Kobe Bryant during Sunday's loss to Miami (Getty Images)

When Kobe Bryant joined Twitter earlier this year, one of the more intriguing subplots about his time on the social media site was the way he would approach his interactions with fans, critics, or anyone that just bothered to put “@kobebryant” in a 140-character missive. Would he reply at all? Would Kobe reply endlessly to dozens of followers, only to delete the replies to clear his feed? Would he send dismissive direct messages back to the followers, knowing that they couldn’t DM back? Or would he pick and choose, smartly.

[Related: While Lakers soap opera thickens, Heat just keep winning]

So far, it appears as if Bryant is picking and choosing, smartly. The Lakers All-Star, who heads into Monday afternoon with nearly 1.3 million followers on the service, used the hours following his team’s hard-fought yet mistake-prone loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday to chide one fan.

After one follower shared the sentiments of many female (and male) Bryant followers by offering the suggestion that he and the Laker star “make out in bed,” another follower offered this lovely take:

(Courtesy Twitter.com/SomeGuyYouShouldn'tFollow)

At least he spelled “you’re” correctly.

Swiftly, Kobe came back with this:

Just letting you know@PacSmoove @pookeo9 that using "your gay" as a way to put someone down ain't ok! #notcool delete that out ur vocab

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) February 11, 2013

Brendan Haywood in December, as Zach Randolph poses with the NBA's Bob Lanier (Getty Images)

As a good chunk of the East coast digs itself from out of a snowstorm and most of the country braces for at least another month of cold conditions, monthly bills remain a frightening concern for thousands of American families. Especially if you’re a single mother, attempting to go to school, work, juggle responsibilities with children, and make the pretty significant jump from a homeless shelter to place of your own.

Charlotte Bobcats center Brendan Haywood, in one of the finer plays of the NBA’s year, has decided to help over a dozen local mothers working through the same concerns. On Sunday, as the mothers met at the Salvation Army to update each other and Salvation Army workers on their latest move, the parents watched in puzzlement as the Bobcats’ mascot Rufus and several banks of media cameras showed up out of nowhere. From the Charlotte Observer:

Rochelle Monroe watched as her children played with Rufus as she wondered what the gathering was really about.

“They said they were going to give us help,” she said. “I don’t know what they mean.”

Jeremy Lin high above the rim (Getty Images)

Jeremy Lin is the lead point guard for the Houston Rockets, a team that is first in the NBA with a blistering top mark in pace factor. He’s also in his first full season as an NBA starter, working in the last week before a much needed All-Star break, while still recovering from a ligament tear some 11 months ago. You’d be fine to question the young man’s legs, given that information and context.

And he’d be fine in proving you wrong. Lin managed one of the plays of the highlight-rich Houston Rockets’ season on Sunday night in Sacramento:

That would be Lin getting the block on Kings’ guard Aaron Brooks, and then going coast to coast for the huge throwdown on long-armed Kings wingman Francisco Garcia.

Lil Wayne (Getty Images)

MIAMI, Fla. – Welcome to today's episode of Heat Said, Weezy said.

During Sunday's Miami Heat win over the L.A. Lakers, rapper Lil Wayne tweeted that he was ejected from American Airlines Arena for cheering for the visiting team.

"So I'm @ da Heat game right, rootin 4 da Lakers kuz dats my team & would u believe they got police 2 make me leave?! Wow!" the rapper tweeted.

He then added an epithet: "[Expletive] da Heat."

[Related: While Lakers soap opera thickens, Heat just keep winning]

That caused quite a reaction on Twitter, as Lil Wayne has nearly 10 million followers. Yet he's not the only one out there with an account of what happened Sunday. A fan named Danny Vega, who said he was near the rapper, had a different version of the incident:

"Random guy yelled at Lil Wayne at #MiamiHEAT game, Weezy looked back, gave him a mean stare & gestured he had a gun," tweeted Vega, who said he was at the game and sitting near Lil Wayne. "Weezy just got into argument with security at the

Eric Gordon gazes upon an uncertain future, or just waits for a play to start (Christian Petersen/ Getty).

Last July, New Orleans Hornets shooting guard Eric Gordon became a restricted free agent and promptly did everything in his power to convince the team not to match a four-year max offer from the Phoenix Suns. In Gordon's view, the Hornets disrespected him by not immediately offering him a five-year extension, despite the fact that it was perfectly logical and expected that they would see what other teams would offer a very good player with a questionable history of injuries.

