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

Mike Ganter, Toronto Sun: "Chris Bosh had his say Saturday night, questioning the entire Raptor team’s desire to win. Head coach Jay Triano liked the idea that the things he and his coaches were feeling were actually being shared by the players. ‘It’s the same thing we have been saying over and over,’ Triano said of Bosh’s comments. ‘Players feel the frustration the same way the coaches do and that’s good. There are times we sit in there as coaches and wonder: "Do these guys care as much as we do?" And they do. When he responds like that, it means that he does care. He’s trying to encourage other guys to get this thing turned around.’ Bosh isn’t the outspoken type, but Triano wasn’t surprised by his words. ‘I don’t think you can say it’s not like him,’ Triano said. ‘There have been times throughout his career where he has been frustrated.’ But Triano said words alone aren’t going to get it done. ‘He has to lead by example. Those guys will follow him with what he says if he backs it up with the way he plays,’ Triano said. ‘I think the other guys in the room lose respect when you say it but don’t act upon it. We need to act upon it.’ "

Brian T. Smith, The Columbian: "LaMarcus Aldridge referred to it as tunnel vision. The ability to tune everything else out - distractions, criticism, negative and positive suggestions - and focus in on the only two things he can truly control: himself and his game. It has taken the Trail Blazer power forward nearly four years to acquire the trait. Four years to put on what he refers to as a "hardhat" and develop thicker skin. But the 6-foot-11, 240-pound Aldridge said he has finally grown tougher and stronger. And with the new skin comes a new level of confidence and determination. ‘As long as my teammates know I’m doing what they need, that’s all that matters,’ Aldridge, 24, said. ‘Because you can’t really listen to the fans all the time, because they don’t know what’s really going on in house, and they don’t know what the team needs.’ "

Tim Povtak, NBA FanHouse: "Theo Ratliff sounds almost like a Larry Brown disciple. He does the blue-collar work that guys like Tyson Chandler(notes), Tyrus Thomas(notes) and DeSagana Diop(notes) are reluctant to do. It’s no coincidence that they are winning now with Ratliff as the starter. He has been around enough teams to know what works. And he has seen the results that Brown always seems to get. ‘I could see it when I got here. Larry is constantly pushing guys to get better, constantly demanding perfection from them,’ he said. ‘You can see the discipline he brought. You can see the mark he put on this team.’ Ratliff might be one of those centers who plays until he is 40. As usual, he has no guarantee beyond the end of the season, working again on a one-year contract with no promises that he will return to Charlotte next season. ‘I’ve been year-to-year for the last three or four years. It’s always possible [that I'll be back],’ he said. ‘But right now I feel real good physically. There’s no reason why I can’t keep playing at this level.’ "

AP: "Injured Cleveland center Shaquille O’Neal(notes) has rejoined the Cavaliers. O’Neal, who has been out since tearing a ligament in his thumb on Feb. 25 and undergoing surgery, has been resting at home in Florida since the operation. He was back at the team’s facility on Monday, but did not speak to reporters after the Cavs practiced and left for a game in Detroit."

Dave D’Alessandro, New Jersey Star-Ledger: "Sometime over the last few weeks, he made up his mind that he’s going to get everyone’s attention by following three easy steps: Straighten up, fly right, and bend the rim every chance you get. This didn’t require a very lengthy talk with himself, Terrence Williams(notes) explained. The Nets’ introspective rookie merely looked back at the first four months of his season and immediately recognized what was missing. ‘I learned you have to keep your mouth shut,’ he said. ‘Honestly, that’s it. Because you get further with silence than you do speaking out or acting out. The lesson taught to me was to pay attention to other guys, and learn from them. I really wasn’t ready for that.’ "

Matt Gagne, New York Daily News: "If the Nets are to beat the Hawks Tuesday for their eighth victory of the season, they’ll likely have to do it without Devin Harris(notes), who missed practice Monday with an upper respiratory infection and is doubtful to play at the Meadowlands. ‘He was pretty sick [Sunday] and was pretty sick today,’ interim head coach/GM Kiki Vandeweghe said following yesterday’s practice in East Rutherford."

