Each weekday morning, Ball Don't Lie serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your kimchi and edamame.

Gary Washburn, Boston Globe: "[Charles Barkley] is tiring of criticizing teams and wants the responsibility to build a winner with his own hands. 'It's time for me to be a general manager,' said Barkley, who has been at TNT for eight years. 'I think everybody around me knows it's time for me to take a different challenge. I always want to keep going as a person. I love my job. I love the people I work with. But now it's time for me to take on another challenge as a man. I need to grow as a person and it's time for me. And certainly I can do a better job than some of these guys have been doing.' Several Hall of Fame players have gone on to be general managers. Some have been wildly successful, such as Jerry West and Joe Dumars, while others floundered, such as Michael Jordan and Elgin Baylor. There is no way to determine how Barkley would fare unless he receives an opportunity."

Rick Bonnell, Charlotte Observer: "[Raja Bell(notes)] hasn't made a final decision whether to have surgery to repair that torn ligament, and he won't until he hears back from a hand specialist in Chicago. Surgery could cost him four months of inactivity. But there was Bell, wrist heavily wrapped, working out with a weighted ball, shooting 3-pointers and going through layup drills. Sure looked like a guy predisposed to toughing it out by skipping that surgery. Is this about obligation? 'There is an obligation,' said Bell, as savvy a guy as you'll meet in the NBA. 'But there are two obligations: one to my family and myself and my career and (another) obligation to the team that I'm a part of. Being a competitor and a businessman, I'm kind of split down the middle. Hopefully this (specialist) comes back, tells me I'm fine to play, and then I don't have to make a decision.'"

Mike Bresnahan, Los Angeles Times: "[Pau] Gasol did not practice Sunday, isn't planning on practicing today and probably won't play Tuesday, if the body language and overall uncertainty over his strained right hamstring is to be interpreted correctly. 'It doesn't make a whole lot of sense for me to play on Tuesday,' said Gasol, who sat out the Lakers' last six exhibition games because of the injury. [...] 'He still doesn't feel comfortable on it,' said Lakers Coach Phil Jackson, who was already looking past the opener. 'We have three days in between our first game and our second one. If worse comes to worst, we've got a really good replacement for him.' [Andrew] Bynum, on the other hand, practiced Sunday after sitting out two exhibition games because of a strained rotator cuff and sore left hamstring. He said he would 'play for sure' Tuesday."

Jerry Zgoda, Star Tribune: "Al Jefferson, feeling better after last week's flu knocked him down, participated in some of today's practice at Target Center, but he remains bothered by that sore Achilles tendon. He rode the exercise bike for the final portion of practice and did not scrimmage with his teammates. 'I have no idea,' Kurt Rambis said when asked if Jefferson will play in Wednesday's season opener. 'His illness is a non issue. His Achilles is what we're addressing now and we're helping him work through that. We'll see how he is tomorrow. That's how we'll keep going. We'll keep evaluating him the following day, keep increasing his activity and see how he handles it.' Jefferson wasn't in much of a mood to talk to reporters today, so he didn't." 

Jimmy Smith, The Times-Picayune: "Having missed all of training camp and the preseason with a sprained right second toe, Hornets center Emeka Okafor(notes) practiced almost completely with the team on Sunday and said afterward he feels better than he has in weeks. Okafor, who sustained a minor setback nearly two weeks ago which cancelled his original plans to play in the Oct. 17 preseason game against Indiana, participated in everything but the five-on-five, contact scrimmage portion of Sunday's practice and reported no ill effects. Okafor attempted to clear up misconceptions that arose after a Yahoo.com on Friday said he'd been given medical clearance to resume practice two weeks ago, but still wasn't fully participating in workouts. 'It made it seem like I wasn't playing for the sake of not playing,' Okafor said. 'What was left out was that the doctors said it was OK for me to gradually do weight-bearing activities until I felt comfortable to play. The previous week I jumped out there, felt the soreness and got set back.'"

RealGM: "Timberwolves forward Kevin Love(notes) is hoping to return early from hand surgery. He had three screws inserted into his left hand Tuesday during surgery to help repair a broken fourth metacarpal bone. The official timetable for his recovery is four to six weeks, but he's shooting for earlier. 'After 3 1/2, four weeks, I'll send back an X-ray,' Love told the Star Tribune. 'The process is that you can start doing a little more each week. But we'll send the X-ray back and see how it looks and see how I feel and if the doctor is OK with it, I'll be good to go.' If Love returns after just four weeks, he'd miss 10 games and return on Nov. 21 against Portland."

