Atlanta assistant coach Nick Van Exel is attempting to teach Jeff Teague to play with more edge this season.

"We call it 'the dog' in the NBA," Van Exel said. "We are trying to bring that dog out of him."

Teague was Atlanta's first round pick in 2009.

"He's kind of a quiet kid," Van Exel said. "He likes to joke around and have fun. But there are times when somebody makes him mad, and he is just blowing by guys. And we are like, "Man, you've got to to that all the time."

"He can do it. He has those skills. We are thinking about maybe going up to him and making him mad before every game, making up stuff just to get him going."

The NBA is implementing a dress code upon its coaches this season.

Coaches can no longer wear mock turtlenecks under their suit jacket, as they will be required to wear a collared shirt.

"I want them to at least name the rule after me," Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "Somebody has their Bird rights. Larry Bird got that rule named after him. I want it to be the Van Gundy Rule."

"I don't like that," Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "I really like Stan's style. I thought Stan really set the bar for the dress code. I think he should stay with that. I think it's nice."

Erick Dampier met with Raptors president and general manager Bryan Colangelo and is expected to make a decision on a contract offer shortly. He sat and watched the second practice of the day with team officials but was not available to the media.

According to NBA sources, the Raptors and Houston Rockets have the best chance to land Dampier.

Andrew Bogut is still returning from injury, but he won't be limited in the preseason.

"Obviously in the first two or three exhibition games, we're not going to overplay anybody," Scott Skiles said.

Bogut has taken part in two of the three contact practices during the first three days of training camp, including Thursday's session.

"I'm just not overdoing my elbow at the moment," Bogut said. "Even having three sessions for me in two days was huge. It's a big step for me to go out here and take knocks and hits and get through it, so I felt pretty good today."

Ken Berger raises the point that the institution of a hard salary cap in the NBA would likely require that existing contracts be amended to fit beneath a lower maximum-salary contract figure.

Without exceptions that allow teams to exceed the cap, a team like the Miami Heat would have difficulty fielding a 12-man roster unless the contracts of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade are rolled back.

If a hard cap is established under the new CBA, a would-be 2011 free agent like Carmelo Anthony could sign a contract extension during the current season only to have that extension amended and reduced when the new CBA takes effect next summer.  

Many have assumed Anthony would prefer to sign an extension this season to avoid the risk of entering free agency under a new CBA.  But if a hard cap drives down all max salaries -- whether existing or future contracts -- then Anthony would not lose anything by waiting until he becomes a free agent.

Magnum Rolle has signed a two-year NBA contract with the Indiana Pacers.

The second round pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, Rolle followed a productive summer league with impressive play in the Pacer?s preseason workouts.

Originally drafted by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the 51st overall pick, Rolle was traded to Indiana on draft night.

The Minnesota Timberwolves waived free agent forward DerMarr Johnson on Thursday.

The team traveled overseas for their NBA Europe Live series on Thursday.

Johnson had to sit out the first three days of the Timberwolves' five-day training camp at Minnesota State Mankato because of slow-arriving paperwork from the NBA office and the Jiangsu Nangang Dragons, a pro team in China that owns his rights.

The Knicks have already paid half of Eddy Curry's 2010-11 salary, a fact that could provide a team acquiring him significant savings and greatly boost his contract's trade value.

The Knicks are certain to offer Curry in a bid to land Carmelo Anthony at any time between now and the NBA's trade deadline.

If traded today, Curry would be owed a little over $7 million by the team acquiring him, after adding in a trade kicker.

If Curry was traded just before the February deadline, the unpaid compensation on his contract would decline to about $2.4 million and his trade kicker would decline to about $600,000.

The Toronto Raptors announced Thursday they have exercised the third year team option on the Rookie Scale Contract of guard-forward DeMar DeRozan. DeRozan is now guaranteed through the 2011-12 season. In accordance with the league?s collective bargaining agreement, the Raptors had until October 31 to exercise their option on DeRozan. Per team policy, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

DeRozan, 6-foot-7, 220 pounds, was the ninth overall pick by Toronto in the 2009 NBA Draft out of the University of Southern California.

The Knicks have reportedly found a pick they can use to trade for Carmelo Anthony.  

A source says the team has lined up a trade to acquire a 2011 first-round pick that can be sent to the Nuggets in a trade for Anthony.

New York would presumably only make the trade for the pick if and when a deal with Denver is ready to move forward.