Earlier today, Kia NBA Countdown analysts Jalen Rose and Avery Johnson discussed top NBA storylines including the Eastern Conference showdown between the defending NBA Champion Miami Heat and the first-place Indiana Pacers Wednesday, March 26, at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Rose and Johnson will join Doris Burke on Wednesday’s NBA Countdown at 7 p.m. to preview the game while Mike Tirico and analyst Jeff Van Gundy will provide game commentary with reporter Israel Gutierrez. SportsCenter will also be on site in Indianapolis with all-day coverage led by Sage Steele and analysts Tim Legler, Michael Wilbon and Stephen A. Smith.

Here is the replay of today’s conference call.

Q. I want to get your take from what you’re seeing from both Miami and Indiana’s skids and what they need to do to correct them here as they head into the latter part of the season and the playoffs? 

JALEN ROSE:  Two examples of when the destination becomes more important than a journey. When you have an 82-game schedule, especially in an Eastern Conference that is littered with mediocrity beyond Indiana and beyond Miami, it’s really a two-team race. The difference in the two, however, is one has been to three straight NBA Finals and are back-to-back champions and they have LeBron James, who is a four-time MVP. The other is the Pacers, who lost in Game 7, but they also understand that if the Game 7 is played in Indianapolis this year, their fortunes could change. So they’re both still on a collision course, even though they’ve both been struggling here as of late.

Q. Jalen, how would you evaluate the coverage of LeBron James specifically by ESPN?  Do you think it’s been fair, unfair, too much, just right?  How do you evaluate the coverage of the league’s most famous player? 

ROSE:  Terrific question.  I think LeBron James is fairly covered by ESPN and by most national networks. He’s universally recognized as the best player in the world.  We’ve become a bottom-line business, fans and media types alike, and what I mean by that is Jerry West became the logo even though he made it to multiple NBA Finals and lost.  Now we live in a bottom-line generation where we’re only counting the championship rings. So if Jerry West would have come along at a time like now, he wouldn’t be known as Mr. Clutch – I’ll tell you that. Because we rate and judge these players on how many championships they win when you’re in elite status like a Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and now a LeBron James.

So being a two-time champion, being the face of the league, he’s on multiple commercials. He’s done a terrific job of highlighting his brand, being a role model, being a leader of the Miami Heat. I think he deserves all of the accolades that he gets.

There are going to be times when he does a picture for Dwyane Wade on his birthday and people think, oh, he’s saying sayonara, and that may get overblown, or his body language in the fourth quarter of a meaningless game in March may get overblown, but that’s just more so a function of the bottom-line, multimedia society and cycle that constantly needs something to talk about versus acknowledging that LeBron James has been a terrific ambassador for the league.

AVERY JOHNSON:  Let me jump in on that question. I think ESPN sometimes just doesn’t get enough credit for reinforcing the positives, specifically about LeBron James. When LeBron James first departed the Cleveland Cavaliers and went to Miami, he was almost vilified in so many ways. But I think ESPN has done a great job of accentuating the positives about his character, about his work habits.

Obviously, he’s become a clutch performer in the biggest moments on the biggest stages. I really think they’ve done a terrific job in highlighting what a terrific player he is and also a terrific person.

Q. Do either or both of you think there is tanking going on in the NBA or do you prefer to call it rebuilding?  In either case, what can be done about these situations where you have such awful teams? 

JOHNSON:  Well, that’s a great question.  Jalen and I, we somewhat disagree on this topic, and it’s a healthy argument.  I wouldn’t even say argument. We’ve had a lively debate on NBA Countdown on Wednesdays. I prefer to call it rebuilding.

ROSE:  You know how bad you have to be to lose 25 in a row? Go ahead, Coach.

JOHNSON:  But basically even in our first week on the show back in November when everybody was kind of going crazy because Philadelphia won two of three games in a row or whatever – I said I don’t think they get to 25 games this year, 25 wins. But I just think there was really nowhere for this franchise to go. You’re bringing in a new coach in Brett Brown from Coach Popovich’s staff.  Sam Hinkie, they’re bringing him in as the new GM from Houston. He lost Doug Collins, who did a great job in getting Philadelphia back the credibility, especially after Larry Brown had departed years ago. I think there was nowhere to go with this franchise, and they made a decision to move assets and play with a lot of young players and get as far under the salary cap as they possibly can and just continue to develop and nurture Michael Carter-Williams and I think that was a really terrific decision.

