CHICAGO — The Suns have a better chance of landing the No. 1 prize in Tuesday’s NBA draft lottery than they had of winning Saturday’s $600 million Powerball lottery prize.
The draft lottery determines the top three picks in the June 27 draft, which seem to have a rare consensus for the trio of Kentucky center Nerlens Noel, Kansas shooting guard Ben McLemore and Georgetown small forward Otto Porter Jr.

CHICAGO — Some basketball dreamers will tell you that they eat and sleep hoops.
It is apparent that Carrick Felix does neither.

CHICAGO — A year from now, the jubilation of landing the top NBA draft pick will be extremely different if Kansas-bound Andrew Wiggins and Duke-bound Jabari Parker live up to billing as generation players.
If the Suns’ 11.9 percent draft lottery chance at this year’s No. 1 pick comes to fruition, the ESPN camera will get a glimpse of Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby’s vertical leap, but the prize figures to give the winning franchise a hop rather than a leap.

CHICAGO – Suns interim head coach Lindsey Hunter was first on Ryan McDonough’s interview list, but it would be shocking if Hunter wound up in that order when the new Suns general manager picks his first head coach.
Beyond Hunter’s Wednesday interview in Chicago, the Suns’ target group includes experienced assistant head coaches, although some head college coaches and a former NBA coach are getting consideration, too.

CHICAGO — This week, the NBA’s top 61 draft prospects have assembled here for the Suns and other teams to watch how they measure up in drills, drill with questions and eliminate questions with a watch and measurement.
The event, hosted at Attack Athletics gym, will help clear up the Suns’ draft picture now that General Manager Ryan McDonough and his inherited scouts have worked together for a week on what they studied separately in this draft for years. Tuesday’s draft lottery will do more for that picture, telling the Suns where they will pick between Nos. 1 and 7, while this combine starts the realistic process of what to do if the Suns are not in the top three.

The Suns are searching more constantly than Google.
Their general manager search ended a week ago. Their coaching search is under way. Draft and free-agency searches loom. They are all conducted to search for a new identity and optimism, piggybacking on the well-received GM choice of Ryan McDonough.

Ryan McDonough’s first decade of work all came in the familiar hue of Celtics green in his hometown of Boston.Suddenly, this week, he dropped like an alien onto Planet Orange. On Thursday, McDonough spoke on his new role as the Suns general manager, wearing an orange tie that he just had been given. He sat in front of Phoenix bird insignias in a room with purple carpet and a pillar commemorating Al McCoy’s call of a Suns-Celtics NBA Finals game played before he was born.

After Ryan McDonough accepted an offer to be the Suns’ new general manager Monday night, he and his oldest brother, Sean, were visiting when Ryan turned with a revelation.
“How awesome would that be to help bring the first NBA championship to a franchise like that?” Ryan said.

When Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby was seeking the franchise’s next general manager, he sent out an extensive list of questions to the three candidates who they brought to Phoenix.
It was apparent that Ryan McDonough, known for being meticulous and analytical, put a great deal of thought and time into each query and “nailed the answers from top to bottom,” Babby said. If that was enough to convince the Suns’ brass, imagine the work that McDonough could accomplish now that he has been given the next four years as the team’s GM.

Roadkill remover. Sewer inspector. Kim Jung Un’s stylist.
There are far worse jobs than Suns general manager even though it is being regurgitated that the role is not a great gig, much like three years ago.

The Suns’ search for their next general manager continues with Milwaukee assistant GM Jeff Weltman remaining the favorite, according to industry insiders.
Weltman, former Indiana GM David Morway, San Antonio assistant GM and former Utah and New York executive Scott Layden and Boston 33-year-old assistant GM Ryan McDonough have been interviewed in Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby’s process. McDonough visited Phoenix on Tuesday.

When Jason Collins declared that he is gay in a Sports Illustrated essay Monday, he acknowledged that there could be hate, taunting and changed relationships ahead but that he really did not know what ramifications lay ahead for an NBA player who would like to remain one.
Rick Welts knows that uncertainty and has a good idea of how this will turn out for Collins — better than he could ever imagine.

