No word on if Gary Trent is lending his talents to art class (Getty Images)

As a player, Gary Trent was a bad dude. Other members of the eventual Portland Jail Blazers, like Rasheed Wallace and Damon Stoudamire, achieved “bad dude” status for (this is not a joke) being caught in a yellow Hummer with pot and empty Smirnoff Ice bottles in their plush SUV, but Trent was the sort of guy that could make a wussified bottle of Smirnoff Ice shatter just by glaring at it.

He also achieved his bad dude status by banging in the paint, even at a listed (but dubious) 6-8, for several NBA and international teams between 1995 and 2007. Retired from the game, he’s now taken his formidable glare and still NBA-trim frame to Dayton's Bluff Elementary in St. Paul, MN. Trent is working as a “cultural intervention specialist,” aiming to help children dealing with all manner of at-home or in-school complications at the low-end elementary school that features kids from ages five to 13.

Trent, for various reasons that go beyond his time in the NBA, seems uniquely qualified for the role. From Chip Scoggins at the Minnesota Star-Tribune:

Trent can relate to his students on a personal level because he survived an unfathomable childhood that exposed him to death, drugs and crime in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. His father served time in federal prison for drug trafficking. His mother became addicted to drugs. His grandmother murdered her own son. His grandfather drank himself to death. Other family members were incarcerated. Trent briefly dropped out of high school as a freshman and began selling crack cocaine.

It’s a cloudy, cool and cruel weekend, this last one of the NBA’s regular season. On Friday we learned that former Chicago MVP Derrick Rose is just about a lock to sit out the entire 2012-13 season, and late Friday night we watched as one of the greatest to ever play the game went down with what could prove to be a career-altering Achilles injury. Some lightness is needed. Badly.

Luckily, as is often the case, Nate Robinson is on it. Watch his novel and very illegal play to a steal a tip from Friday night’s Chicago loss to the Toronto Raptors:

(I think my favorite part would be Matt Devlin’s completely humorless response. Lighten up, guy.)

Kobe Bryant, before hitting his final free throws of the 2012-13 season (Getty Images)

Early Saturday morning – early, EARLY Saturday morning – Kobe Bryant took to his Facebook page to vent frustration in the wake of the likely Achilles tear that he suffered in a game against the Golden State Warriors on Friday night. Kobe, who appeared calm and resigned to his fate while talking to the press immediately after the Laker win, admitted to be a bit woozy due to the pain pills prescribed after an incredibly painful injury.

[Related: Devastating injury likely ends Kobe Bryant's season, puts career in peril | Photos]

Important to remember, when you take in Bryant’s over the edge frustration at his career-threatening injury. This is a guy on pills, and he’s still rightfully ticked beyond belief. Here’s a snippet:

This is such BS! All the training and sacrifice just flew out the window with one step that I've done millions of times! The frustration is unbearable. The anger is rage. Why the hell did this happen ?!? Makes no damn sense. Now I'm supposed to come back from this and be the same player Or better at 35?!? How in the world am I supposed to do that??

Matt Bonner improvises a low-five, to mix things up (Getty Images)

If you’re a fan of any number of levels of comedy – from massive silver screen works to two generations’ worth of Saturday Night Live head writers to Lorne Michaels’ most recent foray into primetime work to various fringe 22-minute situation comedy to your daily reminder that there is a show on after ‘The Daily Show’ – then you are working off of the ha-ha exhaust of the much loved Improv Olympic. Del Close and Charna Halpern’s Chicago institution continues to be a breeding ground for open-ended and daring improvisational comedy, production that makes the north side hub a perfect proving ground for … San Antonio Spurs forward Matt Bonner?

Eh, why the hell not? Via Ananth Pandian, here’s “coach” Matt Bonner’s visit to the famous iO:

(Matt Bonner, like the guy who is currently writing this blog post, is still wearing low-cut New Balance sneakers.)

