After all, the Bulls were supposed to be in hot pursuit of the game's biggest prize, LeBron James, and came up empty. In fact, when one ill-informed ESPN talking head proclaimed Chicago the favorite to land the narcissistic one, dozens of lemmings fell in line to drink the Bristol Kool-Aid, convinced the Windy City would land LeBron.

Instead, King James took his throne to South Beach and the Bulls were forced to scramble and cultivate a Plan B that included signing power forward Carlos Boozer away from Utah, and inking a number of complimentary parts like Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver and Kurt Thomas.

This will be the fifth set of preseason games in China for the NBA.

The Rockets and Nets will meet on October 13 at Wukesong Arena, then will play three days later at the Guangzhou International Sports Arena. The Wukesong Arena hosted the basketball games for the 2008 Olympics.

The injury was confirmed following an MRI and examination by Dr.

Dave Rubenstein.

Recovery time is expected to be 4-to-6 weeks.

Smith was re-signed by the Clippers two weeks ago, after posting averages of 7.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in just over 16 minutes per contest last season.

The Heat will open the season in Boston against the Celtics in the first game of a doubleheader aired by TNT.

Miami will unveil its star trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in a potential Eastern Conference Finals preview. The Celtics are the defending East champions and also feature a 'Big Three' -- Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, who led the Celtics to the 2008 NBA title. This past season Boston pushed the Lakers to seven games in the Finals.

The Knicks head coach will assist the team in New York from August 10-16, but will not travel for the team's training and exhibition games overseas, or to the tournament in Turkey, which runs from August 28-September 12.

He will be replaced by Toronto Raptors head coach Jay Triano.

Warkentien became the Nuggets' vice president of basketball operations in September 2006, when Chapman took on the role of vice president of player personnel.

Warkentien was named the NBA's Executive of the Year for the 2008-09 season.

Though terms of the deal were not disclosed, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported last week House had agreed to a two-year contract at the NBA veterans minimum of $1.4 million per season.

House averaged 7.0 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists while splitting the 2009-10 campaign between Boston and New York.

Williams, 34, came out of retirement a year ago to sign with the Magic. He averaged 6.0 points, 3.6 assists and 1.5 rebounds while appearing in all 82 games last season. The West Virginia native retired in September 2008.

"Jason played very well for us last season," said Magic general manager Otis Smith.

Terms of the deal were not announced, per team policy.

The 25-year-old inked a 10-day contract with Dallas in February of this year, but did not see any action.

West played the past 2 1/2 seasons with Cleveland and last year averaged 8.8 points with 3.3 assists and 2.8 rebounds in 60 games, including three starts.

The Wolves acquired West, along with Sebastian Telfair, in exchange for center Ryan Hollins and guard Ramon Sessions on July 26.

Beverley spent the 2009-10 season in Greece and played the previous year in the Ukrainian Basketball Super League. He appeared in four summer league games for the Heat and averaged 5.8 points with 4.8 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 1.8 assists.

The Los Angeles Lakers selected Beverly in the second round of the 2009 NBA Draft and traded his rights to the Heat in exchange for a 2011 second-round pick and cash considerations. He played two seasons at Arkansas.

After LeBron James made his decision to spurn Cleveland for the Miami Heat on national television, Cavs owner Dan Gilbert let loose with an entertaining, albeit ill-conceived statement that called James selfish, disloyal and narcissistic.

Gilbert's rant was so over-the-top that NBA commissioner David Stern fined him $100K, calling his response to James' move "ill-advised and imprudent." Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo certainly didn't learn from Gilbert's little dust-up with the commish and made headlines last week when he accused his former star player and James' new teammate in South Beach, Chris Bosh, of quitting in his last season north of the border.

The 6-foot-7 Graham played in 63 games for Denver last season, starting 18, and averaged 4.2 points and two rebounds per game.

He signed with the Nuggets as a free agent after spending the first four years of his career with Toronto.

Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, TNT analyst David Aldridge reported earlier in the week that the deal could pay the veteran up to $4 million if he is able to reach incentive clauses.

The Wizards acquired Howard from Dallas in February as part of a seven-player deal that sent forward Caron Butler to the Mavericks.

By Andy Roth, Contributing Editor New York, NY (Sports Network) - The Atlantic Division had only one team finish with a winning record last season (Celtics), and although some members have improved since then, it looks like it will be pretty weak once again. Let's take a look at how each has fared in the attempt to upgrade their rosters.

CELTICS: Boston kept its "Big Four" intact by re-signing free agents Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. The Celtics did lose a valuable bench player to free agency with Tony Allen signing with the Grizzlies. Another key sub may not return, as the C's await Rasheed Wallace's decision on whether he'll remain retired. Boston signed free agent Jermaine O'Neal to bolster its front line, which will help with Kendrick Perkins being sidelined to at least December as he recovers from major knee surgery. O'Neal is more of an offensive threat than Perkins, but the Celts will miss his physical presence. In the draft, the Boston picked up guard Avery Bradley an

The Commercial Appeal cited a police statement in reporting Wright, a former Memphis basketball star and NBA player, was identified by the Shelby County Medical Examiner through dental records. The paper reported Wednesday that Wright's body was found in a wooded area in southeast Memphis.

The report said the Memphis police department confirmed that a 911 call from Wright's phone was placed early in the morning on July 19. An earlier report said he was last seen around 2 a.m. on that day.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, per club policy.

"We're excited to welcome Jason back to the team," said Hawks head coach Larry Drew.

It was just another sad ending in a city that has become notorious for its gang problems and ever-increasing homicide rate.

But, Lorenzen Wright was the last person they should have been caught up in the underbelly of Memphis.

According to TNT analyst David Aldridge, the deal could pay the veteran up to $4 million if he is able to reach incentive clauses.

The Wizards acquired Howard from Dallas in February as part of a seven-player deal that sent forward Caron Butler to the Mavericks.

The arthroscopic procedure was performed by Dr. David Altchek in New York.

Bynum, who had the knee drained on June 22, suffered the tear in Game 6 of the Lakers' first-round playoff series against Oklahoma City, but still started all 23 of the team's postseason games.

The Australian-born Andersen averaged 5.8 points and 3.3 rebounds for Houston in 63 games last season, his first in the NBA.

He was originally selected with the 37th pick in the 2002 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks and his draft rights were traded to the Rockets in July, 2009.

Butler, 31, averaged a career-best 11.9 points in 82 games for the Clippers last season. He also had averages of 2.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 33 minutes per game, and set the franchise record for three-pointers made in a season (145).

In eight NBA seasons with the Heat, Hornets and Clippers, Butler has averaged 8.8 points and 2.7 rebounds in 557 games.

USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo selected the finalists from a group that assembled in Las Vegas earlier this month to open training for the 2010 FIBA World Championship, which will be held August 28 through September 12 in Turkey.

The finalists include: Chauncey Billups (Denver Nuggets); Tyson Chandler (Dallas Mavericks); Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors); Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder); Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies); Eric Gordon (Los Angeles Clippers); Danny Granger (Indiana Pacers); Jeff Green (Oklahoma City Thunder); Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers); Brook Lopez (New Jersey Nets); Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves); Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers); Rajon Rondo (Boston Celtics); Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls); and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder).

In basketball, size among the skilled is the holy grail -- the only thing you can't teach. But, like anything else, there are pros and cons to having a talented big man that looks down at the rest of us.

Nearly 15 months ago, the Houston Rockets were battling the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. Yao Ming dominated, scoring 28 points, including eight in the final four minutes, to lift Houston to an impressive 100-92 win.