Danny Ferry, admired for his work ethic and leadership during his three seasons with the Spurs, will rejoin the franchise as director of basketball operations.

Ferry will assist with scouting and other day-to-day operations as he learns the NBA's collective bargaining agreement. Ferry's father, Bob, served as general manager of the Washington Bullets from 1973-90.

The Spurs are waiting to announce Ferry's hiring because Indiana, which acquired Ferry last month in the trade for Hedo Turkoglu and Ron Mercer, is trying to deal his non-guaranteed contract to a team seeking salary-cap relief.

Ferry's hiring is part of a reorganization of the Spurs front-office staff that began earlier this summer with the departure of former vice president and director of player personnel Sam Schuler.

Sam Presti, the team's assistant director of scouting, has been promoted to director of player personnel. Presti, 26, joined the Spurs as an intern three years ago and has quickly earned praise for his talent evaluation and knowledge of the league's CBA.

Tim Duncan was on an island by himself.

He could not bring himself to play for the United States against his native Virgin Islands. He grew up with many of the players on that team. Some were his classmates. And even though St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John are an unincorporated territory of the United States, and even though the Islanders are American citizens, they also consider themselves a somewhat separate entity.

So when the United States faced the Virgin Islands on Saturday in their final opening-round game of the FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Duncan - a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player with the San Antonio Spurs - declined to participate.

He wore his uniform, he warmed up, but he did not tape his ankles. Craig Sager, the analyst for the pay-per-view TV package, showed up an hour before tipoff anticipating taping a pregame interview with Duncan. Instead, he found himself sitting across from Toronto Raptors star Vince Carter. As the session was about to end, Sager was handed a note telling him of Duncan's decision; when Sager posed the question, Carter seemed stunned.

Carter, though, recovered quickly, laughing and saying, "I'm playing against Canada." More seriously, he said, "Tim doesn't say much, but I have to respect his decision."

In truth, Duncan's decision had no effect on the outcome. The Americans won, 113-55, allowing them to enter tonight's start of the medal round with a 4-0 record, averaging 108 points and winning by an average margin of 39.7. The Americans are to play Canada tonight at 10 in the second round.

And Duncan is so quiet and reserved that most of his teammates didn't know his plans until the game began and the Los Angeles Clippers' Elton Brand was starting in his place.

When it came right down to it, Tim Duncan simply couldn't do it. He could not go up against friends and memories. He could not play against his homeland, the Virgin Islands. So Duncan, the best player on the best team, sat on the sidelines for Team USA yesterday.

"It was a personal decision, of course," Duncan said in a statement after the U.S. Olympic qualifying team hardly broke a sweat in his absence, rolling to a 113-55 victory. "I did speak with the coaches and some of my Virgin Island friends and came to the decision that it was the best gesture to make and the right thing to do and that it felt right in this situation."

Duncan had admitted all week he was torn about playing against the land where he grew up, where his parents passed away. Duncan first played for Team USA in 1995 in the Goodwill Games as an 18-year-old. And at that level, he became locked into Team USA. There is a complicated five-year wait for a waiver exception but realistically, basketball players don't jump. When Duncan began playing, the Virgin Islands - an unincorporated U.S. territory - did not have a team.

"To a degree, this is about respect for the opponent," said San Antonio's Gregg Popovich, Duncan's NBA coach with whom the two-time MVP discussed his decision along with USA head coach Larry Brown.

"I knew when we were coming to the tournament that was going to be an issue. He was thinking about it he's got a lot of friends over there. He cares about those guys and he talked to Pop and he talked to me about it and he just felt it was the right thing to do," Brown said, adding with a smile, "and then he told me he was not going to play against Detroit."

The question, of course, was what if this game had mattered? Obviously, the U.S. survived. Teammates were fine by his decision.

"I didn't understand the importance of the situation he was in," said Ray Allen. "When you get to this level you keep a loyalty to the people you grew up with. I'm glad he didn't play because he showed his people he respects them."

Vince Carter was being interviewed when he found out Tim Duncan was planning to sit out a game against his Virgin Islands homeland at the Olympic qualification tournament yesterday.

"What? Well, I'm playing against Canada," he joked.

Of course, that's not what Canadian coach Jay Triano had hoped.

"Well, Steve (Nash) made an appearance at Vince's camp to help him out, maybe that's the way he can pay him back," said Triano.

Canada will face the United States in the second round.

Despite being a native of the tiny territory, Tim Duncan does not play for the U.S. Virgin Islands. On Saturday, he didn't play for the United States, either.

With a conflicted Duncan sitting it out, Team USA used a small lineup for a big 113-55 rout of the Virgin Islands that kept it undefeated in the FIBA Tournament of the Americas.

Duncan's absence allowed Team USA coach Larry Brown to experiment a bit and he found a small but lethal combination in the second quarter. With a lineup featuring Kenyon Martin at center, Tracy McGrady at power forward and Mike Bibby running the show, the Americans ran off 20 straight points to turn the game into the rout everyone expected.

The quickness was especially evident on defense as the Virgin Islands could barely get into its offensive sets. Team USA repeatedly intercepted high cross-court passes, turning them into breakaway dunks and layups that wowed the Roberto Clemente Coliseum crowd.

The track meet finally ended on Martin's backcourt steal and layup that made it 46-21 with 5:35 to play in the first half. Martin and Bibby had seven points each and shooting guard Ray Allen added two flying slams.

