Ben Wallace Ready to Play Against Sonics

From the AP, via ESPN.com - news on Center Ben Wallace, of the Bulls: "Ben Wallace surprised the Chicago Bulls by going from uncomfortable Friday morning to ready to test his bruised knee that night against the Seattle SuperSonics.

Ben Wallace

Center Chicago Bulls Profile

2007 SEASON STATISTICS GM PPG RPG APG FG% FT% 43 6.5 10.1 2.2 .455 .409

The head of Miami's Udonis Haslem hit Wallace's left knee late in last Saturday's win. The center and rebounding force missed the opener to Chicago's seven-game trip Wednesday at the Los Angeles Clippers. Then at the Bulls' shootaround Friday morning, he told trainer Fred Tedeschi and coach Scott Skiles that he was 'uncomfortable' moving laterally.

But after riding an exercise bike during the day, Wallace told Skiles, 'I'm ready.'

'I like to be prepared,' Wallace said, sliding compression wraps over both knees in the locker room about 75 minutes before tipoff.

Skiles said there is concern for now over Wallace being able to play in back-to-back games, but Chicago doesn't have those until Thursday and Friday at Sacramento and Golden State. The Bulls' next game is Sunday at Utah.

'He said he's going to communicate with me if he's not feeling well. He's lying,' Skiles joked.

Wallace, who signed with the Bulls as a free agent in July, is averaging 6.5 points and 10.1 rebounds this season."

More NBA All-Star Drama for 'Melo

Tony Mejia, from CBSSportsline.com, reports on more All-Star drama for 'Melo: "Dilemmas, dilemmas.

On the one hand, David Stern has the fans to think about. They, after all, are who this All-Star Game is for, and they want to see Carmelo Anthony.

More than 1.3 million fan votes were cast for 'Melo, making him the highest vote-getter not to have his ticket to Vegas punched.

On the other hand, Stern has to concern himself with cleaning up the game. It's one thing if the fans chose to overlook Anthony's Dec. 16 actions that got him suspended for 15 games, or if coaches respected his excellence and voted him in. But instead, the Denver star's fate lies in Stern's hands.

Now, Stern has to do the right thing, and that's to not look like hypocrite when he selects two injury replacements for the Western Conference team.

Because the league office's punishment of Anthony in mid-December was so harsh, Anthony missed one-third of the action these All-Star selections are supposed to be based on. Despite being the NBA's leading scorer, Anthony hasn't done enough to merit a spot on a very crowded West roster, because he hasn't played enough.

And although Anthony wrote a nice letter to Denver fans before his return and took his punishment like a man, without an appeal, the fact is that his actions in the Knicks/Nuggets brawl are part of his first-half résumé. The punch-slap, the scurrying backward, the losing his mind -- all of it.

Stern has said he doesn't expect to take Anthony's suspension into consideration, but how can he not?"

To read more, go to CBSSportsline.com

Hot Rumors

From FOXSports.com's Ben Maller: "Knicks coach Isiah Thomas has gone out of his way on several occasions to praise the Detroit organization this season. Some have theorized that he is keeping his options open in case Flip Saunders does not return as Pistons coach."

Read more on Ben Maller's page!