NBA NOTEBOOK : Doing the Salary-Cap Dance

At first glance, it was your basic “Oh wow, what another great move by Magic.” That’s the kind of reaction Los Angeles Lakers guard Magic Johnson provokes, particularly when he asks if he can give back $100,000 of his salary as he did two weeks ago.

It allowed the Lakers to maneuver the salary cap enough to acquire Terry Teagle and his $600,000 contract.

“I did it because I want to win,” Johnson said. “Of course, that’s the most important thing.”

It is for all the NBA teams. But the move evokes concern that the rich will get richer. Michael Jordan deferred $250,000 of his salary and the Chicago Bulls just signed Cliff Levingston with money they wouldn’t have had otherwise.

We’re talking about two teams capable of winning the championship with two players to whom six-figure money is no big deal. In other words, having wealthy players allows them to circumvent the cap. Obviously, teams such as the Miami Heat and Sacramento Kings don’t have players who make the kind of money to do that.

NBA general counsel and senior vice president Gary Bettman begs to differ, emphatically.

“They’re not getting richer and they’re not circumventing the salary cap,” Bettman said. “This is one player giving up a small portion of his salary to help acquire another player. It takes a special team chemistry and a special player to do that. (Johnson) loves basketball and he loves to win, that’s why he did this.”

Sure he loves to win. And it’s no great sacrifice to give up such a small percentage of a nearly $3 million contract for either Johnson or Jordan. Endorsements alone double their salary. So what if they defer some money?

But, why should they have that advantage?

“I really don’t have a problem with that,” Sonics president Bob Whitsitt said. “The league watches closely so they don’t get that money in another way. That’s what they have to be careful of. If you can do that, fine.”

Maybe so. If it doesn’t bother Whitsitt and nobody else has complained, then it shouldn’t matter. Right?

Of course it should. If the NBA is serious about the cap, it must hold teams to it and not allow them to manipulate it to their liking.

Otherwise, it will be unfortunate but true that all teams are not created equal.

Born to run: Those wild and crazy Denver Nuggets, with Paul Westhead as their new coach, are raising a lot of eyebrows. His fullcourt-pressure-for-48-minutes philosophy is producing all sorts of reactions.

Even former NBA coach Alex Hannum has a comment on this team that is bent on scoring 200 points in a game.

“I think the solid pro teams will meet the challenge of this crap-a-doodle with ease,” Hannum said. “If I had Detroit’s personnel and faced Westhead’s system, I’d screw it up so bad his players wouldn’t know which way to turn.”

More important, how will the players deal with fullcourt sprinting for 48 minutes and 82 games?

“Can NBA players survive while playing that style? That is the question,” Pistons coach Chuck Daly said. “I know I don’t have the coaching ability to try it.”

Meet the press: And speaking of the Pistons, point guard Isiah Thomas already has had an altercation with the media. Presumably, it occurred because of his alleged involvement with a gambling ring after the 1990 NBA Championship Series.

WJBK, the CBS affiliate in Detroit that first reported the story, sent reporter Virg Jacques to practice this week. Although Jacques wasn’t the reporter who broke the story, he said Thomas, who was cleared of any involvement, took it out on him.

“First, after practice, he said, ‘I want to talk to you,”’ Jacques said. “Then he said, ‘Ah, never mind.’ But as he kept walking toward his car, he kept staring at me. So I asked him what the problem was and he started choking me. Then he threatened to run me over with his car if I didn’t get away from him.”

Assault and battery charges were filed, but dropped Friday after Thomas apologized to the reporter.

Already, the champs are shaking and baking.

Later, Ralph: Look for the Sacramento Kings to release center Ralph Sampson some time in the next week. His knees are shaky and his attitude even more so. No longer is he going to tell the Kings when he can practice and when he can’t. They’ve had enough of him.

“There’s the possibility we’re going to play hardball with Ralph,” Kings vice president Jerry Reynolds said. “It’s not going to be a situation like it was in the past when the ballplayers are going to dictate to the employer when they are going to work.”