Jody Genessy, Deseret News: "Remember the tumultuous summer? The trade talk? Open flirtations with Chicago and Miami? The distraction that Carlos Boozer(notes) was perhaps going to be in this, the final season of his six-year Jazz contract? The Utah Jazz have put it behind them and are raving about how Boozer has acted this preseason, according to general manager Kevin O'Connor. O'Connor said the franchise is focusing on 'the positives that he brings (as a) veteran that is in the prime of his basketball career.' The Jazz love how hard Boozer worked to report in shape, how healthy his body has been and his attitude. 'He's been an absolute, total professional,' O'Connor said, 'working on the things that he has said himself he wants to work on to become more of a complete player.'"

Paul Coro, Arizona Republic: "Coach Alvin Gentry calls the Suns 'the NBA's smallest team,' but he still did not imagine such a rebounding problem. He had been encouraged by team's history, citing the 2004-05 Suns as the model. That team went 62-20 and was outrebounded on the offensive glass in 55 games. Gentry does not fault the effort or the wings. He puts the onus on his big men, particularly after Thursday's preseason finale in which 6-foot-11 Channing Frye(notes) had one rebound in 32 minutes and 6-10 Amaré Stoudemire had two in 26 minutes. 'We've got good guys, and they'll try to do everything we ask for them to do,' Gentry said. 'It's something we'll get better at during the year. Even if initially it's not happening, we're not going to panic, because we're trying to put something in place for long term.' The Suns could get help Monday, when they find out if they can sign center Jarron Collins(notes), who was waived Thursday by Portland."

Matt Steinmetz, NBA FanHouse: "Warriors coach Don Nelson has gone out of his way to compare rookie Stephen Curry(notes) to a young Steve Nash(notes). That's a nice comparison and one any young player would likely take. But Curry's already got a mentor, thank you, and it's tough to argue with his choice: Chris Paul(notes). Curry and Paul, both from North Carolina, go back a few years. But this summer their friendship grew, the result of spending nearly a month working out together at various venues in the South. 'I was with him three or four weeks and we worked out every day, five or six in the morning,' Curry said. 'We would lift together and then for about an hour and a half we'd do on-the-court stuff with our trainer. We traveled to Orlando, New Orleans, Winston-Salem, Charlotte. Pretty much wherever he was, I followed him.'"

Tony Bizjak, Sac Bee: "Efforts to build a basketball arena at Cal Expo in Sacramento are at a crucial stage as officials contemplate seeking a private development partner. An important doubt has emerged, however: 'There is not a developer I know in the country who would do it, especially in today's economy,' said John Semcken, vice president of sports stadium builder Majestic Realty Co., who viewed Cal Expo's plans. [...] Even if the economy improves, Majestic's Semcken told The Bee last week, the initial plan appears risky. It calls for a developer to front money for the project. His comments serve as a cautionary backdrop as Cal Expo and the NBA consider formally advertising for a private developer to help them finance an arena and a new fairgrounds. Officials said the developer would be allowed to lease and redevelop the rest of the aging and underused Expo site. Expo officials acknowledge they learned in their discussions with developers that the recession makes the project problematic and tougher than it appeared in February, when the NBA unveiled the concept."

Ted Kulfan, The Detroit News: "For the Pistons to have a good season, it'll be important for Rodney Stuckey(notes) to be a good point guard. The Pistons need to see continued development from their third-year player, a player who has shown great promise at times, but has frustrated the Pistons and their fans by not showing it consistently enough. The Pistons want to see consistent, effective results. Which is why Stuckey's all-around play the final two exhibition games was so pleasing for coach John Kuester. [...] 'It was neat to watch him develop as a point guard the last two games,' Kuester said. 'He ran the team, he put people in positions, and his offense just flowed in regard to not looking for his offense — it just happened. That was the thing that was impressive. Watching him on tape defensively, truthfully, when he wants to clamp down, he's as good defensively as there is in the league,' Kuester said. 'He has a chance to be special defensively.'"

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