Anthony Davis has been one of the best players in the NBA over the past three seasons but he would like to add to his game by becoming a better ball-handler and passer.

"I watch LeBron [James], Steph [Curry], all those guys make their teammates better," Davis said. "They find them. Even Draymond [Green]. He plays the same position and does the same thing, and he's able to find his teammates in a way that I can't right now. That's definitely what I want to get better at."

Davis' assist rate is at 11.5 percent this season, up from 15-16 when he posted a mark of 9.9.

Andrew Wiggins has improved his shooting dramatically to begin his third NBA season.

“I’m more confident,” Wiggins said. “I shoot more and take better shots. It comes from preparation.”

Said Tom Thibodeau on Wiggins’s improved shooting: “He’s put a lot of work into it and it’s the unselfishness of his teammates, too. Guys are making plays. They are sharing the ball and making the extra pass. The threes that we are taking, I think for the most part, are very good. There’s ball movement. There’s penetration. As long as they’re rhythm threes, we’ll shoot a high percentage. One of [Wiggins’s] great strengths is his versatility.”

“He can score so many different ways,” Thibodeau said. “In the post, with his cutting. He has the ability to draw fouls. The way he can score different ways reminds me of Paul [Pierce], transition, pick-and-roll, as a screen, as a ballhandler, so many ways he can score.”

Evan Turner signed a four-year, $70 million deal with the Portland Trail Blazers after finally establishing himself in the NBA with the Boston Celtics.

“I was most definitely comfortable there,” Turner said. “Going through certain situations where there were coaches who didn’t comprehend my game and I wasn’t always in position to be comfortable sometimes. When you finally find that mixture of great basketball and off-the-court [things], you definitely don’t take it for granted.”

The Celtics have missed Turner while he hasn't quite found his place with the Blazers.

“It’s just the comfortability here and I think sometimes I worry too much about stepping on toes,” Turner said. “They have reassured me to play how I play and they will adjust. It’s always going to be a big adjustment getting the plays down. The pace of it [in the Western Conference] is crazy. The last couple of weeks I am fully getting our plays second nature to me, and once again now it’s just building the consistency.”

Dwyane Wade talked about how the NBA is "different" than it used to be in how players court one another and it has influenced free agency.

"The league is different today," Wade said. "The league is all about relationships, player relationships. Obviously presidents and GMs have their job to do to put teams together, but when it comes to free agency, that's player relationships more than anything. It's where an individual wants to go, so you have to feel comfortable with where you're going and who you're going with. And it starts in that process. Maybe you have a relationship with a guy, maybe you don't, but it starts in that process when guys are able to reach out to you and you see."

Wade readily admits how important it was that Jimmy Butler reached out to him during the process.

"If the star player on the team doesn't reach out to me then I don't think he's really excited about me coming there," Wade continued. "If Jimmy don't reach out to me then I'm not coming to Chicago because I don't think Jimmy wants me here. But Jimmy reaches out to me and says, 'D, I want you to come,' it's a different -- that's simple right there. It's hard to change my mindset and everything."

Wade's friendship and influence played a key role in Miami's ability to sign both LeBron James and Chris Bosh in free agency in 2010. 

Nate Duncan coined the phrase "Hawks University" for the way the Atlanta Hawks have developed several younger players in recent seasons during the tenure of Mike Budenholzer and Wes Wilcox.

“We’ve heard rumors. It’s humbling to be referenced in that way," said Wilcox. "But really, (Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer) has really set the tone for us in that our goal every day is to just get better whether it’s in the front office, whether it’s on the court, whether it’s in athletic performance. That really has permeated all of basketball operations and maybe the organization as a whole. We come in every day with the mindset that we are going to get a little bit better today. We are going to work our butts off. I don’t hear it all. It’s flattering but we just keep our heads down and keep on working.”

Budenholzer wasn't familiar with the term when asked about it recently.

Marvin Williams entered the NBA as the second overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft out of North Carolina and while he carved a nice spot as a role player, he never seemed to meet expectations as a superstar.

But Williams has evolved along with the NBA as a stretch-4 and is having a late career resurgence.

