Some things go together perfectly. You know, peanut butter and chocolate, bread and butter, Brad Miller and camoflauge shorts — you get the gist. These combinations are so natural and so ideal that it's hard to imagine them without each other.

On the other side of the "things that go well together" spectrum — Ron Artest and mental health. He made a name for himself by being completely unhinged in every way, shape and form. Furthermore, in the past when it's been recommended that he be on mood-controlling medication, Artest would "throw it in the garbage."

But things have changed for Ron-Ron. The first sign was him giving his psychiatrist a shoutout in his amazing post game speech. The latest is the community work he'll be doing in Montebello, CA, next week. From Daniel Tedford of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune:

OK, maybe you need like a time and place, oh and the reason world champion Los Angeles Laker and game 7 hero Ron Artest is going to be in Montebello tomorrow.

Apparently, he has teamed up with Congresswoman Grace Napolitano (no, really, I'm serious) to raise awareness about mental health stigma's and advocate for the Mental Health in Schools Act, a.k.a. HR 2531.

That's right — Ron Artest is going to be speaking to kids in school about mental health. When you read that sentence, you realize how much has the world has changed without you even realizing it. It's amazing that a guy who went in to a crowd of people with fists flying during a professional basketball game is now a spokesperson for seeking out mental health assistance.

That being said, I'm with Kurt Helin of ProBasketballTalk who thinks this is a "pretty good fit." There aren't a lot of famous people who have shown such positive effects from getting help with their mental health problems. Because, seriously, Ron Artest has gone from being a crazy person who fights fans to a guy who made the most important shot in the biggest game of his life then thanked his psychiatrist for giving him the confidence to be a champion. Heck, they can just show that whole sequence in schools and Artest wouldn't even have to talk to be an effective spokesman.

However, I'm guessing he's going to have a few things to say about the matter. That's awesome for him, that's great for the kids and it's going to be great for us to find out what he has to say about getting his mind right. Very cool.

A look around the league and the web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: Bucksketball. Is it time to start worrying about Andrew Bogut's return?
PF: HP. Breaking down positions by shot locations.
SF: iLTHY. Boston gets its own Delonte West donuts shirt.
SG: Julia Segel. Hey, Magic Johnson suits are pretty cheap. (via ShareBros)
PG: Celtics Hub. Doc Rivers hopes the Celtics' Game 7 loss hurts for a long, long time.
6th: Complex. All the NBA Twitter mess-ups you could ever hope to remember.
7th: PBT. Speaking of Twitter silliness, DaSean Butler Tweeted a very weird children's story.
8th: Sportress of Blogitude. Nice Sears action, LeBron James.
9th: Daily Thunder. Even Radhouane Slimane couldn't block every one of Russell Westbrook's dunks.
10th: Salt City Hoops. Hard to believe, but Jazz fans aren't excited about the possibility they might sign Francisco Elson.

Got a link or tip for Ball Don't Lie? Holler at me at trey.kerby (at) yahoo.com, or follow me on Twitter.

The Internet has certainly had its fun at the expense of Minnesota Timberwolves president of basketball operations David Kahn. Between constantly acquiring point guards, then doing the same with small forwards, then giving Darko Milicic a $20 million contract, and then talking crazy any time he's in front of a camera, he's made it pretty easy. But maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe we should let things play out for the Timberwolves. After all, none of us are actually there with Kahn, trying to understand his process. We base our opinions off reports and actions, but maybe if we were around the team, Kahn's plan would make more sense.

Or maybe not. Because according to Kevin Love, the plan is pretty unclear even if you're a part of the Timberwolves. From Sports Illustrated's Paul Forrester:

SI.com: What's the Timberwolves' plan for improvement?

Love: I hope we have a plan. I don't know what it is at this point. We obviously made a lot of moves, but I'm out there playing and thinking between the lines, not making decisions. I'm just trying to hope for the best and that we keep getting better as a team.

