Frank Isola of the New York Daily News reports that the Knicks are changing their philosophy. In a rare state-of-the-team address, Cablevision CEO and MSG chairman James Dolan  said that the days of free spending for the Knicks are apparently over.

Dolan admitted that the team has to be fiscally responsible. "There is not a goal to cut back on the salaries. The goal is to put together a winning franchise, not just a winning year, a winning franchise. As long as our moves are consistent with that we'll be supportive. ... That's a good answer."

The Knicks will try to pare down their $93 million payroll (which should create a luxury tax bill of approximately $40 million). "The resources are available for the Knicks to use and use wisely," Dolan said. "They are not there to waste. We need to be fiscally responsible. We want to use every resource we have to better the team and it should come back to us in some form or another."

By passing on an offseason trade for Dikembe Mutombo and his $53 million contract, and by not using their $4.5 million mid-level exception, the Knicks have already started the financial turnaround.

The Associated Press reports that Sixers forward Monty Williams will undergo surgery to repair torn carti1age in his left knee. The injury occurred in the 4th quarter of Thursday?s preseason game with the Houston Rockets.

This was only his third game after missing the first 4 exhibition games with a sore shoulder. He underwent an MRI on Friday and it is unclear when he will return.

Williams joins Sixers? center Samuel Dalembert who had successful arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Friday. He is expected to miss 12 weeks before he will be able to practice. Other frontcourt players who are injured for the Sixers are Derrick Coleman, Mark Bryant and Sam Clancy.

The New York Times reports that the Nets are pleased with their off-season trade for Dikembe Mutombo. Nets Coach Byron Scott said that the Nets were a better team since trading Keith Van Horn and Todd MacCulloch to Philadelphia for Mutombo, and that the team was especially improved on defense without a slow Van Horn.

"With the components that we have right now, I think we're a better team than we were last year," Scott said. "Defensively, we're a better team; offensively, I think we're going to be fine."

Van Horn was a key offensive weapon for the Nets but he was limited defensively. "You can teach guys how to play defense," Scott said, "but you can't teach a guy how to close out on a guy much quicker. You can't teach quick feet.

"I thought he tried as hard as he could to do the things we wanted him to do," Scott said, adding that the second-year forward Richard Jefferson "is a better athlete, a better defensive player."

Scott has said that the trade worked for the Nets because after acquiring Mutombo, a four-time defensive player of the year, the Nets were able to sign the versatile sixth man Rodney Rogers.

"From what everybody kept saying, it was a big gamble," Scott said. "We thought it was the next step for us, to make us even better. So far, to me, through five preseason games, it pretty much solidified exactly what we were thinking."

Phil Jasner of the Philadelphia Daily News reports that the negotiations between the Sixers and Matt Harpring earlier in the summer are a bit of a mystery. What actually happened is unclear. The facts as we know them are:

The Sixers tendered a qualifying offer to Harpring to ensure the right of first refusal during contract negotiations. The Sixers then offered a 7-year, $23 million contract with six of the years guaranteed. Later, the team rescinded their qualifying offer at Harpring?s request making him an unrestricted free agent. Finally, Harpring signed a 4-year, $18.4 million contract with the Utah Jazz.

The details in between the facts are a bit cloudy.

Harpring claims that in his exit interview after last season, Brown told him, "this wasn't the place for me."

Said Brown: "We heard he wanted to go to Miami. Then his agent called and said Matt wanted to stay here...I was honest with him. I said I wasn't going to give him away, but if that's what he wanted we'd work something out."

Harpring said he requested the team rescind the qualifying offer, but they refused at first. Now it seems they were only taking some time to finalize their plans since there were no sign and trade offers.

I never got a real good feel. That's why we started venturing other places," Harpring said. "It didn't seem like they were dying to keep me...The only thing I wanted was honesty."

There were also some reports that Harpring and his agent were asking for more money than the Sixers were willing to spend. "We heard a rumor I was asking for too much money," Harpring said. "We didn't ask for anything. I'm not the kind of guy who asks for too much money. [I said], 'What are the odds of me being here in 7 years anyway?' "

No matter whose side of the story we believe, Harpring?s agent, Richard Howell summed it up best. "All?s well that ends well."

On a day like Saturday during the regular season ? second half of a back-to-back set, both games on the road ? the Jazz normally would sneak in a few extra winks, gather a little later in the morning and chow down on a catered breakfast before breaking down their evening opponent.
     
But not this weekend.
     
Not in the NBA preseason, with a four-game exhibition losing streak the main thing on their collective mind throughout the Friday night flight from Cleveland to Philadelphia.
     
Not when a bagel, bacon and eggs take a back seat to execution, shot selection and something as rudimentary as running the floor.
     
"Those guys don't need to eat at this time of the year," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan cracked Saturday night, at the end of a long day that began with a morning shootaround at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
     
The a.m. dose of don't-do-this, do-do-that seemed to do the Jazz some good Saturday at First Union Center, as Utah beat Philadelphia 107-99 to improve to 2-4 in the exhibition season.
     
