He Wants New Start in Miami

Rod Strickland entered the room preceded by his reputation.

In his first interview session since joining the Miami Heat, the well-traveled guard with a history of trouble said he’s eager for another fresh start. But Strickland shrugged off the suggestion that maturity or lessons learned might make this season different.

“I’m still the same person pretty much,” Strickland said Wednesday in Miami.

With four teams in 13 seasons, Strickland developed a reputation for missing practice, violating team rules and feuding with coaches.

He has been arrested five times since 1996, including last month on a charge of assaulting a woman outside a Washington-area restaurant. He was sentenced in April to 10 days in jail for drunken driving.

“You have to take responsibility, but that’s in my past and over with,” Strickland said. “You have to judge me by what happens here in Miami.”

Strickland, 35, signed Sunday as a free agent for the $1-million veteran’s minimum.

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Charlotte Hornet co-owner Ray Wooldridge met with officials in St. Louis to discuss moving the team there.

St. Louis became the latest city to woo the Hornets, who will probably leave Charlotte, N.C., after this season because of the June defeat of a referendum that would have provided a new arena.

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JaRon Rush, the former UCLA swingman who spent last season in the American Basketball Assn., was waived by the Seattle SuperSonics....Phoenix Sun owner Jerry Colangelo was unanimously voted chairman of the NBA Board of Governors, made up of one representative from each team....Former NBA center Manute Bol and his family are stranded in Egypt because U.S. visas have been hard to secure since Sept. 11. Hoping to move to Hartford, Conn., Bol and his family have been in Cairo since leaving war-torn Sudan in July.