Unlike the NBAs LeBron James, the biggest prize on the NHL free-agent market isnt moving.

Ilya Kovalchuk is staying with the New Jersey Devils, agreeing to a staggering 17-year, $102 million deal with the team.

Kovalchuks agent and the team announced on Monday that the high-scoring left wing has agreed to stay with New Jersey, ending weeks of speculation where the leagues leading goal scorer since 2001 would be skating next season.

“This was a long arduous process that has taken frankly a little longer than I thought,” agent Jay Grossman said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press. “But you know what, nothing is worth anything unless you work for it. I can tell you he is very happy to be with the New Jersey Devils.”

The deal is somewhat salary-cap friendly for the Devils, the average amount per season. However, Kovalchuk will remain on the books through the 2026-27 season.

Kovalchuk will earn $6 million each of the next two seasons, $11.5 million for the following five seasons, $10.5 million in the 2017-18 season, $8.5 million for the 2018-19 season, $6.5 million in 2019-20, $3.5 million in 2020-21, $750,000 the following season, and $550,000 for the final five years of the unprecedented deal.

The Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders, Devils and SKA St. Petersburg of Russias Kontinental Hockey League talked with Kovalchuk after free agency started on July 1.

The final decision came down to the Kings and the three-time Stanley Cup champion Devils, who havent won a title since 2003.

Grossman refused to say that Kovalchuk decided to stay because he felt the Devils had a better chance to win the Cup again.

“This was so far complex that I dont want to get into those questions,” Grossman said. “Obviously his goal is to win the Stanley Cup. If he didnt think there was an opportunity to do that, then he would not have gone there.”

Devils president and general manager Lou Lamoriello, and coach John MacLean didnt immediately return telephone messages seeking comment.

James disappointed Cleveland Cavaliers fans earlier this month when he signed with the Miami Heat for a chance to chase an NBA title with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

The Devils only major loss in free agency was defenseman Paul Martin, who went to the Atlantic Division-rival Pittsburgh Penguins.

The 27-year-old Kovalchuk was traded to the Devils by Atlanta in February after rejecting a 12-year, $101 million extension offered by the Thrashers.

Kovalchuk had 41 goals and 44 assists last season when he earned $7.5 million. He posted only 10 goals and 17 assists with the Devils.

Top-line forward Zach Parise believes that Kovalchuk will be much more comfortable with the Devils next season when he is with them for the entire year.

“Itll make a big difference,” Parise told the AP. “You are throwing someone in midseason when sometimes it is tough when you are comfortable with certain situations.”

When the trade with the Thrashers was completed, Lamoriello believed his team finally had the goal scorer it needed to make a run at a fourth Cup championship in 15 seasons.

It didnt work out that way. Kovalchuk had two goals in the postseason when the Devils were eliminated by the Philadelphia Flyers in five games in the opening round. It was New Jerseys third straight exit in the first round.

The latest followed a regular season in which the Devils won the Atlantic Division and earned the No. 2 season in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

“Just the way the seasons have ended the last three or four years, there has been a lot of disappointment out there,” Parise said. “Lou looks like hes really striving to make changes and get things going in the right direction, because we have not been performing the past few years when it counts.”

The Devils have been very active since the playoffs ended. MacLean was named to replace Jacques Lemaire, who retired. The team reacquired veteran center Jason Arnott in a trade and signed defensemen Henrik Tallinder and Anton Volchenkov and goaltender Johan Hedberg in free agency.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 NHL draft, Kovalchuk has scored 338 career goals - the most in the NHL in that period. He has only been to the playoffs twice in eight NHL seasons, winning only one game.

Kovalchuk was acquired from the Thrashers along with defenseman Anssi Salmela for forward Niclas Bergfors, defenseman Johnny Oduya, prospect Patrice Cormier, a first-rounder and a swap of second-round picks.

In four-plus seasons as manager of the San Diego Padres, Bud Black has dealt with his closer leaving town, his ace being traded and a change in owners and general managers.

Columns Scott Miller
The Padres lock up their skipper. Now theyre talking about adding both a hitter and a pitcher by the July 31 non-waivers trade deadline. More

All that, and hes got his surprising Padres playing so well that theyve been atop the NL West much of the season and have the NLs best record.

On Monday, the Padres gave Black a three-year contract extension through 2013, with club options for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

“There are a lot of challenging decisions that have to be made day to day; this was not a tough one,” co-owner Jeff Moorad said. “If there ever was an easy decision to extend the manager, this was it. Bud epitomizes what were doing with the club, both today as well as going forward.”

