Each weekday morning, BDL serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your smoked gouda-chorizo jalapeno poppers.

Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle: "Last season, when Tracy McGrady(notes) decided to have microfracture knee surgery, ending his season, the Rockets found out by watching television. [...] Rockets coach Rick Adelman was livid at the way the announcement was handled. McGrady described it as a misunderstanding, and really, going public with the decision before discussing it privately did no harm. It wasn't the announcement that ended his season. A season later, however, he clearly has not learned from the experience, or simply does not care if the Rockets object to his announcements. He said during the summer that he was 99 percent back and would be ready to practice with the team at the start of training camp. Things did not work out that way. According to the Rockets, he still has not gone through a full practice. Then on Monday, in an email to Yahoo! Sports, he said he would play next Wednesday. The problem with that was that Rockets general manager Daryl Morey had already said on Monday that nothing had changed in McGrady's timetable, that he won't play until the team considers him to be 100 percent and that he would need to be checked out in a full practice before he will be permitted to play a game. Next full practice? Nov. 23."

Marcus Thompson II, San Jose Mercury News: "Center Andris Biedrins(notes) apparently is going to miss more playing time. He returned to the lineup Sunday, which probably wasn't a good idea. Biedrins played 21 minutes, totaling two points and six rebounds before leaving midway through the third quarter. He went to the locker room for treatment and never returned. 'He's not doing very well,' coach Don Nelson said. 'I probably shouldn't have even played him, but we wanted to have another big guy if we possibly could. He couldn't do very much when he was out there, and he has re-injured himself. So that was a bad decision on my part.' Biedrins sat out of a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday after tweaking his back Wednesday against Memphis."

Ronald Tillery, Memphis Commercial Appeal: "As much as the Grizzlies are sympathetic toward Allen Iverson(notes) and are rooting for his return from a personal leave of absence, their last workout wasn't the first without him. The Griz had plenty of practice with Iverson away because of a hamstring injury during the preseason. Still, the team's time spent on the FedExForum practice court Monday was anything but a routine day at the office. The Griz return home to face the Portland Trail Blazers tonight with a five-game losing streak and a bit of controversy in tow. Iverson won't make his scheduled home debut in a Grizzlies uniform. Their defense is ranked last in the league. The Grizzlies' 1-6 record is the worst in the Western Conference. 'We need to get a win,' Griz coach Lionel Hollins said."

Mark Murphy, Boston Herald: "Allen Iverson's troubles in Memphis, with the aging star weighing retirement against the prospect of coming off the bench, highlight the crossroads that most NBA players in their early 30s have to face. 'It depends on the player — you can or you can't do it,' said Rasheed Wallace(notes), who has made that transition in his first year with the Celtics. [...] The key to moving from starter to reserve, according to Wallace, is accepting the decline in one's abilities. 'I've already accepted that I can't jump no more,' he said. 'I'm not as athletic as I used to be. But when you lose that step or two, you have to pick up that step or two in your head. It's an adjustment, but one that I've made before. It depends on the mentality of that person. It can be an advantage or a disadvantage. You have to be able to step into a game and catch that flow.'"

Mike Bresnahan, L.A. Times: Kobe Bryant(notes) has not signed a contract extension. In fact, it might not happen at all this season. The Lakers guard is under contract until July 2011, but he seems to be in no hurry to extend his deal. The Lakers have offered Bryant the maximum money he could earn. On top of the total of $47.8 million he is scheduled to make this season and next, he can sign a three-year extension worth $86 million to $91 million more, depending on NBA salary-cap figures to be determined in 2011. Such a move would keep him with the Lakers through the 2013-14 season. But Bryant, 31, was tight-lipped when asked about the absence of an extension. 'I'm not going to talk about it,' he said. "I'm not going to let it be a distraction. I'm going to keep my business behind closed doors. If the organization wants to talk about it, they can talk about it.'"

Brian Murphy, Pioneer Press: "Inexperienced roster. Soft defense. Mounting losses. Growing frustration. The aforementioned maladies aptly would have described the Timberwolves or Golden State Warriors before the two Western Conference bottom feeders squared off Monday night at Oracle Arena. Just when it appeared the Wolves had met an ideal match for ending a prolonging losing streak that is becoming uglier by the day, along came the equally confounded Warriors, who took out a month's worth of frustration on the NBA's punching bag. Golden State, a young, rebuilding club that lost four of its first five games, made its 146-105 pounding of Minnesota look routine and, in the process, laid a record-tying beat down on the Wolves. The 41-point margin of defeat equaled the largest in team history, tying a 113-72 defeat at Miami on March 5, 1996. This also was the most points allowed by a Wolves team since Golden State torched them for 146 on the same court on April 1, 1994."

