These are trying times for one of the Trail Blazers' prized possessions, 20-year-old point guard Sebastian Telfair.

After missing the past six games with a ligament sprain in his right thumb, Telfair had hoped to return to the Blazers' lineup tonight when former coach Maurice Cheeks and the Philadelphia 76ers come to the Rose Garden. But Telfair said Tuesday that his target return date has been pushed back to Jan. 3.

The Blazers insisted Telfair go through another checkup with doctors and endure more full-speed practices before returning to action, the second-year guard said. Under that scenario, he'll miss at least three more games.

"I feel like I could play right now," Telfair said. "If it was up to me . . . you know how it goes."

Portland Trail Blazers center and ex-University of Minnesota player Joel Przybilla said he plans to explore the free-agent market next summer, but he clearly has affection for his current team.

"That's my top priority, is to try to get back here to Portland," Przybilla said before the Trail Blazers' 91-83 victory over the Timberwolves on Friday night at Target Center. "But we'll wait till the season's over, and we'll worry about it then."

Przybilla was active during the game, blocking three shots and being whistled for a double-technical foul with Kevin Garnett over some cross words late in the second quarter. The incident didn't turn physical.

Przybilla, who attended Monticello High School, might have reason to return to Minnesota. He lives in Milwaukee during the offseason, but his parents still live in the house in which he was raised. Przybilla said he is sure he will make more trips to Minnesota next summer because he and his wife are expecting their first child, and his parents will want to see the baby.

But he feels ties to the Blazers.

"This is the first time, and last year, since I came into the league that I really felt as a family with guys on the team," he said. "That means a lot to me. In the past, when I was playing in Milwaukee, I really wasn't happy. Here, I'm happy because I'm playing and I have a relationship with the guys."

And what about the possibility of playing with Garnett?

"K.G. may be one of the best power forwards in the league, but we have Zach (Randolph), who's a 20 and 10 guy," Przybilla said.

The Nets are so concerned about getting better defensively that they've considered a stopper with some heavy baggage.

The Nets have talked to the Blazers about mercurial swingman Ruben Patterson, according to league sources.

New Jersey's prime initiative, though, is to get an athletic big man. Chris Wilcox, Stromile Swift, Melvin Ely and Steven Hunter remain on the Nets' radar.

The Blazers are discussing scenarios with many teams involving Patterson, who recently requested a trade after being suspended for cursing at coach Nate McMillan. Marc Jackson and Jeff McInnis likely would be part of the Nets' package for Patterson.

The 6-foot-5 Patterson, who is the self-proclaimed "Kobe stopper," would back up Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter. Patterson is also physical enough to guard some power forwards.

But the Nets are concerned about Patterson's past. He pled guilty to attempted rape in 2001, and has been convicted of misdemeanor assault.

Zach Randolph resisted McMillan?s plea for better work habits and to be a low-post presence for the Blazers. Randolph gradually drifted outside to do more shooting on the perimeter, leaving his team void of inside scoring presence and irritating his new coach, who also wants him to make an increased commitment to defense.
 
But there is a misperception swirling about Randolph?s future in Portland.
 
Randolph isn?t asking for a trade. Neither is his coach.
 
?Zach Randolph can play for Nate McMillan,? the coach says.
 
Randolph thinks that, too, though he admits he misses Cheeks.
 
?Ain?t never had no (NBA) coach but Cheeks,? Randolph says. ?We were close. He made me into the player I am. Taught me everything I know about the league.?

The Portland Trail Blazers will have to get used to playing without their leading scorer.

The Trail Blazers on Friday announced that forward Darius Miles underwent successful minor arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and will be out indefinitely, though they expect him to make a "quick and full recovery."

The 24-year-old Miles, who has not played since December 2 against the Indiana Pacers, is averaging a team-best 18.2 points this season, easily the best mark in his six-year career.

It?s no secret Blazer coach Nate McMillan is less than enamored of the work ethic of the team?s two most-highly paid and most-talented players, Zach Randolph and Darius Miles. But Miles is injured and going nowhere, and Randolph?s going to be around for a while, too.
 
?We?re not going to trade Zach,? Portland GM John Nash says. ?I?ll trade anybody if there?s a better player offered, but we?ve had no offers and no conversation with other teams at all about Zach. I?m not saying we?ll keep either or both of them forever, but neither is a candidate for a trade.?