The Padres, who were off Monday before starting a series at NL East-leading Atlanta on Tuesday, have a four-game lead over the Colorado Rockies. Their 54-37 record is third best in the big leagues, behind the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays.

San Diego took over first place in the NL West on April 20 and has been out of the lead only a total of three days since then.

“I think Bud and his staff deserve an awful lot of credit for helping mold and guide this club to this point,” Moorad said. “Bud was always one of the smarter players on the field. Its not a surprise that hes as masterful at handling everything from the play-calling to the player transactions, as skillfully as he does.”

Black, a left-hander, pitched in the big leagues for 15 seasons.

“I still think like a player,” Black said Monday. “I think that benefits me in a lot of ways. I think about today. Im thinking about todays game.”

Black said thats how he dealt with closer Trevor Hoffman leaving as a free agent after the 2008 season, ace Jake Peavy being traded last summer, Moorads group buying the team from John Moores and Jed Hoyer being hired after GM Kevin Towers was fired at the end of last season.

“Youre mentally conditioned to handle these things when they occur,” Black said. “Its part of, again, the background and experience you learn as a player and the things you go through as a player, whether its free agency, arbitration, being traded, being sent down to minor leagues. All those things form a foundation to how you react to things as you move into your career.”

Black was hired after Bruce Bochy left to manage the division-rival San Francisco Giants following the 2006 season. Black is 281-297 as the Padres skipper. The Padres were 89-74 in his first season, including an epic 13-inning loss at Colorado in the wild-card tiebreaker game.

San Diego skidded to a 63-99 finish in 2008. It was in last place most of 2009 before going on a 37-25 run to finish the season at 75-87, leapfrogging Arizona into fourth place.

Moorad said hes “thrilled” at Blacks relationship with Hoyer, the first-year GM who was hired in November.

“I think it continues to be a real strength of the organization,” Moorad said.

“This news comes at a time when the team is playing well, but my faith in Bud goes far beyond wins and losses,” Hoyer said. “He and his staff are exceptionally well prepared, he embraces the challenge of teaching young players and, most importantly, the players compete for him every night.”

Black said hes had a good relationship with Hoyer from the start.

“I could tell immediately that he had a plan,” Black said. “He has exhibited a nice, solid vision for this organization.”

The latest Big Three backlash came Sunday from none other than Michael Jordan, who contributed his weighty opinion to the debate about whether LeBron James shouldve teamed up with two superstars instead of trying to beat them.

Michael Jordan preferr not play alongside them. (Getty Images) “Theres no way, with hindsight, I wouldve ever called up Larry, called up Magic and said, Hey, look, lets get together and play on one team,” Jordan said after finishing tied for 22nd in the American Century Championship golf tournament in Stateline, Nev. “But thats … things are different. I cant say thats a bad thing. Its an opportunity these kids have today. In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys.”

Those last few words, said in an interview with NBC Sports, will resonate and hang over James all season, the way Jordans legacy has hovered over the first seven years of his career. Clearly, I am not alone in believing that James broke ranks in a legacy-damaging way by teaming up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh instead of trying to go through them in the eternal struggle for championships that the great players have always faced.

“Mike and I are in 100 percent agreement on this,” Charles Barkley told the this week. “If youre the two-time defending NBA MVP, you dont leave anywhere. They come to you. Thats ridiculous. I like LeBron. Hes a great player. But I dont think in the history of sports you can find a two-time defending MVP leaving to go play with other people.”

Disappointment from their e will face as they embark on their magical mystery tour. The other is that the Heat will be a bulls-eye for criticism, and easy for the competition to root against. This is something Wade address one in which he made an unfortunate comparison between the Heat losing a couple of games in a row and the collapse of the World Trade Center.

“We enjoy the bulls-eye,” Wade said. “Plus, theres going to be times when we lose 2-3 games in a row, and it seems like the world has crashed down. You all are going to make it seem like the World Trade is coming down again, but its not going to be nothing but a couple basketball games.”

I have to assume that Wade didnt intend to equate losing basketball games to a murderous act of war against innocent civilians, but these are the kind of tone-deaf quotes you get sometimes in sports. And you get them in any era. It was Jordan, remember, who came across as a shameless, out-of-touch shoe salesman when he explained not endorsing a black Democrat for U.S. Senate in his home state of North Carolina by saying, “Republicans buy sneakers, too.” </ is that anything less than a championship for the Heat will be considered a failure. Along those lines, several GMs and personnel people I spoke with during Las Vegas Summer League arent convinced that the Larry OBrien Trophy should be shipped to South Beach just yet.