Matt Watson, NBA FanHouse: "Until last week, the last time the Detroit Pistons played a game in which neither Rip Hamilton or Tayshaun Prince(notes) started was the 2001-02 season — when Prince was a senior at Kentucky and Hamilton still coming into his own playing alongside Michael Jordan in Washington. [...] The Pistons haven't offered an official prognosis for either player, but given that Hamilton is still wearing a walking boot 11 days after originally suffering the injury, it seems likely his continued absence will be measured in weeks, not days. While high ankle sprains can take a long time to heal, Hamilton should be as good as new one he does finally return. Unfortunately, the same is not certain about Prince, who's sidelined indefinitely with a ruptured disk in his back. Back injuries are always scary, but what makes Prince's ailment especially worrisome is the fact that it looks like it may be a recurring condition."

Mike Monroe, S.A. Express-News: "Matt Bonner, who broke into the NBA in Toronto, visited with old friends from the Toronto media before the game. The Spurs center asked if rumors he had heard about fares being increased on the Toronto subway system were true. Bonner was famous during his days in Toronto for getting around the city on rapid transit, earning his nickname, 'The Red Rocket,' after the name of the city's subway trains. Told that fares were indeed about to go up, the notoriously tight-fisted Bonner had another question: 'Will the old tokens still work? I still have some left over.'"

Ben Walker, AP: "Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is being treated for a rare form of leukemia, and the basketball great said his prognosis is encouraging. The NBA's all-time leading scorer was diagnosed last December with chronic myeloid leukemia, he told The Associated Press on Monday. The 62-year-old Abdul-Jabbar said his doctor didn't give any guarantees, but informed him: 'You have a very good chance to live your life out and not have to make any drastic changes to your lifestyle.' [...] Citing the way Los Angeles Lakers teammate Magic Johnson brought awareness to HIV, Abdul-Jabbar said he wants to do the same for his form of blood cancer, which can be fatal if left untreated. 'I've never been a person to share my private life. But I can help save lives,' he said at a midtown Manhattan conference room. 'It's incumbent on someone like me to talk about this.'"

Dave D'Alessandro, The Star-Ledger: "For a second there, judging it solely by the sounds behind the gym door, we thought things were starting to look up. They told us that the practice was stretched past noon, and you could actually hear shouts and screeching sneakers, as if they somehow scounged up 10 bodies to scrimmage with. False alarm. We walked in to find Rafer, Josh, Brook and Trenton at one end, drilling with three coaches and video maven Pete Williams. And Sean, T-Will, Najera, and Bobby at the other end drilling with four other coaches. That was all of it -- just eight guys and seven coaches. Jules took one look at a folding chair that was carefully situated on a foul line, and said it looked like Norman Dale's first practice at Hickory High."

RealGM: "Early in the current 2009-2010 season, NBA attendance figures show less than a 1% drop from last season. Comparing the percentages of total arena capacity sold in all 30 NBA cities, this season's attendance so far registers at 90.137% of total capacity while last season's final attendance was 90.913% of total capacity, for a drop of 0.776%. In July, the NBA league office projected that this season's basketball-related income would decline between 2.5% and 5%, resulting in the salary cap falling to between $53.6 million and $50.4 million, respectively."

Jason Jones, Sac Bee: "Kings guard Kevin Martin(notes) underwent 'successful' surgery today to repair a hairline fracture of the navicular bone in his left wrist. He is expected to be released from the hospital today. Martin is expected to miss a minimum of eight weeks. Martin was injured in the Kings' home opener last Monday against Memphis. He played two days later against Atlanta with the injury only to find out a day later the severity of the injury."

The Hoop: "The Greek Pro basketball players central organization announced today that all the Greek professional players will be going on strike next weekend as it was proclaimed 3 months ago. The orgnization are trying to make a case for all players to be insured in the Greek Pro leagues (both A1 and A2) and they are also trying to make sure that all players receive the salaries they signed for in their contracts. The reassurements that measurements will be taken, have fallen to the deaf ears of the previous government in Greece. The political scene in Greece is going through a transition and it is very possible that nothing will be resolved until next weekend."

Related: Andris Biedrins, Kevin Martin, Tayshaun Prince, Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson, Rasheed Wallace, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers, Suicide lines