“Marvin Williams, in this league right now, he’s the prototypical four man that you want,” Clifford said. “Because he creates space with his range shooting. He plays mistake free on offense. And on the other end, he’s so versatile defensively. He can battle all the bigger post up fours and he can guard all the other stretch fours. Then he guards the threes. Everybody thinks the league is four out, one in, and there are all these stretch fours. There are not a lot of stretch fours who can do what he can do.”

The Charlotte Hornets have started the 16-17 season in impressive fashion, continuing their success of last season by re-signing Nicolas Batum and Marvin Williams.

“Some of the best franchises around the league, whether it’s San Antonio or OKC or Golden State, there’s always a semblance of continuity,” General Manager Rich Cho said Sunday. “That’s really important when you’re trying to build. We put a lot of emphasis on player development and our coaching staff does a great job of that. It’s just an extension of that philosophy, as far as trying to keep your young guys.”

The Hornets like to put most of their available resources back into their own players.

“That used to be one of (Stan Van Gundy’s) biggest points. It’s so easy, when you watch a guy, you say he doesn’t do this or that, and then you let guys go, and you end up with a guy who’s similar in ability to them and it takes a year for them to get up to speed, or somebody less,” Steve Clifford said. “When you find guys that you feel are really good players, and you think they’re a fit with your other guys, you’re crazy (to let them go)…

“It’s just how as an organization how you view players. One of the advantages of having Michael (Jordan) as an owner is, when you sit and talk to him, he just has a way of looking at players. He constantly talks about what they can become.”

The Sacramento Kings will begin to play smaller after losing four straight games.

The Kings have been starting Kosta Koufos at center with DeMarcus Cousins at power forward. After falling behind by 26 points to the Los Angeles Clippers in the first half, Sacramento shifted to a lineup with Cousins at center, Rudy Gay at power forward, Arron Afflalo at small forward along with Ty Lawson and Darren Collison in a dual point guard backcourt.

“I’ve seen enough,” Dave Joerger said. “We’re going to play small. DeMarcus is going to play center. I don’t know who else will play with him. It just gives us more zip, more life, more experience. That’s not any detriment to anyone else or what they’ve done.”

Joerger will have to sort out which players fit best around Cousins.

The Kings had more energy after the lineup change.

“We have five skill guys then,” Joerger said. “You can’t cheat, you can’t roam, you have to play everybody. It gave us another dimension in the pick-and-roll, having two playmakers out there.”

D'Angelo Russell grew up idolizing Manu Ginobili even as his father considered him to be a blend of Jalen Rose and Lamar Odom. Rose and Odom were two left-handers with size who could handle the ball and do a bit of everything.

"He used to tell me that his favorite player was Manu Ginobili," Russell's brother Antonio Jr. said. "He always used to be like, 'Manu Ginobili, Manu Ginobili, Manu Ginobili.'"

"As time went on, I saw him pattern his game [after him] and doing the things that Ginobili does," Antonio Sr. said.

Russell studied film of Ginobili, trying to learn whatever he could.

"Yeah, basically everything Ginobili did," said Jamie Johnson, a childhood friend. "He tried to watch how Ginobili moved off the ball -- just everything, as far as IQ-wise too, because Ginobili, of course, isn't the fastest guy. [D'Angelo] understood that he wasn't fast either, so he tried to find players that were similar to him."

As a rookie, Lakers staffers showed Russell footage of Ginobili, particularly how the Spurs ran plays to get him the ball.

Damian Lillard expressed his frustrations after the Portland Trail Blazers dropped to 7-6 with their 126-109 loss at the Houston Rockets.

"We kind of suck right now," Lillard said. "It's that simple."

The Blazers allowed 126.8 points per 100 possessions to Houston. In their six losses, the Blazers have allowed 113.1, 120.6, 105.6, 118.6, 115.9 and now 126.8 points per 100 possessions. Portland ranks 29th in defensive efficiency at 111.5 points per 100 possessions overall.

"We're just not very good right now," Lillard said. "We've just got to keep fighting. It's important for our team to stay together and I think that's one of the biggest strengths of our team is we stay together. If we try to stay positive and we just keep working and keep fighting, I think at some point it'll click. We'll get it right and things will be fine. But I think everybody's frustrated."

"I think it's just communication issues a little bit," Moe Harkless said. "A little bit of attention to detail. We've just got to keep our focus and execute on defense. We're scoring enough. That's not the problem. We've got to get stops."