The five most interesting stories, rumors and notes in the NBA:

1. Coaching carousel:

As he spent his first full season away from the NBA, Nate McMillan has been biding his time, visiting teams coached by friends, doing stints of commentary for NBA-TV and settling into a new house he built last year in Raleigh, N.C.

But it appears the former Blazers coach is about to get sucked back into the rumor whirlwind that accompanies the usual flurry of firings that comes as a season ends.

Yesterday, the

. The Pistons actually had a four-game winning streak before losing to Brooklyn in their finale, but they still finished 29-53, giving Frank a 54-94 record as their coach.

The firing came after

before he came back for his third, a request that came about because the coach was concerned about being away from his family without job security, CBSSports.com's Ken Berger reports. Frank missed six games in March to be with his ill wife, and the Pistons went 1-13 during the month.

Early speculation in Detroit has McMillan at the forefront of candidates. MLive.com's David Mayo calls

and the Detroit News' Vincent Goodwill writes that

to replace Frank.

There's been plenty of talk out of Seattle that McMillan would be a good fit if the Kings are sold and move to Seattle (more on that later) to become the SuperSonics. But that decision apparently will go into next month. Would McMillan wait that long for Seattle if another opportunity arises?

The Pistons have only $28.8 million in payroll commitments for next season and are in the unusual position of having two good, young centers in Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond. Brandon Knight and Kyle Singler are nice young players, too, but it remains to be seen if that's a core or just pieces to work with.

Two other jobs have also come open. Yesterday, the

. The Cavaliers finished 24-58, the third-worst record in the league, and Scott was 64-166 over three seasons. When he was hired, it was thought the Cavaliers had a chance to retain LeBron James, but things turned south quickly when James bolted for Miami.

at the firing, with All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving saying, "I'm just trying to get over the loss of my basketball father, as I've called him," the Plain Dealer's Mary Schmitt Boyer reports. Irving denied that his relationship with Scott had deteriorated.

One familiar name has quickly surfaced as a replacement for Scott: Mike Brown, the man Scott succeeded. Schmitt Boyer reports that the

before other teams try to. Brown told Schmitt Boyer that he would be open to returning despite the fact that the Cavs fired him after a 61-win season in 2009-10. I suppose that probably looks almost fair now considering the Lakers fired Brown after just five games this season.

Meanwhile, the drama in Philadelphia played itself out with

and take a consulting job with the team.

In Phoenix, there's a wait-and-see attitude about interim coach Lindsey Hunter. CBS' Berger reports that Hunter was panned by players in exit interviews.

Two playoff teams are being coached by interim guys, and neither seems rock solid to return: the Nets' P.J. Carlesimo and Bucks' Jim Boylan.

Also, Rick Adelman's status is uncertain in Minnesota because of the health of his wife, Mary Kay. You wouldn't put it past GM David Kahn to go after McMillan in his seeming quest to create a Portland East in Minneapolis, but

. Owner Glen Taylor wants to know Adelman's status before deciding on Kahn, whose contract expires when the NBA Finals end, the Pioneer-Press' Ray Richardson reports.



2. Kings ransom:

It might not end up mattering what they want, but

, the Sacramento Bee reports.

A "source close to the family" tells the Bee that the Maloofs want to complete the deal they've agreed to with the Seattle group, which includes front men Chris Hansen and Steve Ballmer.

The NBA Board of Governors is completing its two days of meetings in New York today, but is not expected to rule on the Kings' sale and relocation to Seattle for at least two weeks.

The Bee reports that there are conflicts between the Maloofs and the Sacramento group that has submitted a counteroffer to buy the Kings and leave them in Sacramento.

Commissioner David Stern said today that the league's combined finance and relocation committees will meet again next week, then issue a recommendation on the sale. A full board vote will come some time before the NBA draft lottery, which is May 21.

Blazers owner

at the Rose Garden on Wednesday and was asked about the Kings. He told us ... well, read for yourself:

Andrew Bynum did not play a single game for the 76ers and coach Doug Collins this season.

3. Center peace:

One reason Collins' 76ers struggled to a 34-48 record this season is because the team's home-run-swing of a trade for Andrew Bynum was a total whiff, with the center not playing a single game, because of issues with both knees, while earning $16.9 million.

Bynum becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer, and guess what? The 76ers are considering bringing him ... well, I'd say "back," but it's hard to say they ever had him.

Owner

and is open to bringing Bynum back, Phillyburbs.com's Tom Moore reports. The team traded Andre Iguodala, Maurice Harkless, Nikola Vucevic and a first-round pick to get Bynum.

"A healthy Bynum is a needle mover, a top-15 player," Harris said. "We’re going to weigh the positives and the negatives and try to make a reasoned assessment about what’s appropriate for Andrew. Certainly, we’re open to the prospect of bringing him back."



4. Jumping Jax:

The most surprising personnel move of the late season was surely made by the Spurs, who

a week ago at a time when they are struggling with injuries.

The

, who had been playing in China, but the waiving of Jackson seemed risky. Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski had reported that

and the Spurs were concerned that he was becoming a bad influence on the team's younger players.

On Thursday,

in an interview with Sister 2 Sister magazine. Said Jackson of his issues with coach Gregg Popovich:

"He wanted me to agree to players being better than me, and I didn’t agree. I’ve been in the NBA a long time, so it’s just something I didn’t agree with and something I have no control over. He’s the coach. He controls who plays, and he controls the team, which I do respect. At the same time, I know what I can do and what I been doing my whole career, and I’m far from ready to hang it up. So, I can’t let one person tell me where I’m at 35-years-old. To me, it just didn’t make no sense."

last season -- in a trade from Golden State -- was a real nice story, with him returning to a team he won a championship on. He said at the time: "Every time I came back, it’s probably the only arena where I didn’t get booed. I got ovations from the fans and they’ve been great to me my entire career."

Sadly, that might be over now.

5. Must-see TV:

The Thunder have won at least one title this season -- the unofficial one of the NBA's best TV ratings.

The Oklahoman's Mel Bracht reports that

, the highest local rating for any NBA team. The Thunder beat Miami's 7.1 on Sun Sports, the Spurs' 6.4 on Fox Sports Southwest and the Bulls' 3.2 on CSN Chicago and the Knicks' 3.1 on MSG.

The big advantage for those teams is that they are on networks that are widely available on all the major cable and satellite carriers in their areas. We cannot, of course, say the same for the Blazers, who just completed their sixth year of a 10-year deal to be on Comcast SportsNet Northwest, which still is not available on DirectTV or Dish Network (the same holds true for CSN Philly, which has the 76ers, and CSN Houston, which has the Rockets).

There was one TV development in the area this week that could conceivably affect the Blazers' TV situation. The

, the regional network that had already been broadcasting the team's games. Root Sports is owned by DirecTV, but the Mariners will take control of the Northwest version (there are also Root Sports networks in Pennsylvania, Utah and the Rocky Mountains).

Root Sports Northwest is available on Comcast (channel 34) here in the Portland area, but the Comcast/NBC owned CSN Northwest is not on DirecTV. You'd like to think Comcast would leverage this situation to get Blazers games on DirecTV by threatening to kick Root Sports Northwest off Comcast Cable, but sometimes you wonder if Comcast/NBC cares about the Blazers situation at all.

Supposedly,

to the CSN Northwest lineup.

If Seattle has an NBA team next season, it will need a TV home, and conceivably Comcast and Root could compete to be the home of the Sonics.

-- Mike Tokito