The Jazz not only won, but they did it in a style as sound as one might normally expect for the preseason: 51.6 percent shooting on 32-of-62 from the field, 3-of-4 from 3-point range and a mere 15 turnovers, which is down nine from the 24 they committed in a 95-91 loss to the Cavaliers one night earlier.

When Allen Iverson enters a close game with 10 minutes left, it's a good bet a point guard will decide the outcome. But it's a real long shot that the point guard's identity would be Carlos Arroyo.
   
The Jazz's second-year guard outplayed the 76ers' former MVP in the fourth quarter Saturday night at First Union Center, helping Utah snap its four-game losing streak with a 107-99 preseason victory. Arroyo frustrated Iverson into a 1-for-4 fourth quarter, forced a couple of turnovers and helped the Jazz pull away with a 13-5 run in the game's final five minutes.
   
Arroyo was quick to point out that he had plenty of help through the decisive stretch, but it was the 23-year-old guard who drew the toughest assignment: KO A.I.
   
"He's not a rookie. He's got some experience, and he's not intimidated," said John Stockton, who showed with a 15-point, five-assist night that he knows a little bit about point-guard play himself. "He did a great job of staying in front, forcing [Iverson] to do some things he didn't want to."

The Utah Jazz turned to an unlikely hero to rescue them from a four-game preseason losing streak Saturday night.

Reserve forward Scott Padgett scored 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter and the Jazz withstood a late rally by the Philadelphia 76ers for a 107-99 victory at First Union Center.

Padgett scored the last eight points of the game for the Jazz (2-4), who improved to 2-4 in the preseason.

John Stockton had 15 points and five assists, Andrei Kirilenko added 13 points and five rebounds, and Karl Malone had 12 points and seven rebounds for Utah. Kirilenko and Malone also added two blocked shots apiece.

ESPN.com reports that Sixers forward Derrick Coleman and Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas will be suspended for one game this season for separate charges of driving under the influence.

Coleman was pulled over for speeding and arrested this summer in a Detroit suburb for suspicion of drunk driving. The 12-year NBA veteran was faced with a similar charge in 1999, when he was with Charlotte, but was acquitted.

Ilgauskas, a 7-3 Lithuanian whose career has been slowed by foot injuries, was stopped in suburban Cleveland last month for erratic driving. He was arrested after failing field sobriety tests.

Both players pleased no contest to their charges.

The Cavaliers open the season on October 29 in Sacramento. The Sixers begin their regular season the same day in Orlando. Ilgauskas will sit out the opening game of the season while Coleman will sit out one game when he returns from knee surgery sometime in November.

Ashley McGeachy Fox of the Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Olden Polynice is back in the NBA. After a year vacation, he was signed to a non-guaranteed contract by the Sixers Monday.

The Sixers have been looking for a backup to center Todd MacCulloch and most of the candidates (Derrick Coleman, Samuel Dalembert and Mark Bryant) have been injured. Polynice could be the answer.

Polynice played 14 seasons in the NBA, including stints with Seattle, the Los Angeles Clippers, Detroit, Sacramento and Utah. Last summer, he opted out of a guaranteed contract with the Jazz thinking he could get a more lucrative deal. Instead, he ended up out of basketball and doing a lot of babysitting last season.

He was on the bench during the Sixers exhibition game against the Wizards on Monday. While he didn?t play, he did sit close to the coaching staff and get involved during timeouts. "I'm not the savior," Polynice said. "The only guarantee is I'm going to give 150 percent."

Bernard Fernandez of the Philadelphia Daily News reports that Allen Iverson will return to the court tonight a mere six days after breaking the middle finger on his shooting hand. At the time of the injury, it was expected that he would miss 2-4 weeks.

Iverson participated in yesterday?s marathon 3-plus hour practice session with the Sixers after being cleared to play with a splint on his injured hand. "I asked to practice," Iverson said. "I got clearance [yesterday], so I'm ready to go."

Iverson was on the bench in street clothes for the Sixers' preseason opener, Tuesday night's 95-82 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in State College, Pa. "I felt like I could have played [against the Spurs], but they wanted to hold me out," Iverson said. "I knew right when it happened I probably wasn't going to play in the San Antonio game, but I didn't think I would miss the Washington game."

Sixers coach Larry Brown said he wasn't surprised Iverson again set his own timetable for getting back onto the court. "I watched him shoot 2 days ago and he was shooting it pretty good," Brown said. "You know he heals quick and wants to be out there."

Iverson?s injury is just one of many the Sixers are suffering through this preseason. Key players Derrick Coleman, Greg Buckner, Monty Williams, and Keith Van Horn are all hobbled with varying injuries. Their front court depth has been depleted by injury as Samuel Dalembert, Sam Clancy and Mark Bryant are all injured as well.

Since several of those on the gimpy list are big men, the Sixers might have to go small against the Wizards, with Iverson perhaps logging more minutes than he normally might under the circumstances. "I want to see about giving some other guys a chance, but [Iverson will] play a lot," Brown said. "Eric [Snow], Aaron [McKie] and Allen all are going to play a lot because I don't think we'll have a lot of big guys available."