George Hill has been cleared to play and will start for the Indiana Pacers in Game 6 against the New York Knicks on Saturday night. Pacers coach Frank Vogel said he doesn't expect Hill, who suffered a concussion on Tuesday night and missed Thursday's Game 5, to be limited. The team released the following statement about 90 minutes prior to the tip: Over the last two days under the care of the Indiana Pacers' medical staff, George Hill has participated in each step of the NBA's Return-to-Participation Exertion Protocol as part of the NBA's Concussion Policy.   During the process, George remained symptom-free after each step including his workouts earlier today. After consultation with Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, the NBA's Director of Concussion Management, the Pacers' team physicians have cleared George to play in tonight's game.

LeBron James sought the advice of Ray Allen on how to shoot free throws and the four-time MVP is beginning to reap the benefits. James shot 80.8 percent from the stripe in the Eastern Conference semifinals. "We’ve talked ad nauseam about his bad habits when he misses free throws, so he kind of has a better idea of it," Allen said. "He should watch real film of it. Not just game film, but on the court practicing. And then find that routine and stick to it and give himself a better chance." James has taken to challenging Allen to free throw competitions during practice. "You don’t want to look crazy making six out of 10 when he’s making 10 out of 10 every time," James said. "So, he puts pressure on me to make free throws, and I just try to translate what we do in practice into the game."

Jerry Sloan could return to the Utah Jazz as a consultant, two years after he resigned as coach. "If there’s something out there that’s right for both parties, we would welcome a relationship with Jerry," Jazz president Randy Rigby said. "The Utah Jazz have great love and respect for him." Sloan wouldn’t want to be seen as getting in the way of Tyrone Corbin. "When we talked about getting him seats to the games, he was very sensitive about where they were located," Rigby said. "He didn’t want to be too close to the floor. He did not want to portray to Tyrone that he was interfering. That speaks volumes about Jerry Sloan, that he’s sensitive to something like that."

NBA general managers expressed pessimism about the 2013 draft in general and the No. 1 pick in particular. "I'm not sure I want the No. 1 pick," said one NBA GM. Another expressed similar pessimism at the thought of having to draft someone first this year. "There's really no one worthy of the top pick," the talent evaluator said. "But someone has to go number one."

The Oklahoma City Thunder are not considering using the amnesty clause on Kendrick Perkins. "We just haven't considered using the provision. ... We think Perk has a lot of value to our team," Sam Presti said Saturday. Perkins is set to make about $18 million over the next two seasons.

After a breakout season in Europe, Gani Lawal has intrigued NBA teams and could receive consideration for a contract, league sources told RealGM. Lawal has already scheduled workouts – private and as part of mini-camps – with the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic, sources said. Four to five other teams have discussed bringing him in to work out, too. Lawal, the 6-foot-9 athletic, scrappy forward, had his best professional season with Italy’s Virtus Roma, averaging 13.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks. Virtus Roma has gone 20-10 this season and ranks third in the league standings. Since leaving the Phoenix Suns organization that drafted him in the second round in 2010, Lawal, 24, has lost weight and added strength. Lawal played one game with the Suns two seasons ago and was in the San Antonio Spurs’ training camp in 2011, but he was derailed by injuries and didn’t figure into a long-term plan. He was drafted after three years at Georgia Tech.

Alen Len is confident about what he will be able to accomplish at the NBA level. “I think maybe 10 years from now, I’ll be the best player out of this draft,” Len said. Len was limited by a stress fracture in his ankle over the final two weeks of the NCAA season. But in his first game of the year, Len scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds against projected No. 1 overall pick Nerlens Noel. “I think I did pretty well that game,” Len said of his performance against Noel. “I think I was able to show NBA scouts what I could be in the future. I kind of showed my potential. After this season, I got more confident and talked to my coaches. In NBA, you have individual coaches with you. I decided to come out early, because I want to progress quicker. The developmental process will be faster.”

Alen Len is confident about what he will be able to accomplish at the NBA level. “I think maybe 10 years from now, I’ll be the best player out of this draft,” Len said. Len was limited by a stress fracture in his ankle over the final two weeks of the NCAA season. But in his first game of the year, Len scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds against projected No. 1 overall pick Nerlens Noel. “I think I did pretty well that game,” Len said of his performance against Noel. “I think I was able to show NBA scouts what I could be in the future. I kind of showed my potential. After this season, I got more confident and talked to my coaches. In NBA, you have individual coaches with you. I decided to come out early, because I want to progress quicker. The developmental process will be faster.”

The Toronto Raptors are pursuing Masai Ujiri to become the team's top basketball executive, according to sources. Ujiri was named the 2013 NBA Executive of the Year for his work as general manager of the Nuggets. Ujiri's contract with the Nuggets expires this summer and he has been in discussions on an extension. Korn/Ferry International, the search firm hired by MLSE to search for a new GM for the Raptors, has identified Ujiri as its top candidate. MLSE has until Monday to make a decision on whether to retain Bryan Colangelo, who could stay with the franchise under a new decision-maker. Ujiri worked for three years with the Raptors under Colangelo before becoming GM of the Nuggets.

