Positions may not be as relevant in the NBA as they used to be, though they've provided an insightful structural overlay for the 2013 playoffs to this point.

For instance, it's hardly surprising to see the league's list of remaining small forwards as stacked as it is, what with LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony (among others) still alive in the chase for the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

But the center position—recently considered a wasteland for seven-foot stiffs—has reemerged as both long on talent and important to the hopes of those teams doing their darndest to survive and advance through the NBA's Big Dance.

Though, in all honesty, at least two of the other spots (shooting guard and power forward) could desperately use a boost in talent, if the current crop of players in the postseason is any indication.

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Making shots wins games. That may seem obvious, but as Bill Russell tells Uncle Drew in that Pepsi commercial, "This game has always been, and always will be, about buckets."

If you can shoot, you can win.

It's that simple.

Nowadays, everybody talks about stretch 4s, but the league's best long-range bombers are still usually guards. The shorter you are, the more likely you are to learn to say "forget trying to score over these trees inside, I'll just make it from way back here."

Still, it remains rare to have two great shooters in a single backcourt.

Most have one; few have two.

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At its simplest, 140 characters is enough to explain how Stephen Curry was able to get back on the floor for Game 4 as the Warriors tied up their Western Conference playoff series with the San Antonio Spurs:

Painkilling injections are not new and have roots in sport that go all the way back to the ancient Greek Olympics. While the Greeks didn't have needles, they did regularly take hallucinogenic concoctions that made runners faster and wrestlers go berserk. 

In modern sports, the image of a needle going into the injured space is usually wrong, as noted in a landmark study of painkillers. Keeping that in mind, it is very unlikely that Curry is taking a cortisone shot into his ankle. Instead, he's most likely taking a Toradol shot in his backside. 

Besides Curry for his ankle, candidates for this treatment also include the Chicago Bull's Joakim Noah (foot) and the New York Knicks' Amar'e Stoudemire (knee).

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There’s an arrogance that must exist in these moments.

On the exaggerated stage of the NBA playoffs, a Sunday matinee no less, it was the audaciousness of a 20-year-old that stole the show.

With the Golden State Warriors offense ailing, rookie Harrison Barnes scored 26 points on a career-high 26 shots to lead the Warriors to a 97-87 Game 4 overtime victory against the San Antonio Spurs.

Expect no less from the Warriors' lottery pick, the guy veteran teammate Richard Jefferson calls very, very arrogant.

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Every year we come across a couple of young NBA studs who finally get their opportunity. Some of them you can see coming miles away. Others break out without warning.

Whether it's because of a new team, roster changes or it's just that time, these are the players you can expect to hear more from in 2013-14.

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ESPN's Chad Ford recently released his NBA Mock Draft 2.0 (subscription required). We're going to play a little game of fact or fiction to determine which of his picks are locks and which should be considered stretches.

It's early in the process. The NBA combine still awaits, as do hundreds of team workouts the prospects will have to go through.

But you can still can get a general sense of how this draft is going to go down based on the 2012-13 college season and NBA teams' needs.

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Every NBA prospect has at least one thing to prove to NBA scouts. There isn't anyone out there without a tally in the weakness column.

Some of these weaknesses are related to fundamentals. Others are centered on physical limitations.

These top prospects should look to eliminate any red flags that scouts believe exist.

2013 NBA Combine TV Schedule

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Who are these cats from Seattle?

Apparently a bunch of dudes who wipe their bottoms with hundred-dollar bills.

The group led by Chris Hansen that's attempting to relocate the Kings raised its bid to a whopping $625 million. His offer comes after each member of the relocation committee advised to keep the team in Sacramento.

This Hansen dude is relentless—relentless, ambitious and loaded. But do the Kings have the NBA on their side?

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