The Timberwolves signed free agent Kirk Penney on Friday.

Penney, a 6-5, 220-pound guard from Wisconsin, wasn't selected in the 2003 draft.

A native of Auckland, New Zealand, Penney averaged 11.4 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 18.6 minutes in five games for the Wolves in a July pro summer league in Orlando. He ranked first on the team in three-pointers made (seven) and second in field-goals made (20) and steals (five).

Penney averaged 11.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists a game over his four-year college career.

It took 13 years, but Chicago native Kendall Gill finally fulfilled his boyhood dream Wednesday when he signed a one-year, $1.07million contract to play for his beloved hometown Bulls.

The Los Angeles Lakers, Denver Nuggets, Atlanta Hawks and his most recent team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, also made offers to the 35-year-old former Rich Central and Illinois standout.

''But I knew I wanted to play here all along,'' said Gill, a 6-5, 215-pound shooting guard. ''So it really didn't matter once the Bulls expressed interest. There are only three uniforms that I ever wanted to wear in my basketball career. One is the Rich Central Olympians in Olympia Fields. The [second] is the University of Illinois, and the other is the Bulls. All the other five NBA teams [Charlotte, Seattle, New Jersey, Miami and Minnesota] in between don't matter.

''I was a fan of the Bulls long before I became a basketball player. I was only about 8 or 9 years old when I first started coming to the old Chicago Stadium along with my cousin, Efrem Hayes, and a few other friends.

''We didn't have the money to go inside to see the games. But we got a thrill from just standing outside the Stadium at Gate 3-1/2 watching the players drive up in their luxury cars.''

Bulls operations chief John Paxson confirmed a Sun-Times report that the Bulls made room for Gill on the roster by releasing Dalibor Bagaric, a 7-1, 290-pound center from Croatia. Bagaric, who is playing with the Croatian national team, will be paid most of the $1.4 million he was guaranteed when the Bulls exercised the option on him for next season. But he will play in Europe.

''This way we are being fair with Dalibor by giving him a chance to go where he will get more playing time to facilitate his development,'' said Paxson, who left for vacation with his family after signing Gill. ''We feel real good about adding Gill to our team. He is another quality veteran who has an unbelievable workout regimen, which has kept him healthy and afforded him a lot of success over the years. He can play several positions and will join Trenton Hassell and Eddie Robinson filling in for Scottie Pippen in busy stretches of our schedule.''

The Chicago Bulls today signed veteran free agent Kendall Gill. Per team policy, terms of the contract were not released.

?We are extremely happy to add Kendall to our roster. He has an unbelievable workout regimen which has afforded him a lot of success over his 13 years in this league. He has played with quality teams and he is a veteran who will help us tremendously,? said Bulls Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations John Paxson.

A 6-5, 215-pound guard, Gill has appeared in 896 games in 13 NBA seasons, averaging 13.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.2 apg and 1.61 spg, shooting .437 from the field, .302 from 3-point range and .754 from the free throw line. He averaged double figures in scoring in each of his first 10 seasons in the NBA, including his career-high 21.8 ppg during the 1996-97 season with New Jersey. He has spent his career with five different teams before Chicago (Charlotte, Seattle, New Jersey, Miami and Minnesota) and helped all but one of those clubs to playoff appearances. In 27 playoff appearances, Gill has averaged 11.9 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.1 apg and 1.44 spg, shooting .408 from the field and .686 from the free throw line.

Last season, Gill was with the Minnesota Timberwolves and appeared in all 82 games, averaged 8.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg and 1.9 apg, shot .422 from the field, .322 from behind the arc and .764 from the free throw line. He also appeared in six playoffs games versus the L.A. Lakers.

Dalibor Bagaric's days with the Bulls are over as the addition of Kendall Gill, who is expected to be signed today, pushes the team's roster to 16, one player over the limit.

Former Bulls general manager Jerry Krause drafted Bagaric, 23, with the 24th pick of the first round in 2000, but the 7-1, 290-pound Bagaric never found his niche in the NBA. He played a total of 76 minutes last season as a three-year veteran.

