Each weekday morning, BDL serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your stew.

Charles F. Gardner, Journal Sentinel: "Another dunk resulted in another knee injury for Michael Redd(notes). The Milwaukee Bucks shooting guard will be out for at least two weeks after he suffered a strained left patella tendon against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night. But Redd's latest setback was not related to the major injury he suffered in January, when he tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in the same knee. Instead, it was eerily similar to an injury he suffered in January 2007, when he dunked late in a game against Cleveland and also hurt his left patella tendon. This time he injured the knee while making a right-handed dunk early in the third quarter of the Bucks' 96-85 victory. 'It's not severe,' Redd said. 'Good news. I just aggravated an old knee injury I had a couple years ago. I'm going to Chicago to check it out with my doctor, but the MRI showed up pretty positive.'"

Ronald Tillery, Memphis Commercial Appeal: "Fourth-year forward Rudy Gay(notes) and the Grizzlies failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension before the NBA deadline. Negotiations broke off Monday evening so Gay will become a restricted free agent next summer. The Griz still can match any offer sheet Gay signs. The parties had until 10:59 p.m. CST Monday to strike a deal. 'We've agreed to not agree,' said Jeff Austin, Gay's agent. 'We looked at different ways we might try to get something done and we weren't able to agree.' An NBA source said the Grizzlies' final offer was a five-year deal worth about $50 million. Gay was asking for a deal similar to Portland's LaMarcus Aldridge(notes) (five years, $65 million with incentives), according to the source. Neither side would characterize the contract discussions."

John Reid, The Times Picayune: "As his teammates dressed quickly, Chris Paul(notes) stood with his back against a wall in the locker room trying to figure out why the New Orleans Hornets were unable to stop New York Knicks center David Lee(notes) from going through the lane for uncontested layups or keep Al Harrington(notes) from making perimeter shots. Paul said he hoped New Orleans' momentum from a 29-point third-quarter surge would be enough to spark his teammates. But instead of closing out the Knicks, the Hornets were buried by their own mistakes. [...] It appeared at times in the fourth quarter that Paul was the only assertive Hornets player in the game. On several possessions, too often Paul's teammates lacked movement. He took advantage of open shots along the perimeter and used his quickness and darting moves to run past the Knicks' Chris Duhon(notes), a former Salmen High School standout, for drives to the basket."

Ross Siler, Salt Lake Tribune: "More than a month after Carlos Boozer(notes) returned to Utah, Jazz chief executive Greg Miller took the symbolic step of wearing the former All-Star forward's No. 5 jersey to an interview Sunday night on KSL Channel 5. 'This is just a 'Welcome back Carlos,'' Miller said. 'I want to make him feel welcome. I'm glad he's here. I want to let him know that whatever happened over the summer is water under the bridge and it's all about winning going forward.' Miller's relationship with Boozer has been the subject of much speculation following a July conversation between the two. In the weeks afterward, Boozer asserted that he had been told by management he no longer was in the Jazz's future plans. Boozer went so far as to claim that he and the team had mutually agreed to a trade and named Chicago and Miami as preferred destinations. Throughout the summer, Miller declined requests to clarify what had been said to Boozer. Although they explored trade possibilities, the Jazz ultimately opted to bring back Boozer for a sixth season in Utah."

Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle: "Finally, the Rockets had enough. As much as they had seemed to control the game from the opening tip, they could not pull away. They kept building leads. The Jazz kept rallying back. By the fourth quarter, another lead was gone. The Jazz seemed poised for one of those familiar finishing kicks, when everything seems to roll for them on this site of so many Rockets nightmares. Yet, with another lead gone, the Rockets put together another run, and this time, they kept on running until they rolled to a 23-point lead and cruised in for a 113-96 rout Monday of the Jazz. 'It's huge, a huge win for us,' said Rockets center Chuck Hayes(notes), who had 10 of his 12 points in the first half to help set a tone for the night. 'They're probably top in the league every year as far as homecourt advantage. To come in and get a win is huge, and probably how we played is more impressive than the win itself.' The Rockets did it by accomplishing almost everything they wanted. With Luis Scola(notes) getting 15 rebounds, they outrebounded the Jazz, 46-28, and outscored them, 13-6, in second-chance points, by far their best night on the boards in the early season."