Suns interim coach and full-time candidate Lindsey Hunter will be interviewed by the Detroit Pistons for their head-coaching position.
With the Suns’ coaching decision on hold while they select a new general manager, the Pistons asked for permission to interview Hunter, who has returned to his family home in Detroit.

When Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby spoke about the vacant general manager position, he made the most talked-about interested party sound like one of the more far-fetched possibilities.
Charles Barkley as GM of the Suns? Columnist Bob Young weighs in

Position: General Manager, aka “Chief Talent Officer.”
Company: Phoenix Suns.

Three weeks after landing his first general manager job, Lance Blanks was first heard and seen in Phoenix at a 2010 press conference that opened with a glowing introduction from Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby.
“I don’t know how it could go any more positive,” Blanks said. “It’s probably downhill from here.”

It might not seem like much has changed since the NBA season commenced in late October. Miami is still the team to beat in the playoffs, and LeBron James remains the name atop the Most Valuable Player ballot.
Five-plus months did shake up preconceived notions. As peculiar as Pelicans in New Orleans or Tracy McGrady in San Antonio sound, there are postseason award ballot names who came from award oblivion (a Defensive Player of the Year pick that was not in last year’s top 10) and some who toppled a favorite (a No. 6 draft pick for Rookie of the Year). There are also names that are as familiar as a big playoff Game 1 out of Andre Miller.

Welcome to one of the more riveting sets of conference playoff matchups in recent years … and the Miami Heat Invitational.
There is no discounting that any NBA playoff series can stoke interest, but the Eastern Conference playoffs look like an elite college program’s holiday tournament. The only potential threats to Miami would seem to be Chicago, if Derrick Rose were to shock everyone and return at an MVP level, and Indiana, which will be worn out to get through Atlanta and likely New York.

The extreme misery of this Suns season was not just exemplified in losses, but the outlandish manner in which they failed to compete in defeat.
The Suns lost by at least 25 points on 10 occasions, four more times than any previous season.

DENVER – The Suns could not even muster a merciful ending to their painful season.
The season finale was as excruciating as much of the rest of the Suns’ worst season since the inaugural team finished 16-66 in 1969. The curtains crashed down on the Suns season Wednesday night, whether it was getting demolished by Denver 118-98 at Pepsi Center or having hopes of a second draft-lottery pick extinguished when Utah failed to catch the Los Angeles Lakers.

What was a whim 81 games ago will remains a viable possibility through the final night of the season.Collecting on the unprotected stamp on the Lakers’ first-round pick still has a chance. The Suns’ lingering hope for a second draft lottery pick will be decided on Wednesday, when the NBA regular season ends.
The Suns need the Lakers to lose at home to Houston and for Utah to win at Memphis, sending the Jazz to the playoffs instead of the Lakers on the head-to-head tiebreaker. If those outcomes happen, the Suns would be in the No. 14 slot for the draft lottery. If either the Lakers win or the Jazz loses, the Lakers will convey Miami’s No. 30 pick to the Suns to fulfill that portion of the Steve Nash trade.

Shannon Brown sits aside the practice court. He is done with his work but unable to let go of a basketball or his intensity as he discusses becoming the Suns’ odd man out.
For a season and a half, Brown’s eyes widened when his play intensified for Phoenix. The topic of going from starter to bench fixture for two months also widens his eyes.

Shannon Brown sits aside the practice court. He is done with his work but unable to let go of a basketball or his intensity as he discusses becoming the Suns’ odd man out.
For a season and a half, Brown’s eyes widened when his play intensified for Phoenix. The topic of going from starter to bench fixture for two months also widens his eyes.

Chances are that most athletes did not even know Monday was the filing deadline for income taxes.
Chances are that they did know how much they are targeted for taxes all year.

PHOENIX — The Suns do not want much carryover from this season to the next.
In their final US Airways Center appearance until the fall, they made sure the franchise’s worst home losing streak got left behind in this season’s wreckage.