The Pacers are sticking behind coach Rick Carlisle and Mitch Lawrence is reporting the club intends to deal Jermaine O'Neal, Stephen Jackson and Jamaal Tinsley. Two players staying, barring a change, are Peja Stojakovic and Danny Granger.

One possible destination for O'Neal is Golden State, in a package starting with Troy Murphy.

"A lot of teams out there like our players," said Golden State GM Rod Higgins.

ESPN's Marc Stein is reporting that the Sacramento Kings have received permission from the Golden State Warriors to interview Mario Elie for their head-coaching vacancy.

Elie, who just completed his second season as a Warriors assistant to Mike Montgomery, is expected to meet with Kings co-owners Joe and Gavin Maloof and Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie by week's end.

The Knicks' plan to give up their first round pick in this year's draft had a lot to do with how they perceived this season's potential draft class and even though many feel it is stronger than expected, with the emergence of a Tyrus Thomas, it is less than stellar.

"I would say, no, this draft is not as strong as last year, but that's just one man's opinion," Warriors general manager Rod Higgins said. "We're just getting into evaluating this draft. We're going to have a lot of meetings next week with all of our scouts, and workouts going on probably every day."

A person close to Larry Brown told Newsday that Golden State is a likely destination for the coach, should his days in New York end this off-season.

The Warriors are owned by Chris Cohan, a friend and neighbor of Brown's in East Hampton.

Expectations in Golden State were high heading into the 2005-2006 season and after a promising start, the Warriors quickly faded.