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

Paul Coro, Arizona Republic: "Amaré Stoudemire has been correcting those who call him by his nickname, "STAT," lately. He wants to be called Sun Tzu because he has taken to the ancient Chinese commander's writings that lay out how to be a victorious warrior in The Art of War. Sun Tzu talks about indirect and direct ways of winning a battle. Stoudemire had a gift for the direct, putting points up like few in the league. [...] It may be the first time since the Suns were in Europe that someone mistook Boris Diaw for Amaré Stoudemire. Everyone thought Stoudemire had his career scoring high when he made two free throws with 1:35 to go. The arena stat board and the official stat screen had him with 51 points, one more than his 50-point best in 2005 vs. Portland. But after the game, the tally was changed to 49. A Diaw reverse alley-oop dunk with 4:25 to go was credited to Stoudemire. Diaw joked how it made sense that Indiana scorers thought it was Stoudemire because 'I never do that. That's not my style.'"

Mike Monore, SA Express: "Tony Parker's knees were wrapped in ice bags, both feet stuck, ankle deep, in a tub of ice water. The Spurs guard looked in amazement as a statistics sheet floated in the icy water between his legs in the visitors locker room at the Target Center. Rookie George Hill approached after the Spurs' first victory of the season, a 129-125 double-overtime thriller over the Minnesota Timberwolves and tapped Parker on the shoulder. 'I've seen you score 70 points before,' Hill told Parker, 'but that was in a video game. I've never seen anybody do what you did tonight with my own eyes.'"

Brian Windhorst, Cleveland Plain-Dealer: "Still a little concerned about their big man depth, the Cavs will likely make a pitch to McDyess if he becomes a free agent and they will probably not be alone. Other than the Pistons, who must wait 30 days to re-sign him under league rules, the Celtics and Spurs are among other teams that may be interested. McDyess is a versatile player who can play both power forward and center who is a strong shot-blocker, rebounder and outside shooter. He's also a strong locker room presence. [...] It would probably come at the sacrifice of playing time for rookie J.J. Hickson, but would fill the role vacated by veteran forward Joe Smith after the trade for Mo Williams. [...] McDyess has a good relationship with Ben Wallace, stemming from the time they played together in Detroit. The Cavs are also a championship contender, which would likely be a prerequisite for McDyess."

Sekou Smith, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "An anonymous NBA scout claims that Atlanta's Joe Johnson isn't a 'lead player'. Johnson isn't letting the report bother him, but his teammates quickly came to his rescue. 'Are you serious?' Josh Smith said. 'How do you respond to something so stupid?' 'When you say something like that you would hope it would be anonymous,' Marvin Williams said. 'I mean, how can you take that seriously? That dude must not have watched any of our games the past few years. Anybody who has seen us knows that Joe is an absolute beast. Go ahead and fall asleep on Joe and he’ll give you 30 [points] before you know it.'"

Mark Murphy, Boston Globe: "Ray Allen admitted that last night’s 96-83 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder — formerly known as the team he used to play for, the Seattle SuperSonics — was surreal. 'It is odd,' said the Celtics guard before the game. 'Someone just the other day was saying how unusual this was going to be, and I had to agree.' [...] Thunder owner Clay Bennett’s name may now be mud in Seattle, but you won’t hear any of that criticism from Allen. 'I thought he was a straight shooter,' said Allen. 'He let me know what his intentions were immediately. He wanted to make a go of it in Seattle, but if things didn’t work out, then he had another plan. He was on the up and up. He owns properties all over America ... He didn’t need a team in Oklahoma City.'"

Benjamin Hochman, Denver Post: "At one point, they began chanting 'de-fense, de-fense,' and did so with straight faces. The Warriors were oblivious to the pleas of their delusional fans Wednesday night, and the Nuggets, well, let's just hope their defense will improve with the addition of a certain someone. 'We probably didn't have enough energy to sustain that type of play the entire game,' Denver coach George Karl said. 'I think we are a little tired early in the season ... One more body would have helped us.'"

Mike Wells, Indianapolis Star: "Indiana Pacers swingman Mike Dunleavy said the questions about his return are coming from everywhere. Fans, teammates and even his wife have been in his ear about a return date from his right knee injury. 'I have the same answer for them — I don't know,' he said Wednesday. 'I really don't know because this thing has a mind of its own. I'm going to have to ride it out and see.' Dunleavy's uncertainty about his return is not good for the Pacers. During the preseason, he was limited to a 12-minute appearance in one of the eight games. He missed his third regular-season game Wednesday night against the Phoenix Suns at Conseco Fieldhouse."

Tom Enlund, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Scott Skiles said that Adrian Griffin, who joined the coaching staff this week, will be a 'behind the bench' coach who will assist with players' individual workouts. 'He's just kind of learning the ropes,' said Skiles. 'He wants to get into coaching and he's going to be a good coach and so it seemed like a logical thing for us to do.'"

John Shabe, Newark Star-Ledger: "The political momentum is such that there may be no turning back for the Nets to move to Brooklyn at this point, and the linchpin in this deal — sharp guy named Brett Yormark — asserts that the financing is there, and that his partners are content to see it through. Even Barclays, which actually turned down Gordon Brown's handout, seems to be hanging in there. Maybe that's just a company line, but the signs are that they're still going to break ground ... uh, some time in the coming century."

Philadelphia Daily News: "Within the team, Elton Brand is suddenly the man, which has had some ramifications: With the significant improvement of Thaddeus Young, Andre Iguodala seems to have moved to a more complementary role, while Andre Miller — who had to shoulder a greater share of the scoring responsibility last season — has been settling into his more traditional point-guard mode. But Iguodala's adjustment, because he is playing with a post player for the first time in his career, seems to be having at least some degree of difficulty. Change for Lou Williams has meant he's no longer just instant offense off the bench. Now, there are times when he's being asked to either try and change the pace of a game or to serve as a facilitator, things the fourth-year guard calls 'just part of being a basketball player.'"

Lance Hornby, Toronto Sun: "When the Big Three on the Raptors is reduced to the Big Two, the one guarantee is an end to any winning streak. O'Neal's 11 points per game and strong defense had kept him in the relative company of the other two, but he sputtered at 3-for-10 from the field last night. Afterwards, he admitted the transition to the Raptors system, where he is counted on for quality shots, not quantity, has taken longer than he expected. 'Outside of my first game in spurts, I'm still having a hard time getting comfortable,' said O'Neal, who finished with just eight points. 'The team needed me tonight. I wasn't able to deliver and I'm a little upset about it.'"

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