NBA ROUNDUP News and notes

Veterans missing: Memo to all those coaches upset about their missing veterans: It'll be worse next year when anyone with more than three years' experience will be absent for five days instead of three.
"A lot of people from the teams would prefer not to have it work this way, but that was the deal," NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik said, adding that the league and the union will review the policy during the upcoming season.
"We have to explore whether this is the best solution or not. For players who want to get physically ready, being taken away from working out for five days may not be the best thing."
The absence of the veterans is mandatory under terms of a deal struck in February between the league and the players' union as part of a tradeoff in which the union agreed to extend the first round of the playoffs from best-of-5 to best-of-7.
So while the rookies, young free agents and members of the last two draft classes sweat their way through two-a-days, a majority of the league's 400-plus players are enjoying a little extra kick-back time.
"Everybody dreads two-a-days. Training camp is the hardest part of the season for most guys," Knicks special assistant Willis Reed said. "I just hope it ends up being a good thing rather than a bad thing."
If there is an upside to the new rule, it could benefit some players signed to fill out training camp rosters.
Matt Carroll is one of them, having gone undrafted last June despite being Notre Dame's sixth leading career scorer as a four-year starter. Carroll is trying to earn a spot on the Knicks as a backup shooting guard, something New York currently does not have.
"I think it helps us because you get more individual attention from the coaches and also you get to learn more. So when the veterans do come who know all this stuff, then you've already picked it up and you're not a step behind them," Carroll said.
Grizzlies: Team president Jerry West finally landed a center after a summer of looking, getting Jake Tsakalidis and forward Bo Outlaw from the Phoenix Suns for backup guard Brevin Knight and little-used players Cezary Trebanski and Robert Archibald.
"It's obviously pretty hard to get a center, it really is," West said. "We feel we did the best we could, getting someone young with size who has some potential.
"Strength is a huge factor here. We're an athletic team, but we don't have a lot of bulk with those people. He's played pretty well against Shaq in the past, and he's also played well against Yao Ming. From our perspective it bodes well for us."
If the trade seems a bit lopsided in Memphis' favor -- Tsakalidis started at center for Phoenix last season -- it was because of the Suns' luxury tax concerns.
Phoenix will save about $2 million in luxury tax costs in the upcoming season and is no longer liable for Outlaw's $6.5 million in 2004-05. The trade will open up minutes for the Suns' big men -- Scott Williams, Jake Voskuhl, Tom Gugliotta and rookie Zarko Cabarkapa.
Jazz: Utah not only got Glen Rice in its recent trade with Houston for John Amaechi, but it also got two draft choices -- both of which could be lottery picks.
Utah gets the Rockets' first-round pick in 2004 -- a lottery pick if Houston fails to make the playoffs -- and another selection that could end up being a lottery pick if the Chicago Bulls finish with one of the top 19 records in the league but fail to make the postseason.