NBA: 24—second clock

Former Sixers owner Harold Katz says Derrick Coleman is one of the reasons he sold the team. "Here's a guy who I trade for," Katz said. "He comes in completely out of shape; I ask him to lose weight, and he says to me, in third (person), 'Derrick Coleman doesn't diet.'"

Jerome James is at it again in Seattle, arriving for a recent game just an hour before tip-off. Said one teammate: "That just shows you where his head is at."

Alonzo Mourning wants to play for a contender, so he told the Nets he'd accept a $14 million buyout on the $17.8 million remaining on his contract. GM Rod Thorn found that sum laughable. "If you allow people to come in and say, 'I want to be bought out at a premium,' what do you think would happen?" Thorn said. "You'd have a chaotic situation." The Nets are offering $6 million.

Steve Francis is happier playing for Orlando coach Johnny Davis, saying the Magic's uptempo offense is "200 percent better" than the deliberate style of Houston's Jeff Van Gundy.

Francis also took a jab at Tracy McGrady, saying, "If they (Houston) want guys to walk up the court and shoot fade-away jumpers, then they got what they wanted."

Magic GM John Weisbrod also continues to stick it to McGrady, saying, "McGrady says . . . he's got the perfect big man now, the perfect coach, the perfect general manager. So the rings ought to start rolling in."

Weisbrod has cracked down in Orlando, with such rules as no food or cell phones in the locker room and a dress code that forbids throwback jerseys. Players are grumbling already.

Sonny Vacarro, who signed Kobe Bryant for Adidas, commented on Kobe's fall from grace: "Kobe would have had his face on Mt. Rushmore, if he stayed who he was at 17."

Not a week into the season and Mark Cuban had been fined by the league, for criticism written on his blog Web site. "I won't say what I really think about the genius that started the season on Election Day since it's probably the same person that started the season on Halloween in previous years," he wrote.

Blazers' Zach Randolph, who lives in a hotel, got fined for waking up Saturday morning nearly an hour after the team plane had departed for Toronto. "Overslept," Randolph explained. "Set the alarm and everything. It happens to everybody." (Tip for Zach: wake-up call.)

Memphis' Jason Williams went nuts after being yanked from a game, unleashing a verbal onslaught against assistant coach Brendan Brown, the son of head coach Hubie Brown. Grizzlies' Bonzi Wells said everyone was uptight over the team's 0-3 start. "We're not the league's best-kept secret anymore," Wells said.