Now what that means in the end is there is no guarantee that they’re going to get the first pick but they at least have set themselves up to have the best chance. They also have a chance to get New Orleans’ first-round pick, which is top 5 protected. So I think they’ve put themselves in a really good position to develop young players. They have a lot of flexibility moving forward.

It’s definitely about trying to get to the playoffs and being a perennial playoff team with a chance to win the championship.  So I would like to call it rebuilding.

ROSE:  I’ll take a different point and that’s that they play a game this Thursday night and there are going to be people that actually are paying to watch that game – whether it’s on cable, whether in person. That’s bad for the league. So many empty seats, games that are meaningless on the schedule.  If you’re a 76ers fan, obviously you understand what they’re doing. They may be able to turn around their fortunes really fast. They were a playoff team, as coach mentioned, just a couple years ago.

So for the paying customer, yes, it should be deemed as tanking because you want to see a good basketball game this Thursday. But if you’re looking for an outlook as a Sixers fan, I could say they possibly are trending up based on the examples that Coach gave.

Q. What can you do to prevent teams from rebuilding in this way or tanking? Is there a system out there that would give teams more incentive to win? 

ROSE:  I’m not sure. The lottery system, as much as we knock it, it’s actually been pretty good for the most part. There have been a lot of teams that have actually tried to “tank.” You know, Houston was able to get Hakeem. Tim Duncan fell into San Antonio, which is why coach likes making that left side of the baseline jump shot, and he calls it rebuilding.

So you’ve got players in this draft – that is really the issue. You see Jabari Parker getting bounced in the first weekend along with Wiggins. Embiid is having issues with his back. A lot of people projected those to be the top three players going.

Q. Kevin Durant appears to be heading towards his first MVP title.  I wanted to see if you guys would give him your vote?  The second part is the Thunder seem to have weathered the loss of two starters – Thabo Sefolosha and Kendrick Perkins – pretty well.  How do you rate this team with the playoffs on the horizon? 

JOHNSON:  Well to answer your first question, Kevin Durant was my MVP probably a month ago. I know LeBron James had some games, especially the 62-point game, and drew a lot of attention – even his game in Oklahoma where he had an outstanding performance and led Miami to a win. But Kevin Durant, MVP, whether he wins it by, in some people’s eyes in Oklahoma, a landslide, or other folks around the country, by a nose – he has my vote. I think he’s been everything that an MVP should be. He’s been consistent. He’s been clutch. He’s been fearless, tough-minded.

I was fortunate to coach an MVP in Dirk Nowitzki in 2007, so I kind of know what it should look like. That’s no knock on LeBron, but Kevin Durant is my MVP this year.

Oklahoma City, considering all of the injuries, and especially to Westbrook, I think they’ve done a nice job of weathering the storm and staying at the top of the Western Conference. I’m still a little bit concerned about their bench and their depth.

Obviously, I’ve got a lot of respect for Derek Fisher and with some of their young players like Jeremy Lamb and Perry Jones. This is something that we’ve talked a lot about on air also. They’re young players that are going to have to really come up big for them, especially in the playoffs, and they’re basically unproven. So obviously Westbrook and Durant are a great combination. I think they still need Kendrick Perkins to really be healthy and anchor their defense. But I really believe that the Spurs are the best team in the Western Conference. I don’t see a team in the Western Conference right now that can beat the Spurs four times in a ten-day period.

I liked Oklahoma City, but I still have the Spurs as the team that’s going to win the Western Conference and return to the championship.

ROSE:  I agree with Avery on KD being an MVP, having a terrific season. Flirting with being a 50, 40, 90 guy, basically often. He’s a clutch performer. He’s been out there consistently regardless of injuries to Westbrook, to Sefolosha to Perkins. He’s helped bring along and nurture young players like Jackson and Perry Jones and Lamb, which is tough to do.  Incorporate Caron Butler and Derek Fisher. I think he is and will be the league MVP.

I give San Antonio the slight edge right now as it relates to best teams in the West, but we all know that’s going to really come down to matchups. You’ve got a couple of 3-0s and a couple of 0-3s that they are versus other playoff teams in the West. But I really like Oklahoma City.

Russell Westbrook is the wildcard. He’s injured, and people forget that he’s actually one of the Top 10 players overall in the league. So if he’s healthy going into the playoffs, you have to give OKC as much of a chance as anybody else because they also play a playoff style. So for the Clippers, Portland and Houston, I think they play regular-season styles that then they have to adjust come playoff time.