[Also: Celtics' Rajon Rondo could return earlier than anticipated]

Gordon eventually came to terms with this situation and reported to camp with the misguided but impressively optimistic belief that New Orleans would be a playoff team. Unfortunately, his relationship with the organization got complicated soon after, with a knee injury of uncertain severity. It looked like Gordon and the Hornets had serious communication issues.

He and the team resolved that conflict, too, and Gordon has played in 16 games this season — the Hornets have gone 9-7 in those contests — despite struggling with back problems. He certainly appears to be a part of their long-term plans. Yet he seems unhappy once again. From Sam Amick for USA Today:

Shawn Marion handles the ball against a bad team (Ronald Martinez/ Getty).

The NBA trade deadline falls on Feb. 21, which means that teams are frantically assessing their needs and deciding if they want to be buyers, sellers, or loiterers in this market. Our Kelly Dwyer ran through some of the hottest rumors on Monday, and in just a few days those stories have mutated and developed into about 400 different scenarios. 'Tis the season, I guess.

The Dallas Mavericks are one team that's likely to sell. Owner Mark Cuban has already said his bank is open, and the Mavs aren't looking much like a playoff team at 21-28 and 11th in the West. Some of their veterans could be on the block. That list includes versatile forward Shawn Marion, one of a handful of Mavericks left from the 2011 NBA champions. Marion is the sort of smart, capable player that a contender can use at both ends. Yet, with a sizable contract expiring after next season, he could also prove valuable to a young, rebuilding team willing to wait for its cap space.

Except, according to Marion, he has no interest in playing for a bad team and won't report to one if he's dealt. From Tim McMahon for ESPNDallas.com:

Don't worry, he's just getting coverage for the edit bay. (David Sherman/NBA/Getty Images)

A look around the league and the Web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: Heat Index and Grantland. Tom Haberstroh and Zach Lowe got access to a bunch of data from STATS' SportVU — a 3D video camera-based tracking system that films games from a variety of angles, using in-game player position coordinates to offer a ton of detailed info about player speed, distance, player separation, ball possession and more. Fifteen NBA teams have purchased these camera systems, and, as a result, probably have a crazy amount of information about not only their teams, but every other team in the league. Haberstroh and Lowe parse it to give us some awesome, granular profiles about guys like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and many, many more. So much fun, whether you're a hoops nerd or not. (Although being a nerd probably helps.)

PF: BBall Breakdown. Virtually every NBA team uses the Horns set — a point guard triggering the ball up top, two players (usually bigs) at the elbows, two players (usually wings) spacing the floor in the short corners — on offense, but despite its prevalence across the league, there are plenty of different actions and counters teams run out the initial alignment. Coach Nick runs through a bunch of variations, showing how individual player motions and decisions can create loads of offensive options.

SF: Waiting for Next Year. Kirk Lammers breaks down how Cleveland Cavaliers sophomores Kyrie Irving and Tristan Thompson used simple high screen-and-rolls, with slight tweaks from possession to possession and great execution down the stretch, to kill the Oklahoma City Thunder last weekend.

Greg Oden in March of 2012 (Getty Images)The Cleveland Cavaliers rank 27th in defense this season, and with Anderson Varejao out for the season (and possibly traded during the offseason) the Cavaliers are reportedly set to offer a contract to one of the greatest defensive big men of his generation. Even if he didn’t actually play for most of this generation’s term.

Jason Lloyd covers the Cavs expertly for the Akron Beacon-Journal, and on Friday he reported that the Cavaliers will offer Greg Oden a two-year contract following the Feb. 21 trade deadline, utilizing cap space that would presumably put the Cavaliers ahead of Oden’s various other suitors, ones that would be offering him a minimum contract. And this is only if the Cavaliers go past the deadline without acting as a trade facilitator with that extra cap space.

From Lloyd’s report:

Oden is living nearby in Columbus. His agent, Mike Conley Sr., said last week Oden has been to see the Cavs a couple of times already, but was evasive when pressed as to what capacity.

“Greg has been up there (to Cleveland) before and he’ll probably be up there again in an official capacity,” Conley said Friday.