Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers view Dan Hurley as a potential coach that can transform the franchise over the long-term and is well suited to adapt to the changing the landscape of the NBA that prioritizes player development. 

"The Lakers, Rob Pelinka, they want to put a program in place in L.A.," said Adrian Wojnarowski. "They don't want to have just coach-to-coach. They want to put a program in for the long-term. They want Dan Hurley's player development program.

"The NBA is changing. You can't in L.A. anymore just trade three or four first round picks to bring in a star player and think you can have a roster that will win. That's how they got Anthony Davis. But you are seeing you have to draft well. You have to develop your young players.

"In L.A., I think the belief is always you're going to be able to get the star player who finds his way to L.A., but you're going to have to grow your young players."

There is a frequently recited mantra that the team with the best player in the series typically wins it. But the broader context of the teams matters as well. The Dallas Mavericks have the better player in Luka Doncic, but the Boston Celtics had the far superior record and point differential in the regular season.

According to research by Ben Rohrbach, the "best" player in the NBA Finals has won 56 of 68 championships, good for a win percentage of 82.4 percent. LeBron James accounts for five of those 12 losses.

The team with the better regular season record has finished 47-18 in the Finals, which is a win percentage of 72.3 percent. Teams that finish with eight or more wins than their opponents are 30-5 (.857 winning percentage) in the Finals.

The Boston Celtics are returning to the NBA Finals for the second time in three seasons. In 2022, they lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games after initially taking a 2-1 series lead. 

Boston has reshaped large portions of their roster over the past two seasons while Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are more developed players.

"We feel like we're a different team than we were last year and the year before that," Jaylen Brown said. "I know everybody wants to continue to kind of pigeonhole us to what was happening in the past but we've had a different team every single year, different coaches, we've had like three coaches in the last five years. And still people want to make it seem like it's the same, it's the same, it's the same.

"Time has gone by, experience has been gained and I think we are ready to put our best foot forward."

The Denver Nuggets were a popular pick to repeat as champion, but they were ultimately eliminated in the second round by a Minnesota Timberwolves team with the requisite size and defense to slow down three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.

While Anthony Edwards Karl-Anthony Towns, Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid were in place before the arrival of Tim Connelly, the former Nuggets' executive traded for both Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley with the roster being particularly well suited to play against Denver.

"I mean, I think they're built to beat us," Jokic said. "Just look at their roster. They have basically two All-Stars, two probably first-team defensive players. Mike Conley is the most underrated player in the NBA, probably.

"From the bench, they have a Sixth Man of the Year. ... [They are] one team that they can do literally everything. They can be big, small."

The rookie season of Victor Wembanyama and his potential for greatness has rival teams believing the San Antonio Spurs are capable of building a dynasty around him in the near future.

"The Spurs are coming because of Victor," said Adrian Wojnarowski on Pardon My Take. "I had a GM, slash, president of one of the teams who is very much in the mix for a championship right now who said to me a couple weeks ago, 'We better all get our winning out of the way fast. We better get our winning done fast. Because once that kid has anybody around him, he's going to win everything all the time."

It is unclear how the Spurs will build around Wembanyama and their timeline for doing so.

"They want to improve the point guard position," said Wojnarowski. "They can go out in the trade market and get a solid veteran point guard who can kind of bridge them for a couple of years. They have so many picks. Maybe they find a point guard in this draft. [Rob] Dillingham from Kentucky or Reed Sheppard.

"Next year's draft is loaded. They could have as many as four lottery picks. I don't think they're going all-in on some veteran who makes $40 million or $50 million... They have to put pieces around him. He's going to dominate this league in ways, I think on both ends of the floor, unlike we've seen."