When the Indiana Pacers officially sign Kevin O'Neill to a three year contract Monday to serve as an assistant coach, it will mark the end of Ron Rothstein's one year trial on Rick Carlisle's bench.

The former Piston head coach, brought in by former Pacers head coach Isiah Thomas, will not have his contract renewed to make room on the staff for O'Neill, the recently fired Toronto Raptors head coach and one-time lead assistant to Carlisle with the Pistons.

"When Rick retained me on the staff last year, he made it clear that it would be a one-year situation with no guarantees for the future," Rothstein said. "Unfortunately we were unable to make it work this year."

RealGM.com's Tommie De Riemaecker first revealed that O'Neill would join the Pacers staff three weeks ago but it wasn't clear until recently that Rothstein would be job-hunting.

Tall Black forward Sean Marks has secured his place in the NBA for another year, signing a $1.2 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs for 2004/05.

Marks (28), the first Kiwi to play in the world's premier league after being drafted from the University of California-Berkeley in 1998, spent most of last season behind the Spurs bench on the team's injured reserve.

Nevertheless, he enjoyed the experience with the 2002/03 champions, practicing against international megastars like Tim Duncan (US), Emmanuel Ginobili (Argentina), Hedo Turkoglu (Turkey) and Tony Parker (France).

And club management obviously liked the energy he brought to the practice floor.

The US national team overcame the suspensions of three of their key players, including co-captain Allen Iverson to beat Puerto Rico in a friendly exhibition game in Jacksonville, Florida 96-71.

The US rushed off to a big lead right off the bat and led by as many as 17 points in the first quarter. Puerto Rico stormed back with some tight man to man and zone defense and by hitting timely 3 point shots to bring the game back within 9 at the half.

The first half was mostly about feeding the ball inside to Tim Duncan who either finished the play himself or found the open man after being double teamed. Dwyane Wade and Stephon Marbury did a good job of moving the ball around unselfishly and both finished the half with 5 assists in what was an excellent test by the Puerto Ricans who put up a very nice fight for most of the half.

In the 2nd half the US started to pull away quickly after  using a full court press to force turnovers and convert easy baskets in transition. The Puerto Ricans shots stopped falling and Carlos Arroyo had a very difficult time controlling the tempo of the game. The US went with their best athletes for most of the way and constantly pushed the ball up the floor and finished effortlessly around the basket due to their superior athleticism.

Larry Ayuso was Puerto Rico's best player and he almost singlehandedly kept them in the game with his five 3 pointers until they fell apart midway through the third quarter. Ayuso was called for his fourth foul a little later and at that point the game was essentially over.    

Dwyane Wade was the best player on the floor today, finishing the game with 7 points and 8 assists, many of them to Duncan who finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, mostly in the first half when the game was still close. Lamar Odom also had a good outing, playing excellent defense, moving the ball around, posting up his man and doing many of the little things needed on the floor.

The US had trouble with Puerto Rico's zone defense, especially when they were forced to play a half court game. Wade's emergence helped open things up on the floor as he penetrated to the basket at will and found his teamamtes time after time for easy buckets. The US will also need to work on their perimeter defense which looked very shaky at times, forcing Duncan to leave his man a number of times to rotate over for the stop.

The US will now board a flight to Cologne, Germany to continue their exhibition schdule against Italy on August 3rd in a game that will be televised on ESPN at 2 PM EST.

Allen Iverson, LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire of the U.S. Olympic team were suspended from Saturday's exhibition game against Puerto Rico this afternoon for missing an 11 o'clock team meeting.

Larry Brown made the decision on the suspensions and the decision was announced to the crowd in Jacksonville before the game to a rain of boos.

Jason Kidd met with the Nets' hierarchy at the team's practice facility yesterday and voiced his concern about the state of the team and its future direction.

According to an Eastern Conference official, Kidd did not demand a trade.  However, he did not back off from the idea that he may be better off going to a team that has a legitimate chance to win a title.  

Led by incoming owner Bruce C. Ratner, the Nets attempted to smooth the quasi-crisis with Kidd by pointing to next summer, when the team will have several draft picks and be under the salary cap by enough to go after a star player.  The Nets may then still be in the market to fill the void left when Kenyon Martin was signed and traded to Denver.

