An Uphill Struggle

Thomas will spend the summer re-signing Williams, a free agent who will command far more than the minimum salary for which he played this year, and looking for a center (6'11" rookie Marcus Camby proved he isn't one) to take some scoring pressure off Stoudamire, the point guard. He shot a meager .401, and in one game in December forced up 37 attempts.

Golden State Warriors

No one was surprised when Warriors guard Latrell Sprewell arrived at San Jose Arena at tip-off for Golden State's game against Seattle on Jan. 29. (He claimed he had been stuck in traffic.) But even his jaded Warriors teammates I raised their eyebrows when, shortly after the start, Sprewell inserted himself into the game without orders from coach Rick Adelman.

That says volumes about the control Adelman had over his players, which made it no surprise when he was fired on Monday. General manager Dave Twardzik's position also is in jeopardy. Speculation as to Adelman's replacement has focused on (surprise, surprise!) Pitino and Brown, as well as St. Jean, Kansas' Roy Williams, and Rick Majerus of the University of Utah.

Whoever it is will be part of an overhaul that will include the trade of veteran swingman Chris Mullin, who still can shoot (55% from the field this year) and deserves I to play on a contender. After foolishly stockpiling point guards (Mark Price, Bimbo Coles and B.J. Armstrong), the Warriors must find a center: Felton Spencer and Todd Fuller averaged fewer than 10 points, combined.

Milwaukee Bucks

Coach Chris ford's game plan for a March 20 meeting with Portland called for Milwaukee to press full-court after its first basket. When that first bucket came, the Bucks players forgot to press. Ford shook his head, less in disgust than in resignation that his bunch of underachievers simply didn't care anymore.

It's time to break up this deadened, dead-end team. "We've got to do something," says point guard Sherman Douglas. Power forward Vin Baker, Milwaukee's best player, has talked about suiting up for the Celtics (he played his college ball at Hartford), but a trade there is unlikely. The smart move would be to deal small forward Glenn Robinson, who plays almost exclusively away from the basket and without apparent passion.

Milwaukee needs a replacement for G.M. Mike Dunleavy. He resigned last Saturday after a disappointing five-year run, during which the Bucks went 140-270 and failed to reach the playoffs.

Sacramento Kings