Stackhouse, Montross Traded To Pistons

The Philadelphia 76ers’ backcourt apparently wasn’t big enough for both Allen Iverson and Jerry Stackhouse.

So the 76ers shipped Stackhouse, the flashy guard they once hoped to build around, to the Detroit Pistons on Thursday along with center Eric Montross for center Theo Ratliff, guard Aaron McKie and a future first-round draft choice.

“It wasn’t working out on the court,” coach Larry Brown said of the teaming of point guard Iverson, last year’s Rookie of the Year, with shooting guard Stackhouse, the third overall pick in the 1995 draft.

“I was hopeful Jerry and Allen could get together … but after I watched us play as a team, I didn’t think it was going to work out,” Brown said.

The 76ers and Pistons had been talking about the trade for several days, but it wasn’t finalized until Thursday afternoon, when Detroit finally sweetened the pot with a first-round pick.

Billy King, the 76ers’ vice president of basketball administration, wouldn’t specify when that pick would be.

Another reason Brown said he traded Stackhouse is that the guard had already told them he wasn’t interested in returning to Philadelphia at the end of the season, when he becomes a free agent.

“The indications I got early on (in negotiations about a new contract) was that we might not be able to get it done,” Brown said.

Malone’s hair-raising story

If Karl Malone’s male-pattern baldness seems to have been reversed a hair or two, Utah’s power forward says you can thank Extra Strength Rogaine.

The 6-foot-9 Jazz All-Star says the product’s claims to stimulate the scalp to new hair growth are for real.

“They called me, I tried it and it’s working,” said Malone, tipping his head down to show off the results following the team shoot-around Thursday morning in Orlando. “I’ve used it for a couple of months, every morning and every evening.”

Malone says for practical purposes it’s best that he doesn’t go with the clean-shaven head look.

”(John) Stockton couldn’t figure out who I was on the break when I had my head shaved,” Malone joked. “He didn’t know if it was Bryon (Russell) or me.”

Pippen to return to Bulls?

Eight-year-old Derameo Johnson meekly approached Scottie Pippen and asked the big question: “Are you going to get back on the team?”

Pippen smiled shyly and, almost whispering, responded: “Yeah.”

He repeated the same answer to similar questions Thursday at the Chicago Bulls’ annual holiday party for underprivileged children - until the media began asking.

So has Pippen indeed reconsidered his demand to be traded?

“Don’t pin me down,” said the All-Star forward who is recovering from October foot surgery and has yet to play this season.

“I’m trying to let everything fall in place,” he said. “I really don’t want to be disruptive to the team. I don’t want to start everything back up. I want to get myself ready. I’ve made my point about what I want to do. If something happens, great. If not, we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Barkley charged

Charles Barkley was formally charged with throwing a man through a plate-glass window at a popular downtown bar.

The Houston Rockets star was charged with battery, disorderly conduct, criminal mischief and resisting an officer without violence, said Tracy Sutherland, a spokeswoman for the Orange County State Attorney’s Office.

Jazz win on road

Karl Malone scored 30 points and Utah broke open a close game with a 13-0 second-half run to pull away from the Orlando Magic 85-73 Thursday night in Orlando, Fla.<