The Jazz's hopes of reaching the top of the NBA standings may depend upon how well they mine the bottom.
   
Clippers, Warriors and Hawks -- those are the teams the Jazz wouldn't mind raiding for free agents next month, a seemingly contradictory strategy given that none have reached the playoffs in this century. But that's where the young talent lies in the 2003 free-agent class.
   
Gilbert Arenas of Golden State, who averaged 22.5 points and 5.8 assists in four games against the Jazz last season, would add a scoring boost in John Stockton's vacated point-guard spot. Jason Terry of Atlanta, who averaged 26 points and 8.5 assists in two matchups with Utah, isn't a bad option, either.

Troy Bell spent his NBA draft day Thursday at his family's home in Minnesota, helping arrange tables and chairs for his draft party.

"I wasn't nervous at all," he said.

Dahntay Jones, on the other hand, spent part of the day getting in one last workout for the Atlanta Hawks before rushing back to his family in New York City.

"It was crazy day," Jones said.

Both the 6-1 Bell from Boston College and the 6-6 Jones from Duke seemed a little dazed and fatigued when the Grizzlies' first-round draft choices met with the media on Friday at The Pyramid.

After Grizzlies president of basketball operations Jerry West introduced combo guard Bell and swingman Jones, Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown said trading with Boston to get the Celtics' No. 16 (Bell) and No. 20 (Jones) picks was "a win-win situation."

"Once we couldn't move up in the draft to get who we wanted, we had to go with Plan 'B'," Brown said. "We had to trade because Dahntay Jones wouldn't have been there at our 27th pick. Atlanta was going to take him at 21. Anytime you trade down, you're taking a gamble, but we're thrilled with the guys we got."

Keeping with a desire to acquire long and athletic players, Hawks director of basketball operations Billy Knight drafted 6-foot-8 French swingman Boris Diaw with the 21st pick in the NBA draft Thursday.

Making the first selection in the post-Pete Babcock era, Knight was pleased to acquire the unselfish guard with the large wingspan and quick feet. The Hawks made a qualifying offer to restricted free agent point guard Jason Terry, and Knight said he expects Diaw to come in and take over some of the ball-handling responsibilities.

"He has size, versatility," Knight said. "We feel he adds a different dimension to the team. We're not going to put the ball in his hands and expect him to be Magic Johnson, but we think he will help us out."

The Hawks had hoped to bring Diaw, who will wear No. 32, in for a workout before the draft, but his French team, Pau Orthez, is in the French championships. Knight will head to France this morning to watch Diaw play in the third and final game Saturday.

Diaw began his professional career at the age of 16 in 1998. He averaged 7.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists last season. ESPN college analyst Jay Bilas called Diaw "a poor man's Scottie Pippen."

"I like the comparison," Diaw said in a telephone interview from France. "[Pippen] can do everything on the court. He has the defense. He's like a role player, but he does every role. Somebody said [I'm] like a point forward."

Hawks director of basketball operations Billy Knight isn't silly enough to think he will be able to find a player who can come in and give the team 15 points a night --- not when he has the 21st and 37th picks in tonight's NBA draft.

Most see this draft beginning after the third pick with trades and surprising selections expected to follow LeBron James, Darko Milicic and Carmelo Anthony. After that trio, the talent pool has been called everything from weak to deep. Deep, if you are willing to dig really deep.

"This draft is deep in prospects," Knight said. "It's like panning for gold. Sometimes you dig and find something. Sometimes you dig and find nothing. But I think we'll get a player who can help."

Gold has been discovered at No. 21 in the past. Michael Finley, Ricky Davis and Morris Peterson were all taken at that slot. But the last time the Hawks had the 21st pick was in 1987, and they took DePaul's Dallas Comegys, who had a better name than his game.

Knight said he will take "the best player available," regardless of position, but the Hawks' more immediate need is in the backcourt. The team will tender a qualifying offer to Jason Terry today, but last year's first-rounder, Dan Dickau, is the only guard under contract for next season.

