Recently, PTI weighed in on “whose run is over, San Antonio’s or Detroit’s?” The consensus was with Detroit, where Rasheed Wallace, Allen Iverson, Antonio McDyess, lovely Walter Herrmann, and maybe Amir Johnson and Tayshaun Prince will move on. That leaves Will Bynum and Rodney Stuckey in the backcourt. Rip Hamilton and Jason Maxiell at the forwards and Kwame Brown at center. Enough said. San Antonio has Tony Parker and will return their key ingredient which is Manu Genobili. Tim Duncan just turned 33 and has been in the league 12 years. He’ll be back and so will coach Greg Popovich and the Spurs.

There’s just a smidgen of schedenfreude creeping into the Bulls-Celtics series where TNT’s constant camera shots of Kevin Garnett jutting his jaw to every Celtic make has followers pulling for a Celts loss to put a cap on their over-the-top celebrating. Not likely to happen until they meet the Cavs, so there’s plenty of hubris remaining. There’s also the possibility that Gartnett will pull a Willis Reed or LeBron will get hurt.

Joe Dumars who brilliantly made moves to get Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace and Rip Hamilton to start a successful run to conference titles, is now living the legacy of Darko Milicic, and Billups for Iverson. With plenty of cap room, Dumars would be better off waiting a year before diving in for a Carlos Boozer for help. Things are likely not to be pretty at The Palace for some time.

Another team that is destined to mope through 2009-10 is the New Jersey Nets now that Lawrence Frank has been given the blessing as coach for another year. One-year extensions can be “invitations to challenge” from players. Untradeable Vince Carter also allows for a year-long rotation of “where would we be without Vince Carter?” to “what is Vince Carter doing?” Devin Harris and Brook Lopez are the young bright spots. Yi Jianlian is like the Nets new home in Brooklyn, costly, a potential profit-maker, and performs disappearing acts.

So where is Allen Iverson apt to land? Can’t quite imagine Gilbert Arenas and Iverson on the same team in his old college town, but we can see Charlotte’s Larry Brown showing the “welcome” side of his two faces. He could also be a drawing card for any of the lottery teams. Iverson played reasonably well in 08-09 (when not “hurt”), but did little for his “chemistry” reputation which drains away as much as it adds to a team’s strength.

That 58 point loss by the Hornets is bound to have a sustaining effect in New Orleans. David West and Tyson Chandler do not make the ideal tandem for Chris Paul and NO will continue to search for his partner. Byron Scott’s star dipped a bit, too. Picking up new parts won’t necessarily improve them. There’s not much out there to get, but playing with Paul will be the main attraction.

Another interesting playoff watch is Celtics 32-year old sub Stephon Marbury. ESPN’s “E:60,” the WWL’s take on “60 Minutes,” has a story that completely recaps Marbury’s career, solidifying his place as a royal dope. Included in the interviews are comments from New York Daily News basketball writer Frank Isola, who Marbury has repeatedly cursed and challenged. Without old pal Kevin Garnett, Marbury’s chances of going from the Knicks (“it was like jail”) to the “top of the world” are slim. So are his chances of landing somewhere in the NBA next year unless Boston carves off a hefty cap chunk to have him as a safety net for Rajon Rondo.

Shaquille O’Neal continues to intrigue those who speculate on pairing his eroding skills with a team in dire need of a post game or with an incumbent superstar. New Orleans, Cleveland, Utah and Dallas fit the bill if certain circumstances work out. His home town (Newark, NJ) Nets and center-of-the-universe Knicks are not likely landing spots. A jump to the LA Clippers would be similar to Babe Ruth’s barnstorming days.

One of the guys most likely to strengthen a team next season is Rasheed Wallace. He brings, size, defense, leadership and scoring. He also brings a large dose of flakiness, a declining game and short patience for being told how to do things. He’ll be 35 in September, but what he adds to a team could put several over-the-top including his hometown Philadelphia, Cleveland, Miami, Chicago, Dallas and Utah.

There’s an opening in Sacramento. Alvin Gentry is interim in Phoenix. Kevin McHale is up-in-the-air in Minnesota. Jay Triano in Toronto, Scott Brooks in Oklahoma City, Tony DiLeo in Philadelphia, Lionel Hollins in Memphis and maybe Erik Spoelstra in Miami don’t have the clout or the post-season success to solidify their jobs for 2009-10. Stan Van Gundy will rise and fall by the Magic’s playoff performance. And Donald Curry in Detroit and Lawrence Frank in New Jersey have just been re-upped, taking them (temporarily) off the hanging platform. Flip Saunders has a new lease in Washington. The remaining 18 head coaches are on solid ground. So who’s on the short lists as replacements? (Announcer) Mark Jackson, (European) Ettore Messina, (always in the mix) Doug Collins, (Women’s coach) Bill Laimbeer, (College coach) Tom Izzo, (NBA Assistant) Tom Thibodeau, (Recent Retread) Eddie Jordan, (Another Recent Retread) Terry Porter, (incredible longshot) Kareem Abdul Jabbar, (other incredible longshot) Patrick Ewing, (Announcing Retread) Jeff Van Gundy.

Last year, when the Los Angeles Lakers ran off in the west and several other western conference teams made strong showings, Jim Rome got carried away early and handed the NBA title to the Lakers. He maligned the East only to grovel a bit when Boston and Cleveland and Detroit and Orlando and even Atlanta, for that matter, made strong playoff pushes. Typical of Rome, he never revised his assessment of the East even after the Celtics hammered the Lakers for the title. Now he’s off on the same bent, except he’s including Lebron in his hippitty-hop, just to make sure he can say he was with King James all the way. Rome has already buried the Celtics, but he’s not ready to concede that the Cavaliers may be too much for LA to handle as most NBA experts have.