a too jokey, his future with the Lakers and the NBA, playing defense and more including getting some advice from former Laker Michael Cooper on winning a title with this current L.A. team.

Check out what Metta had to say (h/t Lakers Nation) in the video below.

The Chicago Bulls have never been afraid of the Miami Heat.

They cannot be. It does not fit their personality or Tom Thibodeau's personality to back down. Especially against this Heat team.

Miami has a ton of strengths that start with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Their unrelenting offensive ability and the defensive schemes that Erik Spoelstra has put in have made the Heat transcendant.

They do have a weakness and that is at center and point guard. With the Bulls not playing Derrick Rose, the inside is where they have decided to attack. With Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer in the paint, Chicago figured it had that advantage inside and the ability to be more physical than the undersized Miami team.

In Game One, the strategy seemed to work as Noah had 11 rebounds and the Bulls had a 46-32 advantage on the glass and a 26.5 percent offensive rebound rate against the Heat. In Game Two, despite that blowout, the Bulls posted a 26.7 percent offensive rebound rate. In Friday's Game Three, the Bulls again posted a 26.8 percent offensive rebound rate and Noah posted another 11 rebounds.

Game Two was when things certainly changed.

Basketball hall of famer, crazy person, and prospective foreign diplomat Dennis Rodman is continuing to wedge himself into American relations with North Korea.  Rodman infamously went on a publicity stunt to North Korea earlier this year and palled around with dictator Kim Jong Un, appearing in public with a man who operates one of the most oppressive governments in the world.  After returning to the states, Rodman has more or less acted as an independent conduit between North Korea and the USA.  Even for Dennis Rodman, this was unexpected.

This week, Rodman tweeted that he hoped Kim Jong Un would "do him a solid" and free an American prisoner in North Korea, Kenneth Bae, who has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor by the regime:

Just eight teams left in the playoffs, it is time for most fan bases to turn their attentions to the future. 

Today, the list of invites for next week's Chicago draft combine were revealed.  We are also starting to get a heavy dose of mock drafts from a lot of different sites. 

In ESPN's, Chad Ford has the Orlando Magic (Link is ESPN Insider) taking Nerlens Noel with the first overall pick.  However, Ford reveals that the player the Magic really covet will not even walk across the stage at the Barclay's Center next month.

According to sources, Orlando had its heart set on Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart until he broke its heart when he decided to stay in college. While the Magic need just about everything, point guard might be their biggest area of need.

Ford goes on to say that the Magic could roll the dice on Trey Burke, but they also need athleticism on their front line to pair with Nikola Vucevic, so Nerlens Noel is the likely pick should the Magic get the number one pick (the exact order of the draft will be determined by the draft lottery on Tuesday, May 21).

Aside from Noel being the likely number one pick, Kansas' Ben McLemore and Georgetown's Otto Porter being top five picks, the top 10 feels like a total crap shoot right now. 

Ford has the New Orleans Pelicans taking Burke with the fifth pick, but adds that Shabazz Muhammed is in play there, as is Dario Saric out of Croatia. Saric is 12th on Ford's big board and he is ranked No. 22 on DraftExpress' board.

Cleveland looks zeroed in on Porter unless they get the top pick. According to Ford, Porter is number two on their board and would fit in perfectly next to Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters along the wing. 

The draft combine is next Thursday and Friday from Chicago. We should hear a lot more rumors about who likes who, etc. then. 

That is when we also find out these guys' measurements, which will go a long way in determining what position general managers and other talent evaluators think these guys can play. The NBA Draft itself is set for June 27 in Brooklyn.

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With the Eastern Conference Semifinals shifting to Chicago for the next two games, the attention has turned toward Derrick Rose once again. Anticipation has been that if Rose were to make a return to the court this season, it would have to be at home for maximum momentum and comfort.

Since Derrick Rose will not slam the door on his return by saying he is coming back one way or the other, everyone will continue to speculate. The rumors seemed to start once the Playoffs began that Rose would target a second round return and finally make his way back after a year sitting out recovering from the torn ACL he suffered in last year's first round.

Everyone has an opinion on Rose and the will-he, won't-he of his stepping onto the court this season for the Bulls. There are plenty who think that Rose should have come back by now and that the doctor's clearance should have been enough to give it a go. At least, there has been plenty of time since then for Rose to gain the confidence to go out and give it a go.

That is one side of the coin.

The other is that it is difficult to tell what effect adding Rose back to the lineup would have to a Chicago team that has played pretty well in his absnece. And it is hard to figure how good Rose would be if he stepped into the fire of Playoff basketball so quickly (especially against the defending champion Heat).

Confidence is key for any professional athlete. So too is the ability to protect themselves and their future career. And all this is playing into Rose's decision to play or to continue sitting out.

Nobody probably knows the challenge that Rose is going through in thinking about when to return then former Magic guard Anfernee Hardaway and Clippers forward Grant Hill. Both went through debilitating ankle injuries in the prime of their careers and were never really the same after coming back.

If anyone knows what Derrick Rose should do, it is these guys.

Knicks' Iman Shumpert isn't afraid to be himself. From his very high top fade hairdo to now his choice of sneakers.

We all know him as a high-flyer with the occasional dunk to bring fans up and out of their seats but perhaps we have discovered the secret to his leaping ability - winged sneakers!

I have no idea where to begin with this but check out Iman's multi-colored, metallic-looking, winged kicks he showed to ESPN's Rachel Nichols. Yeah I personally would never be caught wearing these eye-opening kicks.

Shoe game: Knicks' Iman Shumpert (@i_am_iman) twitter.com/Rachel__Nichol…

— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) May 8, 2013

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Denver Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri will win the NBA's Executive of the Year, making a coaching and general manager sweep for the organization after George Karl took home the Coach of the Year Award earlier this week.

For the Nuggets, it is a just regular season award for finishing third in the Western Conference and for being perhaps the best team in the league this year without a "superstar." Andre Iguodala was the team's only All Star this year, yet the Nuggets were one of the tougher teams to beat in the league -- particularly at home.

Both Karl and Ujiri put together a team that was difficult to defend because so many guys could beat you. Ty Lawson, Andre iguodala, Danilo Gallinari and others took turns leading the team in scoring and filling their roles.

That of course was in the regular season. The award is a regular season award voted on by the executive's peers, but the shortcomings from this roster became apparent in a six-game loss to the Warriors.

Golden State, despite playing without David Lee pretty much the entire series, outphysicaled Denver and easily knifed through the team's defense with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Denver struggled to get consistent offense after a Game One win that needed an Andre Miller layup in the dying seconds. Perhaps Danilo Gallinari's injury was a big loss for this team in the end.

Ujiri though has been working to build this team for several years. This was not an award based just on this year's success.