At the 2:57 mark, Brown inserted Nick Collison, an NBA rookie selected as a collegian who has become the team's human victory cigar. He immediately dunked, signifying the end of the game and the beginning of the show.

U.S. starting center Tim Duncan has averaged only 19.3 minutes in the first three games. He might not mind playing even less today.

Duncan, a native of the Virgin Islands, grudgingly will take the floor when the United States faces the Virgin Islands. Pardon the 6-foot-11 Duncan if he might feel a bit like a traitor while he's dunking over the hapless Islanders, whose tallest player is 6-9.

"It's going to be tough," Duncan said. "I know a lot of their guys, and it will fun to be out on the court with them. But, at the same time, I'm torn about it. But I'm here to represent the U.S. . . . It think we're all disappointed I can't play for (the Virgin Islands). But, at the same time, it is what it is."

After Duncan's freshman season at Wake Forest, he played for the United States in the 1994 Goodwill Games since the Virgin Islands, a U.S. territory, did not have a team. Once the Virgin Islands got a team, rules prevented Duncan from switching allegiances.

Having Duncan, the NBA's Most Valuable Player the past two seasons for San Antonio, might be enough to turn the Virgin Islands from one of the worst teams here to one capable of finishing in the top three and advancing to the Olympics. As it is, the Virgin Islands have no NBA-caliber players after Raja Bell and David Vanterpool elected not to play.

Maybe the U.S. will need Tracy McGrady to come up with a defensive stop. There will be times when Allen Iverson is expected to distribute and not shoot. What the coaches have preached is that roles will change and players must make contributions different from what they give their NBA teams.

Well, most of them. No matter how he does it, Tim Duncan is still needed to score and rebound.

"His role doesn't change," said Net Jason Kidd after Duncan yesterday delivered game highs of 21 points and 15 rebounds and the U.S. Olympic Qualifying Team delivered a suffocating fourth-quarter defensive stand that steamrolled Puerto Rico, 101-74, in an exhibition before 16,473 at the Garden. "Tim just does what he does best. He's every coach's dream and every player's dream teammate to have."

Unlike the Spurs, the U.S. doesn't run the offense through Duncan. It's not a case of lining up on the perimeter and playing inside-out. But while everybody else adapts and adjusts - Kidd, for example, took only two shots in 25 minutes - Duncan remains the team's security blanket. Need points or boards? Find Duncan.

"Where I'm getting most of my stuff is in transition and on broken plays where I'm left all alone, basically," said Duncan, who hit his first six shots and scored 15 of his points in the first quarter. "I'm not worried about getting shots on the floor or touches in the post. It'll happen in the flow of the game. It's getting up and down and getting the boards and getting the guys out on the wings running."

Team USA had everything going on the defensive end in the final 13:11 yesterday. After Puerto Rico closed to within 64-61, the U.S. clamped down. Duncan started an 11-2 run that made it 75-63 and then the U.S. stomped Puerto Rico with a 26-8 fourth quarter. Puerto Rico missed its first eight shots of the fourth and finished the session at 2-of-18. Six players, including McGrady (15) and Ray Allen (14), scored double figures for the Americans, who held a gaudy 54-23 rebound edge.

Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal canceled a trip to San Antonio when he decided to re-sign with the Pacers in July, ending whatever chance there was of him playing with Spurs center Tim Duncan.

Duncan, the NBA's Most Valuable Player the past two seasons, can't help but wonder what might have been had the two played together.

"We would have had some fun, yeah," Duncan said, laughing. "We would have run through some people. But it didn't work out.

"It's hard to leave the team you've been with. I learned that when I was a free agent a couple of years ago."

O'Neal said he and Duncan haven't talked about the potential pairing since they've been together with the U.S. team, but he believes they would have enjoyed good chemistry based on their practice sessions and scrimmages.

One of the toughest decisions for any athlete is determining the proper time to call it a career.

Former Bull Steve Kerr struggled with those thoughts for a while this summer before deciding last week to retire and accept a job as an analyst for TNT's coverage of the NBA.

Kerr was in town Thursday to conduct a basketball clinic in Skokie and talked about his decision to walk away after winning another championship ring (his fifth) with the San Antonio Spurs a couple of months ago.

''It was kind of a combination of things,'' he said. ''Going out on top, while I still was playing well, was appealing, and in the back of my mind I knew that next year could have been tough with the Spurs.

''I also knew that this opportunity [with TNT] probably wouldn't be there next year. They would have filled the position. I just felt like the timing was right.''

Sometimes, Jason Kidd and Tim Duncan allow themselves to wonder what if.

Kidd and Duncan are teammates this summer in the Olympic qualifying tournament and will be again next summer in the Olympics. But as Kidd feeds Duncan with a pass at practice, it's only natural for them to think about what it would be like if this were a full-time thing.

"You think about what could have been if I went to San Antonio," Kidd said Wednesday at John Jay College. "But I'm here in New Jersey and I'm happy with my decision."

Duncan added, "I've been thinking about what could have been for a couple of years. It didn't happen. I'm happy with the teammates we picked up this year and the teammates that are returning [to the Spurs]."

Kidd admitted he was close to going to San Antonio. When he was there in July being wined and dined by Duncan and coach Gregg Popovich, he said, "I felt like I was on my way there."

"I had two situations that were good. I wasn't leaving a bad situation," said Kidd, who signed a six-year, $103 million deal to stay a Net. "That's what made things harder. I thought one of the hardest things to turn down was the opportunity to play with Tim, but I felt like I could win a championship in New Jersey."