While Michael Jordan works out daily at Hoops the Gym with many many stars, he is not the only one chasing goals and proving points.  Lacy Banks goes through the possibilties for each of Tim Hardaway, Michael Finley, Anfernee Hardaway, Charles Oakley, Antoine Walker amongst others.

The Pioneer Press reports that there is some talk around the league of a Minnesota movement to acquire Gary Payton. Emphasis on "talk" at the moment.

Reportedly, The Wolves, Chicago, Seattle and New York have tossed around some possible scenarios, but they are extremely complicated and therefore unlikely to be completed.

A myriad of names have been thrown around. Supposedly Minnesota would deal Terrell Brandon to the Knicks and Wally Szczerbiak to Chicago. The Bulls would likely send some package of Ron Mercer, Marcus Fizer and Ron Artest to Seattle. The Knicks would send one of their point guards somewhere, unless they feel they really need to carry 4 quarterbacks.

In his weekly column, the Sacramento Bee's Scott Howard-Cooper muses about female coaches in the NBA, Camp Jordan in Chicago and the man who deserves the most credit for rebuilding the Clippers--Jerry Krause.

Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Day 3 of the MJ Comeback Tour was a disappointing one for Michael Jordan, whose team was swept 10-0 in the mini-games.  The team of Tim Hardaway, Penny Hardaway, Charles Oakley, Michael Finley and Bobby Simmons got hot and never looked back, reported a player who spoke on condition of anonymity.  ''That's the way it is sometimes in scrimmages. A lineup gets hot and gets on a roll and nobody can touch them. So they ran the table today. We play to seven points and in one game they rallied from three down to win."  Jordan took it easy, pacing himself perhaps due to the tendinitis in his knee.

''I thought that Penny was the best player on the floor [Wednesday],'' another player said. Tim and Michael Finley also played great, Bobby is really impressive and Oakley was just awesome. But Penny appears to finally be healthy again and he's getting his confidence back.''

The Szczerbiak for Fizer rumors have been the talk of the league these days, which is an indication of how slow the news is right now. But news of Szczerbiak leaving the Wolves is news to Flip Saunders.

The Pioneer Planet reports that no offer has been made by Minnesota according to Saunders. "The Bulls, there has been contact, but there have really not been any offers put on the table as far as to say, 'If you take this, we'll trade him,' that I've heard of," Saunders said from Los Angeles, where he is preparing to depart with the U.S. team for the Goodwill Games in Australia. Szczerbiak and Fizer will be on his team.

Yesterday the reports were that Michael Jordan 'looked like garbage' according to sources, while today's report from Lacy Banks suggests that Michael looked the best player on the court.  "Tim Hardaway and Juwan Howard also played really well. Charles Oakley was still Oakley. He's a big, strong ox. If he stays healthy, he's going to help the Bulls because he can hit the 20-foot jumper and still go inside and rebound and play defense," one of the friends in attendance said.

But Michael is being hampered by tendinitis in his right knee, and it couldn't have come at a worse time.  With his hectic schedule over the last two months, and his niggling injuries (back spasms, ribs, and now tendinitis) the thought out there is that Jordan's knee might not have received the therapy it needed.  Rest affects his conditioning, and working out aggravates the knee.. so what is MJ to do?  Banks suggests Michael should take his time to make his decision, even if it means going beyond his self-imposed deadline of mid-September.

So Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders finally gets Marcus Fizer anyway.  No, there has been no Wally/Marcus swap (yet?).  Fizer will be joining Team USA in Australia next week in Melbourne after replacing Warriors Free Agent Marc Jackson, who was forced to withdraw from the team because of serious health problems with a member of his family.

``We?re going down there to win the gold,?? said coach Flip Saunders said. ``We?ve got a short training camp, so you got to simplify some things.??  The United States will train for a week in Melbourne starting Saturday, then head north to Brisbane where the Americans play their first game against Mexico on Sept. 3.

At times, he looked kind of like garbage.'' These are the relayed words of one of the players participating in the 'Michael Jordan's invite only comeback camp', as described by Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun-Times.  Apparently they were relayed by a friend allowed inside, but now MJ has sworn everyone inside to secrecy.

''[Jordan] called us all together before we started scrimmaging,'' one player said. Then he said, I'm happy to get you all here, and I'm grateful that you have come to help me try to see whether I'm ready. But I wish that you wouldn't say anything to anybody, especially to the media. Just keep it confidential as to how I'm playing and what we are doing here. This is just between you and me.' And everybody said, Cool.' ''

In the Chicago Daily Herald Jerry Krause denied that he ever told his players that they were not allowed to go against Jordan at Hoops the Gym.  "I certainly have never, in any way, told anybody not to go down there," Krause said.  Ron Artest, Marcus Fizer, A.J. Guyton and Tyson Chandler all participating over recent days supports Krause's claim.

The New York Post reports that there's been some Top Secret meetings that could clear Michael Jordan's path back to the NBA.

According to three sources, NBA commissioner David Stern, Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis and one of Jordan's closest representatives, Curtis Polk, met last Tuesday in New York to discuss a complicated scenario that would pave the way for His Airness to play for the Wizards.

The plan calls for Jordan to sell his minority share of ownership in the Washington Wizards to Abe Pollin. Jordan would then purchase a larger ownership share in the Capitals than he had in the Wizards. He also might buy a piece of the MCI Center.

Elton Brand has a message for all Chicago Bulls fans.  Just for the record he wants all Bulls fans to know that he didn't want to be traded.  He is not the traitor that many Bulls fans have called him, and he nor agent David Falk never asked for a trade.  "I loved Chicago. I was looking forward to playing my whole career here and helping to turn the franchise around and put it back on the winning track. After all, I was playing well for them, I wasn't causing any problems on or off the court and I wanted to be here. But I know that trades are part of this business."

In an act of pure class, Brand then goes on to say, "But I have no hard feelings because this is part of the business, and when I come to play against the Bulls, I won't be coming here with any extra grudge to beat them. I wish the Bulls well. Time may prove that what they did was the best thing for them to do. Tyson Chandler may turn out to be a superstar. I hope he does. At the same time, I'm going to keep working to become the best player I can be and to help my team as much as I can.''  

Could Bulls fans expect anything else from Big E?