According to a Nets official, after Kenyon Martin was dealt, Kidd asked the team to trade him.

"If Jason has any demands, I'm sure he will make them public," said Nets CEO Rod Thorn.

Kidd could be dealt to Dallas.  The Mavericks are offering Antoine Walker, whose contract expires at the end of next season, in return.  

Kidd has a surgically repaired knee and 5 years remaining on his maximum contract.

The Portland Trail Blazers announced that rookie forward Viktor Khryapa is out for the 2004-05 season after suffering an injury at the Rocky Mountain Revue earlier this month.

The 22-year-old underwent successful foot surgery on Wednesday to repair the injured Lisfranc complex in his left mid-foot. The injury was sustained in a summer league game on July 16th went an opponent stepped on Khryapa?s foot.

"It is with great disappointment that we learn that Viktor will miss the season,? said Trail Blazers General Manager John Nash. ?He is a player that we were anxious to have play for us because of his versatility and comprehensive understanding of the game. In a freakish play in the Rocky Mountain Revue, he sustained an injury that will require a year of healing and rehab following his recent surgery. We look forward to his full recovery and his return to the floor next summer."

Steve Nash says he signed a free-agent contract with the Phoenix Suns because they wanted him more than Dallas.

?For the whole time I just thought I was coming back to Dallas,? said Nash.

?To come back and within 24 hours to be going to Phoenix was a bit of a shock. It was bittersweet.?

?I thought they'd come a lot closer than they did?

?To me it was like they never really had any aspirations of keeping me.?

Richard Jefferson will tough it out with the New Jersey Nets this season in hope of being rewarded with a big contract extension this summer from penny-pinching Nets owner Bruce Ratner. He will not demand a trade even if Jason Kidd is shipped out.

"I'm in a difficult position also, because even if I try and play out the year to go someplace else, the Nets are going to have $30 million in cap room," Jefferson said. "So if the Nets want to keep me, I'd pretty much have to demand a trade or say something to get out. But what sense does that make? That doesn't make much sense."

Jefferson will also not try to talk Jason Kidd out of demanding a trade.

"I have so much respect for [Kidd]," Jefferson said. "I owe a lot of my success to him. He's put me in this position I am right now. He's my mentor. He's shown me how to work, shown me how to handle myself, shown me how to carry myself. It would be unfortunate [if Kidd were traded]. But he's going to do what's best for his family, and the only thing I can do is thank him."

In the wake of the mass exodus going on in New Jersey, vacationing point guard Jason Kidd has let it be known through the grapevine that he'd have no problem with the Nets exiling him to the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs or Dallas Mavericks. The Nets, opting not to match the Denver Nuggets' massive offer to Kenyon Martin, are in a "re-loading" stage, also having jettisoned longtime starting shooting guard Kerry Kittles in a cap-cutting trade to the Los Angeles Clippers and reportedly asking injured center Alonzo Mourning to shelve any idea of a return.

The Spurs aren't expected to have the financial flexibility to trade for Kidd, who nearly signed outright with the club last summer as a free agent. New deals for forward Tim Duncan, guards Brent Barry and Manu Ginobili and center Rasho Nesterovic make money tough to come by.

The Lakers don't appear interested in taking on Kidd's contract, which would impair their cap for many more years when coupled with the contract Kobe Bryant just signed.

Kidd's best bet may be the Mavericks, where he started his career, but owner Mark Cuban's hesitancy to top incumbent Steve Nash's $36 million offer from the Phoenix Suns makes absorbing the five years and $90 million left owed Kidd, recovering from knee surgery, a long shot.

Today's roundup takes us down the (mis)information highway, where Chad Ford takes shots at the Hawks front office (the real one, not here at HFO). HFO gets down to business and gets a response from one of the Hawks owners.

Also, with Thursday's interesting decision by the Clippers not to match the Suns offer to Q Richardson and then trading for Kerry Kittles, the free agency of Erick Dampier has taken yet another financial hit. What now?

Finally, we look at the sudden interest in Travis Hansen and sees Josh Smith taking his first real (community) steps with the Hawks.