Suicide Lines: Bogut hurting, Baron practicing, Kobe doin' work

Each weekday morning, BDL serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your whole-wheat bagels, non-fat cream cheese, and incredibly fatty smoked salmon.

Charles F. Gardner, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Andrew Bogut will return to the Bradley Center court on Tuesday night for the first time since he suffered a season-ending injury on April 3 against Phoenix. Bucks coach Scott Skiles said he anticipated Bogut would play in the 20-minute range as Milwaukee meets the Chicago Bulls in the pre-season opener for both teams.

"I'll try to get him over 20 minutes for sure, maybe half the game," Skiles said after the Bucks' practice session Monday at the Cousins Center. "We'll see how the game's going, how he's feeling. More than likely we won't play him 30 minutes, that's for sure." Bogut had his right hand taped but participated in the Bucks' contact practice on Monday. "I've got a screw in there, and it's not responding that well at the moment," Bogut said. "It's just very, very sore."

Marc J. Spears, Yahoo! Sports: "The first crack in Detroit's armor came when Larry Brown left to coach the New York Knicks after the Pistons lost in the 2005 NBA Finals. The Pistons have since shuffled through three coaches with John Kuester now set to begin his second season. "L.B. was great for us because he didn't allow no slippage," Hamilton said. "Everyone came in knowing what we were doing regardless of whether we liked it or not. We were a special group and we needed someone to say, ‘You need to do this,' regardless of how great we were." Said Prince, "Once we didn't have Larry Brown anymore, things started to fall apart."

John Jackson, Chicago Sun-Times: "It's very exciting," [Joakim] Noah said following practice at the Berto Center. "I'm very happy that I'm gonna be here for a while. I feel like the Bulls definitely did me right, but I promise I'm gonna give 150 percent every time I'm out there."I understand that with a lot of money comes a lot of responsibility. I'm excited for the challenge."

The fact that the two sides were able to get a deal done four weeks before the deadline is a testament to each side's faith in each other. "It's always very weird when negotiations are going on, but I feel like I understand there's a [new] CBA going on next year, the collective bargaining agreement, so not a lot of players from my class got contract extensions," Noah said. "I feel like they did it because they like me and I'm pretty happy about it."

Lisa Dillman, Los Angeles Times. "Baron Davis, who has been slowed by a sore left knee, finally practiced on Monday.  Eric Bledsoe, rookie and student of all things point guard, made it sound as though Davis didn't miss a beat out on the court. "Oh yeah he's looking good. First day back ... he put a couple of moves on me," Bledsoe said, smiling. More importantly, Davis has been doing a lot of talking and Bledsoe plenty of listening. "Just make the easy play," Bledsoe said of the advice from Davis. It doesn't always have "to be me making the play."

Mike Bresnahan, Los Angeles Times: "A series of "Ko-be" chants bounced around O2 Arena in the second half but Bryant stayed on the bench, by design."I wanted to get up and get in, but I already had the shoes unlaced, ice on the knees," he said. "Knees were frozen. At that point I couldn't get back in. lt felt great to still get out there and play and run around a little bit. Coach Rambis just gave me a big hug and thanked me for not playing." That would be Timberwolves Coach Kurt Rambis, who beat mentor Phil Jackson for the first time, albeit in an exhibition game."

Chris Forsberg's Twitter account: "Delonte West is suffering some back spasms. Sat out practice today, but Doc believes he'll be back on court as early as tomorrow."

David Lord, Dallas Basketball: "There has been some media speculation on the possibility of the Mavs offering an in-season contract extension to J.J. Barea. And JJB himself has expressed a willingness to sign such a deal to extend what is presently a $1.8 million agreement. Sorry, all. It doesn't work that way. At present, the Mavs cannot offer an extension of any kind to Barea, even if they truly wanted to.

Here's how it works: If the two sides want to continue his career in Dallas after this season, they'll have to negotiate and ink a new deal after this one ends on June 30, 2011. Any such new deal would be under the rules of a new CBA because this one expires that same date."

Sam Jones Michael Jordan Jerry Lucas Karl Malone Moses Malone