NEW YORK -- Behind closed doors at last week's NBA Board of Governors meeting, a special session was convened to chastise Mark Cuban for behavior unbecoming that escalated to an everyday low during the NBA Finals last June.

Impervious to colossal fines and public spankings by David Stern, the Mavericks owner repeated his habitual criticism of whistle blowers after the Heat had reversed the series balance of power, only this time Cuban also rebuked courtside-standing league officials.

"Mark's antics have worn thin. Big time!" one board member confirmed. "Everyone is tired of his constant attempt to intimidate referees."

"Too often he's a source of embarrassment to the league," another member emphasized. "We have enough of that already from too many players and some coaches and executives."

Consequently, a new code of conduct manual for owners is being put to paper and will be full force Wednesday.

Principally, confronting referees in any manner will be scrupulously forbidden and harshly enforced. Challenging league officials is strictly taboo as well.

The punishment, I'm told, for breaking the new precepts should be supposedly sufficient to inhabit the Cuban Whistle Crisis.

Don't bet on it!

When Cuban got wind of his impending reprimand, two board members related, he bolted the meetings after the first day.

Either he had better things to do than to be chewed out by the commissioner and colleagues he might not have the deepest respect, or he simply couldn't be bothered.

When I e-mailed Cuban, asking him to validate any or all of the above, he responded brusquely: "Same bleep, different day."

No mention of the Knicks' contract dispute with Larry Brown was made by Stern during the meetings, but a settlement between the sides was announced on Tuesday, just ahead of Wednesday's season openers.

Chris Kaman has signed a slightly tweaked five-year deal with the Clippers. Originally, he was offered $50 million over that span, but sources say the club increased the guarantee $500,000 per season and also added some fairly attainable bonuses that could equal that total amount over its life.

A 15-percent trade kicker is part of the package.

At the same time, Mike Dunleavy's extension talks are progressing nicely as well. Each side wants the other, neither one's complaining.

An East preview discussion prompted Wizards VP Ernie Grunfeld to contrarily observe, "There's only one guy in our conference who can give Shaq a hard time.

Yeah, and who might that fictitious person be, I yelped?

"Alonzo Mourning."

Bernie Bickerstaff dismisses the notion assisted-living legend, Brevin Knight (31 on Nov. 8), will be traded now since soph Raymond Felton has come so far so fast.

"I told Brevin last year we would consider moving him to a winning environment if it made sense for us. But we're thinking we can make a run at the playoffs this season, and he's integral in achieving that," said the Bobcats coach-GM. "Where can we find a better guard as we move down the road?"

Small forward Ime Udoka, dumped by the Knicks after a brief look, won a spot in Nate McMillan's Blazer rotation and teammates hearts despite being a last moment invite (Aaron Miles injury created a vacancy) and owning a $771,000 guarantee.

Tragically, his father died suddenly during Udoka's tryout period and didn't get to share the success.

Meanwhile, Jackie Butler, rejected by the Knicks rather than match the Spurs inconsequential offer sheet, has Gregg Popovich thinking Moses Malone; he gave the 208-cm center tape of the Hall of Famer to study.

Apparently Pat Riley doesn't include his video guys as part of "us" versus "them."

I don't know if this "practice" is still going on, but early in camp, they were barred from team workouts, swears a source.

If Riley needed them he would get in touch by way of walkie-talkie, standard operating equipment if you're a member of Miami . . . Other than Andrea Bargnani and Dirk Nowitzki being foreign, 7-footers and able to down shots consistently from long range, there's no comparison between the two except both are white.

How is it possible that Peja Stojakovic was offered more money ($64 million) by the Hornets than LeBron James and Dwyane Wade got ($57 million) from the Cavaliers and Heat, respectively?

Granted, their pacts are for four seasons versus Peja's five, but, still, he isn't remotely as versatile, hasn't gotten it done for whatever reasons (injuries being one of them, for sure) for 1 1/2 years and gives up as much as he gets.