RealGM: "The Cavaliers are going to continue bringing guard Delonte West(notes) off the bench. Cleveland coach Mike Brown said that West will not be in the starting lineup against Washington on Tuesday. West has had a very rough offseason. In addition to dealing with his bipolar disorder, West could still face a league suspension for misdemeanor weapons charges against him in Maryland. As if that wasn't enough, his wife filed a domestic violence report against him last week. Anthony Parker(notes) has been Cleveland's starting shooting guard."

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe: "Charles Barkley believes the NBA should adopt a 20-year-old age limit that would mandate players be two years removed from high school or have two years of college to help stem the slew of draft busts. 'I have always thought the longer they stay in college, their level of play will improve,' said Barkley. 'You go to college to learn how to play. When you are in high school, you're just good because you are bigger, stronger, and faster than everybody else. You should go to college to learn how to play. They are bypassing that, and it hurt the NBA for a long time. The NBA is back on the upswing but there was a few years where we had a bunch of talented players who didn't have a clue how to play.'"

Jerry Zgoda, Star Tribune: "On Monday, the Wolves were overcome by a Clippers team that won for the first time after an 0-4 start ... While Telfair and Smith came off the bench in measured roles for the Clippers, Wolves coach Kurt Rambis started Flynn for the fourth time in as many games this season and brought Sessions off the bench. But also once again, he tinkered with the point-guard combination, searching for the guy who can get his triangle offense organized and running efficiently. [...] Rambis praised his team for executing its new triangle offense "probably the best we've done," an improvement perhaps attributable to Ramon Sessions'(notes) 31 minutes off the bench while rookie starter Jonny Flynn(notes) played fewer than 19. That was flip-flopped from their minutes the first two games. Rambis used the word 'exceptional' to describe how Sessions 'organized' the offense, dictating its options with when and where he delivered the ball to teammates."

Rick Bonnell, Charlotte Observer: "Great defense and fortuitous scheduling were the only things that kept the Charlotte Bobcats .500 Monday. The defense was superb - the New Jersey Nets went 10 minutes of the second half without a point. And the opponent is deservedly winless. That added up to a 79-68 escape at Time Warner Cable Arena. The offense continues to be dysfunctional. The Bobcats (2-2) set a team record for worst shooting in a half (19 percent) to open the third quarter down eight. They managed to shoot 50 percent in the second half and played the best defense coach Larry Brown has seen from this team. 'I told them, 'We don't defend and we lose by 40,'' Brown said of his halftime message. Even with great defense, this was a long walk through a dark night. The Bobcats finished up shooting 32 percent and committing 21 turnovers. How many teams could they have beaten like this?"

Jason Jones, Sac Bee: "Some of the questions surrounding Kings rookie guard Tyreke Evans(notes) before last June's NBA draft had to do with whether he was a point guard or shooting guard and if he had a consistent jump shot. Some of the same things were said about Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo(notes) before the 2008 draft. Things worked out fine for Mayo, who averaged 18.5 points and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting. Mayo and Evans made headlines nationally as high school underclassmen. But Kings coach Paul Westphal hadn't considered any similarities between Mayo and Evans before Monday's home opener against the Grizzlies. Westphal sees more similarities not related to their play. 'The fact that they're both one year out of college walking into the league as an immediate starter, I'm sure they have a lot in common,' Westphal said. 'A lot of things they can compare, what's it like to step from one world into this one. But style-wise, their games are different.'"

Frank Isola, New York Daily News: Among the many differences between Stephon Marbury(notes) and Isiah Thomas, here are two more: Thomas doesn't need to buy a ticket to watch the Knicks and he still maintains a close relationship with Garden chairman James Dolan. Thomas and Dolan dined together last Wednesday in Miami prior to the Knicks' season opener. The two later sat together in a suite at AmericanAirlines Arena and watched the Knicks lose to Miami. 'He still feels badly for what happened to Isiah,' says a source close to Dolan. 'He wishes things would have worked out differently.'"

Related: Ramon Sessions, O.J. Mayo, Jonny Flynn, Tyreke Evans, Carlos Boozer, Luis Scola, Delonte West, Rudy Gay, LaMarcus Aldridge, Chuck Hayes, David Lee, Chris Paul, Chris Duhon, Michael Redd, Al Harrington, Stephon Marbury, Anthony Parker, Charlotte Bobcats, Detroit Pistons, Memphis Grizzlies, Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets, New Orleans Hornets, New York Knicks, Suicide lines