Sampson, 30, played in just 26 games last season, averaged just 44.5 games over the past four years and makes $2.5 million a year.

But the Kings have good news regarding the condition of another player. Antoine Carr has dropped from 280 pounds to 260 on his 6-foot-9 frame. Kings coach Dick Motta is claiming Carr looks like another Karl Malone. He now squats 735 pounds and leg presses 925.

“He’s undergone the most amazing transformation I’ve ever seen as a coach,” Motta said. “If he has it up here (in his head), it will be great.”

One more try: Sidney Moncrief, who retired before last season with knee problems after a brilliant 10-year career with the Milwaukee Bucks, stunned a lot of people when he signed a contract with the Atlanta Hawks last week. The fifth selection of the 1979 draft from Arkansas, Moncrief, 33, was upset when the Bucks didn’t sign him last season. Now he is willing to give it one more shot.

“This was not something I’ve contemplated for a long time,” Moncrief said. “I’ve been playing ball steady for two or three weeks. I feel good. I came to realize I missed basketball. I retired feeling I could still contribute. I need to know for sure if I can play in the NBA again.

“This one’s from the heart. My knees will always be a problem. But I think I can play through the pain and perform at a high level. I feel confident. I guess I’ll know in a few weeks if I am kidding myself.”

More old folks: Moncrief isn’t the only aging star with an uncertain future. The Boston Celtics have released Dennis Johnson, 36, and don’t want him to retire so they can use his entire $1.15 million contract for room under the salary cap. If he retires, they only can use half that amount. The Pistons have expressed interest. ... And Detroit still hasn’t signed Vinnie Johnson, 34, who wants a three-year, $3.9 million guaranteed contract. The Pistons will only guarantee two of those years.

And some young folks: You won’t find a younger starting team in professional sports than what the Miami Heat now considers its first five -- Glen Rice, 23; Alec Kessler, 23; Rony Seikaly, 25; Willie Burton, 22; and Sherman Douglas, 24. And the first three players off the bench are Bimbo Coles, 22; Kevin Edwards, 25; and Billy Thompson, the old man at 26. ... And if you think 21-year-old Chris Jackson was crazy when he turned down $2.5 million a year from the Denver Nuggets because 15 percent of it was deferred, listen to the wise words of Sonics forward Shawn Kemp, all of 20. “I talked to Chris about that. The next contract I get, I don’t want anything deferred either. With this economy, you’re much better off with the cash up front.” Who can argue with that logic?

Barking about Bol: The new version of the odd couple is in Philadelphia these days, starring Charles Barkley and Manute Bol. Barkley, for one, is not sold on the 7-foot-7 Bol’s effectiveness on the floor. He is afraid it will cripple the offense.

“The jury is still out,” Barkley said. “I’m double-teamed almost every time now. But if I get the pass inside to Rick (Mahorn), he can get us two. And if I get it outside to Hawk (Hersey Hawkins), he can get us two. But if I throw it to Manute, who knows what is going to happen?”

But Sixers management knows better than to take Barkley seriously. They think trading their 1991 first-round draft choice for Bol was a good idea.

“On odd days, Charles doesn’t like him,” Sixers owner Harold Katz said. “But on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he likes him. We do not go to Charles Barkley and ask him about a trade. That would be lunacy.”

New coach standing Pat: Mike Dunleavy already has gone out on a limb and said Vlade Divac will start at center for the Los Angeles Lakers, along with A.C. Green, James Worthy, Magic Johnson and Byron Scott. Free agent Sam Perkins will come off the bench. But what most people still want to talk about is how Dunleavy is dealing with all the questions about replacing Pat Riley as the Lakers coach. “There’s no adversarial relationship between me and Pat,” Dunleavy said. “But from everyone there is a feeling that there should be. That’s the one thing that keeps coming up and I find myself continually defending the situation. I tell people how it is and they said, ‘Yeah, sure, now give me the real story.’ ”