Eddir Sefko of the Dallas Morning News reports that the Dallas Mavericks won?t have to play short handed any longer. Even though they have sprinted to a 14-0 record before finally losing to the Pacers, they have only been playing with an 8-man rotation.

With the return of Raef LaFrentz and Nick Van Exel from the injured list, the Mavs will have more options off the bench. Both players will be in uniform on Saturday against Chicago. "We're playing at a real high level right now, and I expect that to continue," coach Don Nelson said. "But we need some help. It'll be good to have those guys back. We need them."

Nelson will probably start both players on the bench and work them gradually into their regular roles. Their return means that Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Finley and Steve Nash can finally have their playing time reduced a bit. Nowitzki has played 42 minutes or more in three of the past four games. Finley has averaged 41.4 minutes in the past six games, and Nash also has put in more than 35 minutes in four of the past five.

"It certainly should help those guys get a little more rest," Nelson said. "But they're always going to play quite a bit."

The last hurrah?

According to Steve Wyche of the Washington Post this will be Michael Jordan's last year in the NBA, and there will be no encore.  Michael Jordan announced yesterday that this season will be his last.

"Right now I'm fulfilling my contract," said Jordan, in the last of his two year deal with the struggling Wizards. "At the end of this season I'm not looking to enter another contract. Right now I want to finish this year out and hopefully fulfill my obligations and let this team take its own course."

Jordan said he plans to resume his role as the Wizards' president of basketball operations after the season. However, he did not say whether he would rejoin the Lincoln Holdings minority ownership group, led by America Online executive and Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis. Sources close to Jordan have said that when Jordan stops playing, he plans to repurchase a stake in the team.

Jordan, almost 40, came out of his second retirement before last season after working as the Wizards' top basketball official since Jan. 19, 2000. He signed a two-year, $2.1 million contract upon his return to the court. Months before his comeback, Jordan said he was "99.9 percent" certain he would not play again, only to restart a career that had been spent exclusively with the Bulls.

"It won't be no points, zero," Jordan said. "It would be 100 percent, I'm sure."

Sure Michael.  Until your ego once again irritates that infamous itch you seem to get when you have a point to prove.

Steve Wyche of the Washington Post reports: After this season, Michael Jordan will end his storied 14-year career and call it quits once and for all.

Michael Jordan said yesterday that this season will be his last.

"Right now I'm fulfilling my contract," said Jordan, who is in the final season of a two-year, $2.1 million deal. "At the end of this season I'm not looking to enter another contract. Right now I want to finish this year out and hopefully fulfill my obligations and let this team take its own course."

Jordan said he plans to resume his role as the Wizards' president of basketball operations after the season. However, he did not say whether he would rejoin the Lincoln Holdings minority ownership group, led by America Online executive and Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis. Sources close to Jordan have said that when Jordan stops playing, he plans to repurchase a stake in the team.

Jordan, 39, came out of his second retirement before last season after working as the Wizards' top basketball official since Jan. 19, 2000. He signed a two-year, $2.1 million contract upon his return to the court. Months before his comeback, Jordan said he was "99.9 percent" certain he would not play again, only to restart a career that had been spent exclusively with the Bulls.

"It won't be no points, zero," Jordan said. "It would be 100 percent, I'm sure."

Matt Harpring was almost a Chicago Bull this offseason.  The Bulls wanted him, Harpring was happy to go to Chicago but there was a hitch.

"They were waiting. Krause was always telling us he had something cooking. We were like, 'OK, Jerry, what do you have going? Nothing's happening.'

"Basically, when I got an offer from Utah, we said, 'Jerry, you have 24 hours to match it.' He tried to come back with, 'I need more time.' Well, the next day I signed."

And the day after that the Bulls signed Utah free agent Donyell Marshall.  The moves have worked out great for both players, and Harpring for one shows no bitterness to the team who left him at the alter.

"I've been in the league five years and I know already it's a business. I've been promised a lot of things and maybe half of them have been delivered.

"I heard that [Krause] put the spin on it. Whatever. I don't care. It doesn't bother me."