Well, Oklahoma City plays the exact same style all of the time and that’s why I think they’re going to be a factor.

JOHNSON:  The last thing, I have a little bit more confidence in the Los Angeles Clippers than Jalen does, and it’s primarily because of a couple of factors. One, Doc Rivers. What more can you say? Outstanding coach. Two, Chris Paul. Kind of third and fourth is that I think Blake Griffin now has a game that’s tailor-made, not just for the regular season, but also the playoffs because he’s more of a basketball player now. He’s not just a slam dunk artist. He’s a much better passer. He’s averaging close to around four assists this year. He has a nice 18-foot jump shot. In transition, he can pick and pop, not just pick and roll. He has a little Tim Duncan bank shot on the left side facing a nice little turn-around jump shot on the baseline, on the left box. So he’s developed more of a playoff type of game. Because of that, I give the Clippers a nod ahead of Oklahoma City.

I think they have quality, experienced depth with the addition of Granger, Glen Davis. You have Crawford coming off the bench once Redick gets healthy.

Collison’s done a really nice job and he can back up Chris Paul or give Doc Rivers the flexibility to play with Chris Paul.  So I think they’re a significantly improved team from the one that got knocked out in the first round of the playoffs last year.

Q. What, from your vantage point, is wrong with the Indiana Pacers and are they in trouble moving forward?

ROSE:  This is a subject that’s going to be talked about by fans and media types alike between now and the end of the season. But only one thing should matter to the Pacers – that’s hosting Game 7 against the Miami Heat, because that’s where we’re going. Yes, the Chicago Bulls have been a terrific story this year – Joakim Noah, all-NBA performer. They have done a terrific job having that team show up and play, same with the Brooklyn Nets getting themselves together. But clearly it’s a two-team race. For all we say about the Pacers’ struggles, they’re still two games ahead of Miami and they play tomorrow. So if they are going to continue to hold the number one spot, I think they have a great chance. Just like any team that holds Game 7 – 80% of the time, that team wins, so that’s what they’re looking for.  I think that goal is still in front of them.

JOHNSON:  Let’s go back to why I like the Spurs and teams like the Clippers and Oklahoma City to a certain extent.  You’ve got to look at the best player on the team. How is he functioning?  You’ve got to look at point guard play. You’ve got to look at quality depth. Are they a good shooting team, a good defensive team? And I just think right now the Pacers are – it’s a little bit alarming because they’re struggling to score so badly.

They’ve had these droughts especially in quarters and I think in the first part of the season they weren’t really a great first-half team, but they were so good in the third quarter. I think they had the highest plus/minus of any team in the third quarter and that’s where they would really make their mark. But they’ve just been struggling to score.

I think here recently they scored like 80 something points against the Knicks or two 70-point games against Memphis and Chicago. I think that’s a big concern. Then we can also look at the bench. We talked on Countdown about how a guy like Andrew Bynum could have such an impact on their depth because he would get guys like Evan Turner shots, and Scola, and C.J. Watson when he comes back from injury. You know, you saw a little flash of it. So I think the key believer or not is if they can get Bynum healthy to give them 12 or 16 minutes coming off the bench – that’s going to help them tremendously because he has a skillset even Roy Hibbert doesn’t have.

But I think tomorrow night’s going to be a great night. The players like Paul George, it’s going to be their chance to really perform at a high level, be really efficient because his team needs him to do an awful lot for them to be successful, as a championship-caliber team.

But I’m a little bit concerned about Indiana. I think time will tell if my concerns are warranted or not.

Q. I can sort of flip that question to the Heat now. They’ve had their March concerns and now Wade’s missed two games. Where do you stand on the Heat going into this Indiana game? 

ROSE:  I think they rested Wade yesterday so he could play against Indiana. They’re kind of putting him on what I call a Tim Duncan plan, where they pick and choose which games to rest him and play him high minutes or not.  It’s a smart move for a team that’s played so much basketball over the last handful of years.

Again, Miami-Indiana, best two teams in the East. One of the worst things that happened to both of those teams, they’re not being pushed by the rest of the field. But the Miami Heat don’t have to win 66 games this year like they did last year.  In Indiana, all they have to do is worry about keeping home-court advantage.

