Editor's note: As part of "The Stein Line" every Monday, ESPN.com senior NBA writer Marc Stein takes you around the league for the latest news in "Coast to Coast."

Now that the hoopla is rightly getting more tangible, we proceed to the other aspect of David Robinson's farewell season.

Yes. The actual hoops.

	The Spurs need David Robinson, left, on the floor in the playoffs before he calls it a career.

Robinson, at 37, is averaging career lows in almost every category. At 8.9 points per game, he's the Spurs' fifth-leading scorer, while attempting just seven shots nightly. In his first six games back from two weeks off to rest his bad back, Robinson didn't play more than 23 minutes in any of them.

Factor in the Spurs' 13-3 record when Robinson hasn't played and there is inevitably talk that San Antonio is actually better when the undersized-but-game Malik Rose lines up as Tim Duncan's frontcourt sidekick and athletes fill out the rest of the lineup: Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Stephen Jackson, Bruce Bowen, Speedy Claxton, et al.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, of course, doesn't want to believe that, and not just because the continuation of the 13-3 trend would be the saddest part of Robinson's final season. It's because Pop knows that the Spurs won't run up that kind of success rate against the Lakers or the Kings if Robinson's back doesn't loosen up at least a little. Against those teams, Robinson is needed for more than extra fouls or a cameo -- against the Lakers to guard Shaquille O'Neal and spare Tim Duncan early foul trouble, against the Kings just because Chris Webber and Vlade Divac aren't accustomed to being matched in length and stature and mobility.

"It's an empirical fact," Pop says of the Spurs' 13-3 record sans No. 50. "But it doesn't really mean what it says. ... We need him, even if you didn't think he was the player he used to be. It's that added depth that he gives us, someone on the court who knows what we're doing."

Heartwarming as it is to see the farewell hoopla mount in the past few weeks, you can be sure what Robinson wants most as a sendoff is a reasonably healthy playoffs, so he can go out without feeling as though he had to limp away.

Van Gundy the man to replace Wilkens in Toronto?
Jeff Van Gundy is the first choice to replace Lenny Wilkens in Toronto, which shouldn't be much of a surprise since Van Gundy will be the most desired coaching free agent at season's end once his contractual ties to the Knicks expire. Whether the Raptors rank as Van Gundy's first choice remains to be seen, which explains why the Raps are also eyeing New Orleans' Paul Silas -- another soon-to-be free agent -- and Scott Skiles.

Add Kareem's name to 30-6-5 Club, just like Elgin
Another week, another new discovery for the 30-6-5 club for players who have averaged 30 points, six rebounds and five assists in one season. Seems that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar belongs, too.

It was discovered last week that Elgin Baylor was omitted from a list of 30-6-5 men that started appearing in various publications earlier this month. Baylor went for 34.8 points, 19.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists in 1960-61, and Abdul-Jabbar averaged 30.2 points, 16.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists in 1972-73. So Baylor and Abdul-Jabbar should have been included in the select group that also includes Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and Michael Jordan.

Orlando's Tracy McGrady and the Lakers' Kobe Bryant are still on course to barge their way in this season, a feat that has eluded some of the game's most famous names. Larry Bird's closest effort was a 29.9-9.3-6.1 season in 1987-88. John Havlicek posted a 28.9-9.0-7.5 season in 1970-71. Rick Barry just missed at 30.6, 5.7 and 6.2 in 1974-75 and so did Bob McAdoo at 31.1, 12.4 and 4.1 in 1975-76 and David Robinson at 29.8, 10.7 and 4.8 in 1993-94. Adrian Dantley had three 30-6-4 seasons. Pete Maravich peaked at 31.1, 5.1 and 5.4 in 1976-77.

Just to show how far McGrady and Bryant have to go, though: Robertson hit the 30-6-5 plateau six times; Jordan has done it five times; Chamberlain and West did it twice each.

Wiz end trip with a serious stumble

	Michael Jordan, left, and Jerry Stackhouse felt pretty low in the Mile High City after losing to the Nuggets Sunday.

Only nine games left for Michael Jordan to rail at his teammates and/or make a playoff charge. Tough to be terribly optimistic, though, after the Wizards finished 2-4 on their celebrated six-game trip out West.

The sixth of those games saw the Wiz, on the verge of a more uplifting 3-3 finish, blow a 13-point lead in Denver to join rival Milwaukee as a recent Nuggets victim. The loss was particularly damaging because Washington's only home game in the next week is Wednesday against Sacramento, with visits to Atlanta, Boston and Cleveland to follow.

The Wiz appeared to give themselves a lifeline earlier in the week with wins at Portland and Seattle on the middle two stops of the trip. Now, though, MJ and company probably need to sweep their four remaining games with out-of-contention opposition (Hawks twice, Cavs and Heat) just to have a shot at the No. 8 spot.

Besides games, Jordan is also running out of folks to blame. Christian Laettner quietly answered the season-long call for frontline production by averaging 9.7 points and 9.7 boards in March before Sunday's debacle. And the returns of Tyronn Lue (speed) and Jahidi White (beef) have led to better defense, which is what really beat the Blazers and Sonics.

What it all means: MJ has to count on the Bucks' inconsistency as much as anything to avoid a second straight lottery season as a Wizard.

Hedo suddenly Kings' 10th man, Turkey's No. 2
Strange as it was to see the Pistons zooming past the Kings in the fourth quarter Sunday, threatening to score 100 when the high-octane visitors suddenly couldn't score, there was more strangeness.

You saw Detroit's Mehmet Okur playing in the fourth quarter, and Sacramento's Hedo Turkoglu watching. It was the clearest evidence yet that Turkoglu -- who has lost minutes to veterans Keon Clark and Jim Jackson in Sacto -- has at least temporarily lost his standing as NBA's No. 1 Turkish import.

It has to be Okur at the moment. The 6-foot-11, 249-pound rookie scored in double figures seven times in March and, unlike Turkoglu, appears to have secured a spot in the Pistons' playoff rotation with center Zeljko Rebraca still sidelined.

"He's in the future-of-Detroit rotation," Pistons president Joe Dumars quipped.

Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here. Also, send Stein a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.