If the Denver Nuggets are intent on signing Golden State Warriors free-agent guard Gilbert Arenas, it might take a large chunk of their free-agent dollars.  

Arenas's agent, Dan Fegan, said Thursday that projections he has read about his client signing a contract starting in the $7 million range are off base.

The Utah Jazz, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers also are believed to be interested in Arenas.

If the Denver Nuggets are intent on signing Golden State Warriors free-agent guard Gilbert Arenas, it might take a large chunk of their free-agent dollars.  

Arenas's agent, Dan Fegan, said Thursday that projections he has read about his client signing a contract starting in the $7 million range are off base.

"If you're asking whether a starting number of $7 million is enough to sign Gilbert Arenas, the answer is unequivocally no, it's not," Fegan said.

Denver is in desperate need of a starting point guard and has about $22 million to spend in free agency this summer. Arenas might be the top prospect on the Nuggets' free-agent wish list. Teams cannot comment on their interest until the signing period opens July 1.

Michael Olowokandi anyone? Or his buddy, Elton Brand? Does Rasheed Wallace pique your interest? How about Kwame Brown? Brad Miller? Got an interest in Shareef Abdur-Rahim?

Welcome to the world of Toronto Raptors general manager Glen Grunwald, possessor of the No.4 selection in the June 26 draft and the host of a new reality show: NBA Let's Make A Deal.

Grunwald, trying to dream up ways to improve his roster through some kind of trade, certainly has any number of possibilities to explore.

"I'm open to all discussions," he said.

Okay, so let's discuss.

Does Grunwald package his No.4 pick and a player to obtain a more proven NBA big man?

Mike Dunleavy was interviewed yesterday by the Rockets, sources said, and, in all likelihood, he'll meet with the Cavaliers within the next few days as well.
As noted, the job was Jeff Van Gundy's and then Paul Silas' to lose and that seems to be what's happening; both may be pricing themselves out by letting it be known through their agents (no financial negotiations have taken place) they want mad bread; $7M per and $5M per, respectively. Van Gundy also is intent on gaining at least some control concerning personnel moves.

Unless Herb Kohl unexpectedly changes his mind, Ernie Grunfeld is no longer in contention for the Blazers' GM job. The Bucks owner denied Portland permission to talk to his top executive; the same message was transmitted to Washington and Charlotte.

In the midst of deciding to walk away from the remaining two years and $12 million on his contract with the 76ers, Larry Brown managed to remind us all that he's "still pumped about coaching." That essentially means this:

He will be coaching next season.

Possibly in Houston. Likely in Los Angeles with the Clippers.

But one thing is certain: Coaching Allen Iverson will be someone else's problem.

Specifically, Mr. President-elect himself, Billy King.

The man Brown once recruited out of high school to come play for him at Kansas; who Brown virtually adopted as a surrogate son; who vacationed with Brown as a youth in Hilton Head Island, S.C., and worked under Brown in his first NBA gig, as a scout/assistant with the Indiana Pacers, was officially introduced yesterday as the Sixers' new president of basketball operations.

King, who spent years playing Brown's Dr. Phil in dealing with a myriad of Sixers social issues, finally gets to make his own decisions.

THESE WERE the 16 minutes that Larry Brown barely got through. He had found his way through a forest of more than 500 games, nearly the same number of shootarounds, probably more than triple that number of practices, and now 16 minutes on a dais in the Hall of Fame Room of the First Union Center were tearing out his insides.

He had planned to meet individually with the primary beat writers who had covered his teams in this city, but all he could finally muster was a choked-up "thanks" into a microphone, and then he disappeared through the double doors of the room that led to the kitchen, where he embraced his wife, Shelly.

Just two short seasons ago, Brown embraced Shelly in the runway leading from the locker room to the playing floor after the Sixers had won a tough Game 7 from Milwaukee and advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in his Hall of Fame career. What those two very private, very tender moments have in common is that both can be seen as forerunners to the next excellent adventure.

Larry Brown exited, stage left, yesterday after two weekend meetings with team chairman Ed Snider, already thinking in terms of trying to become the first coach in league history to take a seventh franchise to the playoffs. To say that the opportunities were rolling in faster than the Pacific Ocean tide just outside the Browns' beloved Malibu home would not be an overstatement.

Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor said he didn't get nervous during the draft lottery. Instead, he just kicked back as he watched the Clippers get the sixth overall pick.

The Clippers finished with the NBA's fifth-worst record this season but fell to sixth in the draft during Thursday's lottery when the Detroit Pistons earned the No. 2 pick because of a past trade with the Memphis Grizzlies.

"I had no say in it, so I just sat back, hoping, believing we'd get the No. 1 pick," Baylor said. "You can't be disappointed because you have no control."

Baylor said it was too early to know which player the Clippers might be interested in. Baylor, who is in Secaucus, N.J., said when he returns to Los Angeles he will start making workout appointments for potential draftees.

And then there are those who get bumped down one key slot.

Masters of so many other lotteries, the Clippers started Thursday night with the fifth-worst record. However, when the Detroit Pistons jumped into the No. 2 spot (with a pick owed to them by Memphis), it forced the Clippers down to No. 6, which is another strata in this draft.

At No. 5, the Clippers, who are expected to let center Michael Olowokandi leave as a free agent this summer, would have been looking at one of two big men, Central Michigan's 7-foot Chris Kaman and Georgia Tech's Chris Bosh.

If current projections hold, LeBron James, Darko Milicic, Carmelo Anthony, Kaman and Bosh will go in the first five, leaving no players of their caliber in the draft and the Clippers figuring out what their next move is.

The Los Angeles Clippers and the Seattle SuperSonics will open their 2003-04 NBA regular season schedules with two games at Saitama Super Arena in Japan on Thursday, October 30 and Saturday, November 1, it was announced today by NBA Commissioner David Stern.

For the first time in Japan Games history, the NBA will host the event at the Saitama Super Arena, the venue for the 2006 FIBA World Basketball Championship for Men. The games will mark the sixth time the NBA has staged regular season games in Japan since 1990 and will be the second visit for each team.

?We're delighted to continue the NBA Japan Games tradition by bringing the Los Angeles Clippers and the Seattle SuperSonics to Saitama,? said Stern. ?The SuperSonics and Clippers are certainly two of the league?s promising, young teams. I?m confident that our loyal fans in Japan will ?Love It Live? when they enjoy the authentic NBA experience in an extraordinary state-of-the-art arena during the first week of the 2003-04 regular season.?

Japan, which was to host the Mariners' first two games this season before the trip was cancelled because of the Iraq war, is scheduled to receive another export from Seattle.

The Sonics will play a two-game set against the Los Angeles Clippers to start both teams' 2003-04 regular season. The games will be played Oct. 30 and Nov. 1 at a 20,000-seat arena in Saitama, a suburb 62 miles north of Tokyo.

The NBA is expected to formally make the announcement during a news conference this morning.

"Wally (Walker) and the marketing people took it to (coach Nate McMillan) and Nate felt it was a positive thing," Sonics general manager Rick Sund said. "So we wanted to look into it."