Each weekday morning, BDL serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your scrumpets. At least for now. We'll see how long this lasts.

George M. Thomas, Beacon Journal: "The jokes and laughter come more easily these days for Delonte West. Just this past week, the Cavaliers shooting guard showed up for a game with a cleanly shaven face and tight braids. The next day, a crimson Afro replaced the braids. 'You need to get a day when Andy [Varejao], Ben [Wallace] and I blow it out,' he said. 'You ain't seen this blown out. It's got a bit of volumez. It's French for volume.' What hasn't been a joke lately is how West has almost seamlessly fit into his role as the Cavs' starting shooting guard. Before Saturday's game against the Chicago Bulls, the veteran guard from St. Joseph's had been on a tear offensively, averaging more than 13.5 points per game. He's shooting 53 percent from the floor overall and 50 percent from the 3-point line, and displays an uncanny confidence when he launches a jump shot."

Marc Berman, New York Post: "There is a new energy on the Garden court and in the Garden stands. Knicks fans are dying for a winner and the standing ovation with which the Madison Square Garden crowd showered coach Mike D'Antoni's team in the final seconds of yesterday's 107-99 statement win over the previously unbeaten Jazz spoke to their longing. Read it and believe it. The Knicks are 4-2, winners of three in a row after knocking off the powerhouse Jazz (5-1). It's the first time the franchise has been two games over .500 since the 2004-2005 season. 'They outplayed us,' Utah coach Jerry Sloan said."

Chris McCosky, Detroit News: "Nobody expected a seamless transition. Nobody expected a core group suddenly dissolved after playing together for six seasons — two-fifths of the starting unit is new —could pick up the pieces and find a new groove quickly. But nobody could have expected the transition to look this bad. 'Don't put this on the trade or on Allen,' coach Michael Curry said. 'Put it on our offense. Boston got up into us and we have to be better when teams do that to us. I am not up here to talk about how long it's going to take for everything to look smooth.' Smooth? Right now the Pistons would settle for slightly bumpy. The offense is completely out of sync, and yes, the Celtics' swarming, smothering defense had a lot to do with it."

K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune: "Bulls fans have panned Hinrich for everything from inconsistent shooting to dribbling too much, but players know Hinrich consistently brings intensity, leadership and defense. His lengthy absence makes this season all about Derrick Rose even more. Hinrich represented general manager John Paxson's one true bargaining chip in a trade — not that Paxson had shopped the sixth-year guard. In fact, because of Ben Gordon's contract uncertainty, Paxson had gone out of his way to stress that he valued keeping Hinrich so the Bulls wouldn't be two guards down should Gordon walk as an unrestricted free agent next summer. Yet if a deal presented itself this season, Hinrich would have been in it because of his value leaguewide. Now, with Hinrich projected to be out until shortly before the Feb. 19 trade deadline, Rose and company are the Bulls' backcourt, for better or worse."

Michael Lee, Washington Post: "Through the season's first five games, the Washington Wizards are discovering how difficult it is to replace a veteran 7-footer. The team knew that Brendan Haywood's absence with a right wrist injury would pose problems — especially on the defensive end, where Haywood protected the paint, covered mistakes and helped put his teammates in the proper spots on the court. The void was especially apparent against the Orlando Magic on Saturday, when all-star center Dwight Howard posted 31 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks against centers Etan Thomas, Andray Blatche and rookie JaVale McGee. Howard has had dominant performances before, but the 7-1 Haywood helped hold the 6-11 Howard to an average of just 13 points in his first 16 career meetings against Washington. Howard's previous career high against Washington was 22 points."

Dave D'Alessandro, The Star-Ledger: "Lawrence Frank is committed to playing more veterans than kids for the time being — partly because the two kids in his rotation aren't exactly proving themselves worthy of the coach's trust. And this approach gets a full endorsement from the guy responsible for bringing most of the kids to town. 'I think that's the right decision,' said Nets GM Kiki Vandeweghe, who is on this road trip, which ends tonight against the Heat. 'To develop players, you have to make sure they'll get significant minutes, but you also have to play with them some veterans. Whether the veterans are playing well or not, they know how to play.'"

Lance Hornby, Toronto Sun: "From a morning pep talk to his 14-point fourth-quarter rally, Chris Bosh did everything for the Raptors except pilot the evening flight to Boston. But the encouraging part of yesterday's 89-79 win over the Charlotte Bobcats was how everyone pitched in, especially on defence and in the wake of another quiet offensive game from Jermaine O'Neal. 'We had started out with three straight wins and we didn't want to stretch that to three straight losses,' said forward Jamario Moon, who joined Andrea Bargnani with strong games at both ends of the court. 'Our captain gave us a pre-game speech and it motivated us. We stuck to our game.'"

Rick Bonnell, Charlotte Observer: "On Friday, Gerald Wallace declared that a dozen Charlotte Bobcats could average 20 points in the NBA. Apparently none of those guys participated in the fourth quarter Sunday. The Bobcats went 11 possessions and seven minutes in the final period without a point, which wasted plenty of good work in the first three quarters of an 89-79 loss to the Toronto Raptors at Time Warner Cable Arena. Actually those seven minutes don't convey the full scope of the Bobcats' offensive shutdown. Over this game's last 17 minutes, the Raptors doubled their output, 42-21. The problem was two-fold: The Bobcats' top three scorers — Jason Richardson, Gerald Wallace and Emeka Okafor — shot a combined 10-of-37 from the field. And in the second half, with coach Larry Brown playing a small lineup, the Bobcats reverted to unfortunate habits."

Sekou Smith, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "The warning was sounded to a nearly empty Ford Center Sunday morning. Some of his players were probably still trying to wake up when Mike Woodson was at his prophetic best. 'You can’t just expect to come in here and roll over this team,' the Hawks coach told his players at their morning shootaround practice prior to playing Oklahoma City. 'It doesn’t work like that.' Hours later, trailing the lowly Thunder by seven points with 6:45 to play before a thunderous crowd of 18,231, Woodson’s words must have still been ringing in his players’ ears. It’s a good thing they listened."

Kyle Hightower, Orlando Sentinel: "Battie tossed in his second straight eight-point outing Saturday and said he is finding a groove after having to adjust to a fractured finger sustained in the preseason. That setback came after he missed all of last season with a shoulder injury. He's also slowly increasing his playing time, having recorded 22 and 19 minutes in the Magic's last two outings. Battie even joked earlier this week, saying, 'Sometimes I selfishly want Dwight to get into foul trouble.'"

Berman, NY Post: "Hall-of-Famer Dave Bing, running for mayor in Detroit, said he would love to see the Pistons bring Isiah Thomas back to the organization. Thomas had a long-running feud with owner Bill Davidson but received by far the loudest ovation during the Pistons' 50th anniversary celebration last April during which he gave Davidson a long embrace. 'I absolutely would like to see him come back, that's where he made his mark,' Bing told The Post while visiting New York to gain David Stern's support for the February election. 'There's a lot of love for him in our city. They'd wrap their arms around him.'"

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