JUST call me a draft dodger. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I'm helpless to lead you astray regarding tonight's sometimes grand/often grating NBA experience. What I am able to do is provide some pertinent facts, thanks to sources, to hopefully pacify your hunger for content.

* Michael Jordan's venture to buy the Bucks rapidly is becoming a reality; it's really going to happen, folks. Look for an announcement shortly, which will free up GM Ernie Grunfeld to take charge of the Wizards' front office. David McDavid's purchase of the Hawks also is close to being finalized.

Meanwhile, former Washington/Nets GM John Nash was flown out to Seattle within the last couple days to meet with Paul Allen and Co. concerning the Blazers' GM job.

David McDavid is excited about a phone call he got recently.

"Nellie called the other day and said out of the blue, 'I love your team,' " McDavid says, Nellie being Dallas Mavericks coach and general manager Don Nelson, and the team being the Hawks, still AOL's but apparently soon to be McDavid's.

"Nellie said, 'You're one player away, maybe two, from really being something,' " McDavid goes on. "That was an unsolicited thing that made me feel good, because Nellie is critical. He doesn't have a reputation for calling you up and saying something just to make you feel good."

Now, I know what you're thinking: The one or two players Nellie had in mind must have been Tim Duncan and/or Jason Kidd.

But Nelson's scouting report isn't really the point.

The point is . . . McDavid sounds excited and rarin' to go.

When the Hawks get good again, we'll look back on this pre-draft briefing as the moment when the climb began. Nothing significant was said or done Monday, and that's the point. Owing largely to factors beyond their control, the Hawks can't say or do much of anything. They have an interim general manager and an interim coach and a not-yet owner and a lame-duck president and a salary-capped squad and the 21st and 37th picks in Thursday's draft. They're as low as they can go.

"We hope to have a new, hopefully positive message crafted soon," Stan Kasten said, and even that sounded forlorn. If David McDavid buys the Hawks, Kasten doesn't figure to be the president anymore, and Billy Knight, who's overseeing the draft, may be filling out a roster for the benefit of some new regime.

"The pending sale hasn't had any effect on what I'm doing," Knight said. Later he announced that he should be paying his employers for the chance to work in the wondrous realm of professional basketball. (Note to McDavid: GM candidate here will work cheap.)

For this franchise, Monday marked the bottom --- lower than the Jon Koncak contract, lower than the Isaiah Rider trade, lower than the playoff guarantee. Kasten and Knight sat before the assembled media trying to sound cheerful, and nobody bought any of it. Can you sign a big-ticket free agent if the free agent doesn't know exactly who owns the team? Can you negotiate a satisfactory trade if the other party doesn't believe you're long for your job? Can an interim GM hire a full-time coach?

Hawks president Stan Kasten said Monday that the Hawks will tender a qualifying contract offer to restricted free agent point guard Jason Terry as early as today, which will give the team the right to match any offer Terry receives from another team this summer.

Under the NBA's contract structure, the Hawks must offer Terry only a one-year deal at about $2.93 million by June 30. Theys are free to negotiate a more lucrative deal beginning July 1.

If the Hawks don't make the qualifying offer, Terry would become an unrestricted free agent with the freedom to sign with the team of his choice.

Taken with the 10th pick in 1999, Terry has averaged 18.7 points per game in the past three seasons. Last season, he averaged a career-high 7.4 assists per game. Terry has been adamant about wanting to return to the Hawks.

Kasten said a decision on the Hawks' other restricted free agent, Dion Glover, "has a couple of elements involved." Glover ,the 20th pick of the 1999, had somewhat of a breakout season, overcoming injuries to start a career-high 42 games and average 9.7 points per game.

