Court Vision

• Details of arena upgrades coming to New Orleans.

• I wrote on Thursday about how the Timberwolves will have to cut salary if they close their mammoth deal for Nicolas Batum and sign both Brandon Roy and Alexey Shved. It appears Minnesota and Memphis are in talks about a deal that might serve that purpose.

• Darius Soriano of the Lakers-themed blog Forum Blue and Gold on the X’s-and-O’s of how the Lakers might fit Steve Nash within some of their existing offensive sets. Henry Abbott of ESPN.com tackled this general issue on Thursday.

• Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star tries to explain the Pacers’ moves, including the Darren Collison/Ian Mahinmi deal. Left semi-unanswered: Why didn’t the Pacers simply sign Mahinmi as a free agent? Wells mentions how going the trade route allowed the Pacers to unload Dahntay Jones’ salary, creating a new salary slot for Gerald Green without much additional cost. Was that worth surrendering Collison?

• When Larry Coon writes (here at ESPN Insider), I read — and learn: how the new CBA may make it difficult for teams to construct “Big Threes.”

• Really smart stuff on what Tyson Chandler brings to Team USA – and the Knicks.

• Mark Haubner of The Painted Area on Chandler and Team USA’s only real weakness — with a historical reminder of some of the issues Tim Duncan had in international play.

• Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post says the Nuggets have offered restricted free agent JaVale McGee a five-year, $50 million deal. There are teams with the cap room to trump this offer, including the Blazers, Cavaliers and (provided they use the amnesty provision) Bobcats. Houston will have monster cap room if and when Chicago and New York match respective offer sheets for Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin. But all of these teams will have other balls in the air for several more days, at least, and it’s unclear whether any of them have much interest in McGee. The Nuggets are smart to wait this out. Getting McGee at this price amounts to a bit of an overpay, but it’s also a salary manageable enough for them to move if need be — just as they did after signing Nene to a deal that pays $13 million per season.

• Curious about Mirza Teletovic, the Nets’ new power forward from Bosnia? Read about his arrival in New York here.

• Today’s reminder: Larry Bird is right about everything, all the time.

• A delightful bit of trash talk between Kyrie Irving and Kobe Bryant, all caught on video, over a $50,000 game of one-on-one.

• Mike Prada of SB Nation says the league should abolish maximum limits on individual player contracts.

• Ben Golliver of CBSSports.com wraps up Team USA’s easy exhibition win over the Dominican Republic.

• Ethan Sherwood Strauss on whether Carmelo Anthony’s reputation as a great fit for international competition has been overblown.

• Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus takes a look at Team USA’s decision to have Kevin Durant come off the bench.

• How underdogs win — in sports and war.

• How the league’s new collective bargaining agreement helps retired players.

• They are already drooling over Dwight Howard in Atlanta.

• Bookkeeping note: Kyle Singler is coming to Detroit after spending last season in Spain.

• Golden State general manager Bob Myers talks about how much the Warriors might spend on payroll, and says the acquisition of point guard Jarrett Jack does not mean the team has given up on Charles Jenkins.

• Tim Duncan talks about his decision to remain with San Antonio and the Thunder’s performance against Miami in the Finals.

• Has Nicolas Batum offended the fair citizenry of Portland?