Chances are George Karl won't be consulted for input on picking his successor as Milwaukee Bucks head coach.

But Karl left no doubt where his feelings on the matter rested.

"I'd probably hire me," said Karl, explaining that the current Bucks remind him of the Seattle SuperSonics team he rebuilt from the bottom up.

When reminded that he was not a viable option, Karl said he favored two of his former assistants, Terry Stotts, who is the interim head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, and Bucks assistant Don Newman.

While Stotts remains a frontrunner for the job, Newman eliminated himself from consideration on Wednesday.

"I hope Terry or Donnie gets it," Karl said. "Those would be my personal choices of the people they are interviewing.

"They both have an advantage to coaching this team because they know it and have a comfort zone with it."

Newman still may remain with the Bucks as an assistant under the new coach, but he is rumored to be interested in an assistant position with the New Jersey Nets.

Lucious Harris is a signature and physical away from rejoining the Nets.

The backup guard has agreed to a two-year, $5 million contract to help the Nets defend their two consecutive Eastern Conference titles. The deal includes a team option to buy Harris out for $1 million after this upcoming season. Harris is in California, but he could be signed and on board later in the week.

Next on the Nets' agenda is getting Kenyon Martin locked up long term. The fourth-year power forward, who is on the verge of becoming an All-Star, is eligible for a contract extension as of Aug. 1. He and his agent, Brian Dyke, have said they are seeking a maximum deal of six years worth between $85 million and $90 million.

Nets' president and general manager Rod Thorn said he would talk to Dyke on Friday. But Thorn is happy to have Harris' situation out of the way.

"He has been an integral part of what we've done," Thorn said Tuesday evening. "Lucious is good in the locker room. He's a solid player. He's a versatile player who's played very well for us."

Having just signed Lucious Harris to a two-year, $5 million deal, Nets president Rod Thorn turns his attention to Kenyon Martin - but not Byron Scott.

Martin and his agent, Brian Dyke, are seeking a six-year maximum contract extension worth $85-$90 million. Thorn - who has shelled out more than $130million in contracts to Jason Kidd, Alonzo Mourning, Harris and first-round pick Zoran Planinic - can begin negotiations with Dyke on Friday.

When asked whether the Nets will pay their 2000 No. 1 overall pick max money, Thorn said, "I'm sure we will have some talks and we will see what happens. I don't want to give away any position. I have no comment on what I am willing to do or not do."

While he plans to talk to Martin's camp, Thorn has nothing scheduled with Scott, who is seeking a contract extension as he heads into his final season under contract. Kidd said he wants to see the Nets head coach extended.

"Don't plan to," Thorn said when asked if he will meet with Scott about an extension.

With 13 roster spots locked up, not including restricted free agent Brian Scalabrine whom the Nets have already tendered an offer to and expect to sign, Thorn said he does not foresee signing another shooter to complete the roster. He also doesn't anticipate a trade, despite having four centers under contract.

One more piece to the Nets' overall 2003-04 puzzle moved into place yesterday when the team reached an agreement on a two-year deal to re-sign shooting guard Lucious Harris, the player's agent said.

"We have agreed to terms," said agent Jerome Stanley, who acknowledged there were some "hairy" moments in the negotiating process. "But eventually we came to a point and a deal that everyone is pleased with. This is great for Lucious. He wanted to be there. Now it's time for everyone to strap on their helmets and go out and win a championship. That is everyone's goal."

Nets ownership already had committed a staggering $128-million-plus this summer, re-signing franchise pulse Jason Kidd to six years and $103 million, acquiring free agent Alonzo Mourning for $22.6 million and then paying first-round pick Zoran Planinic over $3 million.

Terms of Harris' deal were not disclosed but it is believed he will get about $5 million for the two years. Stanley said only that the money was in the "same area" as Harris received last year. Harris earned $2.64 million last season in the final year of a deal originally signed in Philadelphia.

The chance of Lucious Harris returning to the Nets may have been given a few boosts over the weekend when two possible free-agent shooters, Anthony Peeler and Eric Piatkowski, aligned with other teams.

Peeler, the T-wolves' free agent, is expected to sign with Toronto in a move that likely will free up Lindsay Hunter from the Raptors' roster while Piatkowski signed with Houston after divorcing himself from the Clippers. Along with the likes of Walt Williams, Peeler and Piatkowski were two names the Nets considered in the event they didn't re-sign Harris.

The Nets' initial free agent offer to Harris was rejected, while a second offer is being considered. Harris, 32, after a strong start, finished shooting .413 last season. Harris' agent, Jerome Stanley, said the situation is "up to the Nets to make it happen."

You really don't have to ask Byron Scott if he's happy.

Exuberance shines from the New Jersey coach's face these days like a lantern. Jason Kidd is in the fold for $103 million over the next six years, and so is Alonzo Mourning, for just a shade ($5 million) over the mid-level exception next season.

The Nets are now four deep at the center position, if you assume that Dikembe Mutombo will remain part of the picture with the $17.9 million - third highest in the league - he will earn next season.

Now comes talk that the Nets, known to be searching for another shooter, may actually be pondering a run at free agent Reggie Miller.

This is escalation on the NBA's highest scale, and Scott gets to coach the result.