The Toronto Raptors are pursuing Masai Ujiri to become the team's top basketball executive, according to sources. Ujiri was named the 2013 NBA Executive of the Year for his work as general manager of the Nuggets. Ujiri's contract with the Nuggets expires this summer and he has been in discussions on an extension. Korn/Ferry International, the search firm hired by MLSE to search for a new GM for the Raptors, has identified Ujiri as its top candidate. MLSE has until Monday to make a decision on whether to retain Bryan Colangelo, who could stay with the franchise under a new decision-maker. Ujiri worked for three years with the Raptors under Colangelo before becoming GM of the Nuggets.

The Portland Trail Blazers “really like” Victor Oladipo and are considering moving up in the draft to get him, according to a source close to the prospect. Oladipo expressed interest in playing for the Blazers. “I would really love to go to Portland, and I'm not just saying that,” Oladipo said. “I hope, and I don't think I'm dropping that far, but if they decided to move up somehow, I think that would be a great situation for me. It's a place where you can just concentrate on basketball.” Oladipo is projected to go in the top five of the upcoming draft.

Vinny Del Negro is scheduled to meet with Donald Sterling over the weekend to discuss his job status, a league source said Friday. Del Negro and Sterling are scheduled to meet in Los Angeles and a decision is anticipated shortly after. Del Negro's contract expires June 30.

After sporadic playing time as a rookie last season, Reggie Jackson emerged as a critical guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder and averaged 13.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists in the playoffs. With Russell Westbrook set to return next season, the Thunder might be anticipating a sixth man role for Jackson. “If that's the number that's called,” Jackson said, “I'm doing my best to just be ready for whatever situation I'm thrown into next year.” “I'm excited about his future, about what he was able to do during the minutes that he had," Brooks added.

Arron Afflalo is looking forward to playing to his strengths next season. "I'm kind of getting to the age now where I'm kind of settling into being great at something," Afflalo said. "Whether it's being a high-level defensive player, a high-level shooter, an efficient scorer, doing the things where I'm really playing to my strengths. That's something I'm looking forward to." With Afflalo often acting as the team’s go-to scorer, the Magic lost 62 games this season."It is what it is," Afflalo said. "We had a lot of firsts in terms of role definition, in terms of learning, in terms of the coaching staff. And when you're fully committed to doing better and trying to win it all at some point in time, you have to go through experiences like this. All we can do is try to learn from what happened this year and move forward into next year."

Michael Reinsdorf believes that Nikola Mirotic would be a lottery in this year’s NBA draft. Mirotic was acquired by the Bulls after he was drafted 23rd overall in 2011. Reinsdorf is proud of the Bulls’ recent draft record, pointing to the 2011 selection of Jimmy Butler. “This is a guy who was the 30th pick in the draft that any other team could have had,” Reinsdorf said of Butler. “He played nearly every minute against Miami and LeBron James. If you saw how LeBron James embraced Jimmy Butler after that game, to me, it was the ultimate show of respect and that Jimmy has arrived as a ballplayer.”

Rick Carlisle has studied past NBA drafts and is aware of the talent that figures to fall to the Mavericks on June 27. “You know, if you look at the history of drafts, which I have in the last couple of weeks, and if you look at the last 10 drafts, there’s a history of being multiple guys 13 and below that turn out to be really good, solid, long-term NBA players,” Carlisle said, while standing on the sideline during day 2 of the NBA draft combine. “So, you know, there’s value in this draft. Our job is to find it.” The Mavericks will pick in the lottery for the first time since 2004, when they selected Devin Harris with a pick acquired from the Washington Wizards. Carlisle is confident the Mavericks will add a player capable of stepping in right away. “Well, you want to get a guy with as much experience as possible,” Carlisle confessed. “One of the reasons that (Jae) Crowder was in our rotation most of the year last year and one of the reasons that Bernard James did a good job for us when he played was because those guys had experience and they were older players. I think there’s been a move towards putting a value on maturity and for good reason.”

Rick Carlisle has studied past NBA drafts and is aware of the talent that figures to fall to the Mavericks on June 27. “You know, if you look at the history of drafts, which I have in the last couple of weeks, and if you look at the last 10 drafts, there’s a history of being multiple guys 13 and below that turn out to be really good, solid, long-term NBA players,” Carlisle said, while standing on the sideline during day 2 of the NBA draft combine. “So, you know, there’s value in this draft. Our job is to find it.” The Mavericks will pick in the lottery for the first time since 2004, when they selected Devin Harris with a pick acquired from the Washington Wizards. Carlisle is confident the Mavericks will add a player capable of stepping in right away. “Well, you want to get a guy with as much experience as possible,” Carlisle confessed. “One of the reasons that (Jae) Crowder was in our rotation most of the year last year and one of the reasons that Bernard James did a good job for us when he played was because those guys had experience and they were older players. I think there’s been a move towards putting a value on maturity and for good reason.”

