Compiled by Chris Bernucca 

• NBA: "When the dust eventually settles on the saga of gun-toting Gilbert Arenas, the aftershock of the sordid tale could be felt leaguewide. ... In the way of empty seats. You may have noticed that there are quite a few of those these days in a league that has been trying to rebound from a dirty-referee scandal. As if sales reps of the various teams don't have a hard enough job trying to sell tickets considering the state of the economy and the competition for the entertainment dollar, along comes Wild Gil allegedly brandishing firearms in the Wizards' locker room and providing the league with a black eye that it certainly doesn't need right now." Tom Enlund in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 

• NBA: "Carmelo Anthony's lifetime NBA All-Star Game pass could start this season. The Nuggets star is the runaway votes leader among Western Conference forwards, which in his recent past was a group too exclusive for him to be voted into. But basketball cred is with him now, and when players establish that connection with loyal-to-the-bone fans, starting the All-Star Game is a code that is for-ever cracked. But should it be? All-star voting has become one of the hottest, most controversial issues in the NBA in recent years as more and more curious decisions are made by fans who check-mark their favorites regardless of how the players are actually playing. It has led to a growing belief among the league's players and coaches that the system should be changed. The question is: Will it?" Chris Dempsey in the Denver Post 

• SIXERS: Close your eyes 76ers fans, you might not want to read this. OK, here goes: If the Sixers want to win more games, coach Eddie Jordan needs to play center Sam Dalembert as much as he can. Sorry, but that just seems to be the cold, hard truth." Bob Cooney in the Philadelphia Daily News 

• BLAZERS: "It was not lost on Sunday at the Rose Garden that Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen recently bought himself a sparkly new coach for his Seattle Seahawks football operation. He just had to have USC's Pete Carroll. And if you remember, it was Allen who hired R&B star Usher to sit in with his own band during a New Year's Eve party. And Allen who summoned Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski at the height of his popularity to interview for the Blazers coaching job. And it was Allen who bought his 301-foot super-yacht Tatoosh in 2001, then three years later saw the 416-foot Octopus. He had to have it. So he bought it.  On Sunday, the Cavaliers beat the Blazers 106-94 behind 41 points from LeBron James. Allen, who skipped the Lakers-Blazers game 48 hours earlier, was here for this one, watching, drooling, commenting afterward, "LeBron is just so darned dominant." It raises a question: Would Allen someday attempt to get LeBron? Think on that." John Canzano in the Oregonian 

• CAVALIERS: "The Gilbert Arenas gun drama has not been a welcome series of events for the Cavaliers' Delonte West.  Four months after West's arrest on gun charges in suburban Washington D.C., Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton are facing a grand jury investigation for bringing guns into the Verizon Center in the heart of the city. After Arenas was suspended indefinitely by the league, there were immediate comparisons to how the league handled West. It was not the sort of attention the guard or the Cavs were looking for. But the alternative viewpoint is how West and the Cavs have avoided the problems that have plagued the Wizards. As a result, West's troubles have had a minimal effect on the season thus far." Brian Windhorst in the Cleveland Plain Dealer 

• CLIPPERS: "Momentum, that's the new (old) word of the day. Yes, the modern-day Clippers have heard rumors of that condition afflicting individuals, and at times, sports teams. They even flirted with it but only in the faintest, slightest of ways. Until now." Lisa Dillman in the Los Angeles Times 

• LAKERS: "Not only do things get bumpy without Gasol, they do so in predictable patterns. Andrew Bynum got a very Pau's-not-here-like 17 points and 18 rebounds, his third double-double in a row and seventh of the season ... all in games Gasol missed. Bryant, who plays naturally through Gasol, reverts to Kobe of the Bad Old Days when there's no Pau. Also, the ball doesn't move and teammates tend to have bad nights." Mark Heisler in the Los Angeles Times 

• GRIZZLIES: "Lionel Hollins was told he had 11/2 seasons to prove that he could be a quality NBA head coach when he took over the Grizzlies less than a year ago. Hollins wasted little time convincing the man who made that declaration. Griz owner Michael Heisley has initiated negotiations toward a contract extension for Hollins, who is working on a 17-month deal he signed Jan. 25, 2009." Ronald Tillery in the Memphis Commercial Appeal 

• HEAT: "My name is Paul. My sobriety date is August 6, 2009. He leaves out the middle part of the traditional Alcoholics Anonymous greeting of "and I am an alcoholic," because his demons were not merely limited to a bottle. Paul, in this case, is Paul Smith. Only Paul Smith isn't Paul Smith. And he hardly can be as anonymous at this moment as he'd prefer to be. Not with the tattoos, the ever-present smile and a reputation that precedes his entrance into this bastion of privacy. "I use my alias because my middle name is Paul and my family name is Smith," he says, "so you put two and two together." Paul Smith is Michael Beasley. And Michael Beasley has grown plenty since Aug. 6, from the six-week substance-abuse rehab in Houston to a new starting role with the Miami Heat." Ira Winderman in the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel 

