The Rumor Mill is updated every week, and covers the latest NBA trade rumors, NBA news and commentary from in and around the National Basketball Association.¿0a¿0a

RUMOR HAS IT…

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In this weeks section geared exclusively towards the latest rumors floating around… “Rumor Has It…” ¿0a

TWO GUARD: The Orlando Magic are off to an 0-3 start, and frankly its their own doing. The decision to start DeShawn Stevenson at the two guard spot is killing the Magic, who preached all off-season about how Steve Francis was going to shift to the two spot – the season opens with Francis at the one, and Jameer Nelson on the bench – which begs the question, what has Jameer done to deserve the pine? No one in the Magic organization will comment about Jameer other than to say they like him a lot, but why he’s not starting, and why the Magic chose to sign Keyon Dooling versus addressing a real need, in the off season becomes the burning question. A Magic source said this week that prior to the NBA draft, the club had a chance to nab Jalen Rose from Toronto in exchange for Tony Battie, DeShawn Stevenson and the draft pick that became Fran Vasquez, but choose to pass – admittedly there was no way Orlando could have known the #11 was gonna be Fran or that Fran was gonna flake out on them, and Jalen is not the answer either, but it is clear the Magic are facing a massive uphill climb (no pun intended) and getting a legit NBA two-guard would be a good start – with so many teams looking for size, the ending contracts of Tony Battie or Kelvin Cato could return a reasonable two.¿0a

UNHAPPY BOBBY: So what does Bobby Jackson bring to the Memphis Grizzlies? Energy, a spark, scoring, leadership. So what is Bobby’s role on the Grizz? According to him, he does not know, saying “Ask the coaches… maybe they know” – the consummate professional that is Bobby Jackson is clearly not happy with his situation in Memphis, leading many around the club to wonder, when he’ll be traded.¿0a

HOT SEAT RICK: Tick, Tick, Tick… that’s the sound of Rick Adelman’s time with the Kings. Unfortunately, rumor has it if the Kings don’t get on track quickly, the first change that will be made will be with the head coach. The word from Sacramento is that ownership was expecting a better start to the season, and there are real concerns that some of the veteran players namely Mike Bibby and Peja Stojakovic are tuning Rick out. ¿0a

BIGMAN SHOPPING: Several NBA teams are looking for big men, the Chicago Bulls have their scouting staff looking for size, while both the Nets and the Hawks have been actively talking about trades that would yield a big man – size is a premium in the NBA, and with some teams holding on to one or two extra bigs, don’t be surprised when Miami deals Mike Doleac, or the Milwaukee Bucks part with Dan Gadzuric.¿0a

NO LYNCH: The New York Knicks will pass on adding George Lynch to their roster. Isiah Thomas all but shot down the idea of adding the recently released Lynch. The Miami Heat and The Dallas Mavericks are rumored to have inquired, but no deal is pending.¿0a

NO SPREE EITHER: Despite reports to the contrary, Latrell Sprewell is not heading to Miami, although he wants to. According to league sources, no team has expressed more than an exploratory interest in Spree since the start of the season. The Denver Nuggets have applied for a medical exception for Nene, it is possible that would create a single year salary large enough for Spree, but the Nuggets are not talking about how they would use such an exception if its granted by the NBA.¿0a

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THE UTAH JAZZ

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2-1, that’s not a bad start, considering the Jazz were one of the teams most people had written off as a non-playoff team. Its still a long way to the post season, but the Jazz are a solid team, and if your looking past the Jazz you’ll be surprised. Mehmet Okur has really come on strong for the Jazz, averaging roughly 21 points a game, and grabbing double digit rebounds, he’s finally earning that monster paycheck and will ultimately prove that Carlos Boozer is expendable in Utah. Gordon Giricek is hitting some big shots for the Jazz, he seems to have found his rhythm against three very solid teams (Dallas, Golden State and Phoenix), but the guy to watch is Deron Williams – Jerry Sloan is taking it slow with his rookie point guard, but in limited minutes, you are starting to see Deron can be a game changer, once he finds some consistency with his shot, the Jazz should have potent lineups and some quality tradeable depth – this team stays healthy, they could win their division.

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ARE STAN’S DAYS NUMBERED

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The burning question among the media is how long does Stan Van Gundy have – the real answer is likely not long, and that’s just the nature of professional sports. Here are some known issues in Miami – #1 – Stan is not a players coach, that’s how he has always been, its how his brother is – Stan does not get caught up in player issues, he expects players to perform or he’ll bench you, this has not set well with guys like Jason Williams, Antoine Walker, and Gary Payton – no surprises there. #2 – The Heat have a ton of duplication and they have a number of “rhythm players”, players that have to get going to be productive – with duplication you have guys playing smaller roles than they are used to, and being asked to perform in a manner they are not accustomed. #3 – High Expectations, the Heat have such a high standard to live up to, not only in the media but in Miami, everyone expects Miami to win the East, and while that can still happen, the Heat have to get focused quickly. Which brings us back to issue #1, players are not really fond of Big Stan, that’s not say anyone dislikes Stan – he’s simply not anyone’s favorite person in the locker room, he is not the guy that gets a player to walk on glass for the sake of the team, and there were the questions of Stan’s future come into play – the one saving grace for Stan Van Gundy is Shaquille O’Neal supports him and lobbied to keep him in the big chair, but wins and losses will ultimately make the decision and unfortunately for Stan, that’s likely going to cost a great coach his job.

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SOME SHOTS

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Here are some of the random stories from the week…

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• T-MAC OUT: As Tracy McGrady goes, so will the Rockets – McGrady is expected to miss the next 3 weeks due to chronic back spasms. His status will be updated over the next few days, but he is expected to miss a minimum of 3 weeks.

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• STAYING PUT: Joel Przybilla told media in Portland this week, that despite his option for unrestricted free agency this summer, it was his plan to re-sign in Portland, saying the Blazers were the team that gave him a shot, and that he wanted to be part of what they were building – that’s easy to say before Game 3, lets check his temperature after Game 81…

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