“The Lakers are still the better team,” one executive said. “The question is, how are those guys [in Miami] going to fit together?”

Wade himself has acknowledged that the Lakers are still the team to beat, which is the only respectful way to go about it. The two-time defending champions are the two-time defending champions until somebody changes that. Personnel people digesting the impact of the Heats Big Three, and the supporting cast assembled around them so far, shared two overriding opinions: 1) As difficult as it was for Tom Thibodeau to create a defensive scheme to combat LeBron or Wade while serving as the Celtics defensive architect in Boston, its going to be infinitely more difficult to stop both of them; and 2) As impressive as some of Miamis complementary signings have bee will be immense.

What if the Heat need Joel Anthony to knock down a couple of free throws in the final seconds of a road playoff game? What if they need Mike Miller to hit a contested 3-pointer from the corner in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals against Boston or Orlando?

“Mike Miller has never played in a game like that,” one of the personnel execs said.

But in the end, the pressure will fall on the shoulders of Wade and James. How evenly they share the responsibility and the glory remains to be seen.

As for Jordan, he couldnt have summed up my feeling the Dream Team or the Scheme Team, depending on your perspective. One executive scouting Summer League games told me he hadnt heard Jordan utter those words about Bird and Magic, but he didnt need to.

“When I brought the subject up, he was just typing on his Blackberry,” the executive said. “And he was just shaking his head; you know, like when youre disappointed? He didnt say anything. He was just pecking away on his Blackberry.”

He didnt say anything because he didnt have to.

“Exactly,” the executive said.

The Weekend Buzz while you were avoiding the summer vampire movies. …

Its been a tough season for Dan Haren and the Diamondbacks. (Getty Images) 1. Hairy, er, Haren situation: With owner Ken Kendricks promise to blow up the team underway, the Diamondbacks currently have an interim general manager (Jerry DiPoto), an interim field manager (Kirk Gibson) and interim players stocking their clubhouse (all but Justin Upton? Brandon Webb? Ian Kennedy?).

Whether ace Dan Haren is a short-timer in the desert as well depends upon Kendricks vision, DiPotos negotiations and these next two weeks.

With the July 31 trade deadline looming and several clubs looking for rotation help, the best of the available lot is Haren, Houstons Roy Oswalt and the Cubs Ted Lilly. Haren and Oswalt by far are the better pitchers, Lilly has the more affordable contract.

You get what you pay for.

While clubs are phoning the torched Diamondbacks front office inquiring about Haren, DiPoto says “were not to the point right now where were aggressively seeking [a Haren trade].”

Not yet. But these Diamondbacks are so disappointing, and their bullpen so blindingly awful, that if theyre not aggressively seeking a Haren trade soon, theyre guilty of malpractice.

This isnt to say they must trade Haren.

But if they come away from this without engaging other clubs to at least determine available packages, theyre even worse off than they appear.

DiPoto looks around the diamond and sees talented young players at most positions. Yet hes also looking at an equation in which 2 + 2 does not equal 4.

“You can look at it and suggest were not far from turning the corner, or you could look at it and say what do we need to get over the top?” DiPoto, 42, says. “I think we need a little bit more versatility in terms of the way we can use our lineup, the way we can use our bullpen.”

Or a lot more versatility. Of those two choices, the better way to look at this, clearly, is from the not-far-from-turning-the-corner angle. That may be Pollyanna-ish, but its far more grounded in reality than figuring what an Arizona team 20½ games out of first in the NL West needs to do to “get over the top.”

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With Alex Rodriguez creeping closer to 600 homers, does anyone really care? More Miller: Haren assesses trade deadline

On a Friday night in San Diego when Haren was not at his best (five innings pitched, eight hits, six earned runs allowed), scouts werent exactly stuffing Petco Park to view him. Detroit, which also is looking at Oaklands Ben Sheets and others, appeared to be the only club with a scout dispatched solely to bird-dog Haren. The Mets, Phillies and Braves also had scouts in attendance, but one of those was an advance man (Mets) and the other two were doing their regular coverage.

Still, the Phillies and Mets are among those clubs looking to add a starting pitcher in an NL East increasingly controlled by Atlanta.

The Diamondbacks are looking for a position player or two, bullpen help (duh), and pieces to re-stock a spotty farm system.

“Good, young, controllable talent,” DiPoto says. “Guys who can go out there [and play in the majors]. And we have a roster model right now built around that young player that weve given an opportunity now for two, three, four years to play at the major-league level and grow into the major-league player, or, role they were going to assume.

