Wells is seeking an offer he can't refuse

Most NBA training camps open in the next 10 days, and the player who led everyone in rebounding during the 2006 playoffs is still looking for work. It hasn't quite yet become the Bonzi Wells Groveling Road Show, but it might soon.

The ex-Blazer, ex-Grizzly, and ex-King was in Charlotte last week, and his agent is trying to generate interest where, to date, little has been shown.

There are several factors at work denying Wells what he thinks he deserves. First is his overinflated view of his value. He turned down a reported $36 million over five years from the Kings , after which the Sacramento brain trust uttered a collective ``whew" and quickly signed John Salmons. That door is closed. The Kings are not interested in reopening it and have no interest in doing a sign-and-trade that would bring in more salary.

If my math is right, Wells decided Sacramento's offer of upward of $7 million a year wasn't sufficient. Now, he's out there trying to hit up teams that either still have most of their mid-level exception available or, in the case of the Bobcats, are well under the cap and conceivably could offer Wells what he wants. The latter would assume that the Bobcats would thus end a three-year pattern of (a) judicious (some might say cheap) spending and (b) signing only guys they deem to be of high-quality character. Wells is many things; the next time he is called a high-quality-character guy will be the first.

But the guy can play and, perhaps, the thinking might go, might be suitably chastened at this point to accept a lot less than he originally rejected and to do so with gratitude and humility. (Yeah, right.) The Kings were understandably concerned about a long-term deal (but apparently offered one nonetheless) because Wells could then be Wells and, well, there's also a guy named Ron Artest on the Sacramento roster. New coach Eric Musselman certainly doesn't need that out of the box.

Wells's agent has been trying to get the Heat to pony up some of Micky Arison's spare cash, and Miami is one of a handful of teams that still has its full $5.2 million mid-level exception available. You might ask why the Heat would need to add a guy like Wells. The counter would be to shake things up a little (it is basically the same group back from last year) as well as to add a swingman who can score and rebound. And with Shaquille O'Neal and Alonzo Mourning around as locker room commandants, Wells wouldn't be allowed to get out of line. Oh yeah, there's also this guy named Riley who is back as well, and the Shaq/Riley window is closing, slowly.

The Pacers, Sixers, and Trail Blazers also have their full mid-level exceptions available, and some other teams (including the Celtics) have a good chunk of it available. (The Celtics dumped a part of theirs on Leon Powe to give the kid three years.) But in the cases of many of these teams, the payroll is close to the level at which the luxury tax kicks in ($65.42 million), making Wells even more expensive.

The Heat's payroll, for instance, is right around $65 million. Thus, any dollar spent on Wells would be doubled in the form of a luxury tax bill. He signs for $5 million. He ends up costing $10 million. That is a formula only Isiah Thomas could love.

So who else is out there? Portland already had Wells once and that was enough. The Warriors are at the luxury tax level (although they did sign Dajuan Wagner Friday.) The Sixers are staying lean; Philly has done nothing this offseason, lending further credence to the idea that the club is on the block. Indiana is right at the luxury tax threshold.

Which brings us to Houston. The Rockets could certainly use an athletic swingman like Wells. Houston has a $4.2 million trade exception, courtesy of last February's Moochie Norris trade to the Hornets, so it could send the Kings a draft pick in a sign-and-trade. And the Rockets appear to have the payroll room to bring in Wells and not be in luxury tax land.

None of this is exactly a trade secret. What remains a bit mystifying is how one player with such obvious skills is still out there, a week or so before the start of training camp. Normally, it's the Walter McCartys of the world who are looking for work at this particular time.

And, yes, Waltah is available. (Just don't tell Tommy Heinsohn.)

The movers and shakers from FIBA Americas will meet a week from today apparently to decide where the 2007 Olympic qualifier will be held. Four countries have submitted bids: the United States (believed to be Las Vegas), Chile, Puerto Rico (host of the 1999 and 2003 zone qualifiers), and Venezuela. Ten teams are scheduled to participate and the top two will make it out of the qualifier to Beijing. (A third team can make it via a special qualifying tournament in 2008.) The 2007 zone qualifier is scheduled for Aug. 20-Sept. 2, and among those in the field are the world's top two ranked teams according to FIBA, the US and Argentina. Brazil, Puerto Rico, and Canada also are expected to field teams. Only two teams are exempt from qualifying for Beijing: Spain, the world champion, and China, the host country . . . Former Warriors GM Garry St. Jean answered more than a few calls last week after an Oregonian blog reported that he was seen at the Portland airport. Could he be coming in to talk about a position with the Trail Blazers? Uh, no. ``When I was coaching in Sacramento, we met some people and the families got to be friends and one of the couples has this place in Oregon on Cannon Beach," St. Jean said. ``I flew into Portland, rented a car, drove to the beach, saw some close friends, drank some good Pinot Noir, and had a wonderful time." St. Jean isn't unaccustomed to playing the subterfuge game. When he was brought in by P.J. Carlesimo to be the Warriors general manager, he registered in a hotel under the name of golfer Billy Andrade . . . Congratulations are in order -- again -- to Concord native, Emerson alum, Rhodes Scholar, and Spurs executive-on-the-rise Sam Presti. He is now the team's vice president and assistant general manager. (He had been assistant general manager.) Presti, who turns 30 in November, started with the Spurs as an intern in 2000. He has worked his way up the ladder to where he's now the No. 3 man in the organization behind Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford. And when the Spurs make those head-scratching draft picks every year? It's probably Presti's work.

Here's a shocker: The Chicago Bulls scheduled Shawn Kemp for a workout last week and Kemp was a no-show. (He also was a no-show in Dallas.) You might ask why the Bulls would even bother, given that Kemp doesn't exactly appear to be Scott Skiles's kind of guy. Now he really isn't. The Bulls still have a 15th roster spot open, and it would warm the cockles of a few Chicago hearts to see old No. 7, Toni Kukoc, finish where he started. Kukoc is not going back to the Milwaukee Bucks. He turned 38 last Monday. But he could play the gray eminence role on a youngish Bulls team and still be available to make a shot now and again . . . There's good news coming for the NBA's longtime retirees -- some of them, anyway. Those who qualified for the league's pension -- mostly those who retired after the 1965 season with three years or more of service -- will likely see a big pay bump in the ensuing months. President Bush signed a pension reform bill last month, paving the way for the increases. Those who retired after 1965 now get roughly $327 a month for every year of credited service. Those who retired before 1965 get nothing, unless they are credited with five years of service. According to initial reports from retired players, there is nothing in the new pension deal for the players who retired before 1965. This continues to be one of the NBA's blind spots -- and something that could easily be remedied with the cooperation of the league and the Players Association.

Material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.