FanHouse Tony DiLeo

I don't necessarily begrudge Doug Collins for using his magnificent platform to seek out what would (apparently) be a more fulfilling job. After all, senators run for president midterm. Blatantly treating your job as a stepping stone is the American way. The idea itself has lost all negative stigma to the masses.

But there's something about the way in which Collins campaigns for coaching jobs while working playoff games on TNT that bugs me. We saw it with the Chicago vacancy last spring, and we're seeing it now with the Philadelphia opening. The problem for me is that Collins seems to enjoy creating the whispers, the rumors, the controversy. Last night's Lakers-Rockets game was a fantastic example.

We have a second NBA coaching vacancy. Tony DiLeo, the 76er executive who took over for deposed Maurice Cheeks early this season, told Philadelphia GM Ed Stefanski he wanted to give up his coaching duties, according to Kate Fagan of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via The 700 Level). DiLeo will return to the front office.

The Kings had been the only coach-less franchise, and they'd taken their sweet time filling the void. Sacramento's first interviews -- Eddie Jordan and Paul Westphal -- have been scheduled for this week. Jordan has been considered a potential candidate for the Sixers job; E.J. was New Jersey's top assistant for several years of Stefanski's tenure there working under Rod Thorn. Doug Collins has also been mentioned profusely, as he was with the Chicago opening last spring.

CHICAGO -- To all the prejudices and biases that complicate our tangled world, today we add "oafism." Rajon Rondo, as you probably know, all but defaced Brad Miller in the final frenetic seconds of Game 5 in the Best NBA First-Round Series Ever Played. Rondo leaped, popped him in the mouth, drew blood when Miller's tooth cut his lip, forced him to get a stitch job and left him so woozy that his eyeballs were peeking out of his eardrums.

We showed you the play from Game 5 where Dwight Howard threw a clearly intentional elbow to the head of Samuel Dalembert, after which it was assumed that the act would warrant a suspension.

And in fact, it has. The league wasted little time in reviewing the play, and announced that Howard will be suspended one game without pay for the incident.

ORLANDO -- NBA Commissioner David Stern came was in Orlando for Game 5, and after touring the still-under-construction Events Center Tuesday afternoon, he promised Magic fans that the NBA All-Star Game soon would be coming back to Orlando. The All-Star Game was here in 1992. The Magic's new arena is scheduled to open for the 2010-11 season. "The All-Star Game is in Orlando's future," Stern said before the game. "This is going to be a darned good building. It's going to be a real 'wow.'"

Stern also cast aside the rumors that he could step down from the job before the current collective bargaining agreement ends after the 2010-11 season, knowing that negotiations for the next CBA could be messy.