Bagaric became so despondent with his lack of playing time last season, he asked Krause to trade him. Instead, Krause surprisingly guaranteed Bagaric's contract for next season for nearly $1.4 million. Bagaric is expected to clear waivers and play next season in Europe.

New Bulls operations chief John Paxson was considering Gill, a former Illini, as a free-agent alternative if Scottie Pippen didn't sign with the Bulls. Gill, 35, is a 13-year veteran with strong leadership and defensive skills.

The Timberwolves added Sidney Lowe to their crew of assistant coaches Wednesday.

Lowe, who guided the Wolves for half the 1992-93 season and the entire 1993-94 campaign, was 33-92 as Minnesota's head coach. He coached the Vancouver Grizzlies in 2000-01 and stayed on as head coach the following season when the franchise moved to Memphis.

Lowe also played for the Timberwolves in their inaugural season, 1989-90.

The home of the Minnesota Timberwolves may bear the name of hometown retailer Target, but the arena never has featured any sort of store for the professional basketball team to sell its wares.

This fall, the National Basketball Association team and its WNBA sibling, the Minnesota Lynx, will open The Gym, a 1,000-square-foot pro shop in the Target Center near the skyway that leads to the new Block E entertainment and retail complex in downtown Minneapolis.

The Timberwolves are the last major league team in the Twin Cities to jump into the retailing game, which capitalizes on fans willing to spend big bucks to demonstrate their team loyalties. The Minnesota Twins organization is the local retail veteran, having opened its first Pro Shop in Roseville in 1990.

The Wolves' timing might be fortuitous: Sales of licensed sports merchandise rose 8 percent in 2002 after five years of declines, according to The Licensing Letter, a New York City-based trade publication. Overall, 2002 retail sales in the $71.5 billion licensed merchandise industry in the United States and Canada increased 2 percent from the previous year.

Kenyon Martin, angered by the Nets' failure to offer him the maximum allowed by the N.B.A. on a contract extension, has asked to be traded, according to a person close to the discussions.

Martin will be a restricted free agent after next season, when he will make $5.1 million. The Nets can keep Martin off the free-agent market by signing him before Oct. 31, when their exclusive period for negotiating with him ends. Under N.B.A. rules, the Nets can sign him to an extension for as long as six years worth up to approximately $87 million.

Rod Thorn, the Nets' president, and Brian Dyke, Martin's agent, spoke briefly on Aug. 1, the day the negotiating window opened; Dyke asked for the six-year maximum and Thorn offered a deal worth significantly less than that. A report in The Daily News yesterday said that Martin had demanded a trade, and an article in The Oregonian detailed discussions between the Nets and the Portland Trail Blazers on a deal that could include Martin, the Nets' starting power forward, and Portland's volatile Rasheed Wallace.

According to the person close to the discussions between Martin and the Nets, Martin is intent on receiving the maximum contract extension and is offended at the idea of playing out next season and fielding offers on the free-agent market for the Nets to match or exceed.

Dyke would not comment on any trade demands. "We feel strongly about the fact that Kenyon loves New Jersey, his teammates and the Nets' staff," Dyke said. "He does a lot of charitable work in New Jersey and wants to be a part of it. But he also wants to be secure for the rest of his career."

In The Oregonian, Blazers Coach Maurice Cheeks is quoted as saying, "There have been some discussions, but there is not a trade on the table at this moment."

The Oregonian reported that the Nets were talking about sending Martin and Dikembe Mutombo to Portland for Wallace and either Arvydas Sabonis or Ruben Patterson.

If the Nets trade Kenyon Martin to Portland or elsewhere, whether they get Rasheed Wallace or someone else in return for this season may not matter as much as what they ultimately could do next summer:

Sign Kevin Garnett.

It's a salary-cap game of dominoes the Nets may play that would enable them to unload Dikembe Mutombo's bloated contract, which has two years and more than $37 million remaining, and eventually create the salary cap room needed to make another run at Garnett, a free agent after one more season.