The Blazers would love to deal Ruben Patterson, but that seems unlikely to happen until next summer, when he will have only one year remaining on his contract in addition to an out clause.

Personnel decisions are ahead for the Trail Blazers' brain trust, and if coach Nate McMillan has any say, one of the decisions will be on forward Zach Randolph.

Decisions, as in: Can Randolph play for McMillan?

Or: Do the Blazers go to another plan and build around a different player?

McMillan's stunningly hard stance was revealed Tuesday when he was asked to evaluate his team after the first 20 games of this season. McMillan wanted nothing to do with talk about wins and losses, the team's style of play, or its inexperience.

Instead, McMillan said the team's "attitude" -- not pressing roster concerns or the team's 6-14 record -- was the most relevant topic. Certain players on the team are too selfish, not committed to the professional game, and don't play hard enough during games, he said.

"You've got to have the attitude that you want to be here, and if you don't, then when you are here, you work while you are here to make this club a better team," McMillan said. "So, do the things you are supposed to. Be where you are supposed to be, when you are supposed to be there. And when you are out on the floor, give 100 percent, and when things aren't going right, look at yourself first."

The topics point directly at Randolph, who at least three times this season has been tardy to team functions, at times gone through the motions on the court, and recently, expressed indifference -- at best -- about his desire to play in Portland any longer.

The latter came after Sunday's game against Houston, when Randolph was asked if he wanted to be here.

He chuckled.

"They pay me a lotta money," Randolph said.

For a moment, Derek Anderson has moved on. The Trail Blazers are in his past, no more than the next team on the Rockets' schedule.

Then he thinks of what could have been, what should have been to his way of thinking. He remembers all the hopes and expectations he brought with him when he left the Spurs to sign with the Blazers in 2001, then just one year removed from the Western Conference finals.

Before long, the anger and insult he felt last season is back. The excitement he had when he arrived in Portland had been wholly replaced with disappointment, unfulfilled optimism and a bitterness focused on general manager John Nash, whom he openly blames for the Trail Blazers' collapse and his own unsatisfying four seasons in Portland.

"It could have been right," Anderson said before returning to Portland for the Rockets' game tonight against the Trail Blazers. "We had so much talent. We had every piece. Everything was good. We made the playoffs my first two years, and then John Nash got there and everything went south. His first two years, we didn't make the playoffs. Everything went wrong. We had chaos. We had legal, off-the-court problems. On the court, we didn't have any. He started trading guys, not playing guys, telling the coach what to do. It just went bad."

Surrounded and supported by friends, family members, mentors and former teammates and coaches with the Lakers here for a game, the Bulls will retire Scottie Pippen's No. 33 with a banner to hang near the ceiling of the United Center. It is a fitting honor for a man whose grace and flair on the court eventually wore down and triumphed over the turnovers off and on the court.

That's because no great player has been viewed with such ambivalence, mocked at times for his position Jordan's shadow and the flaws in his play if not his personal makeup, but at the same time revered by those close to the game for his ability to unify and his ultimate basketball soul.

"Jordan always felt Pippen was something special," longtime Bulls assistant Tex Winter said. "Michael realized how easy it was to play with him and how he helped make his teammates better. It's often said Jordan needed Pippen and Pippen needed Jordan. I'm not sure Jordan didn't need Pippen more than Pippen needed Jordan."

Pippen certainly belongs among the greats of the game. He was named to the league's all-defensive first team seven straight times, eight overall. He was an All-Star seven times and was MVP of the All-Star Game in 1994 when he led the Bulls to 55 wins the season after Jordan's first retirement. To go with the six NBA titles, he won two Olympic gold medals, starring for the greatest team ever assembled, the 1992 Dream Team. He played in 208 playoff games, second only to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and ranks among the top four all-time playoff leaders in steals (No. 1), blocked shots and assists.

More than anything, those steals, blocked shots and assists define Scottie Pippen as a basketball player.

Darius Miles will have surgery to repair torn cartilage in his right knee, The Oregonian reports.

It has not been determined how much action Miles will miss.

"We probably won't know how long he will be out until after the surgery," coach Nate McMillan said.