Around The Rim

The select committee on playing rules, headed by Suns owner Jerry Colangelo, will make its first report to the NBA board of governors on March 30. The committee will weigh major changes for next season. "We need to take a full inventory," Colangelo says. "The illegal-defense rules are key, but we also need to look at the 24-second clock, how many seconds it takes to cross midcourt, the three-point line, the width of the lane, everything."

...The Nets finally received some good news last week when Kerry Kittles, out all season after right knee surgery last June, ran and dunked at their practice facility....

Since Taco Bell pledged to give a free chalupa to each fan after the Mavericks scored 100 points in any home victory after Jan. I, the team had come through II times in 20 games through Sunday—that's potentially $181,000 in free chalupas. " Taco Bell made a bad deal setting the number at 100," says coach Don Nelson....

In a moral victory for the otherwise moribund Sonics, they finished 4-0 against the Lakers to become the first team in seven years to sweep L.A. in a regular-season series of at least four games....

Kings center Vlade Divac was angry about the one-game suspension he earned for leaving the bench in an attempt to break up a fight between teammate Bobby Jackson and the Magic's Tracy McGrady. "Next time you wonder if you shouldn't go all the way and support your teammates," says Divac, who was out $122,576 because of the fine and the loss of one game's pay....

Flip Saunders of the Timberwolves is the front-runner to be named coach of the U.S. team for the 2001 Goodwill Games, to be held from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9 in Brisbane, Australia. The team is expected to include younger NBA players to groom them for future Olympic and world championship play.