A Tucson International Airport security guard testified Monday that during a search of Trail Blazer Damon Stoudamire in July, a beep sounded every time he passed his hand-held metal-detecting wand past the point guard's pants.

Stoudamire denied several times that he was hiding anything as Robert McNew of the Transportation Security Administration repeated the wand process. This time, he noticed Stoudamire wiggling his right leg, which dislodged something down the leg of his sweatpants.

A wad of aluminum foil about the size of a ketchup bottle, which was later discovered to contain about a half-ounce of marijuana, dropped to the floor.

Stoudamire was cited on unlawful possession of marijuana, his third marijuana-related incident in about 18 months.

Bonzi Wells turns 27 on Sunday. He figures it is about time he grows up.- The Trail Blazers' talented sixth-year swing man says he is embarrassed about some of his actions, the kind that earned him three separate suspensions last season and have affected his reputation in the community.

Wells owns up to his transgressions and hopes to earn Blazer fans' forgiveness this season.

"I want to get away from all that happened the first five years of Bonzi in Portland," says Wells, who has returned to Portland from his summer home in Muncie, Ind., to prepare for the start of training camp Oct. 3. "All the stuff that has happened is just crazy."

Wells' suspensions last year: one game for spitting in the face of San Antonio forward Danny Ferry, two games for his involvement in a post-game brawl with Golden State, and one game for insubordinate actions toward coach Maurice Cheeks.

"I can't believe I spit on Danny Ferry," Wells says. "I think about that sometimes. That was the most stupid thing I have ever done. They put him in the game to frustrate me, and I am going to say Danny Ferry did his job to the fullest. He should have gotten a pay raise. I fell to the pressure. This is my sixth year in the league. There is no time to fall to pressure anymore."

Wells, whose full name is Gawen Deangelo Wells, is the father of two boys, Gawen III, 5, and Christian, 4, who live in Muncie. After spending time with them in the summer, Bonzi says he has come to an important realization.

"My kids are watching me," he says. "I don't want them to go to school and have everyone talking about their dad in a negative way. They are at an age where they watch every move I make. I have to be a role model for them."

The Blazers made two additions to their 2003-2004 training camp roster today with the announcement that forwards Gerald Honeycutt and Scott Padgett have signed non-guaranteed contracts. The moves give the Blazers 20 players on the roster entering training camp.

Honeycutt, a 29-year-old who played collegiately at Tulane, played in 44 games last season with Grand Rapids of the Continental Basketball league and led the Hoops in scoring with an average of 22.6 points per game. He was also third on the team in rebounding with 7.6 per game.

The 27-year-old Padgett appeared in 82 games with the Utah Jazz last season, averaging 5.7 points and 3.3 rebounds in 16.1 minutes of playing time. Padgett was a 1999 first round pick of Utah's and has played all four years of his NBA career with the Jazz and has a career point of average of 4.9 while an averaging 3.0 rebounds.

THE best thing about the NFL season is the NBA season is just around the gully, and over the ridge to Grandpa Stern's house we go.

With training camps scheduled to open for business as unusual Sept. 29, the configuration of numerous rosters - the pool's in but the patio ain't dry - remain exceptionally uncompleted.

The Nets' aversion to assuming Ruben Patterson's rack of baggage, as well as his $25 million, four-year guarantee, coupled with the Blazers' unwillingness to take on Dikembe Mutombo's full ($37.6M) two-year guarantee, appears to have terminated talk of a Kenyon Martin-Rasheed Wallace exchange.

A last-ditch offer by Jersey to accept Jeff McInnis ($3.3M/$3.6M) in the package instead of Patterson was rejected by Portland, divulges a source. McInnis may be a knucklehead but the Blazers can ill afford to surrender him in light of Damon Stoudamire's enduring marijuana issues that may very well earn him starter's minutes in the slammer. Without Stoudamire - as well as free-agent defectors Scottie Pippen and Antonio Daniels - McInnis would be the last point guard standing; unless you think walk-on Robert Pack can make a difference.

The three-way proposition involving Antonio Davis also seems to have shattered in mid-dialogue. Again, Blazer boss Paul Allen is disinclined to take on a three-year guarantee (especially the final payment of $13M), which doesn't include Davis' 71/2 percent - not 15 percent as I initially reported - trade kicker. Apparently, our economy is so bad that even billionaires are being intimidated by the league's luxury tax.

At the same time, Raptors GM Glen Grunwald has withdrawn his support of coach Kevin O'Neill's interest in acquiring Mutombo at his current income. If Mutombo were to become a free agent - which won't happen unless he agrees to relieve the Nets of roughly a third of their obligation - the Raptors would be all over him.

In the meantime, I'm informed Grunwald and Danny Ainge are discussing a swap of Davis for Tony Battie and free agent-in-waiting Eric Williams. Considering Boston's cap already is sky high ($60M this season, $59M next) it's doubtful that deal will go down. That is, unless Ainge can figure out a way to "capsize" Vin Baker.

