Around The Rim

It turns out that veterans on the West team in the All-Star Game were bothered by Kobe Bryant 's gunning. Karl Malone describes how Bryant waved off his screen to take on Michael Jordan one-on-one: "The guy told me he's got it. Like I told Coach [George] Karl, 'Hey, when younger guys tell me "Get out of the way" that's a game I don't need to be in.' I was ticked."

...The Hornets turned down the Spurs' offer of Will Perdue for Bobby Phills ....

If the Heat hadn't succeeded in dealing Isaac Austin to the Clippers, one of Miami 's backup scenarios was to ship him to Denver for Johnny Newman and a first-round pick, most likely the one the Nuggets acquired from Phoenix in the Antonio McDyess trade....

The Nets could have landed Christian Laettner for Kendall Gill , but, sources say, New Jersey had concerns about moving Keith Van Horn from power forward to small forward to make room for Laettner. The Hawks have Laettner and Alan Henderson at the four-spot, and both are free agents this summer. Henderson , a sixth man who averaged 20.3 points and 9.2 rebounds as a starter while Laettner was out with the flu, is the one they want to keep....

Clyde Drexler did something Larry Bird failed to do, and Jordan probably won't—become a member of the 6,000-assists-and-6,000-rebounds club. John Havlicek , Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson are the only others in the club; Jordan is almost 1,000 assists shy....

Coach Larry Brown of the 76ers told other teams his only untouchable player is rookie Tim Thomas .