Eastern conference

Sporting News, The, March 18, 2002

CHARLOTTE HORNETS: SG David Wesley has agreed to be the sixth man, which helps solve a potentially volatile situation. When Wesley came back from a foot injury, the team already had five players used to starting: SG Jamal Mashburn, C Elden Campbell, PF P.G. Brown, SF George Lynch and PG Baron Davis. Wesley's firepower makes bench production less of an issue. Plus, coach Paul Silas likes the defensive options he has with Brown, Lynch and Mashburn playing together. Still, the team lost three straight heading into last weekend, so don't rule out further changes. --John Delong

CHICAGO BULLS: SF Jalen Rose is the team's best scorer and go-to guy since Michael Jordan. He averaged a team-high 24.2 points in his first 10 games with the Bulls, but he isn't unselfish. Rose also averaged 5.3 assists and 4.6 rebounds. He is working to get his teammates involved in the offense early in the game before he really starts looking for his shots. Before the the trade for Rose, the Bulls were being outscored by an average of nine points. In the 10 games after the deal, they narrowed that average deficit to 3.4 points. --Lacy J. Banks

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS: Rookie C DeSagana Diop (foot) likely is out for the season. He has been a walking injury, battling a foot fracture, a stress reaction in the same area, a sprained knee and a sprained ankle. He appeared in 18 games and averaged 1.4 points, 0.9 rebounds and 0.6 blocks in 6.1 minutes. Diop shot 41.4 percent from the field and got to the line only five times in 109 minutes. But when he played, his improvement was drastic. He went from 12th man to being a part of the rotation to moving into the starting lineup. The focus now is getting him in shape for next season. --Bob Finnan

DETROIT PISTONS: SG Jon Barry calls the Pistons reserves "The Alternatorz," and the group sure is a power source. SF Corliss Williamson, averaging 13.4 points a game, is a leading candidate for the Sixth Man Award, but Barry is the true energizer. More and more, the team is finishing games with three guards, Jerry Stackhouse, Barry and Chucky Atkins or Damon Jones. Barry makes too many clutch plays to be on the bench late in games. He hit the game-winning 3-pointer at Washington last week, is second on the team in assists and has a 2.5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.... C Cliff Robinson, 35, leads the team in minutes at 36 a game and is showing limited wear and tear. He reached double figures in scoring in his last 11 games entering last weekend. --Chris McCosky

INDIANA PACERS: The Pacers remain one of the NBA's more frustrating offensive teams to watch. Rather than attacking the basket with regularity or routinely running players off of picks for jump shots, they spend a lot of time standing around the perimeter and lobbing passes to someone in the post--usually PF Jermaine O'Neal. If they don't get fast-break points they're stuck with an erratic halfcourt offense that too often relies on someone making a one-on-one move to score. --Mark Montieth

MILWAUKEE BUCKS: PF Anthony Mason is gumming up a once-potent offense by holding the ball when it goes into the post, and he's scoring only about half the points that made him at All-Star last season in Miami.... The team never had a staunch defense, but at least it was aggressive. These days, the team's passiveness on defense is personified by SG Ray Allen, who gets lit up nightly. He won't say his knee is acting up, but Cavs PG Andre Miller and G/F Risky Davis abused him last week. --Michael Hunt