Darko Milicic soon may be able to sign with the Pistons.

Milicic's agent, Marc Cornstein, said Monday that over the past few days there had been "very good progress" in talks between Milicic and his old team, Hemofarm Vrsac of Serbia.

Milicic, the No. 2 pick in last month's NBA draft, is under contract with Hemofarm until 2009.

Milicic, 18, has been attempting to reach a settlement with the team, which apparently is trying to increase the pressure by going after Milicic's agent. Cornstein said he is aware the team filed a lawsuit against him in New York State Supreme Court seeking roughly $13.5 million in damages, but he said Monday that he had yet to be served with papers.

"I think all it comes down to," Cornstein said, "is that this is about money."

Reggie Miller was the Indiana Pacers' first priority as contract negotiations resumed Monday, but Jon Barry could be next in line.

The free-agent shooting guard who played the past two seasons for the Detroit Pistons said he hopes to receive a contract offer in the next few days.

"Right now, our focus is on Reggie," team president Larry Bird said. "We'll try to get Reggie done first."

Barry, 34, visited Indianapolis on July 18 to meet with team officials, and even checked out some Carmel-area neighborhoods.

"I had a great meeting with Isiah (Thomas), Donnie (Walsh) and Larry (Bird)," Barry said. "It would be something I'd love to do. They feel I'm a leader although I'm a bench player."

Barry said Jermaine O'Neal called him early in the summer to sell him on the Pacers and endorsed him to Walsh, the team's CEO.

The plan going into the season is for 35-year-old center Elden Campbell to play about 25 minutes a game backing up front-court starters Mehmet Okur and Ben Wallace.

But Campbell, who signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Pistons on Saturday, hasn't exactly bought into that reserve plan.

"My goal is to start here," said Campbell, a free agent who chose the Pistons over eight other teams, including Sacramento, Indiana, Miami, Milwaukee and the Clippers. "Maybe not at the beginning, but at some point I hope to start. I am going to do whatever it takes. I know we have a good team here and if I end up not starting, I won't be a disruption or a negative force."

But clearly, he isn't sitting down without a fight.

"When I first went to Charlotte (1999), I was playing about 35-36 minutes a night," he said. "I want to get back to playing that many minutes. I feel like that's when I am at my best. I am going to try and make it really hard for the coaches to take me off the court, but at the same time, I am comfortable having to earn every minute I get."

Campbell joins a very crowded front-court roster. Besides Wallace and Okur, Campbell will be competing for playing time with Cliff Robinson, Zeljko Rebraca and rookie Darko Milicic.

Pistons President Joe Dumars indicated Saturday he was working to loosen that logjam.

"We will have to alleviate that situation at some point," he said.

The Pistons also are awaiting word on the status of rookies Milicic and Carlos Delfino, both trying to extricate themselves from European contracts.

Dumars said if Delfino, a shooting guard, cannot play this season, he would try to re-sign Jon Barry. But Barry is expected to get a four-year, $10 million offer from Indiana on Monday.

The Pistons have added veteran big man Elden Campbell to their already burgeoning lineup.

The team will hold a press conference today to announce Campbell's agreement to a two-year contract worth $8 million.

Campbell, 35, averaged 6.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 15.5 minutes in 56 games last season with New Orleans and Seattle.

His rebounding skills should be especially welcome on a team that regularly was beaten badly on the boards. He also helps solidify a frontcourt that most likely will have to go up against New Jersey's talented frontcourt in the playoffs if the Pistons continue their success of the past two seasons.

Attempts to reach president of basketball operations Joe Dumars were unsuccessful, but a league source confirmed the signing.

Campbell, 7-feet, 279 pounds, joins a cast of 7-footers that already includes Darko Milicic, Mehmet Okur and Zeljko Rebraca. Rebraca missed most of the second half of last season because of a heart ailment, but he has decided to have an operation that should alleviate the problem. As of now, the team expects him back.

The European team of Darko Milicic, whom the Detroit Pistons selected with the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft, filed a lawsuit against the player's agent, alleging that he convinced the 18-year-old to breach his contract.