Yeah, LeBron has had some struggles in the fourth quarter here as of late, but he’s still a four-time MVP and he’s going to play at an elite level once the playoffs come. So I don’t have the concerns about either one of those teams that some people do. And I think that the more important thing is who has the number one spot?  I think Indiana really needs that number one spot to put some pressure on the Miami Heat come playoff time.

JOHNSON:  I don’t have too many concerns about Miami. When you have been to the Finals three years in a row and you’ve won back-to-back championships, you’ve played three seasons of, even in the regular season, of playoff basketball, because every night you go into Houston, you go into Dallas or you go into Milwaukee or Brooklyn, New Orleans and it’s a championship night for those teams if they can knock off the Heat.

Even in the Heat’s first year, where they were an unproven commodity for lack of a better word or unproven team, teams wanted to beat them because people were somewhat irritated that the big three got together and teamed up to form this team that was bragging about winning not one, not two, but five championships. So every night the team is mentally and physically pushed to the brink.

Now here we are in the latter part of their fourth year on this run that they’ve had. You’ll have some moments where you’ll lose some games. But I am not worried about the Heat. The Heat are only concerned about making it through the regular season – whether they have the No. 1 seed or the No. 2 seed.  If Dwyane Wade is healthy, the rest of their team is functioning at a high level come playoff time.  Whether they have home-court advantage or not, I’m not concerned about the Heat. I think they have quality, depth, and experience, championship experience with Ray Allen and Norris Cole and Haslem and Rashard Lewis, who doesn’t get many minutes. But I’m not concerned about the Heat.

Q. Obviously there’s been so much discussion of Wade and Durant now, but early on Paul George’s name was one of those in the MVP discussion, and he’s really tailed off since the All-Star break.  Are you seeing anything beyond?  Has the league adjusted to him and he hasn’t countered?  Is he fatigued?  What do you see?  Why do you think he’s really kind of tailed off here the last couple of months? 

ROSE:  Well, he’s still averaging 22 points, which is pretty good. His efficiency has not been as good as you mentioned. I think fatigue and some off-court distractions have played a factor but also when you watch the Pacers play, most of the top scorers in the league look at LeBron, Melo and KD. They don’t play with two bigs that are constantly on the block, looking for post ups and are occupying the baseline area. So he doesn’t have those lanes every now and then, especially in today’s game where you can zone up to have three runs at the basket. They don’t necessarily play a stretch four or stretch five consistently for a lot of minutes. That’s why they have those problems scoring every now and then. However, that is a playoff style.  I think once the playoffs come, they’re going to feature Paul more, they’ll isolate him more. Put in more special plays to get him involved because he’s a terrific not only offensive player, and this goes to my next point, but a defensive player. He’s competitive on both ends of the floor.

Normally, an offensive player, a high-scoring offensive player, can kind of rest on defense every now and then. He doesn’t. He contests and blocks shots and gets steals. So he hasn’t been as efficient here recently as we’d like him to be, but I think he’ll find a way to get it together. I do think he’s a player that’s on the verge of becoming an elite player in this league.

JOHNSON:  Sometimes when guys go through bad stretches as Jalen alluded to, could be a little fatigue. But I would say he’s seeing a few more double teams than he did earlier in the year. The NBA has some outstanding coaches.  Guys spend a lot of time on scouting reports and video and preparation. So you’ve got to give defenses some credit also.

They’re throwing a lot of different defenses at him and giving him different looks.  Sometimes if his teammates aren’t making shots whether it’s George Hill or if Hibbert’s struggling or guys coming off the bench are struggling, then the floor, the spacing of the floor shrinks, and that’s to Jalen’s point, especially when you have two big guys on the floor where neither of them are three-point shooters.  So there is a smaller space to operate, and that’s what I see.

I think tomorrow night will be a great night for him – put up some numbers and have a really good game. I really love him because, like Jalen said, he’s so competitive on both ends of the floor. He’s not shying away. He wants to guard the opponents better, the offensive player, and a lot of times he’s on that guy especially in the fourth quarter. But I think he’ll come around. He’ll adjust. I think the better his teammates perform, the better he’ll perform, because he’ll have more space to operate.

ROSE:  They’re going to need Hibbert to give them a little more offense too. We know he’ll be there defensively, but they need him to be a consistent 15-point scorer come playoff time.

