John Lucas is at it once again, this time not being afraid of a fine. The former Nuggets assistant and NBA coach has been preparing Oak Hill (Va.) Academy senior forward Josh Smith in Houston for his predraft workouts.

The McDonald's All- American has been working on his perimeter shooting against Houston guard Cuttino Mobley and Portland guard Damon Stoudamire.

Smith's agent, Brian Dyke, doesn't think his client will drop past Phoenix's seventh pick.

"I think he is going to rise," Dyke said. "He's a much better skilled player than people think. They think he's raw. I don't think these people in Houston think he's raw."

Apparently fans bought t-shirts just to get them signed by Carmello Anthony after a charity game in Denver. Instead Anthony signed a few before the game began and left shortly after.

Anthony's agent blames the event promoter James "Slim" Cunningham for the mixup.

"My heart goes out to them," Andrews said of the fans, who bought the T-shirts after paying $20 to attend the game. "The promoter should not have done that. Ultimately that's on Carmelo. What he wants to do is rectify the situation."

It?s time to reward Kiki Vandeweghe for the fine job he?s done for the Nuggets, says this Denver Post columnist.

Before the Nuggets fulfill their off-season needs by shopping for a guard and trying to sign Marcus Camby to a new contract, as well as sorting out who their head coach will be next year, Nugget owner Stan Kroenke must take care of Vandeweghe.

At a salary of $750,000 per year, Vandeweghe is one of the lowest-paid GMs in the NBA and he deserves that paycheck to at least be doubled.

The Nuggets want to get into the bidding for free-agent Manu Ginobili but they will have to come up with some big dollar figures to win it.

Denver GM Kiki Vandeweghe is looking to sign a 2-guard and he will have about $20 million total to spend in total.  
Outside of Kobe Brant, Ginobili is at the top of  Denver?s wish list.  He brings a solid all-around game ? Ginobili has the good jumper with range, takes it to the hole aggressively, and plays tough defense.  His acquisition would bolster the Nugget backcourt substantially.

Vandeweghe is also expected to have interest in Steve Nash, Quentin Richardson, Jamal Crawford, Brent Barry and Stephen Jackson.

Nuggets associate head coach John MacLeod will have two days of interviews with the Atlanta Hawks, starting today, MacLeod told the media.  

He could fill the Hawks? head coaching vacancy.

"I'm excited about it," MacLeod said. "I think it could be a good situation."

According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Mavericks assistant Del Harris interviewed for the job on Monday and Sonics assistant Dwane Casey will interview this week.

MacLeod spent the past few days reading up on the Hawks? organization and said he?s "got a good line on them."  

MacLeod told the media that he is ready to start the process.

Thirty different names were left off of the eligibility list for the NBA Draft because the league judged their applications to be, more or less, an exercise in absurdity.

94 apparently legitimate names were released from the early candidate list on Friday, including 13 high school kids and Wyoming junior point guard Jay Straight.  

There will be 59 Draft picks this year.  Early-entry candidates without agents can withdraw from the draft by June 17.

The Denver Nuggets pick number 20 in this year?s NBA Draft and will work out about 30 players starting May 25.

Included in this group are Croatian forward-center Damir Omerhodzic, Louisiana State freshman forward Brandon Bass, Cal State Fullerton senior forward Pape Sow, Texas Wesleyan center David Johnson, Colorado junior center David Harrison, Brigham Young senior center Rafael Araujo, and 7-foot-3 Korean center Ha Seung-Jin.

"I don't know if you're going to get somebody that can impact your team immediately," Nugget GM Vandeweghe said. "But who knows, he may go over to Europe for a couple years and then come and play."  

The Nuggets will also take a look at Europe?s brightest stars, including Russian 7-3 center Pavel Podkolzine and Lithuanian 7-1 center Martynas Andriuskevicius, who is projected to be a lottery pick.

As LeBron James, Stephon Marbury and Shawn Marion are offered invitations to play for Team USA, Carmelo Anthony has been left out.  For the moment at least.

The latest invitations were made during selection committee conference call Tuesday.

Anthony is expected to be a strong candidate to fill a remaining slot and he would accept if invited.

"There are not a lot of players better than Carmelo left to be considered," the Denver Post?s source said.

If Hubie Brown can become the NBA's coach of the year at 70, John MacLeod figures now is the time to take another shot.

Calling himself "66 and full of juice, full of more juice than normal 66-year-old cats," MacLeod said he is itching for one more pro head coaching gig. That's why he told Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe he hopes not to return for a fourth year as a Denver assistant.

According to an NBA source, the Atlanta Hawks have asked the Nuggets' permission to speak with MacLeod about their head coaching vacancy.

"I do know the veteran coaches are now en vogue," MacLeod said Monday from Arizona.

Despite having a contract for next season, Nuggets head coach Jeff Bzdelik's job status remains up in the air as he and Nuggets GM Kiki Vandeweghe meet for postseason evaluation meetings.

"We're trying to come up with the best game plan we can to get to the next level," Vandeweghe said.

"He's our coach. He has a contract." But Vandeweghe has stopped short of ensuring Bzdelik will be the team's coach to open next season.

It appears the Toronto Raptors are no closer to naming a general manager then they were back on April 1 when they fired Glen Grunwald.

Apparently, the Raptors are unsatisfied with the two finalists, Nuggets assistant general manager Jeff Weltman and Rob Babcock of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

So, according to league sources, the Raptors are considering other canadiates including Pistons vice-president of basketball operations John Hammond.

"Hammond was high on the Raptor list initially but withdrew from consideration shortly after the search began because he said he was happy working for Joe Dumars. However, if the Raptors find Weltman and Babcock lacking, there are indications from league sources they will sweeten their offer to Hammond in hopes he has a change of mind."