FIRST it was Scott Burrell. Now it could be Isaiah Rider.

After Burrell showed everyone what a legitimate US National Basketball Association star and championship ring owner can do, Rider is said to be interested in playing in the Philippine Basketball Association.

?He is available and he wants to play. I can bring him over,? said US-based player agent Sam Unera, who is responsible for bringing in Burrell to the Red Bull Barako fold. ?Even if the salary?s low, it?s okay with him. All he wants is a second chance.?

Burrell played alongside Michael Jordan on the last Chicago Bulls squad that won an NBA championship. Despite jetlag, Burrell put up quite a show and contributed 19 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, six steals and a blocked shot in 38 minutes, as the Thunder snapped Sta. Lucia Realty?s winning streak, 89-74, on Sunday.

Rider is said to be amenable to receiving the maximum $14,000 monthly pay offered by the PBA, if only to get another chance at proving he has shed his bad-boy image.

Dennis Johnson, who served briefly as interim coach of the Los Angeles Clippers last season, is expected to join the TrThe Blazers also are close to hiring an East Coast advance scout and hope to have one before the start of training camp Sept. 29.

Johnson compiled an 8-16 record with the Clippers after replacing Alvin Gentry, who was fired March 3. Johnson wanted to stay as coach and had the support of several players, but the Clippers hired former Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy on July 11.
ail Blazers as the team's West Coast advance scout.

NBA training camps don't start for two weeks, so the Trail Blazers' new management still has time to make significant changes to the roster.

But don't count on much happening.

The two new executives -- president Steve Patterson and general manager John Nash -- publicly talked about cleaning house, but they've discovered that was easier to say than do.

Patterson and Nash have abandoned the free-spending ways of their predecessor, Bob Whitsitt, and are intent on bringing the Blazers' payroll in line with league standards. But considering many of the contracts they inherited, Patterson and Nash have been, in their words, "hamstrung" in their attempts to weed out the team's bad actors and bring in players to help the franchise reconnect with its disenchanted fan base.

When the Blazers unveiled their 18-man training camp roster last week, there weren't any surprises. There are 10 players returning from last season's team who appear to have jobs locked up because of guaranteed contracts. Eight young prospects and journeymen are competing for the remaining spots.

There are as many as five possible openings, including three spots on the injured list. The Blazers need to fill at least two. It's possible that the Blazers won't use the three injury-list slots for healthy players, as they have before.

Bill Schonely, the original play-by-play voice of the Trail Blazers, whose calls remain memorable for fans of Oregon's only major league franchise, is getting back behind a microphone for the organization.

As the Blazers continue to try to mend public-relations fences and reconnect with the community, Schonely and the team announced Wednesday that the 74-year-old broadcaster would return to the team's television and radio crews.

He won't do game play-by-play work but will be the host of a "Memorable Moments" segment on the television broadcasts and a "Blazers Flashback" piece on the radio pregame show.

"I'm back . . . and I'm thrilled," Schonely said at the Rose Garden.

Schonely's duties also will include serving as a goodwill ambassador in the community and during pregame events at home games. The Blazers plan to honor Schonely and "retire" his play-by-play microphone at the Monday, Nov. 3, game against the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Blazers released their roster for the start of training camp on Friday, Oct. 3. In addition to the players returning from last season's team, the Blazers have invited guards Robert Pack and Norm Richardson, forwards Adam Keefe and Tracy Murray, and centers Jason Jennings, Livan Pyfrom and Mamadou N'Diaye.

Mark Jackson has finally found a basketball team that will give him playing time. Unfortunately for him, it's just a one-night gig - playing tonight at the Garden for the New York All-Stars.

With NBA training camps opening in less than three weeks, Jackson, the league's all-time assists leader among active players, still is in search of a team for the upcoming season. He's in the same boat as two other New York playmaking legends, Kenny Anderson and Rod Strickland.

After trying unsuccessfully to catch on with Pat Riley in Miami, Jackson is considering an offer to play in Portland. But it's for non-guaranteed money, and he'd be third-string, backing up Damon Stoudamire and Jeff McInnis.

A driving force in the annual game that benefits wheelchair charities and pits New York products against other NBA players, the ex-Knick is looking at a 17th NBA season.

Even more than Anderson, 33, and Strickland, 37, age and luxury-tax implications are working against Jackson, 38, who played behind John Stockton in Utah last season. Jackson wanted to be reunited with Jeff Van Gundy, but the new Rockets coach decided this week to go with a younger player, Mike Wilks.

As for Anderson, the Heat recently offered him the veteran's minimum, worth just over $1 million. But he is seeking more money and turned Miami down. So Riley decided to fill the backup role with another New York product, Rafer Alston, who also will be one of Jackson's teammates tonight.

Among the teams looking for veteran help at point guard, and who may be interested in Anderson and Strickland, are Atlanta and Utah. Both players can expect hefty pay cuts wherever they land.