All that stuff I said earlier about giving Kahn a chance because we're not privvy to the ins and outs of his thought process? Nevermind. If one of the biggest pieces of the team doesn't even know if there is a plan for the future, that's probably a bad sign.

What's worse is that a big part of Kahn's mythical plan hinges on Ricky Rubio coming to the Timberwolves some time. No one is really sure when, but the T-Wolves are really planning on that happening. However, even if he does and even if he's really good, that doesn't mean Minnesota's roster will make any more sense. I mean, adding another point guard to a team full of point guards doesn't make the team have less point guards. Quite the opposite, actually.

Who knows, though? Maybe in the next two years Kahn finds trading partners for all of his duplicate pieces and is able to use Minnesota's cap space to add a decent free agent, then Rubio comes over and the Timberwolves are an actual team that makes sense from a position standpoint. However, if David Kahn's been at the helm this long and one of his best players is willing to admit he doesn't know if there's a plan in place, don't count on it. In the dismissive words of Chris Webber, "Good luck."

Just Wednesday we regaled you with tales of Tunisia's resident rebel, Radhouane Slimane. If you were smart, you watched "Jack Rebel Slims" ply his trade against Team USA. If not, you're lucky the Internet exists and you get to watch his highlight tape from Thursday's game.

After a rough first half, Slimane put together what may be the finest minute in Tunisian basketball history. Have a looksy.

Unfortunately this isn't from the ESPN broadast, or else you'd have heard Fran Frischilla dub our man "My High School Chemistry Teacher," which would be a perfect nickname if Jack Rebel Slims hadn't already been coined. Nonetheless, you still get to witness everything you need to know about Radhouane Slimane — a turnover, a chasedown block because he hustled and a made 3-pointer when he had a defender very near him. That's JRS in a nutshell.

Unfortunately, Thursday's loss eliminated Tunisia from the tournament, and we won't get to see Slimane again. It was good while it lasted.

Just waiting, biding his time. Looking forward to winning, maybe, 78 games. Just two more months to sit through, and then it's all games, games, games.

Kind of like us. Though we have other things to look forward to. The World Championships. Team picture day. The duke that is September. So, let's chat about it.

Click the jump, after 3 p.m., Eastern, and let's get to it.

(Note: If your comment doesn't appear right away, rest assured, it shouldn't. Comments are moderated, but because we like you and don't want to limit contributions to a level that other large sites do, we'll try to get to it. It might be a few minutes. It might be 20 minutes. Chill out. Eat some papaya.)

Not everyone is a fan of Kevin Love's freshly shorn face. I'm of the opinion that no beard is better than a line-beard, but some people disagree, including Hamed Haddadi. Easy for him to laugh — he can grow a full beard in about six hours. Lucky guy. Best caption wins a Remington facial-hair trimmer. Good luck.

Previously, some joker goes to an Iran game.

Winner, fastfoodemployer: Although the fans wear jester hats, the joke is on the Iranian basketball team.

Runner-up, jrob: "Wait, this isn't the Italian team."

Second runner-up, Kayz: He was smiling until someone stole his sleeves.

That's Eddy Curry. We haven't heard from him in a while. He, like yesterday's Hump Day Chat!, sort of disappeared.

So, we'll try to chat again, to make up for it. 3 p.m., Eastern, on this site. See you then.

And if you see Eddy? Say hello.

There has been a whole lot of player movement this offseason, obviously. Big names, small names, some as big as your head — players be switchin' teams. So many changes were made that it's kind of hard to keep track of where everybody ended up. For instance, Ramon Sessions is on the Cavaliers now, which totally slips my mind every time I think about how bad Cleveland is going to be next season.

It's easy to assume that the players themselves can keep up with all the changes. As we've learned this summer, all of these guys are best friends, so it only makes sense that they'd remember where their friends are playing. Or, for that matter, where they're playing. However, Amar'e Stoudemire seems to be having a little trouble keeping everything straight. From the Arizona Republic's Paul Coro:

Wednesday was like any early September day at US Airways Center the past eight years.

