The NBA draft process has always been a hustle. Teams pick on what they think they see – perception – but the dollars they bestow are very real.

This week, an 18-year-old from Brooklyn played the game to perfection. Tuesday, Sebastian Telfair stood before a giant adidas banner at the Times Square ESPN Zone, flashed his million-dollar smile and declared himself a pro. Telfair's announcement was the culmination of a five-year legend-making process that may or may not sway NBA scouts, but which already has convinced one shoe company to hand over an unlikely endorsement contract.

"I am the newest member of the adidas team," Telfair said.

And indeed he is, to the tune of a whopping $15 million (about half guaranteed, half incentive based) over six years. It is the second-richest shoe contract ever given to a player directly out of high school – more than Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett and Kobe Bryant earned at the same juncture.

It falls well short of LeBron James' $102 million (all

We could have printed another entire People's Voice with tributes to and discussion of Pat Tillman, but with all due respect, we want to move on to less serious pursuits ... like the state of hockey in Canada.

Canadian (and worldwide) readers flooded us with opinions on Gary Bettman and the future of the NHL. There was no lack of passion on the subject. We'll also get to Roger Clemens and Tayshaun Prince.

As always, thanks for all of the feedback. My responses are in italics.

Now on to the People's Voice. ...

CANADIAN HOCKEY (April 26: "Woe Canada")

As a Canadian hockey fan I cannot agree more with your article "Woe Canada." You have put your finger nicely on the pulse of fans from north of the border. Gary Bettman has done so much to de-purify the game, Canadian teams are floundering and a lockout next year seems inevitable. However, it is still the most exciting time of the year for most Canadian sports fans, and we cross next year's bridge when we come to it.

Dave Gendron
Toronto,

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – The player the Detroit Pistons officially selected instead of Carmelo Anthony finally made an appearance during garbage time of Monday's Pistons victory, to the hooting delight of the Detroit fans.

Darko Milicic scored no points, grabbed no rebounds and made no tangible contribution to the Pistons' 78-56 domination of the New Jersey Nets in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. It is just one more example of why many fear the 18-year-old Serbian and second pick in last June's draft could turn out to be the legendary stiff of what has the look of a legendary rookie class – LeBron James, Anthony, Dwyane Wade and so on.

But the player the Pistons like to say they "selected" instead of Anthony scored 15 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and dished out five assists, all while holding his defensive assignment, Richard Jefferson, to a sorry 1-of-12 shooting night.

Tayshaun Prince, the Pistons' second-year small forward, was the best player on the court.

It was another

At this point in his life, Roger Clemens was supposed to be sitting in the stands of Minute Maid Park with all his kids named K. Not down on the mound K-ing a bunch of kids in opposing uniforms.

"I had six season tickets to sit up there and eat some popcorn," Clemens says.

The best pitcher in baseball thus far this season is supposed to be old, supposed to be tired, supposed to be hanging around the family – not starting Friday's game against Cincinnati with the chance to go 5-0 in April.

Clemens may be in his 40s, but his fastball is still in the 90s. His breaking ball still is more deceptive than Omarosa, and his stamina (he threw 112 pitches Saturday at Colorado) still makes a statement.

If he were any more youthful, he'd be Ryan on "The O.C."

Didn't they dole out rocking chairs and hero cheers to Clemens last fall? Wasn't he supposed to be retired instead of retiring batters? Wasn't this whole caught-up-in-the-excitement "unretirement" and January signing with hometown Houston

We normally try to make the People's Voice as entertaining as we can, but that is impossible this week. The overwhelming amount of feedback came in on the most serious of subjects – the combat death of Pat Tillman and other coalition soldiers.

The number of personal, heart-felt letters we received concerning this subject was overwhelming, humbling and moving. There is no doubt Tillman touched this country in a way perhaps even he couldn't imagine.

Many people wrote in asking where they could send donations. Make checks payable to the Pat Tillman Memorial Fund and include account number 1599965140. You can drop checks off at any Bank One branch in the country or send to:

The Pat Tillman Memorial Fund
Bank One
1744 E. Southern Ave.
Tempe, AZ 85282

Meanwhile, letters of condolence, appreciation and thanks for the family can be sent in care of:

Arizona Cardinals Community Relations Department
8701 South Hardy Drive
Tempe, AZ 85284-2800

There also are any number of worthwhile funds set up

From 1967-68, the NHL's first season of expansion from the original six franchises, to 1993-94, the first full season in the tenure of controversial commissioner Gary Bettman, teams won 27 Stanley Cup championships. Canadian teams won 16 of them and finished runner-up five times.

In the decade since, not a single Canadian team even has reached the Stanley Cup finals, a dispiriting drought for the hockey-mad country.

Which begins to explain why resentment against Bettman, who gets heckled and booed in most U.S. cities, is particularly strong in Canada.

Bettman's reign of incompetence, marked by blind expansion into non-traditional, Sun Belt markets, has seen revenue disparity widen to such unhealthy levels that the league is facing a lockout that could kill next season. That would send Canadian fans into a complete funk – a long, cold winter without their national pastime.

"The fans look at it as the NHL chased big bucks in the United States and gave up on us," said Sara Buchan, who

It is not how Pat Tillman died that makes him about as great of an American hero as we can possibly know.

It is how he lived.

It is not what he gave up, but how and why he gave it up. It's the fact that all those sports phrases that we casually throw around – like sacrifice and commitment and courage – actually meant something to him.

It is how an NFL player, living the American dream, chose not what his country could do for him, but what he could do for his country.

So not long after Sept. 11, 2001, he walked away from football, away from the money and glory of the NFL and, along with his minor league baseball-playing brother, took his considerable physical gifts to the Army Rangers.

Duty. Honor. Country.

Tillman, 27, was killed in action Thursday in Afghanistan, where coalition forces continue to search for Osama bin Laden.

Tillman is just one of hundreds of brave soldiers from around the globe who have given their lives trying to help make ours safer since Sept. 11. Sadly, there

Twenty springs ago John Thompson the father led Georgetown to the NCAA crown, becoming the first black coach to win the national title.

Twenty springs later, Tuesday to be exact, John Thompson the son took the reins of the one-time powerhouse, completing a circle of family and familiarity in Washington that you see all the time on Capitol Hill or Pennsylvania Avenue, where power begets power among the ruling class.

But this is no patronage deal. This is no desperate grab at lost glory.

For as much as John Thompson III is his father's son, he has spent the past two decades proving beyond a doubt that he is, most of all, his own man.

"I am John Thompson's son," Thompson III said Tuesday. "I have been John Thompson's son for 38 years. The pressure that comes along with that – no one is going to put more pressure on me than myself."

As a child Thompson III was a constant at Georgetown practices and games. But as an adult he chose both to play and cut his coaching teeth at Princeton,