Former Knicks assistant coach Tom Thibodeau has been contacted by several teams, including Chicago, Portland and Golden State, about joining their respective coaching staffs.

There is a strong possibility that Thibodeau will be reunited with Jeff Van Gundy if Van Gundy returns to coaching. The Cleveland Cavaliers are expected to make Van Gundy an offer within the next several days.

Van Gundy, though, is not ruling out returning to TNT as a broadcaster for at least one more season. Even if he is coaching next year, there is no guarantee that Thibodeau would be part of his staff.

Thibodeau was prepared to leave the Knicks and Van Gundy two years ago to become Maurice Cheeks' top assistant in Portland. The job would have made Thibodeau, 45, one of the league's highest-paid assistants.

John Paxson isn't afraid to state the obvious, which is one way he differentiates himself from Jerry Krause. If Krause were asked the day after the NBA lottery if he would consider trading his pick, he would have said, "I don't know.''

Paxson admits he will consider dealing the No. 7 selection, awarded to the Bulls on Thursday in Secaucus, N.J., and his candor has fueled a firestorm of trade rumors that assumes the draft pick is as good as gone.

Not so fast.

Paxson has identified his offseason goal as acquiring an athletic, defensive-minded small forward, preferably a veteran. And there will be a few to choose from this offseason in free agency. Scottie Pippen and James Posey are two the Bulls will consider very seriously.

The Bulls didn't move up in Thursday's NBA draft lottery, but the Paxson family was a big winner.

Cleveland captured the No. 1 pick and the right to select hometown hero LeBron James on June 26. For Cavaliers general manager Jim Paxson, the older brother of Bulls' GM John, it might have been a job-saving victory.

"I'm real happy for Jim and his organization, because they needed this badly," said John Paxson, who watched the lottery from his suburban home. "If it couldn't be me, I'm glad it's him."

Wouldn't you know it. NBA executives and scouts generally regard the 2003 NBA draft as a six-player draft. And the Bulls have the seventh pick.

The best player expected to be available there is Marquette shooting guard Dwyane Wade, a 6-foot-5-inch junior who is regarded as more of a slasher and scorer. It's also possible Texas point guard T.J. Ford, targeted by most NBA scouts at the end of that supposed top six, could be available for the Bulls.

But their problem is they hardly need another point guard, especially one who's 5-10. And though Wade is an appealing prospect, he doesn't fit the Bulls' needs with Jamal Crawford bidding for shooting guard time when he's not playing point guard, and Jalen Rose at shooting guard.

This is why the Bulls probably will put their top pick up for auction. Orlando, Boston and Utah, all looking for point guards, are possible trading targets, though none of them has much to offer.

Stopping just short of wishing the hometown team would draft him, former Marquette All-American and Richards High star Dwyane Wade looked awfully comfortable in his Bulls practice jersey Thursday.

Working out before team officials at the Berto Center along with Duke guard Dahntay Jones, Brigham Young guard Travis Hansen and Florida forward Matt Bonner, Wade said it would be nice if somehow he and the Bulls and 14 Ping-Pong balls were aligned just right after Thursday night's lottery selection in Secaucus, N.J.

He could very well wind up in red and black. The Bulls didn't move up in the lottery, so in the June 26 NBA draft, they'll pick at No. 7, and Wade is expected to be available.

"I'm a Chicago kid, I grew up watching the Bulls," Wade said. "I think I can help the team, but maybe it's not my call. It's the general manager's call."

Decked out in Chicago Bulls practice gear, with sweat pouring down his face, Dwyane Wade on Thursday began living his dream of playing in the National Basketball Association.

Now outside the protective cocoon of Marquette University and college athletics, Wade had his first official NBA workout on Thursday at the Berto Center, the Bulls' practice facility, where superstars such as Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen honed their skills during the team's glory days.

The Bulls are a much younger team now, and while it's unclear whether they will draft Wade, the All-American guard knows these basketball recitals go a long way toward determining where he will be drafted.

"I haven't any idea where I'm going to go," Wade said of the NBA draft, which will be held June 26. "That's why I do these workouts. These guys can really evaluate you in person and as a player. It's just an honor to be here today."

There won't be any lucky pennies and there won't be any superstitious routines, but what will reflect most vividly the changing face of the Bulls is there won't be any Jerry Krause tonight at the NBA draft lottery in Secaucus, N.J.

The last five lotteries filled a blooper reel of Krause expressions and reactions, snickered at by the more mean-spirited of his detractors. Krause, 64, will be the first to admit he's got a face for radio.

But that face is gone, and it will be replaced tonight by assistant general manager B.J. Armstrong, 35, who will be representing recently hired operations chief John Paxson, 42.

Both are fit and well-groomed, and they represent not only a new look, but a new era for the Bulls--and the change is far-reaching.

Whether it's a turnover on a fast break or a forced shot from a half-court set, bad timing has been a mainstay over the Bulls' difficult last five seasons.

And now comes Thursday.

On the night of their fifth straight lottery appearance, a made-for-prime-time-TV event in which high school phenom LeBron James will be anointed as some losing team's savior, Jerry Krause and his lucky pennies will be nowhere to be found.

Maybe Krause, given his lingering strong feelings for the Bulls, will break them out in the privacy of his home?even if they didn't always work.

On May 21, 2000, New Jersey had the league's seventh-worst regular-season record and entered the NBA draft lottery with a 4.4 percent chance of landing the top pick.

Nets President-general manager Rod Thorn left Secaucus, N.J., with Lady Luck and the first overall pick, netting Kenyon Martin.

The next year the Nets dropped a spot in the lottery after finishing with the sixth-worst record.

But they used the seventh pick in the draft to select Eddie Griffin, then traded his rights to Houston for Richard Jefferson, Jason Collins and Brandon Armstrong.

This is the week the Bulls may be able to put together a deal for Kevin Garnett.

Word around the NBA is the Timberwolves are willing to trade Garnett, most likely to a large-market team that could meet his price as a free agent.

The Timberwolves don't want to let on they would consider a deal for their best player ever, but for the first time owner Glen Taylor recently opened the door to a deal, saying: "The only way we would probably trade him is if Kevin said that he really thought that was the best thing for him, or something like that. It would have to be built on something I couldn't even think of right now. We don't want to, and I don't think he would want to, but that would be the scenario, I suppose. I don't think I would necessarily accept that just because he said that. But that's a possibility."