Hill, Payton Head Team
Olympians Grant Hill, Gary Payton and Christian Laettner topped a list of 10 NBA players selected to play in the 1998 world championship tournament.
Hill of the Detroit Pistons and Payton of the Seattle SuperSonics were members of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team. Laettner of the Atlanta Hawks was a member of the ground-breaking 1992 U.S. Olympic team that included NBA players for the first time.
They will team with Vin Baker (Seattle), Terrell Brandon (Milwaukee), Kevin Garnett (Minnesota), Tom Gugliotta (Minnesota), Allan Houston (New York), Glen Rice (Charlotte) and Chris Webber (Washington). The team will be coached by Houston’s Rudy Tomjanovich.
The Federation International de Basketball world championship for Men will take place July 29-Aug. 9 in Athens, Greece.
The tournament is held every four years and the United States is the reigning world champion. However, U.S. teams have won only three world titles (1954, 1986 and 1994).
“I’m thrilled to be able to coach a team like this,” Tomjanovich said. “It’s not only a very talented group, but a very versatile one. Almost every player on this team can play more than one position. It gives the coach an option to play many different combinations.”
Ironically, the youngest player on the team, Hill, is also the most experienced in international basketball. Hill has played on six USA Basketball teams, dating to the 1990 World Championship Qualifying Team. He also played on the 1991 Pan American Games team. In 1992, Hill was a member of a developmental team of college players who regularly scrimmaged the 1992 U.S. Olympic team.
Barkley to meet with league brass
Charles Barkley arrived in the New York area late Thursday night for a meeting with NBA officials that he indicated would go a long way in determining whether he will continue playing pro basketball.
“They want to sit me down and talk to me,” Barkley said as he picked up his luggage after a flight from Phoenix.
He said he wouldn’t make a decision on retirement before this morning’s meeting with league officials, but indicated the league’s response to his arrest last weekend in Orlando, Fla., will be a strong factor.
“If I can’t get support from my league, maybe it’s time to go,” Barkley said.
Barkley was charged with aggravated battery and resisting arrest following the early Sunday incident. Police said Barkley threw a bar patron, Jorge Lugo, through a window in Orlando, where the Rockets were to play the Magic in an exhibition game. Barkley said Lugo had thrown a glass of ice on him and three people with him.
Barkley indicated clearly that he’d rather continue playing but said that would depend on whether the NBA tries to discipline him and if he thinks he’ll need constant security to protect him from such incidents in the future.
“I just want to play basketball and be left alone,” he said.
Rodman will come off bench
Dennis Rodman advised Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson to start Jason Caffey at power forward “until I get back the respect from my players and coaches.”
Jackson said that he, not Rodman, made the decision.
“Dennis is taking my advice,” Jackson said Thursday, “and is starting on the bench.”
So, like injured teammate Scottie Pippen, Rodman won’t be in the lineup tonight when the two-time defending NBA champion Bulls open the season at Boston against Rick Pitino’s rebuilt Celtics.
Unlike Pippen, who will be out about two more months after undergoing foot surgery, Rodman will play.
“Twenty-five minutes,” Jackson said. “Half a game.”
Rodman, who missed the entire exhibition season as he waited to sign a one-year contract, still isn’t in game shape. He will be replaced by Caffey, a third-year pro who has improved greatly.
Simmons announces retirement
Sacramento Kings forward Lionel Simmons, who struggled to recover from two knee surgeries, retired Thursday.
Simmons, who averaged 12.8 points and 6.2 rebounds in his seven-year career, did not participate in training camp or the preseason, after team doctors ordered him to undergo additional rehabilitation for his right knee.
Lakers, Jazz banged up
A strained abdominal muscle will keep Los Angeles Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal out of tonight’s season-opener against Utah. The Jazz, already without John Stockton for about six weeks, may have to play without Karl Malone, who injured a finger on his right hand in practice Wednesday. A game-time decision will determine if Malone will play or his streak of 467 consecutive games will end.
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