Always an early-summer arrival, Amar'e Stoudemire was working out in the training room, playing informal games with some Suns and leaving last after a rigorous individual session.

Even though he wore Suns shorts, he was just visiting an old home now that he's a member of the New York Knicks. It is a common open-door policy for NBA players to work out in opposing arenas, but Stoudemire did not expect to find a game to join, and he needed to borrow shorts.

Whoops, wrong team. It's easy to confuse the Suns and the Knicks, what with the orange and the Mike D'Antoni and all, but someone should remind Amar'e Stoudemire he plays in New York now. Otherwise, this is going to get awkward really fast. And can we get him some shorts, too? The man needs some shorts.

Just kidding, guys. Amar'e Stoudemire totally knows who he plays for and was just back for a nice visit with his former team, which is pretty common if not a little weird. After publicly stating he wanted to remain with the team, it's kind of surprising that Stoudemire would be welcomed back with arms wide open, under the Suns-light. But according to Amar'e, his departure from Phoenix was amicable.

Again, from Paul Coro:

Three months after signing a five-year, $99.7 million deal with New York, Stoudemire, who played eight years with Phoenix, said he is not used to his new life. But he has no hard feelings about his departure.

Managing Partner Robert Sarver offered him a five-year, $96.6 million contract with $56 million guaranteed and the rest kicking in if Stoudemire logged significant minutes in the third and fourth years.

"It was fair from Robert's standpoint," Stoudemire said. "I understand his concerns, which were injuries and health. There are no hard feelings at all. From a security standpoint for myself and with as much work as I put in on the court, I was after a greater goal. It was a fair offer from his standpoint. We still talk and have a good friendship.

"The greater goal was to have a sense of security. I didn't want a football deal (with some or all of the money non-guaranteed). I want a NBA deal. That's what I ended up getting."

Makes sense to me. Amar'e is a guy who's suffered injuries in the past, and if a team is going to offer him more money — all of which is guaranteed — then he'd be silly to not take it. And despite his clothing and name punctuation choices, Amar'e's not silly.

But he's also not a Sun, which is what makes this so funny. Someone please get him to New York so he can get used to playing with point guards who don't pass him the ball exactly where he wants it every time he's open. And seriously, someone get him some shorts.

On paper and via electrons on the Internet, the Chicago Bulls should be a good team this upcoming season. Take a team that's won exactly half of its games the past two years, add three members of the perpetually good Utah Jazz, and you're left with a team that should be among the top tier of the Eastern Conference.

But when you consider that the Bulls haven't won a playoff series since 2007, the Miami Heat added two of the top 15 players in the NBA over the summer, the Boston Celtics are coming off an appearance in the NBA Finals and the Orlando Magic still have quality players from top to bottom, one would think being in the top tier in their conference is about as high as the Bulls can reach. And really, that's nothing to sneeze at.

Carlos Boozer, though, he has some different thoughts about how the Bulls season should end. From ESPN's Nick Friedell:

Chicago Bulls power forward Carlos Boozer has lofty expectations for his new team this season.

"A championship," he told ESPNChicago.com on Wednesday night after a Nike House of Hoops event. "I think a realistic goal for us is a championship. I think anything shorter than that we're setting ourselves up to be shorter than what we can reach. I think [we have] potential to be a championship-level team."

Never let it be said that Carlos Boozer suffers from a lack of confidence or body hair. He's certainly not mincing words or beating around the bush when it comes to setting goals. He'd be a great life coach. "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you'll land among the stars" is probably his favorite motivational saying that he repeats in the mirror every morning.

Of course, Carlos Boozer has to think the Bulls are going to win the NBA title. What else is he going to say? "Oh, I think we'll win about 54 games, and then depending on matchups we'll advance to the second or third round of the playoffs, and if we're lucky we'll score an upset before losing to the Lakers in the Finals." Doubtful. If athletes want to reach the top of their sport, they have to believe they're going to get there.

