Jeremy Lamb was expected to receive approximately 15 minutes per game this season, but he has played over 20 minutes in each of the past six games.

“My teammates trust me, my coach trusts me,” Lamb said. “I have no choice but to get more comfortable and get more confident.”

“He's getting better,” Kevin Durant said of Lamb. “Experience is the best teacher. He's going to take his bumps and bruises, but he's a smart, smart player.”

Lamb is averaging 10.8 points in 22.4 minutes on 55 percent shooting from the field over the past five games.

One of the biggest challenges of Brad Stevens first season in the NBA is dealing was a Boston Celtics' roster that is less than ideally balanced.

“It’s not a very balanced roster,” said Danny Ainge. “I like the players on the roster, but it’s not very balanced.

“I think that Brad has a challenge of just trying to sort of figure out who’s going to play where. You know, guys like Jeff Green and Gerald Wallace, Avery (Bradley) — those guys can play multiple positions, and Courtney (Lee) has done a little bit of that. So that’s going to be a challenge of trying to figure out how it fits. And it’s an opportunity for guys right now to step up and really separate themselves.”

Stevens sees his vision for the Celtics as similar to Ainge.

“I look at it day by day,’ Stevens said, “with the idea of a long-term, big-picture culture — you know, how we want to make sure we operate in practice, how we want to support each other. The team stuff is really important.

“(Culture) is a long-term thing as well as a short-term. You’re not going to get everything you want in the short term, but you’re not going to build anything worth a darn without it. Those things are important in both terms, but I’m looking more day to day than that.”

Russell Westbrook is shooting just 38.8 percent through 10 games this season working his way back from knee surgery.

Westbrook had to sit out all basketball activities while rehabilitating his right knee.

“It's going to take time,” Westbrook said. “Your legs got to get stronger, your body, all your muscles got to get used to working and getting back going.”

Westbrook also shot just 38.8 percent through his first 10 games last season.

Tony Parker believes he can play as many as 20 years with the San Antonio Spurs, similar to the longevity of Kobe Bryant with the Los Angeles Lakers.

“Why not?” Parker said. “The way I play, I think I can definitely play that long.”

“When I see (Lakers point guard) Steve Nash being an All-Star at 38, I feel like I've got the same kind of game,” he said. “Neither one of us jumps that much. We're sort of like the kings of layups and great pick-and-roll players, so I can see myself playing that long, too.”

Parker plans to play for France in the 2016 Olympics, which he promised will be his last international competition to Gregg Popovich.

Parker's current deal with the Spurs expires in 2015 and won't turn 32 until May.

“It all depends on what Coach Pop and the Spurs are going to decide with the team, but me, I'd like to play a long time,” said Parker. “I feel like I'm in my prime and my body feels great.

“I take care of my body, and I've already told Coach Pop that after 2016 I will be done with the (French) national team. So I think I can play a long time.”

The Miami Heat have been able to have a fast start to the 13-14 season despite significant reductions in the minutes to LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.

James is averaging a career-low 35.2 minutes, down from 37.9 last season and 39.6 in his career.

Bosh is averaging 28.5 minutes per game and Wade has been able to sit out several games.

“That’s extremely important,” Bosh said. “Our second group has done a magnificent job this year and made our jobs a little easier. It’s making it easier on us not having to play a lot, especially early.”

The Miami Heat have appeared in the Finals in each of the past three seasons, but they struggled out of the gate in 2010 with a 9-8 record that led to an infamous players-only meeting exactly three years ago.

“That is so funny,” Dwyane Wade said. “I do remember that now. It’s crazy. We are so far from that now. Wow!”

“It was light years ago,” Chris Bosh said. “At that point, the only reason we had a team meeting was to discuss things. I think, of course, things can get blown out of proportion. It was a time we really had to look at each other and stand there and kind of get on the same page. It just happened in a forceful manner and sometimes that’s good.”

The Heat won 21 of 22 games after that meeting in Dallas.

“That was a defining moment where the team has to figure out who they are,” Bosh said. “That was the turning point for us. We could have gone the other way.”

Kobe Bryant is willing to allow his game to evolve as he enters the final phase of his career coming back from a torn Achilles.

“There’s different ways I can go,” Bryant said. “Obviously, the easier of the two would be if I could have the same type of explosiveness that I had last year. It makes my game very easy. But if it’s not there, I’m ready to adapt.”

Bryant signed a two-year, $48.5 million extension with the Los Angeles Lakers this week.

John Wall has scored at least 30 points in three straight games, scoring 31 against the Los Angeles Lakers in the Washington Wizards' 116-111 win on Tuesday.

“I think I’m using what everybody said about me, that I'm not a top five point guard, that I’m not a top ten point guard,” Wall said, when asked about the motivation behind his inspired play. “My job is to go out there and not just prove it by scoring, but you get known as a point guard in this league by winning games. All that’s something I’m trying to do is lead this team and keep trying to win as many games as we can.”

“He’s playing out of his mind,” teammate Martell Webster said.

“I’ve been more consistent, just being who I am,” Wall said. “Playing the right way, taking good shots and if I’m making some more layups on the fastbreak, I’ll be a little better.

“It’s building more confidence for me, making me harder to guard. It’s making it easier for me to get to the paint and easier to run a pick and roll and find my teammates,” he said. “I just give a lot of credit to my big men, setting good screens and getting me open. A lot of teams are playing me back and I just got to be confident with my jump shot and being able to work on it like I am with my coaching staff, watching film, and doing the right things.”

Wall signed an $80 million extension this offseason.

“I think three games make a statement, but that doesn’t mean nothing when you got 60-something games left and you can go into a slump any day of the week,” Wall said. “So I’ll just keep doing the things I’ve been doing in practice and working on my game.”

Dave Joerger is receiving considerable direction from the Memphis Grizzlies' front office, according to sources.

Robert Pera and John Hollinger are strong proponents of advanced statistics.

“They’re suggesting lineups,” said one league source. “Aggressively.”

One scout said, “It looked as if Joerger was trying to put his stamp on them and the players resisted. They were like, ‘The other way worked, so why change?’ I know they wanted to play faster, but they don’t have that kind of team. They grind.”

The Grizzlies won 56 games last season as Lionel Hollins resisted changes from the front office.

The Chicago Bulls do not plan on making any dramatic changes to their roster following Derrick Rose's season-ending knee injury.

"With this type of injury, he should come back 100 percent," general manager Gar Forman said. "With the previous [ACL] injury, that leg is strong and we saw the explosiveness and reactivity and speed, and then it was just [a matter of] getting into rhythm.

"Though this is a severe injury, it's not as severe as the other. He'll get over it and be able to get his career back to the highest level."

Forman said it is premature to talk about potential trades or about rebuilding.

"This just happened. It's too early to start to go down that road," Forman said. "From an organizational standpoint, our front office, not just this year but every year, we always evaluate our team, where we're at, how we can get better. ...

"We're not going to make rash decisions. We feel we have a bright future ahead and we're positioned well. We have good players in their 20s, Derrick is going to come back, we're positioned well with draft picks into the future and we have some level of flexibility which we haven't had under this new CBA."

Forman believes the Bulls can still build around Rose despite his injury issues.

"Yeah, he's obviously a big, big part of our future," he said. "This was a freak injury. According to doctors, it had nothing to do with over-compensating or any type weakness or any type of fatigue. It was just a freak injury."