The sixth-year NBA veteran signed for the league’s veteran minimum contract ($1.2 million, about $400,000 of which is paid by league funds) and will immediately step into the rotation as either a starter or bench player on the wing. He will be in Phoenix to take his physical on Monday morning and is expected to finalize his deal afterward.

All we need now are a few more weeks of Artest e-mails to various reporters and his showing up unexpectedly in offseason gyms as he did the other day at the Las Vegas summer league, happy to oblige the notebooks and recorders one way or another. Demanding, pouting, apologizing or professing love and loyalty, it doesn't really matter -- the more Artest talks, the more he looms as a liability for Sacramento. The threat of blackmail by disruption shouldn't be rewarded, but this is pro sports. Guys like Artest, Rasheed Wallace, Allen Iverson or, in the NFL, Terrell Owens and Jeremy Shockey can drive down their own trade value and still end up winning, if they land with clubs they prefer.

So maybe come August or September, a Dallas package of emerging forward Brandon Bass and high-mileage Jerry Stackhouse (a.k.a. expiring $7 million contract) might not seem too lopsided to the Kings to end an Artest circus. Or, just maybe, the Mavericks soften a little on swapping out Howard, whose touches and swingman contributions would drop, anyway, if Artest were around. Howard averaged 19.9 points and 7.0 rebounds last season, while Artest was at 20.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists.

"Everybody thinks I'm just a dunker,'' Green said at Salt Lake Community College, where he has been the Mavs' leading scorer in each of their first two Rocky Mountain Revue NBA summer-league games. He scored 15 points in a reserve-role showing in Dallas' 79-62 win Saturday over the Beijing-bound Iranian Olympic team, a game in which he soared for one especially impressive slam. Against Atlanta on Friday, he had a 20-point effort off the bench.

"So, I honestly try not to do a lot of dunking. Really. That's not my game. I'm not no dunker,'' Green said, desperately trying to sell his point. "I think I work on other things besides that, and I'm just being able to show people and show the Mavs organization that I'm more than just that.''

One thing my job is is to make sure everybody pays for passing on me or for letting me go. That's just my job in my heart.

Mavs owner Mark Cuban didn’t criticize the NBA’s recent hire of Army Maj. Gen. Ronald L. Johnson on Tuesday as senior vice president of referee operations. In fact, the noted league critic, especially when it comes to officiating issues, praised the move.

That he does. Johnson recently retired after 32 years of service as a combat engineer, including a stint in Iraq. The newly-created position comes in the wake of the Tim Donaghy scandal, as the league attempts to clean up its image and its officiating programs.

Mavs do not want to include Josh Howard in any offer for Ron Artest.

Good riddance, I say, though there might be some who feel differently. Curious as to why he chose the Bucks when he thought of going to Phoenix and maybe Miami.

UPDATE: Malik Allen joins Lue as well.

The deal is for four years, around $25 million.

I'm not going to say anything, cuz I like some of the passionate guys (yes, you CMoney) who write over there at PtR, but this is a funny read.

"my mind drifted back to the fact that the Spurs haven’t been quite right since the 05-06 season, the year of the infamous Manu Ginobili foul. We all remember that moment and, thanks to Gregg Popovich, we know that if it weren’t for that foul the Spurs would have repeated as champions and gas would still be less than $2 per gallon....

Pop dicked around with lineups / game plans / time out calling / substitution patterns all year, openly admitting he didn’t care about home court advantage. Well, hmm, that might have come in handy against New Orleans. (Sound familiar?)

Also Lue is now limited his last three options to the Suns, Boston and Miami (why?).