Magic Can’t Rest, Drops More Hints He May Return

Scottie Pippen, Karl Malone, John Stockton and Magic Johnson say they want to play on the Dream Team next year in the Olympics.

Johnson not only wants to return to the Olympics, but is telling friends he wants to return to the NBA, and not with the Lakers. Johnson says he’ll be an unrestricted free agent in July and knows the Lakers are going on without him.

“I understand that,” said Johnson, who would give up his share of team ownership and isn’t looking for big dollars.

“Money doesn’t matter,” he told Mike Kahn of the Tacoma News Tribune. “I have money. My family has money. I want to win again. I just miss playing.”

The question, of course, will arise again about Johnson having HIV, and there’s talk Johnson would rejoin Pat Riley in New York for one more run.

“It’s competing. It’s winning,” Johnson said. “I know what Michael (Jordan) was feeling. I feel it all the time.”

Doggin’ Ehlo

Indiana’s Byron Scott says one of his least-favorite players is former Washington State guard Craig Ehlo, now with Atlanta.

“I can’t stand him,” said Scott, the former Lakers guard who routinely battled the likes of Bill Laimbeer in the 1980s.

“He’s sneaky dirty.”

Craig Ehlo?

Cavalier attitude

Cavaliers GM Wayne Embry is denying rumors he wants to deal Tyrone Hill after a season of Hill and coach Mike Fratello fighting.

“They’re like oil and water,” said Hill’s agent, Ron Grinker.

The year was topped by Hill hiring a limo to drive him to New York for a playoff game after a turbulence-filled flight scared him.

Hill then scored seven points on 2-for-10 shooting as the Cavs got drubbed in Game 1, and management said Hill’s contract stated he had to fly back with his teammates.

“I was put in a situation where I was forced to be on a plane,” Hill said. “They’re putting the team’s success first and my health second.”

Before Game 4 against the Knicks, Fratello handed out a list of 10 cliches like “our backs are against the wall” and “there’s no tomorrow” for his players to answer the media. Asked about it, Fratello said, “It’s do or die.”

Quotebook

Detroit’s Grant Hill on his new coach, Doug Collins: “I know he still thinks about what happened in Chicago. He basically developed Pippen and Grant and he made Jordan better. And he kind of feels cheated that he had nothing to do with their championships. So just talking to him, you can tell he’s unbelievably hungry.”

Collins is said to be considering former Piston Rick Mahorn, who once tossed Collins over a table in a Pistons-Bulls fight, as an assistant.

Hakeem Olajuwon said he asked referee Jake O’Donnell after Houston’s Game 3 loss to Utah, in which Olajuwon was jostled into 12-for-27 shooting, “How do you sleep at night?”

Said O’Donnell: “Very well.”

Replied Olajuwon: “You must have no conscience.”

Trade winds

Recent rumors, later denied, of Derrick Coleman going to Portland may not be that far off. New Jersey Nets general manager Willis Reed reportedly has been told to get rid of Coleman, and Trail Blazers GM Bob Whitsitt is known for taking a chance on problem players, having traded for Dale Ellis, Benoit Benjamin and Kendall Gill and drafting Shawn Kemp. Coleman wants to stay with the Nets and is trying to get Reed fired… .

The Washington Bullets are trying for Portland’s Rod Strickland (Cliff Robinson would go in a Coleman deal) and are offering Calbert Cheaney, but the Blazers also want a No. 1 pick… .

The Bullets released Anthony Tucker and Brent Price so they’d have a better chance of having Kevin Duckworth picked off their expansion list - a tactic Detroit also used to lose highly paid Mark Macon - but the Jazz and Mavs may want Duckworth… .

The Hawks pursue Coleman but are leaning toward New York free agent Anthony Mason.