Latest Off-Season News

• The NBA Board of Governors has approved 4 new rules/changes [fortunately the recommended and confusing rule of allowing any type of defense on the strong side of the court was not approved]. The 3-point line has been moved back to the original 23 feet 9 inches with it 22 feet in the corners. A defender will not be allowed to use his forearm to hinder the progress of an offensive player who is facing the basket in the front court. A player can not call timeout if both feet are in the air and any part of his body is over or beyond the out-of-bounds line. A half-circle area with the center at the middle of the basket and extending out 4 feet is considered a no-charge area - an offensive foul will not be called if contact occurs in this area. (From Patricia Bender's NBA Dailys.)

1)  Dallas traded the rights to #15 Kelvin Cato to Portland for the
     rights to #18 Chris Anstey and monetary considerations.
2)  Milwaukee traded Johnny Newman, Joe Wolf, and the rights to #10
     Danny Fortson to Denver for Ervin Johnson.
3)  New Jersey traded Jim Jackson, Eric Montross, the rights to #7
     Tim Thomas, and the rights to #21 Anthony Parker to Philadelphia for 
     Lucious Harris, Michael Cage, Don MacLean, and the rights to #2 Keith Van
     Horn.
4)  Denver traded the rights to #42 Jason Lawson to Orlando for #47
     Eric Washington and a 1999 2nd round pick.
5)  Philadelphia traded the rights to #37 James Collins to the LA
     Clippers for a 2nd round pick in 1998.
6)  Vancouver traded the rights to #53 C.J. Bruton to Portland for
     monetary considerations.

The NBA Draft(Round 1)


#   Team Player               Pos Hgt  Wgt   B-day   College
1   SA   Tim Duncan .........  C  6-10 238  4/25/76  Wake Forest'97
2  aPhi  Keith Van Horn .....  F  6-10 220 10/23/75  Utah'97
3   Bos  Chauncey Billups ...  G  6-3  202  9/25/76  Colorado'99
4   Van  Antonio Daniels ....  G  6-4  195  3/19/75  Bowling Green'97
5   Den  Tony Battie ........  C  6-11 230  2/11/76  Texas Tech'98
6   Bos  Ron Mercer ......... G-F 6-7  210  5/18/76  Kentucky'99
7  aNJ   Tim Thomas .........  F  6-9  230  2/26/77  Villanova'00
8   GS   Adonal Foyle .......  C  6-10 250   3/9/75  Colgate'98
9   Tor  Tracy McGrady ......  F  6-8  210  5/24/79  Mt Zion Christian Aca
10 cMil  Danny Fortson ......  F  6-7  260  3/27/76  Cincinnati'98
11  Sac  Olivier Saint-Jean .  F  6-6  223  11/3/74  San Jose State'98
12  Ind  Austin Croshere ....  F  6-9  235   5/1/75  Providence'97
13  Cle  Derek Anderson .....  G  6-5  195  7/18/74  Kentucky'97
14  LAC  Maurice Taylor .....  F  6-9  250 10/30/76  Michigan'98
15 bPor  Kelvin Cato ........  C  6-11 255  8/26/74  Iowa State'97
16  Cle  Brevin Knight ......  G  5-10 173  11/8/75  Stanford'97
17  Orl  Johnny Taylor ......  F  6-9  220   6/4/74  Tenn-Chattanooga'97
18 bDal  Chris Anstey .......  C  7-0  249   1/1/75  Australia
19  Det  Scot Pollard .......  C  6-11 265  2/12/75  Kansas'97
20  Min  Paul Grant .........  C  7-0  245   1/6/74  Wisconsin'97
21 aNJ   Anthony Parker .....  G  6-6  215  6/19/75  Bradley'97
22  Atl  Ed Gray ............  G  6-3  210  9/27/75  California'97
23  Sea  Bobby Jackson ......  G  6-1  185  3/13/73  Minnesota'97
24  Hou  Rodrick Rhodes ..... G-F 6-6  225  9/24/73  Southern Cal'97
25  NY   John Thomas ........  F  6-9  275   9/8/75  Minnesota'97
26  Mia  Charles Smith ......  G  6-4  194  8/22/75  New Mexico'97
27  Uta  Jacque Vaughn ......  G  6-1  195  2/11/75  Kansas'97
28  Chi  Keith Booth ........  F  6-6  226  10/9/74  Maryland'97

[Washington forfeited their 1st round pick due to last summer's Juwan
Howard mess.]

-Round 2
#   Team Player               Pos Hgt  Wgt   B-day   College
30  Hou  Serge Zwikker ......  C  7-3  273  4/28/73  North Carolina'97
31  Mia  Mark Sanford .......  F  6-9  210   2/7/76  Washington'97
32  Det  Charles O'Bannon ...  F  6-5  209  2/22/75  UCLA'97
33  Den  James Cotton .......  G  6-5  220 12/14/75  Long Beach State'97
34  Phi  Marco Milic ........ G-F 6-6  235   5/5/77  Slovenia
35  Dal  Bubba Wells ........  F  6-5  230  7/26/74  Austin Peay'97
36  Phi  Kebu Stewart .......  F  6-8  239 12/19/73  Cal St-Bakersfield'97
37 dLAC  James Collins ......  G  6-4  196  11/5/73  Florida State'97
38  GS   Marc Jackson .......  C  6-10 270  1/16/75  Temple'97
39  Mil  Jerald Honeycutt ...  F  6-9  245 10/20/74  Tulane'97
40  Sac  Anthony Johnson ....  G  6-3  190 10/10/74  Charleston'97
41  Sea  Eddie Elisma ....... C-F 6-9  213   3/9/75  Georgia Tech'97
42 eOrl  Jason Lawson .......  C  6-11 240   9/2/74  Villanova'97
43  Pho  Stephen Jackson ....  G  6-8  218   4/5/78  Buttle CC
44  Min  Gordon Malone ......  F  6-11 215  7/17/74  West Virginia'98
45  Cle  Cedric Henderson ...  F  6-7  215  3/11/75  Memphis'97
46  Was  God Shammgod .......  G  6-0  169  4/29/76  Providence'99
47 eDen  Eric Washington ....  G  6-4  190  3/23/74  Alabama'97
48  Por  Alvin Williams .....  G  6-5  185   8/6/74  Villanova'97
49  Was  Predrag Drobnjak ...  F  6-10 265 10/??/75  Yugoslavia
50  Atl  Alain Digbeau ......  G  6-5  192           France
51  Atl  Chris Crawford .....  F  6-9  235  5/13/75  Marquette'97
52  LAL  DeJuan Wheat .......  G  6-0  165 10/14/73  Louisville'97
53 fVan  C.J. Bruton ........  G  6-2  170 12/13/75  Indian Hills (IA)'99
54  LAL  Paul Rogers ........  C  7-0  238  9/29/73  Gonzaga'97
55  Sea  Mark Blount ........  C  7-0  230 11/30/75  Pittsburgh'99
56  Bos  Ben Pepper .........  C  7-0                Australia
57  Uta  Nate Erdmann .......  G  6-5  195 11/21/73  Oklahoma'97
58  Chi  Roberto Duenas .....  C  7-2  270           Spain