Q. Jalen, going back 20 years, it’s like you, Juwan [Howard] and Chris [Webber] probably would have left Michigan after your freshman year had you played in this current NBA. I just wanted to get your thoughts on the age limit rule, and whether after your first year at Michigan, were you ready for the NBA?  Would you have made that call?  Can you put yourself into those shoes and do you think what if? Because obviously you guys probably wouldn’t have stayed in school as long in the current structure as you did back in Michigan? 

ROSE:  The rules should be, in my opinion, you should be able to enter the NBA Draft for all of the same reasons you can enter any other professional field or endeavor right after high school. But if you choose to go to college, you should have to stay two years. Not only to improve as a basketball player, but to improve emotionally. There is nothing wrong with getting a little bit closer to your degree.

Normally if people go two full seasons, two full school years, there are going to be a large portion of those people that feel like I went to school for two years – I’m going to go back and get my degree.

When I left after my junior year, that was my thought process. I wasn’t going to school in the middle of winter in Ann Arbor, Michigan, not to finish. So with that being said, earlier this year on our College Gameday show, we kind of put up the statistics that I averaged as a freshman versus the top tier freshman this year in the game. The only person that scored more than me their freshman year was Jabari Parker.

So to answer your point and question about was I ready to come out after my freshman year? No way. I was not ready emotionally, physically, and it would have been a poor decision. The time was different, the league was different. I was entering a league that 9 through 15 on the roster, these normally were 8 to 12-year veterans. Nowadays, based on salary, they’ve pushed the veterans out and made those spots for one-year guys who are a lot of times either on their first contract or just journeymen in and out of the league.

So I do think it’s going to be a tough decision for Jabari, tough decision for Wiggins. It’s almost an embarrassment for those guys, and I know they’re feeling it, getting bounced on the first weekend. This may be the draft class. But while they were one-and-dones, when you look in the lottery room this year, you don’t normally see those guys getting bounced on the first weekend, and that may happen with Jabari. It may happen with Wiggins and Embiid. So I agree with the commissioner, two years, but I do think after high school you should be able to enter the draft.

Q. Avery, I’d like your thoughts on the age limit? 

JOHNSON:  I thought this was just a Jalen question. Because I wasn’t ready to come out of high school out of St. Augustine High School in New Orleans, and I wasn’t ready to come out after my freshman year at New Mexico Junior College, which probably none of you have ever heard of (laughing).

I like the football rule. I want to see all of these kids go to college because I’m more about the majority. Yes, there are a few in terms of the minority of kids that have the skills to come out of high school. But what’s going to happen is if you allow that to happen, a lot of these kids aren’t going to really study in high school. They’re not going to be concerned about passing the S.A.T. and the ACT.

I’m just pro education, because I know the majority of the kids that are playing basketball. My son Avery Johnson Jr. is a senior in high school, and he’s been on the AAU circuit. I’ve talked to a ton of parents and kids, and everybody thinks they’re a pro. Okay.

So I’m with the football rule. Go to college for three years, and I think it’s going to be a better product for college, but I think the NBA also is going to get a better player. Jabari Parker, if he had to stay with Mike Krzyzewski for three years or Wiggins had to stay at Kansas for three years and I think their games are going to be more refined by the time they get to the NBA. But as a consolation prize, I agree with Jalen. I could tolerate the two-year rule.

Q. Jalen, your former coach, Steve Fisher, has San Diego State in the Sweet Sixteen. He’s completely resurrected that program. Obviously did great things at Michigan as well. What do you think makes him an effective coach, and why do you think he doesn’t get the credit that a lot of the other college coaches seem to get? 

ROSE:  Well, a lot of the credit that a lot of college coaches get that have been to multiple Final Fours, which he has, and also won the championship, which he has, they’re the faces of their programs and have elite programs. Look at Coach “K” and Jim Boeheim. They’ve been there. Their staying power is over 20 years. Tom Izzo as well.

So when you’ve been in one place that long, that’s where you start to get that level of respect. I’m happy for him because whether it was ’89, when he won the championship or with our teams, a lot of people who didn’t follow what we did closely or intimately, felt like he was just rolling out the balls and allowing us to play.

So for him to take a job at San Diego State, unceremoniously let go at Michigan, where he’s accomplished more than any coach that they’ve ever had, and all of a sudden, take over a program where he was giving away tickets initially, to now all of a sudden he’s raised them to a top-20 program. I would venture to say over the past handful of years, San Diego State has been ranked in the top 20 more weeks than Michigan.