Eddie Sefko, Dallas Morning News: "It appears Jason Terry(notes) will be available Wednesday against Chicago. With a custom-fitted plastic mask to protect his facial-bone fracture, Terry went through practice Monday with no problems. ‘Jet has a track record of missing very few games,’ coach Rick Carlisle said. ‘He’s always come back earlier than expected. The injury was serious, but the fracture was such that it was a lower timetable than it could have been. It could have been several weeks.’"

Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News: "When it comes down to it, Richard Jefferson(notes) doesn’t care if he starts or comes off the bench for the Spurs. His only request of coach Gregg Popovich: As much time alongside Manu Ginobili(notes) as possible, please. ‘I think Pop is still trying to find that magic, to get everybody on the same page,’ Jefferson said before Monday’s practice at AmericanAirlines Arena. ‘Playing with Manu definitely helps.’ "

Detroit News: "An emotional Dorell Wright(notes) returned to practice with the Heat on Monday, four days after being arrested on a DUI charge, and being suspended for two games. ‘It was way out of character for me,’ Wright said."

Kevin Ding, Orange County Register: "Pau Gasol’s foul to the face of Phoenix forward Louis Amundson(notes) on Friday night has been changed after NBA review to a flagrant foul, type-1." 

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This might be the last time we get to crop and credit a
picture of Mike Dunleavy Sr., so please, pour out a little prune juice for the
Brooklynite who could stroke and D-up.

Denver
at Houston

This is the only game, of six, that actually features two
teams that are .500 or better going at it, and while I usually like to push you
in the direction of the national TV games (where everyone can join in), I
simply cannot sign off on tonight’s Monday doubleheader.

I’m not looking forward to Boston playing Detroit (it’s
either a blowout, or Detroit keeps it close and/or wins, which would just be
the saddest outcome I could imagine at this point); and though Lakers/Warriors
will at least be entertaining for stretches, come on.

Denver’s on a roll, trying to sweep a four-game road trip
and win its seventh in a row overall. Coach George Karl is still resting after
undergoing the first sweep of his cancer treatment, but Adrian Delano Dantley
has done a fine job in his absence, and with the way the Rockets are defending
this year (though they have gotten slightly better recently), we could see a
shootout of sorts.

Six games in total, nearly all of them not worth your time. Happy Monday,
comment away.

Denver Nuggets:
45-21, 95.3 possessions per game (fifth), 112.4 points scored per 100
possessions (second), 107 points allowed per 100 possessions (15th).

Houston Rockets:
33-31, 93.7 possessions per game (eighth), 106.9 points scored per 100
possessions (15th), 106.7 points allowed per 100 possessions (13th).

All statistics
courtesy basketball-reference.com.

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A look around the league and the web that covers it. It’s also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren’t always listed in order of importance. That’s for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: SB Nation. The new NBA Jam trailer looks pretty excellent, as far as video game trailers go.
PF: Talking Points. Here’s why Don Nelson should be fired.
SF: Golden State of Mind. Here’s why Don Nelson shouldn’t be fired.
SG: Bulls.com. Sam Smith says to be careful what you wish for in free agency.
PG: 8 Points, 9 Seconds. "Man, did this dude just did that?" is the new best quote ever.
6th: Nothing Easy. Andrea Bargnani(notes) isn’t so great at getting rebounds.
7th: Indexed. NBA players get more girlfriends than Dungeons and Dragons players.
8th: Basketbawful. Next to "bad coaching" in the dictionary are all these Dunleavy pictures.
9th: Hooped Up. Steve Francis(notes) is quite telegenic.
10th: Clutch Fans. Luis Scola(notes) activated "beast mode" this weekend.

Got a link or tip for Ball Don’t Lie? Holler at me at trey.kerby (at) yahoo.com, or follow me on Twitter.

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While his shoes don’t have a release date, Brandon Jennings(notes) has been getting a big promotional push from Under Armour. First, he did an ad with swimmer Michael Phelps and face-puncher Georges St. Pierre. Now, he’s got his own commercial that shows him training and also protecting a house.

Pretty good, if you ask me. A few self-deprecating clips of Jennings struggling in Italy, a pretty sick dunk, and the best part, his high-top fade. That’s good action. And the shots of Jennings walking through a field pensively are pretty funny. I’ve always done my best basketball thinking in a pasture as well.

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"It’s impossible," Rodney Carney(notes) tells
the Philadelphia Inquirer.

"You get out there, your natural instincts are to try to
compete to win the game. Rather than, ‘Oh, I’ll miss this shot.’ No way."

