• Fresh off of his 16-point, 12-rebound, and six assists performance against Oklahoma City, Rockets guard Patrick Beverley isn't fazed at all by the playoff atmosphere, crediting the hostile environment from his experiences in Europe for his ability to handle the pressure now (Jonathan Feigen of Ultimate Rockets writes): “It’s different here. You have cities versus cities, states versus states. There, it’s countries against countries. I’ve played in games and got hit in the face with quarters, played with my face bleeding. I’ve played in hostile environments a lot. The first round of the playoffs I can deal with.” 
• Max Ogden of Sheridan Hoops gives an update on Kostas Papanikolaou, the 48th selection of last year's NBA draft by the Knicks whose draft rights were later traded to the Trail Blazers. The 22-year-old forward has continued his progression for the defending Euroleague champion Olympiacos. 
• NBA commissioner David Stern commended the Rockets for how they handled Royce White's situation, saying "we'll see what happens" with regard to White's future (Reid Laymance of Ultimate Rockets). 
• This NBA.com article focuses on Andre Miller, who at age 37 is leading the third-seeded Nuggets in his quest to get out of the first round for the first time in nine playoff appearances. 

Earlier this afternoon, we passed along comments made this week by Andre Miller, in which the veteran point guard expressed some dissatisfaction with his role in Denver.

"I don't know how much longer they want me here. I definitely would like to contribute more," Miller said, when asked if he wanted to finish his career in Denver. "I’m not just going to sit back and settle in and be a backup and let my career just fade away. I’m competitive in that way."

Despite Miller's suggestion that the Nuggets may be looking to move him, GM Masai Ujiri insists that's not something the team is considering, according to Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post.

"Andre is not going anywhere," Ujiri said. "We want to win."

Miller's agent, Andy Miller, also spoke to Hochman and said his client is committed to the Nuggets, and that all is well in Denver. While the 36-year-old might like to play a few more minutes, he hopes to continue contributing to the the team off the bench and to help the Nuggets make a deep playoff run, according to his agent.

The Nuggets were firing on all cylinders in last night's victory over the Bulls, putting up 128 points against one of the league's best defenses en route to their eighth straight win. But even with the team on a roll, not everything is perfect in Denver, as Paul Klee of the Colorado Springs Gazette writes (hat tip to Matt Moore of CBSSports.com). Here are the highlights from Klee's piece along with a few more notes from around the Western Conference:

• Andre Miller would like to see more playing time in Denver, as he tells Klee. While he says he'd "really be complaining" if the Nuggets were losing, Miller still doesn't seem satisfied with the current arrangement. "I don't know how much longer they want me here. I definitely would like to contribute more," Miller said, when asked if he wanted to finish his career in Denver. "I’m not just going to sit back and settle in and be a backup and let my career just fade away. I’m competitive in that way."
• Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post isn't convinced that offseason acquisition Andre Iguodala has been a worthwhile investment for the Nuggets.
• The future of the Lakers could depend on whether Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard are committed to getting on the same page, says Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.
• Hakeem Olajuwon, who is close with Howard and has worked with him in the past, still believes D12 will re-sign with the Lakers this summer, according to Chris Tomasson of FOX Sports Florida.
• With the trade deadline approaching, the Mavericks must make another tough call and decide whether they're going to be buyers or sellers, writes Jean-Jacques Taylor of ESPNDallas.com.

J.R. Smith's production so far this season clearly outweighs his pay this season and the guard looks like a mortal lock to opt out of his $2.9MM option for 2013/14.  However, Smith tells Sam Amick of USA Today that he hopes to stay in New York beyond this season.  "Right now, I'm just trying to play it out and do the best I can throughout this year and hopefully I'll be back here. That's my plan. I don't want to play anywhere else. I love it here," said Smith.  Here's more (non-Nets) news from around the Association..

• The Celtics could have had Jamal Crawford for the right offer, but they were still going after Ray Allen when Crawford inked his deal with the Clippers, tweets Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe.
• Amick also spoke with guard Andre Miller about his reasons for re-signing with the Nuggets despite his desire to be a starter.  The 36-year-old explained that at this stage in his life, stability was a major factor for him and his children.
• Blazers center J.J. Hickson is playing exceptionally well as of late and Sam Amico of FOX Sports (on Twitter) sees him as a a trade candidate.  The big man, who is set to hit the open market at the end of the season, has nine straight double-doubles.
• Blazers veterans Sasha Pavlovic, Ronnie Price, and Jared Jeffries have been good soldiers in taking a backseat to Damian Lillard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Hickson, and Nicolas Batum, writes Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com.

