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Washington Wizards: Christian Laettner doesn't care if Kwame Brown plays power forward or center. He just wants to see Kwame Brown play. "I think Kwame could be dominant," said Laettner in the Washington Times. "In terms of Kwame, I think the only thing he needs is minutes. Even if he has a couple of bad games in a row you need to keep giving that kid minutes because he's so big and strong and quick and explosive. Kwame really has so much to work with."

Houston Rockets: Yao Ming is back. And so are the throngs of media looking for a piece of him. "I think it will keep getting better," Yao said of handling the crush of attention in the Houston Chronicle. "I have to count on myself to find the answers." His new coach agrees. "The only thing I want to teach him is to say no and to prioritize (and) to say no to whatever it is that gets in his way," Jeff Van Gundy said. "You give up a certain part of your privacy when you are a star, and you're more captive on the road. It's not like when I go out, people are swarming me. When he goes out, he's going to draw attention. That's part of the price of fame."

Los Angeles Lakers: Phil Jackson felt the Lakers had had enough of basketball, Kobe's off court distractions and everyday injuries. So he cancelled practice and had the team play paintball at a nearby military base in Hawaii. "We want them to have some occasions to be together in situations that aren't all basketball, and still let them grow a little bit as a group, so they can absorb the amount of energy people have," Jackson said in the LA Times. "Gary Payton's got a big mouth. They're learning that about him. He's a heckler. He gets after people. Horace Grant is a fun guy to have as one of those guys who gets heckled. Karl is dangerous on the rookies. They're watching their step around him, because they'll be sent for a shaved ice, water, chicken, whatever he wants. So, there's some things the group is learning about each other's behavior that's important for team building."

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