The Los Angeles Clippers would like Eric Bledsoe to be more vocal.

With Chris Paul sidelined with a bruised right kneecap, Bledsoe is in charge of running the team’s offense.

"That's his personality a little bit," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. "But he's also got to understand that guys need to hear him out there, whether it's offensively or defensively. He's working on it and it's a comfort level for him as well."

Bledsoe has started the eight games Paul has missed, with the team going 5-3 over that stretch.

Amar'e Stoudemire has accepted his role as the New York Knicks' sixth man.

"It's in my DNA: I'm just willing to do whatever it takes to win," Stoudemire said. "I've accomplished a lot in my career so far. The next thing to accomplish is to win a championship. Whatever that takes. Whatever role that I need to step into, I'm totally open to it."

Stoudemire has made a committed effort to score in the post.

"When he catches the ball down there, he's able to produce," Mike Woodson said. "That's going to be huge for us down the road."

Entering play Wednesday, the Knicks had outscored opponents by an average of 13.4 points per 48 minutes with Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler on the floor together.

"The more time that we get to play with one another, the more we learn about one another, the better the chemistry is," said Chandler.

One common denominator amongst NBA champions is a collection of high lottery picks, something Utah Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey has identified.

“If you study the history of the league, you really have to respect what we call the scouting curves opinion,’’ he said. “In football and baseball you can get all-time greats in later rounds. But in basketball, the talented prodigies, like LeBron James — most times they turn into the best players in the league.’’

The Miami Heat had five top-six selections last season, while the Dallas Mavericks of 2011 had seven lottery picks.

While five teams have more total lottery picks on their rosters, the Jazz have the most under 25 in Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Alec Burks and Enes Kanter.

“We’re not a finished product,’’ Lindsey said. “But we want everybody to understand that we know we’re playoff competitive but not championship competitive yet. And we aspire to put ourselves inside the championship competitive group, even if we need to take a real patient approach.’’

P.J. Carlesimo is not sold on the NBA’s growing trend toward small ball lineups.

“To me, big teams are still the teams that are winning in this league,” Carlesimo said. “Miami is the exception. But Oklahoma City was the other team that made it to the Finals. Boston when they were in. San Antonio when they were in. I know everybody is saying that’s the way the league is going and that’s the way with the match ups. But to me, if you still look at the elite teams in the league, particularly the elite defensive teams, most of them are playing with a 4 and a 5. Most of them are big and they wail on you. Most of them are good defensively and they’re a very good rebounding team."

Carlesimo has started Reggie Evans at power forward for the last 13 games -- a stretch during which the Nets have gone 10-3.

“I still think that’s the way to go in this league,” Carlesimo said. “No one likes having to defend against Miami, but Miami would like to be bigger themselves. I don’t think they said we’re going stay small so nobody else can do that. If they can get another big to go with [Chris] Bosh and LeBron [James], they’d welcome it.”

Greg Monroe will have to adapt to playing power forward, a transition necessitated by the emergence of Detroit Pistons rookie center Andre Drummond.

"It's definitely a difference on defense, especially for teams who might play small with a stretch-four," Monroe said. "On offense in our system, it isn't that big a difference, just subtle things. I have to space out more with Andre down there."

Monroe started preparing for the move to power forward last summer.

"I'll have to pop a couple more times but it's not something I'm struggling with," Monroe said. "It's something more of an adjustment on defense. For two years, I'm playing the five and I'm used to rotations coming toward the basket. It's habits that were good (playing center) that can give other guys a couple (open) shots."

Mike D'Antoni said the Los Angeles Lakers' issue is of the entire team coming together.

The Lakers lost to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday by a 106-93 final.

"We've got an All-Star team out there," D'Antoni said. "Have you ever watched an All-Star Game? It's God-awful because everybody gets the ball, they go 1-on-1 and then they play no defense. That's our team. That's us. We're an All-Star team and we haven't learned there's a pecking order. There's the one guy, the two guy, the three guy and the four guy. It might not be the same guy every night, but somebody has got to accept being the fourth guy. If you've been the first guy all your life, that's hard to accept. That's what happens in All-Star (Games) and that's what happened with us. Like I said, with today's meeting, hopefully we've overcome a little bit of that. I hope. We'll see."

Dwight Howard attempted just five shots in the Los Angeles Lakers' 95-83 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Monday.

Howard expressed his frustration with his lack of touches.

"Look at the stat sheet," Howard said. "Look at the stat sheet."

Howard also proposed a solution for the Lakers' offense.

"It's simple. Play inside-out."

Mike D'Antoni has removed Pau Gasol from the Los Angeles Lakers' starting lineup permanently.

Gasol has started 816 of his 823 career NBA games.

Carmelo Anthony believes this season’s New York Knicks are the best team he’s ever been a part of.

“By far,’’ Anthony said when asked whether this is his strongest team. “I have been on good teams before. But as far as being a complete team from top to bottom, this is the best team I’ve been a part of.’’

Anthony pointed to the Knicks’ tight-knit chemistry.

“We know the type of players we have,’’ Anthony said. “We have fun. We’re a fun team to watch. We trust each other in the locker room. We have fun with one another. Nothing else can come between us.’’

George Karl wishes JaVale McGee played more like Tim Duncan.

“I think he tries to be spectacular,” Karl said of McGee. “Basketball is a game of possession after possession of doing things the right way, doing your job and letting the spectacular. I think JaVale tries to find the spectacular and forces the spectacular when if you just let Andre Miller and Ty [Lawson], let us orchestrate the game, something big time will happen. But I just want him to be more Tim Duncan-like. I tell him I like Tim Duncan. I want Tim Duncan. That’s what I want.”

McGee leads the Nuggets in player efficiency rating at 21.6.

“I think he’s a tremendous talent. I think he’s an incredible, athletic, 7-1, whatever he is,” Karl said. “For me, I just want him to be more consistent on the fundamental area of basketball and more than anything, I want him to be more committed to the concepts and philosophies and fundamentals of our team.”