So how he’s rebuilt his roster, and how he’s developed a player like Kawhi Leonard who is doing a good job in San Antonio. Xavier Thames plays well in pick and roll, has a good mid-range game. Winston Shepard is a do-it-all player on both ends of the floor. He gets the most out of their roster, and this year they’re doing it with defense – one of the best defensive teams in the NCAA, top 10 in major categories all season. As long as you have Xavier playing the way he’s playing at the point and he’s a senior, I really like their chances moving forward.

Q. Jalen, you had made a bet with Bill Simmons at the beginning of the season about either the Trail Blazers or the Timberwolves making the playoffs. Obviously, it’s not looking like the Timberwolves are going to, but the Trail Blazers after getting off to a fast start, have really come back to the pack. I believe they’re only three games out of not being in the playoffs right now. So one, how do you feel about that bet right now? Two, just your thoughts on how the Trail Blazers have played since the All -Star break? And Avery, same to you as well, though not with the bet portion? 

ROSE:  I appreciate you bringing that up, because that sounds like another $500 meal at Prime 112 between red wine and lobster tempura. I appreciate you bringing that up. I was hoping everybody forgot about that.

The Blazers have outplayed expectations regardless to what happens with the remainder of their season. Teams like Portland and Phoenix, we hate to acknowledge that there are more victories in sports where teams can’t have successful seasons that didn’t win it all. Well, those two teams have had successful seasons regardless of what happens in the playoffs because they’ve outplayed expectations. Damian Lillard has emerged and became an All-Star, so much so he did every event during All-Star Weekend.

And LaMarcus Aldridge has continued to develop. He’s got a better post-game. He’s able to rebound in traffic. So I really like what Portland has done with their team. I would not be surprised if they didn’t make the playoffs still because the West is that tight. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did make the playoffs and lost in the first round. But it doesn’t take away from the fact that I think they’re having a terrific season.

JOHNSON:  I agree with Jalen, and specifically that Coach Terry Stotts, I think he’s done an outstanding job.  Right now, if I had to vote for Coach of the Year, it’s in my mind kind of a three-way tie between Stotts and Jeff Hornacek and also Tom Thibodeau.

But Stotts has really done a great job with establishing an identity with this team. Portland is an offensive team led by a terrific young point guard as Jalen alluded to in Lillard.  I think LaMarcus Aldridge is one of the top three or four power forwards in the game. We’ve featured him a lot on Countdown. Just with all of his different offensive skill sets. He’s gotten bigger, stronger and tougher. He’s established a nice post-up game on the left box with the right hook coming towards the middle, which he didn’t have when he first came into the league. Their starting five has played more games together than any starting five in the NBA.

I always liked the addition of Mo Williams and his experience and what he’s brought to the team. They’re just fun to watch.  A lot of times if they weren’t playing in Portland, if they were playing in New York City, people would respect this team even more. They’re just fun to watch. They play great offense. Obviously, I’ve always talked about how their defense needed to improve. But they rebound the basketball and they’re a pretty good passing team. So they’re fun to watch.

I think Portland is a team that whatever happens in the playoffs, I still have them making the playoffs. But whatever happens, whether they make it or not, they have had an outstanding year, and I would consider this a check for the Portland Trail Blazers and a year that their fans could be proud of their team.

Q. Jalen, you mentioned in your podcast that Tom Izzo could potentially be going to the Pistons. Now there are reports out that one of the Pistons owners could be making a push for Tom Izzo. What initially gave you that inkling that he could be going to the NBA? 

ROSE:  Just being in the know, being in the loop, and really following both sports intimately. And watching how I see he has recruited recently. If you notice, most of the top schools, Kansas come to mind, Kentucky, and now even Duke, they’re doing more recruiting than what we consider the one-and-done type prospects.

You notice that Tom Izzo hasn’t gone heavily after those prospects. It seemed like to me he was gearing up for one last run. So Payne who is a senior, Appling, also a senior, Harris who is probably going to be a lottery pick — those three guys are leaving. Based on what I see recruiting-wise, that almost leaves the cupboard bare.

It would make sense, because the owner of the Pistons went to Michigan State. Tom has flirted with the NBA in particular with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the past. Those owners, the Gores, as well as Dan Gilbert, both have Michigan ties as well as Tom. So it would almost make sense for everybody involved to engage.

So I can’t tell you who actually told me, but I knew it was going to come to fruition. It’s a realistic chance that it may happen.