CHICAGO – Nate McMillan interviewed for the Atlanta Hawks' coaching job on Wednesday, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Atlanta general manager Danny Ferry is going through the unorthodox process of conducting a coaching search while his current coach, Larry Drew, remains under contract until June 30.

Drew is highly unlikely to be retained as coach, but Ferry has reserved the remote option of revisiting contract extension talks with Drew should the Hawks fail to attract a coach Ferry believes is a better fit for the franchise.

McMillan also is a candidate for the coaching openings with the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons. He's already interviewed with those teams.

Ferry has shown significant interest in former Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, but Van Gundy is unlikely to return to coaching next season.

McMillan was fired as the Portland Trail Blazers' coach in 2012. Across seven seasons with the Blazers, he had a .497 winning percentage and advanced to the first-round of the

North Carolina State forward C.J. Leslie, a fast-rising prospect among several teams, has a minor sprained shooting hand and will sit out the drills portion of the NBA draft combine in Chicago this week, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

C.J. Leslie (Getty Images)Leslie, who left the Wolfpack after his junior year, is a long, talented 6-foot-9 forward with great athletic ability who has several NBA front offices eager to get a closer inspection of him.

Leslie's agent, Aaron Mintz of CAA, informed the NBA on Tuesday of the decision to sit out the basketball drills portion of the combine, league sources said. Leslie will participate in some athletic testing and interviews with team executives.

Leslie's right hand is expected to be fully healed to work out individually for teams in the near future.

[Also: Will sensation Andrew Wiggins deliver for Kansas? ]

One league personnel director told Yahoo! Sports that Leslie and Kentucky's Nerlens Noel rate as the two most explosive athletes in this year's draft class. Two

Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Steve Clifford is interviewing with the Milwaukee Bucks for their head-coaching job on Monday, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Milwaukee has interviewed Nate McMillan and Houston Rockets assistants Kelvin Sampson and J.B. Bickerstaff for its head-coaching job.

When Bucks general manager John Hammond reached out to gauge Stan Van Gundy's interest in the job, Van Gundy declined but delivered a strong recommendation for Clifford, league sources said. Clifford spent five years on Van Gundy's Orlando Magic staff before joining the Lakers in the summer of 2012.

Clifford fits the profile of the kind of hands-on, defensive-minded candidate that Hammond has been seeking to replace interim coach Jim Boylan.

Clifford will also interview with the Charlotte Bobcats in the near future.

Clifford comes with a strong pedigree, serving as an assistant coach for Stan Van Gundy in Orlando and Jeff Van Gundy in Houston and New York. Clifford also worked with Chicago

INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time in his NBA playoff career, Roy Hibbert had been invited to the interview podium. After the best performance of his postseason life, Hibbert had showered, dressed and awaited word now on making the short walk down the corridor.

Before he left his corner stall, his eyes darted around the Indiana Pacers locker room. There was something he wanted to tell his teammates. He cleared his throat and made sure the franchise's most gentle voice could be heard over the clutter of conversations.

"Enjoy Mother's Day," Hibbert blurted out.

Here was the 7-foot-2 franchise center of these Pacers, towering over the room, the night, and this Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series – reaffirming his wishes with a nod and a smile. Roy Hibbert was serious. Enjoy Mother's Day, fellas. He cares deeply for his teammates, nurtures the room, and yet sometimes one of his greatest blessings as man can be a crippling curse as a basketball player.

Roy Hibbert posts up against Kenyon Martin in Game 3. (USA Today) Long before his 24 points

Mark Madsen, a popular ex-bench warmer with the Los Angeles Lakers, is finalizing an agreement to become head coach of the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA DevelopmentMark Madsen (Getty) League, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The Lakers own and operate the D-Fenders, who recently lost coach Reggie Theus to the coaching job at Cal State Northridge.

Madsen recently completed his first season as an assistant coach at Stanford University.

Madsen was part of two NBA championships with the Lakers (2001 and '02) in his nine-year NBA career. Nicknamed Mad Dog, many fans best remember him for his unique dance style on the podium for Lakers' championship celebrations.

Before joining his alma mater, Stanford, as an assistant coach a year ago, he spent two seasons in the D-League as an assistant coach for the Utah Flash.

CHICAGO – Everything changed on the March night LeBron James had come to the United Center and declared these Chicago Bulls a dirty basketball team. The world's best basketball player insisted that Chicago's hard fouls were "not basketball plays," that the Bulls had crossed into troubling territory.

Of course, the Bulls believed James had used his bully pulpit to influence the way the NBA officiated him. James' greatness promised a closer inspection out of the league and its officials, a strategic understanding that the world would judge harshly the way these Bulls imposed physicality on the four-time Most Valuable Player.

When everyone else watched Chicago's Nazr Mohammed make a run at James, shove him tumbling onto his back on Friday night, the Bulls witnessed something else: confirmation of a conspiracy. Mohammed earned the ejection, and the rest of these Bulls earned the indignation and outrage that they need for public retaliation.

"We're well aware of what's going on," Thibodeau

The Atlanta Hawks are aggressively pursuing Stan Van Gundy for the franchise's head-coaching job, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Stan Van Gundy was let go as the Magic's coach after the 2011-12 season. (AP)General manager Danny Ferry has made Van Gundy his top target to replace Larry Drew, sources said.

There has been contact between Ferry and Van Gundy, but the two sides have yet to meet in person.

The Hawks plan to make a hard push for free-agent center Dwight Howard on July 1, and there's some belief that Van Gundy could actually turn out to be a benefit in recruiting Howard back to his hometown.

[Also: Bucks interview J.B. Bickerstaff in coach search]

Howard has expressed some sentiment that he better appreciates Van Gundy as a head coach, despite their clashes together in Orlando that ultimately led to the coach's firing after the 2011-12 season.

Van Gundy hasn't made a decision about returning to coaching this year, but he holds Ferry in high regard, league sources said. Van Gundy has declined interest in the Milwaukee Bucks' head-coaching job.

In parts

The Philadelphia 76ers have hired Houston Rockets executive Sam Hinkie to be the franchise's new president and general manager, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Hinkie will replace Tony DiLeo with the 76ers and assume full control of basketball operations.

Hinkie, who had been the Rockets' vice president of basketball operations since 2007, met with 76ers officials a year about the job, but the team ultimately promoted DiLeo to the GM role. Philadelphia president Rod Thorn is retiring this spring and assuming a consultant's role with the organization. Doug Collins resigned as coach at season's end.

Hinkie has had a major influence in reshaping the Rockets franchise, bringing an analytics background to the organization's strong run of draft picks, trades and free-agent signings. Houston GM Daryl Morey finished third in the voting among his peers for Executive of the Year.

Hinkie will spearhead the organization's search for a new head coach. The 76ers have several significant decisions