But he is also about to enter the tender area of the center's rare kidney condition.

Banking on Mourning's availability ultimately reduced Pat Riley's hopes in Miami to ineffectual rubble.

They manipulate the careers of coaches from their basements, cubicles and breakfast nooks while wearing suits, curlers and khakis.

They boot up to take down rivals using D.S.L., dial-ups and wireless magic as they tap out rage, rumors and revelations.

Do you know No1Fan636 or MyTeamJoe or MustWin10? Masked by the mousepad, they wield fantasy-camp-like powers via the online message board ? a venting place that provides cyberfanatics a chance to toy with the lives of sports figures they loathe and love.

First, the loathing. Over the past three months, Mike Price's strip club escapades as Alabama's coach, the N.C.A.A. basketball pool fiasco involving Washington's Rick Neuheisel and the party-on side of Iowa State's Larry Eustachy all began as tragic flaws that were ratted out on the Internet.

Certainly, the coaches are responsible for their mindless actions, but as the rumors of each misdeed spread unchecked online, as their missteps became uncontainable with the reach of the Internet, they couldn't combat the venom delivered without a name. Neither could university officials.

"The Internet has changed the landscape," said Jeremy Foley, athletic director at the University of Florida, who routinely ignored pleas lodged on FireRonZook.com last year. "You dismiss a lot of it as malicious and ignore it because it could be coming from anyone, like an opponent, but, yes, if something credible comes up, you do have to check it out."

Now, the loving. Over the past three weeks, the Kobe Bryant devotees who have defiantly defended their hero's character against sexual assault charges have turned the accuser's anonymity into a sham and her reputation into a passage fit for a bathroom wall.

Jason Kidd acknowledged the risk in inviting Alonzo Mourning to play with him this season, but the New Jersey point guard said Thursday he thought acquiring the former Heat center nonetheless was in the best interest of the Nets.

"He's been away from the game, and he's hungry to play and fight the kidney disease,'' Kidd said. "So hopefully all of that will work out. It's a high risk, but sometimes you've got to put yourself out there to roll the dice."

Kidd confirmed that among the reasons he opted to return to the New Jersey Nets as a free agent was the opportunity to play alongside Mourning.

"I felt adding a piece like Zo could help us in the sense of it's somebody who has the same goal, and that's to win a championship,'' Kidd said. "He's not here trying to get a new contract or trying to make the most money."

In formally agreeing to a seven-year, $103 million contract with New Jersey, the five-time All-Star said Mourning's decision to leave the Heat as a free agent solidified his own decision to remain with the Nets.

After eight seasons with the Heat, Mourning last week signed a four-year, $22 million contract with New Jersey.

It is a feeling that Keith Van Horn has been searching for. As much as his numerous critics have waited for him to consistently assert himself, Van Horn has waited just as long to feel comfortable.

It is a feeling that Van Horn, the No. 2 overall pick in the 1997 draft, has not had since flourishing with the Nets early in his career. It was a time when he was heralded as the hope for a franchise that rarely had any.

Van Horn was the object of effusive promotion from his first professional coach, John Calipari, and he and Jayson Williams, the team's best-known player at that time, produced solid numbers and brought some respectability to the Nets.

But when Calipari and Williams fell away, Van Horn struggled to find his place and he was traded last summer after the Nets were swept in the N.B.A. finals by the Los Angeles Lakers. In his one season in Philadelphia, it was more of the same, with Coach Larry Brown openly questioning him and the fans riding him.

That led to Van Horn's trade to the Knicks and another chance for him to find a comfort zone, such as the one he enjoyed when he played for Rick Majerus at the University of Utah. Van Horn, a 6-foot-10-inch forward, came to the Knicks on Wednesday night, ending a long effort to bring in a player that Coach Don Chaney and General Manager Scott Layden have both admired.

But the four-team deal also sent away the Knicks' most popular player, Latrell Sprewell, and again left Van Horn confronting some sizable expectations.

For the moment, that does not seem to intimidate him. ''I'm really looking forward to it,'' Van Horn said yesterday in a conference call from Salt Lake City. ''I love being in the New York environment. I've been fortunate to play in big media markets throughout my career and there is criticism that comes along with that.

''All of us have the goal of putting a ring on our finger,'' he said. "I want to see the Knicks win. I think it's going to work out very well.''

The possibility of signing Reggie Miller remains a long shot for the Nets, who can only offer him a $1.5 million contract. But it remains something the team would love to have happen.

"You're talking about something that's personal, because I love Reggie Miller," Nets coach Byron Scott said. "I spent time with him in Indiana so I know him as a person and as a basketball player. I would love to have a Reggie Miller on the team. Is it something that's going to happen? Probably not. Now we're talking about wish lists."

Scott said he had his sales pitch for Miller ready -- it's basically an appeal for Miller to come to the Nets for less money just as Karl Malone left Utah for less money to join the Lakers -- but said he hadn't talked to Miller yet and wasn't sure if he was going to. Nets president Rod Thorn would not say whether he had talked to Miller or his representatives, but did say the Nets' chances are slim.

"I think Reggie Miller has been a great player in his time in the NBA, a tremendous clutch player," Thorn said. "I have the utmost respect for him. I do not see him signing with any team for the $1.5 million exception. I think he will return to Indiana."