Due to the injury to David Lee, the Golden State Warriors were forced to be inventive and play Harrison Barnes minutes at power forward. Many in the media had proposed that Barnes play as the Warriors' small ball power forward previously in the season in order to space the floor due to their lack of playmakers able to get to the basket off the dribble. "It was fun to kind of play that style," said Barnes. "We’d never really done that before this season. Really, I’d never really played that at Carolina. I’ve always been so accustomed to having two bigs, especially fixtures on the block."So just to be able to play that spread out basketball, kind of drive and kick… it was fun to have four people who could handle the ball, just get out on the break, we all had different mis-matches. It was exciting."

MLSE, owner of the Toronto Raptors, have hired a firm to search for a possible replacement for Bryan Colangelo. The Raptors have until Monday to make a decision on whether to pick up their option on Colangelo's contract for the 13-14 season. Kevin Pritchard and Troy Weaver are two names being mentioned as candidates to replace Colangelo, should the Raptors make a move. Tim Leiweke became CEO of MLSE last month and will have final say on the Raptors' general manager position.

Larry Drew will interview for the Milwaukee Bucks' head coaching vacancy on Monday and is receiving interest from a second team. The Bucks called Danny Ferry about speaking with Drew, who is still under contract with the Atlanta Hawks until June 30, and they were granted permission. “I’ve moved on from the situation,” Drew said. “We had a very professional talk just trying to get things in order since I’m still under contract.” While Drew is prepared to part ways with the Hawks, the door is not completely closed on him returning as coach. “There is not a sadness,” Drew said. “This is a business. We left open that this could evolve back. If it doesn’t, I have to move on. That’s how this business works. I knew that. Nine years is a good run. There is a business side to this profession."

Otto Porter patterns his game after Tayshaun Prince. Porter, a small forward out of Georgetown, measured at 6-8.5 in shoes with a 7-1.5 wingspan at the NBA draft combine. “Yeah, Tayshaun Prince,” Porter said when asked who his game is modeled after. “Long, lanky and can do a lot of things on the floor. Can defend, rebound, kind of a glue guy.” Porter averaged 16.2 points and 7.5 rebounds, while shooting 47.9 percent from the floor, in 35.4 minutes per game last season for the Hoyas.

With Vivek Ranadive agreeing to purchase the Sacramento Kings, Geoff Petrie is not expected to be retained as chief decision-maker on basketball personnel moves. One candidate for the position could be Chris Mullin, who was in the Golden State Warriors' front office from 2004 until 2009. Ranadive and Mullin have met several times, but have not discussed the possibility of working together. "I definitely would (be interested in the job)," Mullin said. "But you know, it's something that's got to be the right fit. It's gotta be – they need my expertise…I'm not one of those people to go solicit it. But a guy like him, if he called me and he needed me, I'd love that."

Mike Malone is expected to be a leading candidate for the Sacramento Kings' head coaching position. Keith Smart is not expected to be retained, according to a report. Malone is familiar with prospective Kings' owner Vivek Ranadive due to their connection with the Golden State Warriors.

The Atlanta Hawks have interviewed Stan Van Gundy and Mike Budenholzer for their vacant head coach position. Nate McMillan previously interviewed for the position. The Hawks are reportedly in the middle stages of the hiring process.

The NBA owners offered to refund a $30 million non-refundable deposit made by the Chris Hansen-Steve Ballmer ownership group that was made when entering into a purchase agreement with the Sacramento Kings. The Seattle-based group had agreed to buy the team from the Maloof family. Hansen and Ballmer declined to accept the offer, which would have come from each of the NBA's 30 owners.

Deshaun Thomas interviewed with the San Antonio Spurs at the NBA draft combine on Thursday. Among the questions asked of Thomas was his cell phone number and email address. Thomas declined to give the Spurs his phone number. “I can’t go around giving it out to everyone,” Thomas said Thursday with a laugh. “Now if they want to draft me, I’d be happy to give it to them.” Thomas is currently projected as a second-round pick.

Nerlens Noel will not be ready for the NBA season opener and is targeting Christmas as his debut date. Noel said he is ''ahead of schedule” in his rehab from a torn ACL in his left knee. ''I've started to shoot some free throws the last week with a different type of brace on,'' said Noel, who has yet to start running again. ''I'm 100 percent confident of not just gaining what I had but definitely being stronger, coming back better. During this time that I won't be playing basketball I'll just be working on a lot of things that I needed to polish when I was playing.'' Noel called shooting among his needed areas of improvement. ''I think I'm at a good point, but obviously I can't do too much right now,'' Noel said. ''I'm just doing a lot of form shooting right now. I think when I come back I'll be able to knock down that 15-footer and be able to take my game to another level.''