The Oregonian's Joe Freeman examines the decisions the Blazers face in advance of the October 31st deadline for exercising their 2013/14 team options on Luke Babbitt, Nolan Smith and Elliot Williams. According to Freeman, the team could come within $500K of having enough cap space to sign a free agent to a maximum-salary deal next summer if it declines all three options. Freeman seems to think, given the makeup of the Blazers roster, it would make the least sense to pick up Babbitt's option, despite the injury to Williams that's expected to keep him out the entire season. Check out other option decisions facing teams with our Rookie Contract Option Tracker, and read on for from the Blazers and other Northwest Division clubs.

• Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post suggests Ty Lawson and new agent Happy Walters could be in line for a five-year, $65MM extension from the Nuggets before the October 31st deadline. Hochman also passes along some advice for Lawson from new teammate Andre Iguodala, who re-signed with the Sixers in 2008 after failing to come to an extension agreement in 2007.
• Andre Miller has been an ironman over his 13-year NBA career, missing only six regular season games, but he's sitting out of select preseason games for the first time, Aaron J. Lopez of Nuggets.com notes. The Nuggets signed the 36-year-old Miller to a three-year, $14.625MM deal this summer that includes a partial guarantee for the final season.
• Nicolas Batum told Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune he signed his offer sheet with Minnesota this summer knowing he'd be pleased to wind up with either the Timberwolves or the Blazers. "I chose Minnesota because I knew (Portland) could match," Batum said. "I knew those two teams were going to be the best options for me. I wouldn’t have signed with anybody else. And I wanted to challenge the Blazers, to see if they really like me or not."

Now that Andre Iguodala is with the Nuggets, CSNPhilly.com wonders how Denver's head coach George Karl will use the All-Star wing in his system. Here are a few more notes from across the league:

• Dwyane Wade told reporters on Thursday that even though Derrick Rose doesn't see himself as the type to recruit other players to join him in Chicago, it may be a necessary move later on in his career, writes ESPNChicago.com's Nick Friedell. 
• After his involvement in the Dwight Howard trade, Andre Miller is excited to be reunited with Andre Iguodala in Denver, writes Nuggets.com's Aaron J. Lopez. The two were previously teammates in Philadelphia. 
• NBA.com's John Schuhmann dives deep into the numbers to explain why the Lakers will truly benefit with the addition of Steve Nash. 
• The Nets agreed to sign Donte Greene earlier today, and the New York Post's Tim Bontemps thinks it was a good move. 
• NBA.com's John Denton offers various reactions to several recent NBA-related news items.
• Pistons second round pick Kim English is excited to start his career on a team that he believes to be headed down the right path, writes MLive.com's Brendan Savage. 

While most players' contracts include annual raises, or at the very least, identical annual salaries, Steve Novak's new contract with the Knicks is a little different, as Mark Deeks of ShamSports explains (Twitter link). Novak's deal starts at a little over $4MM, dips to below $3.5MM by 2014/15, then rises back up to $3.75MM for 2015/16. The unusual structure of the deal provides the Knicks a small amount of savings in the years when the rest of the team's roster will get extremely expensive.

Deeks shared a number of other contract details from around the league, via Twitter, so let's round them up....

• The Spurs' deal with Danny Green is for three fully-guaranteed years and $11,287,500, with no options.
• Andre Miller will earn $5MM in each of the next two seasons with the Nuggets. The third year of his deal is partially guaranteed for $2MM of $4.625MM.

