Western Notes: Kobe, Kelly, Parker

As Lakers' star Kobe Bryant continues his path toward recovery, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News hears from team athletic trainer Gary Vitti that the 35-year-old guard is a few weeks away from advancing to full-weight bearing running and hasn't suffered any setbacks. With that being said, Vitti added that there still isn't a projected return date. Here's more out of the Western Conference tonight, including another injury update from Medina: 
  • As for most recent second-round pick Ryan Kelly (whom Vitti says is "asymptomatic"),  the trainers have still decided to take a conservative approach with his rehab and aren't sure when he'll be returning to action either.  
  • Tony Parker tells Mark Woods of ESPN that general manager R.C. Buford wants him to play less minutes at Eurobasket, but added that he has a great relationship with the Spurs and appreciates them letting him play for the French national team. 
  • Dan McCarney of Spurs Nation relays a snippet of Marco Belinelli's interview with HoopsHype, noting that the 27-year-old guard chose San Antonio over several other teams because of the opportunity to play for Gregg Popovich and a chance to win a championship. 
  • Rockets guard Jeremy Lin tells Mark Berman of Fox 26 about how great it was to work out with Hakeem Olajuwon and says that "anybody with (Dwight Howard) is a deadly combination" in response to the 50-year-old's recent comments about Lin and Howard being a potent duo next season (All Twitter links). 
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