CHICAGO - Timberwolves coach Dwane Casey laughed long and hard when someone suggested to him Saturday night that the trade speculation about Allen Iverson coming to Minnesota was an elaborate ruse, intended merely to stifle Kevin Garnett-to-the Bulls rumors as the Wolves slipped in and out of Chicago. As far as Casey was concerned Saturday night in the moments before tipoff at United Center, it might as well have been fiction. "I can't deal in speculation," Casey said. "And I don't expect the players to. ... I haven't talked to my team about it. Don't plan to. My concentration is on tonight. I can't start playing fantasy basketball, anything like that. I can't get in [my players'] heads. I don't want to predict, presume or anything." Casey's sentiment, at least in the hour or so before the game, was shared by a number of Wolves. They wouldn't even characterize the buzz as a distraction. "There's nothing you can do about it," said guard Mike James, whose name has been thrown into some of the rumors, which had the Philadelphia scorer joining Garnett for an NBA title push. "Just keep working. You can't get caught up in it. If I'm part of the trade, so be it." Ricky Davis admitted that, away from the arena, he and his teammates wonder as much as anyone what might happen, regarding Iverson, their team and any other suitors. "Definitely you become a fan," Davis said. "You want to see where a player the caliber of AI is going to go. Because he's been there his whole career." James and Davis, of course, have switched teams multiple times in their careers, so they're used to trade rumors. Rookie Randy Foye, however, had played 18 NBA games before Saturday night. He got traded twice on draft night -- Boston to Portland to Minnesota -- and already is being mentioned for trade No. 3. Asked if this was unsettling to him, Foye said: "Not at all. Everything's the same. It's crazy, but I don't want to worry about it. Whatever happens is up to management." Brothers in sleeves Forward Craig Smith has been wearing a long elastic compression sleeve on his right arm, not unlike Iverson's trademark in Philadelphia. Turns out, it is not a tribute to a possible future teammate. Smith has a sore elbow, banged in the Wolves' Nov. 28 game at Houston. "It keeps it warm," the rookie said. "The league is OK with it, because it's for a medical condition." Return of old leather? There is a growing sense around the league that NBA Commissioner David Stern might soon authorize a switch back to the old leather basketball, shelving the new synthetic versions at least until further testing can be completed. The Wolves shipped their remaining supply of leather balls to Spalding on Friday, as directed by the league, to have them checked out to see whether they're game-worthy. Two weeks? Maybe less Forward Mark Madsen, who suffered a subluxation of his right shoulder Wednesday against the Rockets, was quoted in one published report estimating that he might be out two weeks. But Casey said: "I think that sounds extreme." The coach classified Madsen, who didn't make the trip to Chicago, as day-to-day, although he did defer to the team's medical staff for a final ruling. --

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