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.

Failing to complete a trade this offseason, the Knicks are believed to have greatly increased their chances of acquiring one of their main targets when they exchanged Nazr Mohammed with Kurt Thomas in the team's proposed sign and trade for Warrior Erick Dampier, the New York Daily News is reporting.

The deal on the table for Golden State GM Chris Mullin to consider now consists of Thomas and Othella Harrington for Dampier.

The Knicks, Pacers and Grizzlies have all been vying for Dampier but are over the cap, while the Atlanta Hawks are under the cap and have made an offer to the free agent center according to sources.

The Pacers are close to signing a NBA journeyman, Eddie Gill, to a contract worth $720,000 a year.  

The Star quoted Gill's agent, Mark Bartelstein, as saying an agreement had been reached and the deal could be signed by today. It quoted Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh as saying the team.

The often discussed Austin Croshere is reportedly being offered to the Sixers for Derrick Coleman and Greg Buckner, but those claims are being denied by Pacers management.  Indiana has been attempting to deal Croshere soon after they gave him a lucrative contract following his great performance in The Finals several years ago against the Lakers.

Stephen Jackson was very relieved when he finally signed a six-year, $38 million contract in a sign-and-trade deal that sent him to Indiana.

Jackson's agent Dan Fegan was heavily criticized when Jackson declined a multi-year deal from the San Antonio Spurs before last season and took a one-year, $1.1 million deal with the Atlanta Hawks.

"In some respects it was a really difficult decision because it was met with such widespread criticism," Fegan said.  "When you have the confidence in your own abilities and the confidence in your client's abilities, you can make it work."

Instead of firing Fegan as many wanted him to, Jackson stuck with his agent, finished the season on fire and signed the big contract to play in Indiana where he always wanted to be.

"There was some friction" - with Jackson - "but one of the truly amazing things about Steve is his resiliency. He's able to just bounce back. He handles adversity better than any person that I've just about ever met. He almost thrives on it in ways you can't teach people."

Former Toronto coach Kevin O'Neill is expected to join the Pacers' staff today as an assistant.

O'Neill, an assistant to Carlisle in Detroit for two seasons before taking over as Raptors coach last summer, could sign a contract as early as today.

He was fired by Toronto in April. The Raptors finished 33-49 and did not make the playoffs.

Indiana Pacers' first-round Draft pick David Harrison will return to Indiana to have his left knee examined after he sprained it during summer league.

Harrison sprained the knee during the third quarter of Wednesday's game.  After sustaining the injury, the 7-foot center from Colorado returned to the court and finished with 22 points and 3 rebounds.  

``David had a very productive week here in Utah,'' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. ``We'll know more after he has an MRI, but we do not expect this to be a serious injury that keeps him off the floor for an extended period of time.''

'Indiana Pacers first-round draft pick David Harrison was returning to Indianapolis to have his left knee examined after spraining it during a summer league game in Salt Lake City.

'Harrison, a 7-foot center from Colorado, sprained his knee during the third quarter of Wednesday's game. After a timeout, he returned to the court and finished the game against the San Antonio Spurs' squad with 22 points and three rebounds.'

``David had a very productive week here in Utah,'' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. ``We'll know more after he has an MRI, but we do not expect this to be a serious injury that keeps him off the floor for an extended period of time.''

The trade rumors are still swirling around Warrior big man Erick Dampier.  And now with the Warrior?s recent acquisition of forward/center Dale Davis, it seems even more likely that Dampier will be dealt.

The question now becomes?to whom?

The Knicks have pursued Dampier the most intensely and were prepared to offer him a six-year deal starting at $9 million per season.  The Van Exel deal could affect the Knicks and their bid to pull off a sign-and-trade deal with the Warriors that would contain Nazr Mohammed and Othella Harrington.

The Hawks are also very interested; however they are unwilling to spend as much as the Knicks even though they have about $12-million in cap space to spend.

His options, however, are dwindling. The Memphis Grizzlies and Indiana were also interested in Dampier, but the Warriors reportedly wanted Stromile Swift from the Grizzlies or Jonathan Bender from the Pacers, two players those teams are unwilling to part with.

Given all the scenarios, the Knicks seem to have the upper-hand.  And with the free-agent frenzy that inflated many contract salaries now over, they might get him for a better price than originally expected.

Last year we saw Kevin Ollie finally get some security when he signed a suprising long term contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers after surviving in the league on ten day or one year contracts.  This year Anthony Johnson has been able to earn the same right with the Indiana Pacers, with Johnson finally signing a multi-year contract for the first time in his career.

Johnson, who is now locked up for four years for just under $11 million in total, played a pivital role for the Pacers this past season as the first guard off the bench.

"There's no question he was an important guy on our team," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "He finished a lot of games for us and hit a lot of big shots for us. He's one of our veteran leaders. That certainly weighed into the equation of getting him back."