Baylor's Perry Jones is a projected top-three pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.

"He's a very gifted young man with his size, length and athleticism," said OU coach Jeff Capel. "You match that with skill and he can hurt you in so many different ways.

"He can hurt you on the offensive glass. He can score with his back to the basket. He can face up or get it off the defensive board and push it himself. He can pass it. He can shoot it from 15 to 17 feet consistently and put it on the floor. That arsenal makes him very difficult to defend."

Over 35 scouts attended Baylor's game against Kansas in order to see how Jones would fare against an elite team.

"He's (nearly) 7 foot and can run and jump and put his head above the rim," KU coach Bill Self said after the game. "I'd say he's a pretty good prospect. He's maybe the best prospect in the country from a pure prospect standpoint. There's not a better athlete out there than Perry."

Orien Greene has been signed to a 10-day contract with the Nets.

Greene had been playing for the Utah Flash of the D-League.

Joakim Noah will begin traveling with the Bulls after having the cast removed from his right hand on Monday.

Tom Thibodeau expects Noah to begin non-contact drills on Tuesday.

The center could be ready to return shortly after the All-Star break.

"With Jo, the next step is getting the cast off, which is going to happen today so you feel good about that," Thibodeau said. "And then he's going to have to work on basketball stuff. His timing, his touch, strengthening his hand.

"So he'll start the non-contact part of practice, and from there once he clears that he can practice with contact. And once he practices with contact then he'll be able to play. He's still pretty much on schedule. He's probably, the way we're looking at it right now, right after the All-Star break."

Heat guard Eddie House has been fined $25,000 for making an obscene gesture, it was announced Monday by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President, Basketball Operations.

The incident occurred with 22.2 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Heat’s 108-103 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Jan. 30.

LeBron James and Zach Randolph on Monday were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Jan. 24-30.

James finished the week second in the conference in scoring (33.0 ppg) and steals (2.3 spg), while helping the Heat to a 2-1 record. He had a double-double in Sunday’s 108-103 win at Oklahoma City with 24 points and 13 assists. With Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh out of the lineup on Friday, he scored a game-high 39 points in an 88-87 win over Detroit.

James has now scored at least 20 points in each of his last 12 games.

Randolph averaged 20.8 points and 15.0 rebounds in leading the Grizzlies to a 3-1 week with wins over the Toronto, Philadelphia and Washington. On Jan. 29, he posted his fifth 20-point, 20-rebound game of the season with 24 points and 20 boards in a 107-93 win over Washington, pulling Memphis back to a .500 record for the first time since Nov. 8. 

The Grizzlies are 13-7 when he records 20 points and 10 rebounds. 

Former Cavaliers coach Mike Brown will be the primary focus of the Pacers' search to replace Jim O'Brien, sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

O'Brien was fired on Sunday and will be replaced by assistant coach Frank Vogel on an interim basis.

Brown served as an assistant in Indiana prior to his time in Cleveland and is still well-regarded by the team's management.

Jazz assistant Ty Corbin is also expected to be a strong candidate.

The Mavericks will leave for an East Coast road trip on Tuesday, but Peja Stojakovic and Rodrigue Beaubois won't travel with them.

Beaubois hasn't played all season as he recovers from offseason surgery for a broken foot. He will ramp up his individual workouts with team trainers.

"He's progressing, for sure," coach Rick Carlisle said of Beaubois. "The hope is when we get back from the trip that he'll be in a position maybe to get into some heightened activity. We'll have to see what's what when we get to that point."

Stojakovic's status remains uncertain, but Carlisle said the knee issue that has kept him out of action since Nov. 26 is doing well.

"He's going through training camp right now. That's the way we're looking at it," Carlisle said. "We could throw him into the games but, again, in our estimation it wouldn't be the right move for him or for us. The knee is doing well. It's conditioning, it's strength, it's integration to some degree.

"For him, he can get a lot of his rhythm by doing some of these individual workouts and working on the things we do offensively and defensively. Right now, we just feel this is the right thing."

Pacers owner Herb Simon made the call to fire coach Jim O'Brien, according to Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star.

Indiana fired O'Brien on Sunday after three-plus seasons.

During a press conference, president Larry Bird spoke as if the decision was his.

"Mr. Simon was out there on the West Coast trip and at the time, I told him I was comfortable with Jimmy," Bird said. "But I wanted to see how we played on the trip. Then we came home against Orlando and the game was over after the first three minutes, so that's when I really started to think we needed to do something.

"And I called Mr. Simon up and told him and he said, 'Whatever you want to do.' So here we are."

Jason Williams cleared waivers over the weekend, but he is in no hurry to sign with a new team.

The Grizzlies hope to sign Williams for the remainder of the season, but it is not yet clear if the interest is mutual.

Owner Michael Heisley is said to have the same infatuation with Williams as he did with Allen Iverson last season.

The Rockets are unlikely to use their disabled player exception, according to sources, before it expires on Monday.

The NBA granted the Rockets the disabled player exception on Jan. 14 because they lost Yao Ming for the season.