Hollinger and Partnow: What’s going on in front offices at this time of year?

With the NBA Draft Lottery on Tuesday and the combine in Chicago over the course of the next week, the NBA’s offseason activities will jump into full swing even for the four teams still playing. While much of the public focus will be on the conference and NBA Finals, the work done and decisions made by teams over the next six to eight weeks will shape much of the course of the 2023-24 season. Our front office insiders John Hollinger and Seth Partnow got together to discuss how teams are handling this busy and stressful period.

Seth Partnow: John, let’s get right into it as we head toward the conference finals. We’re about to reach the most important part of the season. I mean the most important part of the 2023-24 season.

I’m being a little glib with that line, but the fact remains that for the majority of teams, how they handle May, June and July will have nearly as much to do with where they are this time next year as will November, December and January.

I think the popular belief is that when a team’s season ends the org goes dark for a while. Anyone walking into the office will have a similarly forlorn, Fresh-Prince-of-Bel-Air-finale “Where is everybody?” look on their faces. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. Front offices are entering the busiest period of the year, especially so for those lucky groups who have to split their attention between an ongoing playoff run and prepping for the draft and free agency player movement.

Would you agree with me on all that?

John Hollinger: I would 98 percent agree, with the one qualifier that March can perhaps get even crazier than the stretch between early April and mid-May, simply because the organization is trying to scout an impossible volume of basketball between college, Europe, the NBA and the G League and set-piece scouting events (Hoop Summit, Jordan Classic, Portsmouth, etc.).

The one saving grace about this time of year is at least all these other teams on the planet that we have to follow have either stopped playing entirely or are playing more sparsely in playoff series.

However, that is of perhaps minor comfort given all the work that remains to be done. Once regular season ends, analytics staffs start working overtime to project future performance for draft targets, potential free agents and, of course, the internal roster. Scouts are doing the eye test on an endless list of prospects and rival players. Meanwhile, somebody also has to wrangle all this and make sure the right people are looking at the right players.

Once the Draft Combine comes, that’s when things really get crazy. The preparation for that event alone — in terms of interview questions, agent meetings, player analysis and background work. Lots of times, ancillary things are happening there as well — interviews for open positions, for instance. Teams that have been eliminated or missed the playoffs entirely aren’t just chilling either; a lot of times that’s an opportunity to…