Jerry Brewer of the Orlando Sentinel reports that Jermaine O?Neal may be unattainable during next season?s free agent frenzy. Not because of the salary cap or the luxury tax, but because he doesn?t want to leave Indiana.

"Unless the whole floor falls out as far as management and the year we have, Indiana has to be No. 1," the Pacers forward said. "I'm very loyal. The Pacers went out and traded Dale Davis, an All-Star, for me, a player not known by many people. They believed that much in me."

While he could play the free agent game and pit teams against one another to get the big payoff, O?Neal doesn't need the attention. He'd prefer to keep growing in the place where his stardom hatched. In three short years with the Pacers, he has blossomed from a lost ?preps-to-pros? phenom, to one of the premier big men in the game. And he loves the Pacers for giving him that chance.

"(Team president) Donnie Walsh, he's one of the last Mohicans," O'Neal said. "You can believe everything he says. I'm a huge fan of Donnie Walsh and (coach) Isiah Thomas. I don't want to make it an issue this year," O'Neal said of being a free agent. "I have a year left on the deal I have. I don't want to talk much about it at all."

So for the Pacers, keeping O'Neal is simple. Watch him play well. Ensure that the team improves. Offer O'Neal maximum money. Shake O'Neal's hand after he accepts it. The rest of the NBA's big spenders don't even get a chance.

Joe Vieira of the Boston Globe reports that free agent Erick Strickland could be ready to jump ship if management doesn?t increase its offer. Strickland is being offered a one-year minimum contract worth $700,000.  Strickland has made it clear that the team will have to ante up if they wish to retain his services.

''You must understand that I know this place,'' he said. ''I like the city and I've gotten to know the organization, and I like the strides that we made last season. ''But I'm getting old in this league, and this is about my options. If someone offers me a better deal, I'm not going to turn it up. I'm just looking to see that the situation is the best one for me and my future.''

Strickland turned down a one-year, $2.6 million guaranteed contract with the Memphis Grizzlies to sign a one-year deal with the Celtics for $653,350 prior to last season. He said giving the Celtics a hometown-team discount by signing for the league minimum again is not an option. ''I did that last year,'' he said. ''I'm six years in this league now, and I need to worry about my future. I can't keep doing that. I have to look at the best deal available.''

According to Strickland, he has talked to a number of NBA teams, but has only met with Indiana - a meeting he said ''went good.'' He expects to sign on somewhere within the next week or two, but if not, then definitely by the beginning of training camp Oct. 1. He did not rule out the possibility of returning to the Celtics, although general ganager Chris Wallace has said Boston will not sign a 12th man for anything more than the veteran league minimum.

K.C. Johnson of the Chicago tribune reports that Matt Harpring is being targeted by the Bulls. After visiting Chicago this week, Harpring was impressed, but if the Bulls want him, they may have to act fast.

The Heat, Jazz and Hawks are all interested in the free agent small forward.

The Bulls likely wouldn't sign Harpring unless they could move Eddie Robinson, whose deal will pay him $5.687 million this season. Moving a contract that has $26 million remaining on it is difficult, leaving the Harpring situation in somewhat of a holding pattern.

Bulls GM Jerry Krause also hopes to work out a sign and trade with free agent guard Travis Best and has interest in bringing Indiana free agent Kevin Ollie back to Chicago as a backup point guard.