"I'm not going to speculate on [Harpring]," said Bulls coach Bill Cartwright. "But I've said this before, that at the end of last season we never thought we could get Donyell because who would let him go?"

The Jazz's mascot pretended to read the minds of various game participants during Utah's 110-90 win over Chicago on Saturday, and when the Bear reached Donyell Marshall, he "heard" the former Jazzman ponder, "What was I thinking, leaving Utah for this?"
   
But the Bulls' reserve forward insists that the Bear's equipment is faulty.
   
"I'm happy with my situation, that's one thing I can honestly say," Marshall said. "I'm happy with how it came out."

...

That the Bulls moved slower than a herd of elephants near the end of Saturday's game should be no surprise. It's Barnum & Bailey's fault.
   
The Bulls are fulfilling a Chicago tradition -- a Thanksgiving visit by Ringling Bros.' circus. The United Center (and Chicago Stadium before it) is booked every November by the Greatest Show on Earth, and the Bulls and Blackhawks are forced to hit the road for two weeks.

...

Several NBA players have developed with the Jazz in recent years, thriving in coach Jerry Sloan's structured system and benefiting from playing alongside Karl Malone and John Stockton.

Players haven't always recognized this, though, but former backup Greg Foster is one who gets it.

"They make the game so much easier," said Foster, who signed with the Toronto Raptors earlier this month. "It sounds so cliche that great players make those around them better, but it's true. It's exactly what they do with their teammates.

"I don't know if you lift your game to a different level, I think they lift you." Donyell Marshall, who returns to the Delta Center tonight with the Chicago Bulls, is another who revived his career in Utah.

Watch out NBA, because Big Daddy is back!

So far in this bizarre NBA season the Los Angeles Lakers have looked like anything but a three time defending champ.  Kobe Bryant has learnt that this is not his team after all as the team has started out with an embarrassing three wins from twelve games, a win loss record which is good enough to land them in last place in the Pacific.

?yet the cockyness remains.  "We're going for a four-peat,? said Bryant, iced and taped as though he had just gone 15 rounds with Mike Tyson.  ? It's only right that we make the story really, really difficult and complex. It has to happen."

Tonight they take on the Chicago Bulls, a team that has arguably been the worst in the NBA over the last four season and thus far has a better record than the ?champs?.  The Bulls might be riding a two game winning streak against the Lakers, having swept them last season, but L.A. has a nice surprise in store.  Enter Shaquille O?Neal.

O?Neal?s timing could not have been better.  Steve Dilbeck of the L.A. Daily News reports that the Lakers have approached the season with a business type mentality.  Players have simply been going through the motions, and without O?Neal teams do not appear to be intimidated by the ?champ? tag.

So how is the toe?  "[The doctor] said everything looks OK," O'Neal said. "I played (yesterday), felt pretty good. We'll just see (today). That's all I'm going to say."

The plan, according to Jackson and assuming O'Neal is ready, is to play O'Neal about half the game. And he's leaning toward bringing the center off the bench.

Having lost seven of their last eight, suddenly the regular season holds meaning for a team which has considered it to be nothing more than a formality ? a warm up to the big dance.  The Lakers currently sit in the 12th seed of the Western Conference ? only the top eight go through.

While injuries and the six game suspension to Rick Fox no doubt play a part in the Lakers poor early season form, Dilbeck reports that it cannot be used as an excuse.  The Sacramento Kings, second to only Dallas along with the surprising Seattle Supersonics,  have been without injured star Mike Bibby and started out without superstar Chris Webber, and they have a 9-4 record for their efforts.

"We've had our injuries, too," Kings center Vlade Divac said.

But the return of the NBA?s premier player removes any excuses for the Lakers ? the Kings are still missing Bibby ? so it will be interesting to see if the supporting cast continues to play the game with a casual attitude now Shaq?s back, or if the team will come out and play like they are the champions.

Jamal Crawford might not be starting for the Chicago Bulls and he might be the subject to many trade rumors, but do not expect him to sit back quietly and await his fate.