“Now we need to keep adding onto the back end of that to create a flow. Our minor-league prospects, were heavy at the [Class] A level. How do we place something in between?”

Cliff Lee brought Seattle top first base prospect Justin Smoak and three prospects from Texas, and Lee is a free agent in three months. Haren is signed to a four-year, $ and includes a club option $15.5 million in 2013.

“It is hard to find top-of-the-rotation, major-league starters,” DiPoto says. “You might bite off your nose to spite your face [if you trade a guy like Haren]. And I dont know if thats smart business.

“What we do know is what value Dan brings to this team and what value he should hold in the market. The rest is, everybodys going to have different opinions.”

These are the kind of things that will shadow Haren and the Diamondbacks over the next two weeks as the trade deadline rages and Arizona digs out of the sandstorm. Interim skipper Gibson knows it, and he pretty much figures his players had better buck up.

“Weve put ourselves in a situation,” Gibson says. “We have a lineup card with 25 names on it that I will manage tonight. If we have a lineup card with different names on it tomorrow, well honor those who are no longer here and Ill manage who we have here.

“Im not trying to be cold about it, but thats the way it is.”

2. Yankees honor George Steinbrenner, Bob Sheppard: The ceremony before Friday nights game honoring these two lions was somber and touching. Really terrific idea to leave the public address system silent, and not introduce the nights hitters, in what amounted to dozens of mini moments of silence for Sheppard.

As for Steinbrenner, while Jeter and the Yankees caught some flak for not attending Sheppards funeral, this is partly why that criticism simply isnt valid: Jeter flew from Anaheim home to Tampa following the All-Star Game, and a visit to Steinbrenner while there had been in his plans until The Boss passed. Even a guy like Jeter can only do so much.

3. Wheres Buck Showalter? First Lady Michelle Obama will throw out the first pitch in Baltimore before Tuesdays game with Tampa Bay in conjunction with a joint initiative between Major League Baseball, the players association and the White House to help combat childhood obesity. That, or the Orioles are going to name her manager. Hang on, Im trying to read my notes. …

4. Braves acquire shortstop Alex Gonzalez: How much did Bobby Coxs club dislike Yunel Escobar? True story: Players in the Braves clubhouse rose when Gonzalez arrived on Thursday and gave him an impromptu standing ovation. Of course, given Escobars grand slam in Torontos 10-1 rout of Baltimore on Sun so far.

5. Lowest-ever All-Star Game television ratings: What? You mean, theyve already the game? I thought FOXs interminable pregame show was still going.

6. Bengie Molina triples to hit for the cycle: What are the odds that, on consecutive days, BP plugs the leak in the Gulf and then Texas Molina hits for the cycle with just his sixth career triple? Heck, forget that. What are the odds Molina would hit a triple, period? “Things just happen,” a perplexed David Ortiz told reporters in Boston after the game. “Id put my head in a tree trimmer betting that he wont hit a triple.”

7. Mets get Carlos Beltran back: And immediately lose three of four in San Francisco. Bright side: They could have gotten Oliver Perez back.

8. Baseballs biggest surprise keeps on trucking: The Padres open the second half with a three-game sweep of Arizona and gain 3½ games on the Dodgers in four days. Things are going so well that baseballs best story is authoring some of baseballs best , literally. In putting Mat Latos on the disabled list in a maneuver designed to temporarily ease his workload and add bullpen help, they said he has a sore side suffered while attempting to “stifle a sneeze.” Now, temporarily storing a player on the DL is a common practice in the game. But reporting, with a straight face, that this is how it happened? Ive never known a ballplayer to stifle

9. James Gammon, rest in peace: The well-known character actor passed away at 70 this weekend, and were mentioning him here because you certainly know him as Lou Brown, the exasperated Indians coach in th–.”

10. TBS to air Steinbrenner reruns this week: There are 10 different classic episodes that featured Larry David, co-creator of the show, as the voice of Steinbrenner and TBS is running them all week (at 7 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m., local time, in most markets). Hey Costanza, go get me a calzone so Ill have something to eat while watching!

You know the New Jersey Devils really want Ilya Kovalchuk back. The New York Islanders have been in the bidding too, and there have been reports the Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers tested the waters as well.

New Jersey stocks up on D with Henrik Tallinder. (Getty Images) In fact, the only Atlantic Division team not linked to the superstars free-agent sweepstakes has been the Pittsburgh Penguins. Too bad, it would be fun to watch Kovalchuk set up regularly by Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.

