Kings coach Rick Adelman was provided more perspective than anyone needed during the past season and first few weeks of the 2003 NBA offseason.

So it wasn't as much a negotiation as a minimal meeting of the minds for he and the Kings to get together on the contract extension he said actually was signed Thursday night.

"Obviously, I really like our team," Adelman said Friday at a hastily gathered news conference at the team's practice facility. "I love living here and coaching here, and this is the best of all worlds for me. Looking around the league at all the things that were going on, there obviously was a lot of opportunity out there if you wanted to pursue things, but to me, at this stage where I'm at, this is where I wanted to be.

"I wanted something that would solidify my position here, and I think we've had a really good run and we still have a run ahead of us. So I'm real happy that this was done. The Maloofs have been great to me. This is the third time they've done this."

Without a pick in either round, the Kings didn't have much to offer in the NBA draft, but they're ready to make coach Rick Adelman an offer he apparently will not refuse.

The Maloof family ownership group and Adelman are close to agreeing on a three-year contract extension. Adelman, who has been the Kings' coach for the past five seasons and compiled a 245-132 record (.650), is entering the final season of a two-year deal.

"It's something we've been working on for a while -- probably for about the past 10 days to two weeks, and we're pretty far along," Geoff Petrie, the Kings' president of basketball operations, said Thursday night after watching the draft. "I'd say we may have something more to say about it in the next few days."

Joe Maloof said that the family appreciated Adelman's production and performance but also his class and loyalty during the past few months, when the NBA coaching circle turned into a carousel for dollars.

"This is something we initiated," Maloof said. "Gavin and I believe he's done a great job, and we support Rick and wanted to show that we appreciated that he's done well.

Meanwhile, over at the Kings' offices, you could slice the tension with a warm hunk of Velveeta. It's the day before the NBA draft, and you've seen afternoon naps with more drama.

Which brings us to today's philosophical talking point: If they hold a draft and the Kings don't come, does the thing really exist?

The employees at the decision-making levels were their usual accessible and occasionally insightful selves Wednesday, which is to say, they had plenty of time to field a phone call or two. As well they might: Barring an apocalyptic trade offer between now and draft moment, the Kings will take an 0-fer today for the first time in their local history.

Counting back to the Alpha year of 1948, this franchise in whatever form always has made a draft-day pick of some kind, be it mysterious and compelling (an unknown Peja Stojakovic in 1996), exquisite (the great Oscar Robertson in 1960) or simply absurd (Never Nervous Pervis Ellison in 1989, the No. 1 pick overall: 34 games and out forever as a King).

Not today. With the Darius Songaila deal sending Sacramento's late second-round pick to Boston, the Kings have nothing on the board at all.

Last week, when trade rumors continued to top themselves in absurdity, Geoff Petrie said he had barely spoken to any team about any Kings player, much less discussed the possibility of dealing the likes of Mike Bibby, Hedo Turkoglu, Peja Stojakovic or Bobby Jackson.

Now acquiring Darius Songaila? The Kings' president of basketball operations never mentioned that possibility.

However, that's what he did Monday. The 6-foot-9 forward's rights came west from the Boston Celtics for the No. 56 pick in Thursday's draft and a second-round choice in 2005. That leaves the Kings with no selections in this week's draft.

Danny Ainge, the Celtics' new executive director of basketball operations, apparently wanted no part of the 25-year-old Songaila. The Lithuanian played collegiately at Wake Forest before the Celtics drafted him 50th overall last year.

Boston found no room on its roster, and Songaila played in the Euroleague with Moscow CSKA of the Russian "A" Superleague. Songaila helped Moscow CSKA reach the Euroleague Final Four.

Three years ago, Mateen Cleaves was in an expensive New York hotel room wearing a suit and shoes that probably could have been a down payment for a house.

He was as nervous as a young girl on her first date. And it was Cleaves' first date in a way -- his official entry into the NBA. That night, the Pistons took him with the 14th overall pick in the draft and billed him as their point guard of the future. Now Cleaves is looking for a job.

Some of the 29 players who will be drafted in the first round Thursday night could use Cleaves as a lesson. The NBA might never look as promising as it does on draft night.

Since that night, Cleaves' life has taken a series of twists and turns. After his rookie season, the Pistons traded him to the Sacramento Kings for Jon Barry and a first-round draft pick. At Sacramento, Cleaves played little, stuck behind top guards Mike Bibby and Bobby Jackson.