Tanking is impossible, Rodney Carney tells us. It’s
true, his version of tanking would be hard for even the most unmotivated of the
NBA corps to stomach. He’s not wrong, in his own regard.

But, overall, tanking is quite possible. It happens all the time
in varying degrees, and there really, truly, is nothing wrong with it.

That last bit might be hard to stomach as well, but talk to
any fan of any team not going anywhere.

Talk to a Knick fan. Which batch of
transactions would that Knickerbocker backer prefer: The ones that jettisoned
able-bodied players for expiring contracts and eventual cap freedom some months
and years down the line? Or, the transactions and trades designed solely to
sneak New York inside the lower edges of the playoff bracket?

Signing Jared Jeffries(notes) in 2007 or trading the guy in 2010?
Which one do they prefer? Because the latter is an example of tanking.

Minnesota Timberwolves fans? I’m sure a good chunk of them
are less than pleased with where their team currently is at, and some I’m
confident still house significant suspicion of David Kahn’s rough first year as
GM. But they wouldn’t hesitate for a second to prefer 2009-10 - with all that
young talent, cap space and draft picks on the horizon - to the summers in
2005, 2006 and 2007 — offseasons that saw Kevin McHale desperatly try to buttress
his team back into the first round of the playoffs.

The Timberwolves started tanking 2009-10 back in June. The
76ers? Probably about a month ago. The Knicks? The minute they hired Donnie
Walsh.

Chicago? Two weeks from now, when they sit Joakim Noah(notes) and
Luol Deng(notes) down for good. The Nets? They could never afford to tank because
their bench is too terrible to begin with. The Clippers? When they kicked Mike
Dunleavy upstairs and set the wheels in motion to dump Marcus Camby(notes).

Everyone tanks, and those who aren’t tanking are ticking off
their fans. I’ll drive to Chick-fil-A midday and listen to Indianapolis radio
guys begging Jim O’Brien to play A.J. Price(notes) more, and for the team to lose Earl
Watson(notes). After the shock of hearing that the local radio guys know who A.J.
Price is wears off, I then have to note that these radio guys are pleading for
their team to tank.

Everyone tanks, and there’s nothing wrong with that. This
league is designed around the idea that teams have to develop at their own
rate and only truly get great once much of one team’s core hits their
prime at the same time. The problem with the "tank" ideal in the eyes of the
media lies in the way you can anticipate the top two picks in that summer’s
draft by the time Christmas hits, so it’s a cheap column gimmick - "and just see if they can get their hands on
John Wall in June."

You don’t get that in baseball, which almost completely
turns itself into a glorified Triple-A outfit by mid-September. And you’re not
going to get that in football, where three third-round picks are often better
than one first. It’s specific to the NBA and that’s … that’s OK.

Ask any fan. Do they want to see Damien Wilkins(notes) in Minnesota
in March, or do they want to see Wayne Ellington(notes)? Not because they, eventually,
want to see John Wall, but because they want to see what they have in
Ellington, even if it isn’t much. NBA fans know what’s up, and they don’t need
some aggrieved-on-their-behalf national talking head shouting "will someone
think of the sanctity of competition?" every spring.

Springs that usually don’t spring tanking teams toward John
Wall, by the way. I’ve brought this up before, but the two most recent and most
"egregious" examples of tanking saw the Bucks and Celtics pack it in down the
stretch of 2006-07 in order to grab Greg Oden(notes) or Kevin Durant(notes). The two teams
finished with the worst and second-worst records in the NBA, which meant that
the worst they could do in the draft lottery was fall to fifth and sixth in
the draft order.

And that’s exactly where they ended up. All that tanking,
fifth and sixth in the draft. Because the lottery works. You tank for lottery
balls at your own peril. You’d be stupid to lose games on purpose.

You’d be finally getting it right if you decide to give up
on your sham of a season and start to develop what’s already there.

So, yes, Rodney Carney. Teams do tank. They don’t lose games
on purpose, but when you’re bringing Jodie Meeks(notes) in as your first player off
the bench instead of Thaddeus Young(notes), the writing’s on the wall.

And as we get into full-on tanking season, I implore you
people, have some fun with it. Have a sense of humor and a sense of the long
term. This is part of what makes this league actually kind of interesting.

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