Still, the Penguins will be plenty dangerous next season. Theyve made some significant lineup changes since losing a second-round Game 7, but so have the Devils, who bowed out in the opening round after finishing first during the regular season. And the Flyers, the third consecutive Stanley Cup finalists to come from the division, havent been sitting still either.

Heres a snapshot of the Atlantic Division since the season end:

New Jersey Devils: It seemed to take some time for the organization to get over the playoff shell shocker and the coach quitting a few weeks later. New Jersey didnt hurry to hire John MacLean after Jacques Lemaire stepped down, but the Devils have moved quickly since then. They couldnt stop Kovalchuk from testing the market, but New Jersey did step up with a very serious offer when given the chance. In the meantime, the Devils compensated for some of its other free-agent losses by grabbing two sought-after defensemen. Anton Volchenkov and Henrik Tallinder wont provide much offense, but they strengthen the back end measurably and that kind of game will make goalie Martin Brodeur more effective. So will the signing of capable backup goalie Johan Hedberg to spell him more often. Heading: Up

Pittsburgh Penguins: The departure of Sergei Gonchar seemed inevitable enough for the Penguins to prepare a couple of fall back plans. The first, getting the rights to Dan Hamhuis before he hit the free-agent market didnt work. But soon after Pittsburghs final attempt with the 36-year-old Gonchar failed, the Penguins picked up a couple of younger prized free agents in Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek. And they came out better in the exchange. Martin and Michalek dont have the offense Gonchar does, but they have puck skills and will strengthen Pittsburghs back end because they are better defensively. Pittsburgh still needs to find a few wingers though. Heading: Up

Philadelphia Flyers: Salary cap issues have tied the Flyers hands to an extent and for the time being, have forced them to hope Michael Leighton can keep doing the job next season in the net. Philadelphia had enough doubt to spend the draft and the opening of free agency looking for another goalie, but it couldnt afford Evgeni Nabokov or Marty Turco. In the meantime, the Flyers spent $4 million a year on a third-unit defenseman in Andrej Meszaros and brought back the talented but lackadaisical Nikolai Zherdev from Russia. Philadelphia got defenseman Braydon Coburn under contract as well, but the Stanley Cup finalists have asked Simon Gagne to waive his no trade and still have a lot of juggling to do. Heading: Sideways

New York Rangers: Maybe they deserved a better fate than missing the playoffs on a shootout, but maybe they were lucky just to have that chance. The Rangers werent really a very good team last season, staying around the playoff bubble only because Marian Gaborik was a one-man offense and Henrik Lundqvist a star in goal. New York will ease Lundqvists burden next year by bringing in Martin Biron, but other than re-signing Vaclav Prospal, the only other move of note by the Rangers was signing bouncer Derek Boogaard. Getting young defenseman Marc Staal under contract is a priority now that Dan Girardi is back in the fold, and college kids Ryan McDonough and Derek Stepan might be ready for the NHL. But right now the Rangers are not keeping up with the pack. Heading: Down

New York Islanders: Its quite possible the New York Islanders will end up with the 2010 Drafts biggest steal by getting Karill Karbanov at No. 65 in third round. Most scouts believe the 18-year-old Russian forward has the talent of a top five draftee, but he had a primadonna reputation back home and a father who tended to meddle too much in his business, so he was still available later than he should have been. The good thing for New York was using the fifth pick they did have to get Nino Niederreiter, a highly-touted big left wing. They both could be part of the talented young core the Islanders are putting together for their future. The present, however, will probably be a bit of a struggle. Still, the Islanders have added some depth with discount free agents, signing defensemen Mark Eaton and Milan Jurcina and forwards Zenon Konopka and P.A. Parenteau. Heading: Up

for the 14th time in his career and second with the Cleveland Indians this year.

Clevelands closer didnt pitch this season until May 8 because of a strained muscle in his upper back that landed him on the DL during spring training. Now, he has a blistered right index finger.

“Kerry was dealing with this for a while and it just didnt get better during the All-Star break,” manager Manny Acta said Saturday. “He wasnt available Friday, though we didnt want to say anything and let the guys in the other dugout know.

“With a doubleheader today, we just couldnt risk being caught short in the bullpen.”

Cleveland recalled reliever Jensen Lewis from Triple-A Columbus to replace Wood, who last pitche and worse,” Wood said after Cleveland beat Detroit 4-3 in Game 1 on Saturday.

“I first got a little blister right after I came off the DL, but worked through it. It came back a couple weeks ago, then split on Sunday. Hopefully, I stopped pitching before it got too bad.”

Wood has had an uneven second season with Cleveland, which signed him to a $20 million, two-year contract before the 2009 season. With the Indians rebuilding and in last place in the AL Central, the team may try to trade him to a contender before the July 31 deadline.