• HORNETS: "Despite not having lost a game since the calendar flipped over into a new decade, the New Orleans Hornets certainly cannot comprehend the definition of the word “prosperity.” “Can you explain what that means?” forward Peja Stojakovic said, playing along with a questioner in Sunday afternoon’s postgame locker room. “We are learning the hard way what the word means. Very often. It’s something we have to learn. We got away with this today. You can say we were a little lucky.” Jimmy Smith in the New Orleans Times-Picayune 

• JAZZ: "Q: What's the meaning of the name Sundiata? A: He's the [ancient] king of Mali. He's a leader, a fighter, always determined. Pretty much always did what it takes to help out his people in any way possible." Ross Siler in the Salt Lake Tribune 

• KINGS: "Nine days into a new decade, three months into a surprisingly uplifting and entertaining season, the young, mischievous Kings were taking crayons to the bedroom wall, threatening to mess everything up. The good news is that people are asking. The bad news is that people are asking. What's wrong with the Kings? Well, maybe nothing." Ailene Voisin in the Sacramento Bee 

• KNICKS: "For the previous 15 games before Saturday, Lee had been as brilliant on the perimeter as he had been at the rim, his rapid evolution on full display. Since Dec. 6, Lee had converted 53 percent of his jumpers from 16 to 23 feet, and 75 percent of his shots from 10 to 15 feet, according to an analysis provided by HoopData.com. In 35 games, Lee had converted more perimeter shots (86) than he did all of last season (82). He had hit 66 shots in the 16-to-23-foot range, compared with 51 last season and only 18 in 2007-8. Clearly, this is not the same player who in team marketing materials was once labeled, plainly, the Rebounder." Howard Beck in the New York Times 

• MAGIC: "In the final scene of Shane — an old western classic about a good-guy gunslinger who saves the town from tyranny — a sad little boy shouts, "Shane! Come back!" as the hero rides off into the mountains. Now, with the Magic facing the tyranny of complacency and inconsistency, how about our own version of Little Joey's woeful wail: "Stan! Come back!" I want the old Stan back, how about you? Please, give us back our beloved Stan Van Grumpy and take away this imposter known as Stan Van Giddy. Give us the Stan Van Gundy who was the nattering nabob of negativity; not this pandering prince of positivity who has watched the Magic turn into the most erratic Jekyll and Hyde team in the NBA." Mike Bianchi in the Orlando Sentinel 

• NETS: "When the Nets drafted Sean Williams in 2007, they knew they were taking a risk, as he had been kicked off the team at Boston College for disciplinary reasons, including drug use. Three seasons later, the gamble still has not paid off for the Nets and it appears they are now on the verge of cutting their losses." Julian Garcia in the New York Daily News 

• NUGGETS: "The court at Arco Arena looks like all the others, with its hardwood and stripes and such. But there's something about this place that has haunted the Nuggets the past fortnight, be it Carmelo Anthony's painful knee injury or two painful losses to the Kings, who are under .500 and without their top scorer. So it was on this court, following Denver's 102-100 loss Saturday, that Anthony made a proclamation of sorts. Asked about playing tonight against Minnesota at the Pepsi Center, Melo said: "Yeah, man. I got to come back." Benjamin Hochman in the Denver Post 

• RAPTORS: "It is of no consequence, really, that the Raptors did not bow meekly to the Boston Celtics on Sunday afternoon, that they went down fighting, played hard for long stretches but were just beaten by a better team. A loss is a loss is a loss in the black and white world of professional sports so no one was espousing a "moral victory" line in the wake of the 114-107 defeat. But if you could get deep into the minds of the players, there's a feeling that they didn't feel horrible after the loss, they weren't disgraced, embarrassed or hugely disappointed." Doug Smith in the Toronto Star 

• TIMBERWOLVES: "Minnesota Timberwolves general manager David Kahn recently offered forward Al Jefferson to the Indiana Pacers for forward Danny Granger, but was immediately rebuffed, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. While Pacers president Larry Bird remains determined to build around Granger, sources say Kahn has become increasingly dubious on making Jefferson a cornerstone for the Timberwolves. So far, Kahn has tried to undo almost everything from the Kevin McHale regime, and trading Jefferson would be another significant step in that direction." Adrian Wojnarowski for Yahoo! Sports