It could, for the short term, send Martin and Mutombo to Portland for the volatile Wallace - also a free agent next summer - and a second player. That could be troubled swingman Ruben Patterson, who has had three brushes with the law; Arvydas Sabonis, whose non-guaranteed contract the Nets could waive; or forward Clifford Robinson from the Pistons in a three-way scenario.

Portland general manager John Nash, the former Nets' GM, declined comment Saturday on whether his new and old teams are talking, although he acknowledged the Nets' desire to trade Mutombo, now a high-priced backup to former Georgetown teammate Alonzo Mourning. Reports in Portland, meanwhile, indicate that in the three-way scenario, the Blazers would trade Patterson, who has four years and more than $25 million left on his contract, to Detroit for Robinson, who has two years and $9 million left.

Martin's agent Brian Dyke also said Saturday that he's "heard about several trades involving [Martin], involving Mutombo," but that, "Kenyon loves the New Jersey fans, his teammates, and the staff. It's very obvious from his actions and his charitable involvement ... that he believes he's an important part of the Nets."

Although Dyke wouldn't comment on reports that Martin demanded a trade when the Nets didn't meet his demand for a maximum-salary contract extension (six years, $87 million), it's clear the impasse could prompt K-Mart's departure - the first domino to fall in a row that could end with Garnett.

While the lengthy offer sheet negotiations for Clippers restricted free agent forward Lamar Odom continues, Heat coach Pat Riley proceeded to meet one of his offseason objectives of getting "longer" by adding two front-court players Friday.

The Heat signed its third forward in the past eight days by adding 6-foot-9 underachiever John Wallace, who after six years in the NBA was toiling in Greece last season.

Miami also signed 7-1 center Loren Woods, who despite playing just 98 career games in two seasons with the Timberwolves apparently made an impression in an exhibition game last summer, when he torched the Heat for 14 points (7 of 8 shooting) and seven rebounds in 23 minutes.

Both signed minimal one-year deals as the Heat continued to squirrel away cap money for the Odom sheet, which is believed to be in the $60 million range over six years.

The Woods' signing, as well as the recent addition of power forward/center Samaki Walker, may signal the end of backup center Vladimir Stepania's two-year stay. After playing for three teams in five seasons, the 7-1 Stepania, who is coming off his best season, is seeking the stability of a multi-year deal.

"First of all, I want security and have a chance to play good basketball on a good team," said Stepania, who has drawn interest from the Mavericks and Grizzlies. "I've had two good years and have enjoyed playing for Riley. I'm not closing the door here. They may come up with something."

Rick Rickert has spent countless hours thinking about the decision he had before him as a senior at Duluth East High School.

Go to Arizona and play in a conference where being offensively sound is a requirement or go to the University of Minnesota and play in a conference where strength and defense is a must?

Rickert took the second choice, and now ? staring at a first professional season in Europe ? the former McDonald's High School All-American is wondering what went wrong and what he has to do to lose the "bust" label given to him just hours after being selected by the Timberwolves in the NBA draft in June.

It might be too late for the 6-foot-11 forward with the soft shooting touch.

Almost every major NCAA Division I school flooded Rickert's mailbox with recruiting letters. He gave an oral commitment to the University of Arizona, a school known for producing NBA players, only to change his mind and commit to his home-state Gophers. He went from possibly being a lottery pick after his freshman season to falling off the radar screen and, finally, being the fourth-to-last player selected in the draft.

"Honestly, I can't tell you what happened," Rickert said this week. "I've spent a lot of time recently thinking about if I should have gone to Arizona after high school. Arizona is an offensive team and fit my style more.

"I can say the Big Ten wasn't for me; it was more of a physical, bang league, which wasn't the way I played. I looked at it as I wanted to get better in those areas. I did all right."

All right doesn't cut it in the NBA. All right earned Rickert a plane ticket without a return date to play in Europe when he should be getting ready for his junior season with the Gophers.