The 33-year-old right-hander is 1-4 with a 6.30 ERA and eight saves in 23 games this season. He went 3-3 with 20 saves in his first year with Cleveland.

Wood burst upon the big league scene as a 20-year-old starter for the Chicago Cubs in 1998, striking out 20 in a 2-0 victory over the Houston Astros in his fifth career start. He missed the entire 1999 season after elbow surgery in March, mark the last coming in July 2008 because of a blistered right index finger.

“This one isnt as bad,” Wood said. “The thing is, I never had this as a starter. I even had a little one last year but it didnt get bad enough to keep me out.”

Ben Gordon sits in the stands at the COX Pavilion, peering down on the Summer League action, taking notes and listening to his iPod. He isnt here working on his game, but rather working on life after the game.

As a participant in a leadership training conference organized by the National Basketball Players Association, Gordon is getting a taste of what it would be like to have an NBA front-office job. Its much longer hours for far less pay, and from where Gordon sits, the job became infinitely more difficult this summer with the formation of the Miami Superteam.

“I think its going to change the landscape of the game,” Gordon said. “I think youre going to see more guys trying to team up, trying to do what those guys did. I think its going to ultimately be good for the game. Its going to put a lot of pressure on teams to get better, and on a lot of players to step their games up. I think in the long run, itll have a positive impact.”

Ben Gordon says the Heat Big 3 could be just the start of a trend in the NBA. (AP) Gordons Pistons are just another team that will be hopelessly chasing the superpowers in the East next season. Yet he isnt as down on LeBron James and Chris Bosh teaming up with Dwyane Wade in Miami as I am. As far as Im concerned, James and Wade whiffed on a rare opportunity to solidify their intense personal rivalry by pairing up with other free agents in different cities. But Gordon sees it differently. With insight gained from front-office executives teaching the basics of building a roster and managing the salary cap during the NBPAs 2 1/2 day course this week, Gordon sees more alliances being formed to combat what Miami has done.

“I dont see how it cant work,” Gordon said. “All those guys are good enough and smart enough players to make it work. I think as far as the league, its going to change the game as we know it. I think the move Bron made, hes getting a lot of slack for it now from some people, but I thought it was pretty impressive for him to be able to kind of put his ego aside and realize, OK, I cant do this by myself. Let me team up and try and win. Let me take a pay cut. These are things that nobody probably thought he wouldve done. But it really shows where his priorities are at as far as trying to win.”

The sacrifice James made, if you want to look at it that way, was never more evident than in the photo on the cover of this weeks Just for fun, I asked Gordon if hed seen the photo. He hadnt. So I asked him which of Miamis Big Three he thought would be positioned in the middle.

“Bron?” he guessed.

Nope. D-Wade. The Heat, and Miami-Wade County, still belongs to him.

“D-Wade has a championship,” Gordon said. “As great as the other two guys are, they dont have rings. Amongst themselves, they probably feel like theyre all equals. But D-Wade didnt leave. He stayed there and took less money to have those guys come and join him. Ive got to give those guys credit, because when it comes to their contracts theres not much negotiation: Im a max player, so give me the max, you know? For them to take less and join up, Im sure a lot of people dont like it and they can call it whatever they want to call it. But from a pure basketball standpoint, you cant argue with it.”

Still, Gordon said hes only “50-50″ in his approval of the Wade-LeBron-Bosh alliance. Whats the downside? Its the same for Gordon and the Pistons as it is for the other 28 teams in the league.

“Part of it is, theyre in my conference,” Gordon said.”So I hate to see all three of them on one team. But at the end of the day, youve got to love it because it shows what these guys are really abo I think thats all that counts with them.”

But the NBA arms race has been ratcheted up a few notches, no doubt. Gordon thinks thats good, and Im willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. It started with the Celtics forming their Big Three in 2008, escalated with the Lakers getting Pau Gasol and then Ron Artest, and now has gone off the deep end in Miami.

Seeing the landscape changing before his eyes, Dwight Howard gave Magic GM Otis Smith a list of players he wanted him to acquire this summer; the first two names were Chris Paul and Carlos Boozer. While Boozer signed with the Bulls, Paul reportedly made a toast at Carmelo Anthonys wedding last weekend about forming “our own Big Three” in New York with Amare Stoudemire. Anthony has yet to sign a three-year, $65 million extension with the Nuggets while he contemplates how to best position himself to deal with Miamis All-Star alliance. We havent heard the last from Melo on this topic, Im sure.

