NBA Insider with Ken Berger

After two days off to take care of summer camp transportation and home improvement projects, it’s a good time to get caught up on a big week in the NBA.

* The Celtics can put their Big Three up against anyone else’s, but David Thorpe of Scouts Inc. is concerned that Danny Ainge hasn’t assembled enough complementary pieces to make a real championship push. The Celts have since added former Nets reserve Eddie House and guard Jackie Manuel from the D-League, but Thorpe says on this podcast that he’d be “scared” if he were in Ainge’s shoes.

* While everyone remains focused on the Tim Donaghy investigation, Joe Crawford quietly met with commissioner David Stern, president of basketball operations Joel Litvin, executive VP of basketball operations Stu Jackson, and director of officiating Ronnie Nunn on Tuesday in Manhattan. No word yet on Crawford’s future after he was suspended indefinitely April 17, two days after a heated confrontation with the Spurs’ Tim Duncan. Phil Jasner of the Philadelphia Daily News sums up the whole Crawford affair here.

* Henry Abbott of TrueHoop addresses the question of which teams have improved the most in the East – from Boston with Garnett, to the Knicks with Zach Randolph, to the Magic with Rashard Lewis. Henry posed the question to a bevy of basketball bloggers and gives their responses.

* Authorities are investigating whether the armed robberies at the Chicago homes of Eddy Curry and Antoine Walker are linked. Scary stuff. In the information overload age, anyone can find out where millionaires live and target them.

* The EEOC has sided with former Dallas Mavericks forward Roy Tarpley, paving the way for him to sue the NBA for reinstatement. At 42, Tarpley can’t hope to play any more, but he can hope to win the lawsuit in which he is seeking $6.5 million. Tarpley, banned in 1995 for repeated violations of the NBA’s substance abuse policy, has passed all drug tests he’s taken in the past four years. The EEOC ruled that the NBA’s failure to reinstate Tarpley was a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

If Michael Vick wants to make the case that engaging in dog fighting is a disability, I’m sure the activist lawyers will be lining up to help him sue the NFL.