The lawsuit, which Hemofarm Vrsac of Serbia filed in New York State Supreme Court, seeks at least $3.5 million in compensatory damages and at least $10 million in punitive damages.

The basketball team, which is affiliated with the pharmaceutical company Hemofarm Group, alleges that Marc Cornstein and his agency, Pinnacle, intentionally interfered with the 7-foot center's contract, which runs through 2009.

Hemofarm and Cornstein have tried to negotiate a buyout of the contract and have been unable to reach an agreement.

Former Detroit Pistons coach Rick Carlisle, reached by phone on Wednesday, declined to be quoted on the Bucks' coaching position.

But he indicated that he was pursuing a job as a television commentator for the 2003-'04 season, and it was apparent he would not become a candidate for the Bucks' job. Carlisle, who led the Detroit Pistons to the best record in the Eastern Conference last season, was given a $2.9 million buyout by the Pistons when they decided to fire him and hire Brown.

Carlisle was named the NBA coach of the year in his first season as a head coach, after leading the Pistons to a 50-32 record during the 2001-'02 season.

The Pistons have secured the services of starting shooting guard and leading scorer Richard Hamilton for the next seven seasons.

Hamilton and the Pistons agreed on the terms of a seven-year, $63 million contract Thursday.

"It is not signed yet, but it is done," said Leon Rose, Hamilton's agent. "Other teams were interested in him, but Detroit wanted him back and they put their best foot forward. Richard is thrilled. He wanted to be back in Detroit."

Hamilton, 25, entering his fifth NBA season, was a restricted free agent. Last season, he averaged 19.7 points in the regular season and 22.5 in the playoffs.

"We think Rip is one of the league's young bright stars with a great future," Pistons President Joe Dumars said. "We wanted to lock him up so we can continue to build on our success here."

Hamilton will earn $6.5 million next season, making him the highest-paid player on the Pistons. But he is still moderately priced relative to starting shooting guards in the league.

Reports out of Serbia that a buyout agreement on his contract had been reached between Detroit Pistons draft pick Darko Milicic and his former club team, K.K. Hemofarm Vrsac, are false, according to Milicic's representatives.

"We are still in negotiations with Hemofarm Vrsac," said Natasha Cornstein, director of media relations for Pinnacle Management Corp., the agency Milicic signed with prior to the NBA draft. "Negotiations are progressing, but no deal has been reached yet."

The report made references to a $4 million buyout, which is equal to about one-third of what Milicic will likely earn when he signs a three-year, guaranteed contract with the Pistons. Initially, Hemofarm Vrsac was seeking a buyout worth about $10 million.

"Obviously, we would like to have this done sooner than later," Cornstein said Wednesday. "But these things always take time."

Milicic's inability to settle on a buyout amount with his former team cost him a chance to play with the Pistons during their five-game summer league stint in Orlando earlier this month. He did, however, practice with the team.

During the past few weeks, some of the best teams in the Eastern Conference upgraded their talent levels for the coming season and beyond. The Pistons weren't one of them.

But that's because the Pistons are comfortable with their lineup.

"Our window of opportunity may not even be today, though we could be a championship team with a break along the way," vice president of basketball operations John Hammond said Wednesday, the first day teams could sign free agents. "But our team is primed and ready to continue to improve and become more competitive. We'll be a better team at the end of this season than we are at the beginning, we'll be better than that next season, and better than that in year three.

"If there is something that should excite our fans, it's that this team is in a great position to continue to improve."

That may be necessary. While the Pistons are coming off consecutive 50-victory seasons and a trip to the Eastern Conference finals, the road back to such success will be difficult.

The Detroit Pistons are on the verge of reaching a seven-year extension worth approximately $62 million with restricted free agent guard Richard Hamilton, a source told ESPN's David Aldridge on Wednesday.

Hamilton, acquired from Washington before last season as part of a trade for Jerry Stackhouse, emerged as the Pistons' leading scorer (22.7 points per game) during the playoffs this season and re-signing him was the team's top priority in the offseason.

Hamilton averaged 19.7 points last season for Detroit.