Here's a look around the NBA as we wait if the Lakers will call upon Phil Jackson to man the sidelines once again..
- Free agent forward Kenyon Martin turned down an offer from Greece's Panthianakos in hopes of landing an NBA job, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo (via Twitter). Even though Martin continues to talk with NBA teams about joining mid-season, nothing is imminent (Twitter link). Martin finds himself without a gig largely because of his demand for the mini-mid level exception over the summer.
- Andray Blatche picked up a reputation for wild behavior while with the Wizards, but he finds himself on the straight-and-narrow with the Nets, writes Joel Brigham of HoopsWorld. The athletic big man credited the move with getting him back on the right track and said that he needed a change of scenery in order to start realizing his potential.
- When it came to letting coach Mike Brown go, the Lakers looked into the past for some guidance, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
- Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel notes that the man who Udonis Haslem once fired as his agent is now the leader of the team the Heat forward will be facing Sunday. Haslem first chose Jason Levien, now the CEO of the Grizzlies, as his agent when he was coming out of the University of Florida but later fired him. The forward says that the two were never on bad terms and half-jokingly noted that he is glad to have never burnt the bridge with a potential future employer.