Utah Jazz

It would be surprising if the Jazz don't trade Carlos Boozer, who has put on some impressive performances since his return in February. Coach Jerry Sloan must make his annual decision on whether or not to come back; if he does, he can build on the improvement of center Mehmet Okur and rookie point guard Deron Williams to go with mainstay Andrei Kirilenko. On the whole, this is a promising young team.

Oklahoma City/New Orleans Hornets

Backup point guard Speedy Claxton will leave in search of a potential starting assignment elsewhere. Eventually they must come up with athletic big men to replace P.J. Brown, who will be entering the final year of his contract, and Chris Andersen, banned for flunking a drug test. But don't expect any big moves: The uncertainty over their long-term home and the blind support of the fans in Oklahoma City will probably encourage owner George Shinn to operate on the cheap.

In his own words: Doc Rivers

Though Boston's coach has had a successful season -- helping transform  Pierce into one of the league's top players and keeping the young Celtics competitive despite their inexperience -- Rivers' future with the team has been in doubt. He admits he has had a hard time being separated from his family, who have remained in Florida for the last two years to enable Rivers' daughter to complete her high school education. In this conversation with SI.com, Rivers addresses a number of topics, including speculation that he may ultimately be forced to leave the Celtics.

On coaching the Celtics' young players:

"For me, the patience part has been a true test. There are times when I've gone nuts, and my assistant coaches have to remind me, 'These guys are improving, and you can't expect them to be what you want them to be at times.' But you see them do something at practice and you figure they'll do it at the next game, and when it doesn't happen it's frustrating. But then when they do it two games later, it's exhilarating."

On the Celtics' record in close games:

"The toughest thing with young players, besides teaching them how to play, is teaching them the importance of the first quarter and the third quarter and having a sense of urgency during every play. We're 9-9 in games [decided by] three points or less. That's not all bad -- that's about average in the league."

On rumors that he may leave the Celtics after this season:

"Family comes first, always, and it's tough being away from family. We've got one more year of this with my daughter, who's going to be a senior next year, and after that my family is going to move up here.

"If the day came that my wife said, 'I can't take it any longer,' then I'd have to give it up. Walking away from this job would be very tough to do. You see how close we are with Wally [Szczerbiak] and Paul [Pierce], adding another veteran, adding a free agent -- that's not anything you want to walk away from. Right now I can tell you I'm not even thinking about doing that."