“Theres no in between now,” Gordon said. “Its either youre trying to compete or youre not. Thats been made very clear now. Its almost like guys are forming these superpowers with the talent they have on their team. Well see what happens.”

And well see whether ultimately its good or bad for the game.

They honored an owner Friday night.

They honored a guy who was kind and giving, a guy who wanted you to win but comforted you when you lost. They honored a guy who treated his players so well that they considered him family, a guy so pleasant that he never, ever berated his manager.

On the loss of his former boss, Derek Jeter says, Its not immediate family, but it is a family member. (Getty Images) “I cant remember one day he got on me,” Joe Girardi said. “I cant.”

This was George Steinbrenner?

On Friday night in the grandiose stadium he caused to be built, this George Steinbrenner. This was the Steinbrenner the Yankees chose to remember, but this was also the Steinbrenner most of them have known.

Its not the full story. Of course its not. You didnt expect the full story, not at Yankee Stadium, not from the Yankees, and certainly not on the night the Yankees honored their late owner, just three days after his death.

But this isnt just about making a man sound greater in death than he ever was in life.

For these Yankees, and for these fans, this was the Steinbrenner they knew. This was the beloved Boss they spoke of so often last October and November. This was the owner who was rarely seen and even more rarely heard, the owner whose few words were almost always encouraging.

fired a manager or anyone else. Its been years since he embarrassed a player on the back pages of the New York tabloids.

And, of course, its been years since he was convicted of a felony, years since he was banned from baseball.

Yes, Steinbrenners legacy was complicated, as so many people (including colleague Scott Miller) wrote and said after his death. But to those who showed up at Yank his legacy isnt complicated at all.

For them, its quite simple, as Yankee captain Derek Jeter explained when someone asked what he tells his teammates.

“I just want them to know that the reason theyre in this stadium is Mr. Steinbrenner,” Jeter said. “Thats all they need to know.”

It was Jeter who described Steinbrenner as a friend, Jeter who took the microphone before the game at the end of a well-done ceremony to ask for a moment of silence for both Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard, the longtime public address announcer who died last Sunday.

The Yankees honor “Good evening, and they left the public-address microphone mostly silent, foregoing the usual introductions of batters and pitchers.

For the most part, though, this was Steinbrenners night, and rightfully so. He was the owner, and in a large way he was also the creator of what the Yankees are now.

What they are is a first-place team, a team with baseballs best record, which gained a little extra shine with Fridays 5-4, come-from-behind win over the Rays.

“That would have made him proud,” general manager Brian Cashman said.

“I think the club played like Mr. Steinbrenner expected,” a just-as-emotional Girardi said. “A night thats a very sad night … I think the Boss would be proud.”

Girardi saw meaning everywhere, even in Ohio States Nick Swisher getting the game-winning hit.

“[Steinbrenner] loved his Yankees,” Girardi said. “And he loved his Buckeyes.”

Girardis voice nearly gave out as he described the moment in the pregame ceremony when Mariano Rivera placed a pair of roses on home plate. Rivera struggled before the game when he explained how tough this week and this day had been for him.

“Even though he wasnt ar period,” Rivera said.

Because Steinbrenners declining health had mostly kept him away from the Yankees, few members of the current team could really claim to know the owner. But for Rivera, who signed with the Yankees as a 20-year-old in 1990, and for Girardi, traded to the Yankees as a 31-year-old in 1996, Steinbrenner truly had been the Boss.

The same obviously held true for Jeter, who Steinbrenner named years ago as Yankee captain.

Jeter said that when he woke up Tuesday morning in Anaheim, he had messages on his phone consoling him on “his loss.”

So you worried that it was a family member, someone asked.

“Well, it is a family member,” he said. “Its not immediate family, but it is a family member.”

A family member who always demanded your best.

As Jeter said after his 0-for-5 night Friday, “Every time I made an out, I heard the Bosss voice in my ear.”

For these Yankees, thats the Steinbrenner legacy that remains, and that will remain. Thats what remained constant over the last few years, even as Steinbrenners health failed him, and even as the craziness and even ugliness of the early Steinbrenner years seemed to disappear.

The Yankees of recent years still considered any season that ended without a world championship incomplete, but when they failed to even make the playoffs in 2008, Girardis first season, the manager kept his job.

Perhaps even if he hadnt, Girardi would have been among those paying tribute to Steinbrenner Friday night. The video messages shown on the big scoreboard in center field included ones from Yogi Berra and Dave Winfield, two men who experienced the Steinbrenner of legend.

