Jason Collins during an exhibition game in October of 2012 (Getty Images)

For many, the most surprising takeaway from Jason Collins’ revelation of his sexuality on Monday was the news that Collins wore the No. 98 during the 2012-13 season as a tribute to Matthew Shepard. Shepard was an openly gay University of Wyoming student who was brutally tortured and murdered in a hate crime in October of 1998. The fact that we had been watching one of the more poignant tributes in sports history during the waning moments of Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards games this year came as a huge, and most welcome, surprise.

[Also: Jason Collins gave teammate a heads up before announcement]

Shepard’s parents, Dennis and Judy, felt the same. They learned of Collins’ announcement and his tribute as we did on Monday morning, and reacted exactly as you’d expect them to. From an exclusive interview with FOX Sports’ Sam Gardner:

“It made me cry,” Judy Shepard told FOXSports.com during an interview Monday afternoon. “It was really quite a tribute, and I was very honored. And I know Matt would be thrilled.”

How can you call this wonderful man "heartless?" (Getty Images)

Heading into Game 5 of their series with the Chicago Bulls, the Brooklyn Nets were coming off what could have been a dispiriting (and stamina-killing) triple-overtime loss in Game 4. The team had plenty of chances to turn the tide and take back home-court advantage while in Chicago, but because the 63-minute marathon that didn’t go in their favor, the Nets were facing an often insurmountable 3-1 deficit in their first-round pairing as Monday evening set in.

Instead of boring his team with 63 minutes of game tape and adjustments, Nets interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo dialed up this YouTube clip of Chicago Sun-Times columnist (and noted not all that swell of a guy) Joe Cowley, talking up some internal Chicago Bulls monologue that he is apparently privy to. Watch Cowley here:

The Mamba waits to pounce (Getty Images)

With every season that ends, for the playoff teams at least, we felt it right to take a look ahead. TNT already has the rights to "Gone Fishin'," and because we're sure that someone, somewhere, still likes that Wyclef song, we're going with "Gone Till November." And, yes, we know the season starts in October. Today? The Los Angeles Lakers.

In terms of overall word count, the NBA blogosphere probably broke the all-time record this season when it came to the 2012-13 Los Angeles Lakers. It’s true that the 2010-11 Miami Heat, fresh off of LeBron James’ annoying "Decision," really turned on the content providers, but something about this collection of stars hit home with both writers and readers.

It certainly hit home with me. The chance for the two greatest guards of their respective generation to mix with the NBA’s best center and most versatile big man had me salivating last summer. I didn’t appreciate Los Angeles’ borderline-cruel great timing as they seemingly fleeced both Orlando and Phoenix into acquiring the services of Steve Nash and Dwight Howard. Even with the caveats — age, health, the presence of Mike Brown on Los Angeles' sideline — I assumed that an 82-game season would last long enough for the Lakers to figure it all out and start to find their groove just as they hit the postseason.

And I, like many others, was way wrong. To a degree nobody could anticipate, with Pau Gasol acting as the only active member of the Lakers in the second half of their final game of the season — one that was played in April, no less, and not mid-June. Metta World Peace's, Nash's and Kobe Bryant’s injuries paired with Howard’s Game 4 petulance to create a disastrous and fitting end to a terrible season. A sad season, really, for those of us who love to watch great basketball at its peak.

Jarron and Jason Collins (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: Sports Illustrated. Former NBA center Jarron Collins, on his brother Jason: “I’ve never been more proud of him.”
PF: TrueHoop. I am at a loss to try and ape Kevin Arnovitz’s words, so I will just relay the headline: ‘Jason Collins and the pride of identity.’
SF: SportsNet. Michael Grange on Jason Collins’ giant step, the doors it will open, and his ability to push those who were unaware of his gifts out of their comfort zones.
SG: Sports on Earth. Will Leitch on Collins’ role in a world that has, thankfully, grown up around him.
PG: Los Angeles Times. Metta World Peace credits Jason Collins for relieving the “unnecessary stress” that comes from not being open with others about your sexuality for fear of backlash. He also invokes Cookie Monster.

Jason Collins, with the Celtics earlier in 2012-13 (Getty Images)

Most tune into ESPN’s ‘Outside the Lines’ on weekday afternoons for a smart, sober take on sports issues – a welcomed respite from the inane “embrace debate”-ideal that clouds the network’s typical gabfests. When news that Washington Wizards center Jason Collins had come out of the closet hit late Monday morning, the network appeared to be making up for its clumsy attempts to ignore the huge story initially by bringing Sports Illustrated scribe Franz Lidz (who helped Collins with his masterful column in SI) and ESPN.com writer Kevin Arnovitz for a reasoned, cheery take on Collins’ revelation.

After Lidz, and before we could get to Arnovitz, we had to sit through ESPN reporter Chris Broussard as he re-stated his dismissive take on homosexuality. Years ago Broussard referred to homosexuality as a sin; but the former New York Times NBA beat writer couldn’t possibly keep that line of thinking up – on record no less – in 2013, right? And not on Monday, when just about all reaction to Collins’ announcement was uniformly positive.