When the Hawks get good again, we'll look back on this pre-draft briefing as the moment when the climb began. Nothing significant was said or done Monday, and that's the point. Owing largely to factors beyond their control, the Hawks can't say or do much of anything. They have an interim general manager and an interim coach and a not-yet owner and a lame-duck president and a salary-capped squad and the 21st and 37th picks in Thursday's draft. They're as low as they can go.

"We hope to have a new, hopefully positive message crafted soon," Stan Kasten said, and even that sounded forlorn. If David McDavid buys the Hawks, Kasten doesn't figure to be the president anymore, and Billy Knight, who's overseeing the draft, may be filling out a roster for the benefit of some new regime.

"The pending sale hasn't had any effect on what I'm doing," Knight said. Later he announced that he should be paying his employers for the chance to work in the wondrous realm of professional basketball. (Note to McDavid: GM candidate here will work cheap.)

For this franchise, Monday marked the bottom -- lower than the Jon Koncak contract, lower than the Isaiah Rider trade, lower than the playoff guarantee. Kasten and Knight sat before the assembled media trying to sound cheerful, and nobody bought any of it. Can you sign a big-ticket free agent if the free agent doesn't know exactly who owns the team? Can you negotiate a satisfactory trade if the other party doesn't believe you're long for your job? Can an interim GM hire a full-time coach?

For all Kasten's muted bravado -- "This team has a lot of pieces in place; we've got the opportunity to get very good very quickly" -- the cold truth is that nothing good can happen until the ownership matter is settled. Once it is, the Hawks are free to begin again. If the sale to McDavid is approved, he can start hiring. If it falls through, then Kasten can act as the de facto owner and prepare the team for next season. Things will need to happen, and not much has happened lately. As Kasten conceded, "We've been laying low."

But the beauty of sports is that there's always next season. No matter what, the days ahead cannot be as muddled as these. Clarity is a powerful thing. Even if the Hawks don't land the absolute best coach available -- the best who hasn't yet taken a job would be Rudy Tomjanovich -- simply having A Coach should have a therapeutic effect.

And if the lingering sale has precluded the Hawks from finding the next Red Auerbach to run the franchise, retaining Knight shouldn't be construed as a worst-case scenario. He's a bright guy. He grew up in the Pacers' organization, which is among the NBA's best. While with Memphis, he acquired Pau Gasol, who would become the 2002 rookie of the year. That's one more rookie of the year than the Hawks have ever generated.

Of the Hawks, Kasten said: "All the pieces that caused us to be optimistic [last season] are still in place." (Well, all except for the apparently superfluous Pete Babcock and Lon Kruger.) Technically true, this is nonetheless false. Those semi-great expectations were fueled by the notion of what those Hawks might look like. We've since seen, and we know Glenn Robinson is a lousy fit. Having a full-fledged GM would enable the Hawks to shop the overblown Big Dog. There mightn't be any takers, but at least he can ask.

When commissioner David Stern steps to the podium Thursday night at Madison Square Garden and tells Chris Bosh which team will make him a millionaire in the NBA draft, it won't be the only time you see Bosh on TV that night.

Bosh found time between individual workouts with a handful of NBA teams to film an EA Sports video game commercial in San Francisco last week with fellow lottery-locks Carmelo Anthony and Kirk Hinrich. The ad will air throughout ESPN's draft telecast.

"I hope it's funny," Bosh said, with an inkling of doubt, from his Lancaster, Texas, home Sunday afternoon.

Having a rare day of relaxation in the "whirlwind" that has followed since he entered the draft after just one season at Georgia Tech, Bosh isn't worried about much else. The 6-foot-10, left-handed forward led the Yellow Jackets in scoring (15.6 points per game), rebounding (9.0), blocked shots (2.2) and field-goal percentage (56 percent). He is expected to be a top-five pick this week.

Bosh displayed his skills Saturday to the Denver Nuggets, who hold the third pick. It was his final drill until he hugs his family, adjusts a new ballcap and shakes Stern's hand in three days. Bosh says it doesn't matter which team picks him.