In the past two seasons, he has averaged fewer than five minutes a game. Next week, Cleaves, 25, will become a free agent. He's hoping to land with another team. But Cleaves, who led Michigan State to the 2000 national championship, knows his lack of playing time will work against him.

"You don't want to get too forgotten," Cleaves said. "It's been two years since people have seen me play. I've been doing a good job in Sacramento, playing and practicing and doing what I'm supposed to do and working hard and all that, but I'm facing it. I'm taking this summer as my back is against the wall. That's the attitude I'm having."

While the Darius Songaila era was coming to an end yesterday, Celtics general manager Chris Wallace was riding a roller coaster in his candidacy for the same position in Portland.

Sources said yesterday that Wallace had emerged as the Trail Blazers' top candidate after winning their short list battle. But when the two sides stalled a bit in contract talks, there was word from Portland last night that the club had decided to start the process again with a broader search. The Blazers had planned to have a new GM in place by Thursday's draft, but they have now backed off that blueprint.

If Wallace stays with the Celtics, he will start in on a three-year, $2.4 million deal signed last summer. And with Danny Ainge hired above him as director of basketball operations, Wallace will face far less pressure with the Celts.

Wallace has said he would like to have the top voice in a personnel department - something he doesn't believe he ever truly had with the Celtics.

With Ed Stefanski receiving a better deal to stay in New Jersey and Blazers assistant GM Mark Warkentien reportedly about to be shown the door, Portland's short list had dwindled to just one - Wallace. But he is said to want a strong commitment from the club if he is to take on the task of rebuilding a club with numerous problems both on and off the court.

Well, hi, and welcome to the Rain On Your Parade Hotline. Today's conversational downer: The trade that isn't.

Mike Bibby is not being packaged with Hedo Turkoglu and sent to the New Jersey Nets. Jason Kidd, and the NBA championship rings that (now that I mention it) aren't actually on his fingers, are not coming to Sacramento in a sign-and-trade free-agency special.

This is a rumor with legs and some logic behind it. It makes sense on a couple of fronts. There is plenty to be said on all sides of the argument.

It just isn't happening, is all.

That's it! Resume napping.

The off-season officially has begun for the Nets. It wasted very little time getting very interesting.

Assistant coach Eddie Jordan interviewed for a second time with the Sixers yesterday and is scheduled to interview today in Washington for the Wizards' head coaching job. Jordan could receive an offer by the end of the week from one of the teams.

Even more interesting, but strictly in the stage of rumor, is a report floating around concerning Jason Kidd and a potential sign-and-trade with Sacramento.

Kidd, who all along said the Nets were his first choice in free agency, seemed to back off during the Finals and after the Nets were beaten by the Spurs, saying he would look at all options and it would take time for a decision. Now, there are whispers of a sign-and-trade of Kidd for Mike Bibby and Hedo Turkoglu.

Nets team president Rod Thorn is hopeful Kidd stays put.

The U.S. Attorney's Office dropped obstruction of justice charges against Sacramento Kings all-star Chris Webber and his father, Mayce Webber Jr., on Thursday.

The two still face perjury charges.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Corbett said the government couldn't go forward on the obstruction charges because its key witness, Eddie L. Martin, died in February. Earlier, the government dismissed charges against Chris Webber's aunt, Charlene Johnson, for the same reason.

Webber and his father are accused of perjury for allegedly lying to a grand jury in 2000 about their dealings with Martin. Martin said he lent Chris Webber and his family $280,000 from the proceeds of an illegal lottery at Metro Detroit auto plants.

All-Star power forward Chris Webber and swingman Gerald Wallace underwent arthroscopic surgery Tuesday in Birmingham, Ala.

Dr. James R. Andrews, one of the country's foremost orthopedic surgeons, performed the procedures on Webber's left knee and Wallace's left shoulder.

Webber, 30, is expected to be on crutches for the next eight weeks after Andrews removed part of the outside cartilage in the left knee and smoothed and prepared a cartilage defect to heal.

Wallace, who will turn 21 on July 23, underwent a procedure to ease chronic rotator cuff tendinitis. His rehabilitation begins immediately, and he should be at full strength for the Oct. 1 start of training camp.