Paul Arizin prepares to get rim (Getty Images)

A look around the league and the Web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: Pro Hoops History. Curtis Harris’ remarkable obsession with the genesis era of our favorite pro league leads him directly to an interview with Philadelphia product and one-time Paul Arizin teammate John Grauer.
PF: The Point Forward. Watching Al Horford and Josh Smith’s interior passing is one of the few redeeming qualities of an otherwise-dull Atlanta Hawks game. This cohesion, and the duo’s defensive roles, are what Rob Mahoney focuses on as he sits down to talk with Horford, and Al’s giant hands.
SF: CSN Boston. When the Boston Celtics traded Joe Johnson partway through his rookie year, it genuinely was a great trade for both sides – as the C’s rode Tony Delk and Rodney Rogers to the Eastern conference finals. Eleven years later, Jessica Camerato checks in with Johnson as he returns to Boston.
SG: HoopsAnalyst. Ed Weiland goes over his top 60 NBA draft prospects in the wake of a telling NCAA Tournament. Something to perhaps bookmark, NBA’niks.
PG: SportsNet. Months after a blogger roundtable that discussed the future and potential fortune of the Toronto Raptors, Holly MacKenzie reflects back on a 2012-13 season that may have brought up more questions than it did answers.

"You want me to do what?!?" (Getty Images)

The Philadelphia 76ers are in a situation that everyone associated with the NBA anticipated coming years in an advance, which is kind of weird for a team that wasn’t even able to field its best player for a single minute in 2012-13. On Thursday, a couple of league sources floated a hunch to Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Bob Ford that paints the team as a-wishin’ and a-hopin’ that Collins walks away from the last year of his contract following this disastrous season, leaving $4.5 million on the table.

The Sixers don’t want to outright fire the fiery Collins, in part because they would still owe him that salary, but also because the team (according to one of Ford’s sources) wants to “avoid a backlash if the fans sided with Doug.” This would be an anticipated backlash that completely misjudges the dwindling Philadelphia 76er fandom. I mean, siding with Doug?

[Also: Maloofs set Friday deadline for competing Sacramento Kings offer]

Another source, one related to the 76ers and in talking to CSN Philadelphia, disputed the report. Obviously. It’s hard to ease a guy into leaving a job and $4.5 million on the table if you don’t dispute reports like these, even anonymously.

Here’s part of Ford’s column:

"I think he's gone at the end of the year. He'll be moving on," said one NBA source with intimate knowledge of the situation. "He'll decide to leave, and they won't be upset about it. They would like to see it work out that he decides to move on."

Chris Webber, Steve Kerr, Reggie Miller. Not pictured: Marv Albert (Getty Images)

TNT will not use a play-by-play man during Thursday’s telecast of the Oklahoma City Thunder/Golden State Warriors game, in an unprecedented move that is not without promise. As a one-off, and not a pattern, it seems like an interesting idea worth turning up for; though we hope it doesn’t turn into a template that affects the rest of TNT, along with other networks covering NBA telecasts.

Though ABC/ESPN has been roundly criticized for its lack studio host in its NBA coverage, the network has been able to skate without a host over the last two seasons because of the borderline irrelevancy of its studio shows. We often enjoy the work of Bill Simmons, Michael Wilbon, Jalen Rose and Magic Johnson in their individual forays away from the set … but I don’t know many NBA diehards that watch that show. At least not ones with an internet connection. Or television remote.

TNT’s attempt to build a crew out of Chris Webber, Steve Kerr, and (sigh) Reggie Miller is an interesting ploy to toss out in a regular season that will be six days away from extinction on Thursday. Again, though, we just hope that this is a late-season novelty, and not the look (and sound) of the future.

Blake Griffin can still do this (Getty Images)

Even when the offense goes stagnant or the defense doesn’t talk, watching a Los Angeles Clippers game can be an abject joy in ways that go far beyond the continued existence of Lob City. Between Chris Paul’s brilliance, Jamal Crawford’s well-honed mix of veteran headiness and rookie-level shot selection, Matt Barnes’ incessant cutting and complaining, and the odd Lamar Odom contribution, the team is a fascinating watch even if Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan aren’t doing amazing things 11 feet off the floor.

You still get the nagging feeling, as the squad readies itself for its first two-year playoff run in two decades, that things won’t really start to matter until 2013-14. That the team’s potential won’t be reached until after the franchise figures out what to do with coach Vinny Del Negro, Jordan’s trade value, the aging role players, and Paul’s free agency. Paul is unlikely to leave Los Angeles, but he could encourage a massive overhaul that could sadly put this year’s model in an NBA purgatory of sorts.