NEW YORK -- The pending sale of the Grizzlies to a group organized by former Duke teammates, Brian Davis and Christian Laettner, caused a wide scope of speculation concerning Jerry West.

At first, Memphis media had the team president walking the plank. Shortly afterward hearsay went 180 degrees with West supposedly in line for a 10-year extension.

The reality is, West has decided (no change of mind, not this time, emphasizes a source) to retire after this season and head for the hills, the Appalachians, actually, of West Virginia, where he built his dream escape lean-to.

No formal announcement is expected to be made within the foreseeable future.

Therefore, ESPN can feel free to quote me (or not) when it chooses the right time to steal the story and call it its very own.

Friday night's home win by the Knicks over the Nets -- playing without Vince Carter, Jason Kidd and Joe DePre -- may only have temporarily raised expectations, but it allowed James Dolan to raise ticket prices permanently.

Clippers owner Donald Sterling again shut up critics when he put up major money Friday in hopes of enticing Chris Kaman to extend long-term. We'll know exactly how much loot by how fast agent Rob Pelinka accepts or rejects an offer that's said to be in line with market value of other young centers -- Samuel Dalembert and Tyson Chandler -- who've re-enlisted within the last two years.

It's club policy throughout professional sports not to publicly divulge the length or value a contract.

So, Washington's media must've been fairly startled that owner Abe Pollin revealed he had added four years (unsolicited, mind you) to the two remaining on team president Ernie Grunfeld's current deal.

Chris Bosh is Chris Bosh, and Andrea Bargnani is demonstrating why he was plucked No. 1 overall in last June's draft and why the Raptors felt comfortable eliminating the forward competition by trading Charlie Villanueva.

Still, Toronto's most impressive player to date is the fundamentally pure Jorge Garbajosa, out of Spain. At 206 cm and 111 kg, the 28-year-old can pick-and-pop, flaunts outpost accuracy and can't be punked.

In Jeff Van Gundy's studied eye, Tracy McGrady's best attribute is his ability to create shots for others because his size, vision and basketball IQ.

How far the Rockets go may depend on whether McGrady is buying what Van Gundy is selling . . . Pat Riley turned a cliche rather nicely when someone asked if Stan Van Gundy would be around the Heat much this season.

"He would rather be heard than seen," Riley reasoned.

Or would 'ruled' be more accurate?

In case you missed it, the Orlando Magic allegedly were caught paying a political observer and supposed tax watchdog $200,000 not to oppose the team's plan for a new arena.

The chump change, reputedly given to a solid citizen named Doug Guetzloe, was done through the team's law firm and uncovered by the state attorney's office.

It came as a $100,000 increment in 2001 and a similar figure earlier in 2006.

Magic officials maintain it was just part of a "Say No to a West side stadium" campaign.

The team referred all future comments to their new director of integrity, Bob Ney.

Phil Jackson, already a presence at practices, either badly underestimated his recuperative powers, or he misjudged modern medicine and its advanced technology, otherwise he would've decided to undergo a hip replacement closer to training camp than he did.

You'd think the Zen Hen would've had his timing down better after five years of staking out Shaq.

Think Lorenzen Wright might have left the Grizzlies in a bad mood?

Think he might be a bit peeved management made no play for him when as a free agent last summer?

The Hawks' recruit is playing for keeps a month before most of the league.

One of the first days in camp he elbowed teammate Zaza Pachulia (35 stitches; head) and a couple nights ago he brawled with Memphis 208-cm rookie Kimani Ffriend (no typo) and both were sentenced to one-game suspensions when the season commences.

We'll know how upset Wright really is, I submit, by how many rebounds he averages.