Earlier updates:

• Jason Thompson's five-year deal with the Kings is worth $30,187,500, though year five is only partially guaranteed for $2.65MM.
• According to Deeks, the previously reported figures for Ersan Ilyasova are a little high -- his deal with the Bucks is worth $40MM over five years. The first four years are guaranteed at $7.9MM each, then year five is partially guaranteed for just $400K of $8.4MM.
• Jamal Crawford received the full mid-level for four years from the Clippers, but the final two years of the contract are only guaranteed for $1.5MM each.
• Marcus Camby's contract with the Knicks, $13,151,319 over three years, descends in value, with just $1,025,890 of $4,177,208 guaranteed in the third season.
• Every first-round pick to sign so far has received the full 120% of the rookie scale.
• DeShawn Stevenson will earn $2,240,450 in each year of his three-year deal with the Hawks, though only the first season is guaranteed.
• Kyle Singler's fully-guaranteed deal with the Pistons is worth $3,135,000 over three years, with no options, while Victor Claver's deal with the Trail Blazers is also fully guaranteed and will pay him $4MM over three years.
• Jason Kidd (Knicks; three years, $9.09MM), Ian Mahinmi (Pacers; four years, $16MM), and Gerald Green (Pacers; three years, $10.5MM) all received fully-guaranteed contracts with no option years.
• The Nets' agreement with Reggie Evans is worth $5,086,905 over three years, and is fully guaranteed.
• Hasheem Thabeet's contract with the Thunder appears to be for more than the minimum salary. Deeks pegs the value at three years and $3.65MM, though only the first year and $500K of year two are guaranteed. Oklahoma City will be using either a portion of their mid-level or bi-annual exception for that deal.
• I would guess Thabeet's deal will come out of the MLE, since the Thunder are also using a portion of the mid-level on Hollis Thompson, who signed a three-year minimum-salary contract. Only $75K is guaranteed, however.
• Doron Lamb received a three-year, minimum-salary deal from the Bucks, with the third year nonguaranteed.

JULY 11TH: The Nuggets have confirmed in a press release that the team has officially re-signed Miller.

JULY 1ST: The Nuggets have agreed to re-sign guard Andre Miller to a three-year deal, sources tell Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).  Terms of the deal have not yet been disclosed.

The veteran guard was also key for Denver in their seven-game first-round series against the Lakers.  Miller shined in the Nuggets' Game 5 win as he scored a team-leading 24 points and eight assists.

The Northwest has certainly been the NBA's most active division on the restricted free agent market so far today, with the Trail Blazers extending Roy Hibbert a maximum offer and the Timberwolves making a hard push for Nicolas Batum. According to Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (via Twitter), Portland's four-year offer to Hibbert is worth $58.4MM. I assume that's based on 2011/12's maximum-salary figures, which are likely to stay the same for 2012/13. Hibbert is leaning toward signing the offer sheet when the moratorium ends, which would give the Pacers three days to match it, says Berger.

Here are a few more Sunday updates out of the Northwest:

• Paul Millsap is expected to seek a contract extension in the neighborhood of Gerald Wallace's reported four-year, $40MM deal with the Nets, according to Brian T. Smith of the Salt Lake Tribune.
• Smith adds in the same piece that the agents for two current Jazz free agents are open to sign-and-trade deals if their clients don't re-sign in Utah. C.J. Miles and Josh Howard are the only Jazz free agents that made more than the minimum salary last year, so maybe Smith is hearing from their agents, but that's just a guess on my part.
• Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri will meet with JaVale McGee's representatives tomorrow to begin talks on a new contract for the big man, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. McGee hasn't received any offers yet, says Ken Berger, who adds that retaining Andre Miller is a priority for Denver (Twitter link).
• The Timberwolves have set up a meeting with Celtics restricted free agent Greg Stiemsma, as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune writes. A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com tweets that the C's remain Stiemsma's first choice.

Earlier today, we heard that the Heat intended to aggressively pursue Ray Allen when free agency begins late tonight. However, Miami isn't the only team with Allen atop its wish list. Sources familiar with the Grizzlies' plans tells Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal that Memphis will go hard after Allen, and intends to offer him the team's full $5MM mid-level exception.

Despite previously expressing a desire not to pass the luxury tax threshold, it seems owner Michael Heisley has loosened the reins a little with a prospective buyer for the franchise in place. Heisley has given GM Chris Wallace permission to use the full mid-level and enter the tax, says Tillery. Of course, the team will have to manage its cap situation carefully, since clubs that use the full $5MM mid-level aren't allowed to cross the "tax apron" (about $74MM) at any point in the season, and are essentially hard-capped.

According to Tillery, the team also wants to re-sign Marreese Speights and Darrell Arthur. With over $62MM+ already guaranteed in 2012/13 salaries, even before considering Speights, Arthur, and another $5MM player, it's hard to see how the Grizz will be able to fit everyone in, unless they make a trade or two.