What was John Lucas thinking? Or was he thinking and it didn’t matter?

This past week the NBA fined the Cleveland Cavaliers $150 thousand and suspended Lucas for the first two games of the next season.

Lucas invited LeBron James to a workout he had organized with some college players and free agents. The NBA said the penalties were imposed because Lucas violated rules which prohibit contact between NBA teams and players who are not yet eligible for the draft.

James is nearing the end of his junior year at Akron St. Vincent - St. Mary’s high school. He averaged 29 points, more than eight rebounds, nearly 6 assists and over three steals per game last season in getting to the state finals. He was named the Associated Press’ Ohio Mr. Basketball for the second straight year and won several national player-of-the-year titles.

James says he will play his senior year for the Fighting Irish and he has not ruled out a college career. NBA rules say a high school player is not eligible for the draft until his class graduates.

One wonders what Lucas would hope to gain from having James participate in the workout. If he decides to turn professional for the 2003 draft, he probably would not be on the block for long. Any team trying to trade up would have to pretty much give up the whole house to get that number one pick. The Cavs, with three straight 50-loss seasons, don’t have that big a house to give up.

Interesting to read a couple of different takes on the outcome of last weekend’s Indianapolis 500.

Helio Castroneves was crowned the winner when the race finished under yellow because of a crash just two laps before the finish. His victory was upheld by Indy Racing League Director of Operations Brian Barnhart after spending three hours considering the appeal filed by Team Green.

Team Green claimed that its driver, Paul Tracy, had passed Castroneves just before the yellow came out. Barnhart examined videotapes and, presumably, other evidence and testimony, for three hours before upholding the results giving Castroneves the title for the second year in a row.

ESPN’s Robin Miller claims the evidence and testimony indicate that Team Green was right, that Tracy had moved in front of the Brazilian before the yellow came out. Miller cites ESPN footage and testimony from Sam Hornish, Jr. to dispute Barnhart’s contention that the evidence could not conclusively overturn the apparent outcome.

On the other hand, Brock Yates, contributing to speedchannel.com, says otherwise.

Yates claims that ABC’s footage seems “to indicate clearly” that the yellow was on “even if only for a few milliseconds” when Tracy made the Turn 3 pass.

It’s not like NASCAR, where the first car back to the start/finish line after the yellow comes out is the leader. In the IRL, the instant the yellow comes on, racing ceases and car line up as they were at that instant.

A sensible approach, but it opens the door for such situations as arose Sunday.

Miller hints at a possible political element to Barnhart’s ruling.

Last year, when Castroneves won convincingly, it was the second year in a row that CART drivers had come to the 500 and driven off with the IRL’s big prize.

Since then, his car owner, Roger Penske, bolted CART and brought his team to the IRL. Therefore, promoters of IRL races now can boast the appearance of two-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves and promoters of CART races can’t.

If Tracy had won it would have been the third of three years that CART won the IRL’s showcase event.

An interesting aside: Overnight Nielsen ratings show the Indianapolis 500 with a 5.3 rating for the early afternoon time slot, while NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600, in Sunday primetime, had a rating of 4.8.