Apparently Chris wasn’t swayed. Here are his comments from his appearance on Outside the Lines, as transcribed by Ben Golliver from BlazersEdge and Sports Illustrated:

"I'm a Christian. I don't agree with homosexuality. I think it's a sin, as I think all sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman is. [ESPN's] L.Z. [Granderson] knows that. He and I have played on basketball teams together for several years. We've gone out, had lunch together, we've had good conversations, good laughs together. He knows where I stand and I know where he stands. I don't criticize him, he doesn't criticize me, and call me a bigot, call me ignorant, call me intolerant.

Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis grimace in the face of an uncertain future (Getty Images)

With every season that ends, for the playoff teams at least, we felt it right to take a look ahead. TNT already has the rights to "Gone Fishin'," and because we're sure that someone, somewhere, still likes that Wyclef song, we're going with "Gone Till November." And, yes, we know the season starts in October. Today? The Milwaukee Bucks.

Judging the Milwaukee Bucks by their first round sweep at the hands of the Miami Heat is unfair. The Heat, even sometimes while gliding through games and sitting star guard Dwyane Wade for Game 4, are in a different NBA stratosphere right now. What we can judge is Milwaukee’s 82-game run that preceded that four game sweep, while anticipating what could be a franchise-changing offseason.

From the outset of 2012-13, it was apparent that the Bucks were shooting for the lower rung of the playoffs, all in for the seventh or eighth seed. The March 2012 deal for Monta Ellis provided the Bucks with a player that they could trust to stay healthy for the remainder of the season, sadly not the case for the last few years with the departing Andrew Bogut, while hoping that a smallish backcourt featuring Ellis and incumbent point guard Brandon Jennings could do some damage in an NBA that is becoming more and more perimeter-orientated.

P.J. has J.J.'s back (Getty Images)

It’s hard to think of a time in NBA history when Joe Johnson hasn’t been criticized for what he was making, or his potentially overstated value to a team. In 2005, when Johnson was a free agent being courted by the Atlanta Hawks, the contract and trading package Atlanta gave up for him set off a literal court argument between Hawk ownership factions, with one side thinking that the rebuilding franchise was giving up too much for the scorer. In 2010, Johnson’s massive six-year, $119 million contract extension was criticized even before he was allowed to set pen to paper.

Now a Brooklyn Net, Johnson is still hearing the same criticism for those that think that $19.7 million is too much to pay for a player that averaged 16.3 points per game (with a combined 6.5 rebounds/assists) in the regular season. In a conference call with reporters on Sunday, Nets interim coach dismissed such criticizing, as relayed by ESPN New York:

Responding to a question during a Sunday conference call about how critics think Johnson is too reliant on isolation plays, settles for too many jumpers and isn’t worthy of his max contract, Carlesimo replied, “It’s hard to be polite and answer the question. ‘Critic’ is such an ambiguous term. I would call them uniformed or basketball unintelligent. Everybody’s entitled to their opinion. It would be hard for me to think that there was an intelligent basketball person making a statement like that about Joe Johnson.”

Jason Collins on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated (Image via Twitter.com/SInow)

Jason Collins is a free agent. He’s a skilled center that can provide stout defense off of the bench, and he’s a veteran presence. He’s also just become the first openly gay athlete in professional North American team sports.

Throughout his 12-year NBA career, the journeyman center has been known for leaving an indelible imprint on every game he plays without putting up major numbers. He’d defend the league’s best big men expertly, changing the course of both regular season and major playoff games with his work on that end, while barely adding points or rebounds to the box score. If you weren’t watching, you wouldn’t know he was there; much less what sort of impact he made.

[Twitter reaction: Kobe Bryant, others voice support for Jason Collins]

Now, after a game-changing interview with Sports Illustrated, Jason Collins has made a sports-altering impact. The free agent center, who played with both Boston and Washington in 2012-13, has announced he is gay. And the calmness and confidence in his revelation befits a man who was always just fine with playing a style of game that left him unnoticed by all but those who were paying close attention.

From Collins’ column in SI:

No one wants to live in fear. I've always been scared of saying the wrong thing. I don't sleep well. I never have. But each time I tell another person, I feel stronger and sleep a little more soundly. It takes an enormous amount of energy to guard such a big secret. I've endured years of misery and gone to enormous lengths to live a lie. I was certain that my world would fall apart if anyone knew. And yet when I acknowledged my sexuality I felt whole for the first time. I still had the same sense of humor, I still had the same mannerisms and my friends still had my back.

[…]

Loyalty to my team is the real reason I didn't come out sooner. When I signed a free-agent contract with Boston last July, I decided to commit myself to the Celtics and not let my personal life become a distraction. When I was traded to the Wizards, the political significance of coming out sunk in. I was ready to open up to the press, but I had to wait until the season was over.

A college classmate tried to persuade me to come out then and there. But I couldn't yet. My one small gesture of solidarity was to wear jersey number 98 with the Celtics and then the Wizards. The number has great significance to the gay community. One of the most notorious antigay hate crimes occurred in 1998. Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student, was