While the confidence is admirable and necessary, it's probably a little overblown. Not only are the Bulls a team that hasn't played together, they also have a new coach and a bunch of young guys who are growing as players. That's a good combination for the future, but not necessarily for the coming season. Not to mention, there are quite a few teams who are good in the East — your Celtics, your Magic, your Heat, your Hawks (kind of). I'd love it, but I'm not expecting a Bulls title any time soon.

However, if Carlos Boozer ends up leading the Bulls to an NBA championship, every Bulls fan should have to grow very dark, very well-manicured facial hair. Yes, even women. It would be an amazing sign of respect, I think.

Delonte West in Boston isn't your typical reclamation project. I still think it's one worth rooting for, though.

That's despite any actual rooting interest in the Boston Celtics, to take the minor end of things, and despite the ridiculously poor judgment shown by West off the court on the major end. He's no role model. Beset by legal woes, the NBA has already come down with a double-figure suspension for the former Cavaliers guard, and he won't even be able to play until Nov. 17 as a result.

But while the last thing West needs right now is to be thinking about basketball, he needs basketball, badly. He needs a paycheck and steady dose of income and a reliable support system if he's going to try and overcome the mental issues that have plagued him throughout his career. A long time away from the court may have been the best thing for West's state of mind, but he'll need an employer with a plan. He can't work through this on his own.

Hell, he needs a real team (and LeBron's Cavaliers, as we saw in two consecutive playoff flops, were hardly the heartiest sorts) around him just to get his act together as a grown-up, because a solid chunk of West's behavior can be chalked up to mere churlishness, and can't be excused by his issues with depression.

And on the basketball end? Picking up Delonte West, even if it's for half a season, is always going to be a smart move.

Because he can play. And he won't put the Celtics over the top, and there may have been other teams that were crying out for his hybrid-guard skills more than Boston, but Boston can really use him, and West can ably sop up minutes at either guard slot. He defends point guards better than he does shooting guards, but he's quite capable of playing either position offensively, and the Cavs were a better defensive team with him on the court last year than they were with West on the pine.

But one would hope that Boston's plans run more toward the ranks of the magnanimous more than they do the "let's win another before KG completely falls apart."

The hope is that Boston GM Danny Ainge, who originally drafted West back in 2004, is looking more to be the guy in charge when Delonte West gets it all together, than just being the guy who hired Delonte West to play for his team while in his prime. This would mean time off, if needed, whether mandated by the NBA or just as a quick response to something gone a little batty. A different set of locker-room rules, as West finds his balance in public.

These things tend to get in the way of team chemistry, especially on a win-now sort of veteran team that will be featuring all sorts of players working through painful physical (and not mental) afflictions. No person, much less player or teammate, can understand what Delonte is going through. And this can cause resentment. Delonte's no dummy, either, when it comes to the locker room. So that resentment -- whether real or perceived -- could add to his guilt, his frustrations and his depression. Ainge, and Celtics coach Doc Rivers, have to be ready for all of this.

There's no point in telling them what to do, of course, what with my zero credits logged in pre-med. And, really, Ainge and Rivers can bone up and listen to dozens of voices telling them the usual way to try and help West through his more painful days, but they just won't know how to deal with his ups and downs until they're face to face with them. The fact that he's only 27 allows for hope that West can get it all together. The fact that he's already 27 tells you that Delonte West has some deep-seated issues that will take a long time to work out.

So even with the nonguaranteed contract, you would hope that the Celtics are in it for the long haul, and not for some guy to take a chance on because Tony Allen followed the money to Memphis (and how many times do we get a chance to say that?). Because this really could be the first season of the rest of Delonte's life, in 2009-10, as their supportive environment and steady work could be the best possible thing for West as he tries to move forward.

There was a lot of "hopes" in this column. Here's hoping just some of them come true.