Its popular now to praise him, especially in New York and especially for anyone even partially associated with the Yankees. Maybe thats wrong.

Maybe you cringe when you hear him described as “a great man,” as one Yankee after another said Friday.

To them, he was great. To them, he was everything they said he was.

And that was the George Steinbrenner they remembered Friday night.

J.J. Redick is staying put.

Orlando Magic general manager Otis Smith said Friday that the team will retain Redick. The Magic matched a $19 million, three-year offer sheet that the Chicago Bulls made for Redick.

Because Redick was a restricted free agent, the Magic had seven days to decide to match the contract. They took all seven to make the move that nearly doubles Redicks salary from last season and puts Orlando deeper into the luxury tax.

But Redick gives Orlando a formidable backup shooting guard who has steadily improved and become perhaps a future starter.

The former Duke standout was the 11th overall pick in the 2006 draft. He struggled early in his NBA career but has become a key contributor for the Magic.

That big shakeup a lot of folks were expecting from the San Jose Sharks after another disappointing post-season? Hasn’t happened yet and may not at all.

The Coyotes should get some good offense from Ray Whitney. (Getty Images) San Jose has lost a couple of big names since being swept by Chicago in the conference final, but the key pieces remain the same and if nothing else it means the Sharks are going to win the Pacific Division. They are still the best team out there, at least when it comes to the regular season, but the Los Angeles Kings have closed the gap even without adding the impact player they have been desperately seeking.

Meanwhile the Phoenix Coyotes and Anaheim Ducks have made some interesting changes, while the Dallas Stars are trying to keep things as normal as possible during the sale process of the team.

Here’s a snapshot of the Pacific Division since the season ended.

San Jose Sharks: San Jose’s big coup so far was getting Patrick Marleau to re-sign. Marleau would have rivaled Ilya Kovalchuk for the most sought-after free agent title, but he came to terms with the only team he’s been with, and early enough for the Sharks to set up a plan for the open market. That enabled San Jose to begin quickly filling the gaps created when captain Rob Blake retired and goalie Evgeni Nabokov was let go. San Jose jumped on goalie Antero Nittymaki as soon as free agency began, getting a talented and underrated goalie at a bargain price, and will offset Blake if Chicago is unable to match San Jose’s offer sheet to Niklas Hjarmalsson. The Sharks will feel the loss of Manny Malhotra though. Heading: Sideways.

Phoenix Coyotes: The challenge now for the Coyotes, one among many actually, is to prove that last season wasn’t a fluke. Phoenix wrote the story of the year with the best season in franchise history under trying circumstances, but they snuck up on a lot of teams along the way and won’t be able to anymore. The Coyotes added some much needed offense by signing Ray Whitney and brought back Derek Morris for the blue line, but lost two key contributors, defenseman Zybnek Michalek and center Matthew Lombardi. Both signed what would be called fair-market free agent contracts elsewhere, but they didn’t fit into the salary structure of a league-owned team that is supposed to be well below the cap. Heading: Sideways.

Los Angeles Kings: All the big name players who were expected to be available this summer have been linked to the Kings. Patrick Marleau would have been the top target had San Jose let him go free, but Los Angeles went hard after Kovalchuk, and has made inquiries about Simon Gagne and Vincent Lecavalier. The Kings have the cap room and the inclination to make a big splash, and the young talent to take the next step even if they don’t. Part of the issue is that the Kings are thinking about this group for the future too and are already planning for next year when young stars like Drew Doughty and Wayne Simmonds will be due big raises. Heading: Up.

Anaheim Ducks: The Ducks won’t be able to replace the retired Scott Niedermayer, but they might be able to fill the hole he left by their new committee. Getting Toni Lydman through free agency was a solid pickup for the blue line while 12th overall pick Cam Fowler was expected to go much earlier and could very well be in Anaheim next season. Bringing back Saku Koivu might encourage Teemu Selanne to stick around for a little while longer, which couldn’t hurt a team that relies too much on its top line for offense. Heading: Down.

Dallas Stars: Owner Tom Hicks is in the process of finding a buyer for the team, but a new era has already begun because the Stars said goodbye to franchise icon Mike Modano. It was an amicable parting on the surface, brought on as much by Modano’s age as the fact that Dallas couldn’t spend much money on a 40-year-old given their circumstances. The Stars have a lot of ground to make up in the division and have done little so far in terms of upgrades, adding only fourth-line forward Adam Burish from Chicago and backup goalie Andrew Raycroft from Vancouver. But if the Stars do get the ownership situation settled soon, there is lots of cap space and only a few roster spots to fill. Heading: Down.