Crawford, upset at team captain Jalen Rose?s leadership and defensive effort against the Kings, openly challenged Rose in front of team mates after the team?s loss.  According to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune Rose, already unhappy with only playing nine second-half minutes, held up a box score as Crawford exited the showers, showing Peja Stojakovic's 3-for-11 shooting performance.

Witnesses said that Crawford was respectful while doing it, and that he was not alone in his thoughts.  Players have downplayed the incident.

Controversy surrounding Rose does not end there.  Paul Ladewski of the Daily Southtown reports that Rose is the latest Bull to voice their displeasure at the triangle offense, joining Jay Williams, Eddie Robinson and Jamal Crawford as others who wouldn?t mind seeing a change.

"If they decided to try a different system, I wouldn't be against it at all," said Rose. "We're a team that starts three second-year guys and one rookie. If they have to think so much about where to go and what to do next, it creates hesitancy and doesn't always play to their strengths."

Added forward Eddie Robinson, "Our system has no diversion. You have to run it thoroughly to get anything out of it, but we can't be patient when we're down by a lot of points. We need another offense that gets us quick-hitters."

Rose believes that the Bulls will continue running the triangle offense as long as Jerry Krause is GM of the franchise, regardless of who the head coach is.  It was Krause who insisted that Phil Jackson and Tim Floyd run with the offense created by Tex Winter many years ago after failing to get Doug Collins, now with Michael Jordan and the Wizards, to conform.

"To be honest with you, no matter who the coach is, this team will run the triangle as long as Jerry Krause is here," Rose says. "That's something that I found out when I got here. When you go to the Bulls, you will run the triangle on offense."

Could Juwan Howard be the next piece which helps bring the Chicago Bulls back to respectability?

A recent report by Roman Modrowski in the Chicago Sun-Times indicated that Bulls forward Jalen Rose, Howard's teammate at Michigan, would very much like for his team to persue Howard when he becomes a free agent next offseason.  Howard would take over the role currently occupied by Corie Blount, who is unlikely to return next season, as an experienced big man to contribute on the court while helping accelerate the learning process of Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry.

"I'm on the phone with Juwan every day,'' Rose said.

The Bulls are again expected to be over the cap next season, meaning they will have their $4.5M mid-level exception on offer.  Howard, who finishes his infamous seven-year, $105 million contract this season, is unlikely to make more than the mid-level exception anywhere else (barring a sign and trade).

Added another anonymous Bull:

"That would be great. It would be a homecoming for him, first and foremost. And we could get a skilled big man who can play and someone to rely on to get low-post scoring."

"Of course, we've talked about it. Are you kidding me?
He's receptive, but the NBA business is just that. Just because he and I are talking about it ... there have to be bigger powers than me to get it done.''

"If he comes to our team and these young guys get better, who's to say we can't be a contender?'' the anonymous Bulls player said. "If you look at the big men in the Eastern Conference, he can match up with any of them.''

And what does Howard think about all this attention?

"When any player is about to be a free agent, it feels very good when players, other teams and other people in management view you as part of their team. But free agency is a long way away. I'm not even focusing on that right now. My main focus is this team and how we can we stop (losing)."

With Donyell Marshall and Jalen Rose performing well thus far for the youthful Bulls, the addition of an experienced frontcourt player the calibre of Howard could be what is needed to propel the team to it's first playoff appearance post-MJ.

Sam Smith sat down last night, put on his General Manager cap and began to pen a tale of how the Bulls are too young to win regularly.

As Smith points out, The Bulls have 10 players on their roster 24 years old or younger, six of whom are 22 or under. They have six No. 1 draft picks on the roster. But Smith thinks now is the time to start clearing out some of the high draft picks that Krause has drafted over the years.

It's why, in Smith's thinking, they still need to look at a team like the Miami Heat and make another run at Brian Grant, who is among the league leaders in rebounding. Miami is one of the few teams that would like to have Jamal Crawford. With the Bulls already close to the salary cap through 2004-05, they're not about to attract any more big free agents.