NBA Notebook | Bulls try to keep heads with Wallace

DEERFIELD, Ill. — No headbands, no problems.

That was the message the Bulls sent Monday afternoon, two days after Chicago center Ben Wallace flouted a team rule against wearing a headband during a game.

Wallace was benched Saturday during a 106-95 victory over the New York Knicks for wearing the red headwear, which runs afoul of a rule set by John Paxson, executive vice president of basketball operations. A team meeting was held and the issue will be resolved quickly, Bulls coach Scott Skiles said Monday.

"I look at it like these things are, most times, inevitable," Skiles said. "This happens in pro sports. These things come up."

Paxson said he didn't like the cavalier way the Bulls wore headbands when he took over for Jerry Krause in April 2003.

"It's not meant in any way to stifle anybody's individuality or creativity," Paxson said. "It was just simply part of a structure we were trying to create."

Wallace did not practice after an MRI on his right wrist — which was banged up in the Knicks game — showed no significant damage. He declined to comment through a team spokesman.

The reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year has struggled to fit in with his new team after leaving the Detroit Pistons for a four-year, $60 million contract. The 32-year-old center is averaging 5.5 points and 9.2 rebounds a game and the team's defense looks worse than last season.

Media reports in Chicago have indicated Wallace is unhappy with his new team. He has reportedly butted heads with the team on other issues, like playing music in the locker room, and has had problems with other coaches in the past.

Skiles and Paxson said they had a telephone conversation with Wallace on Sunday and don't believe the headband was a rebellion against the coach.

"I'm going to talk to Ben again and see if there's more to this than the headband issue," Paxson said.

Notes

• The Los Angeles Clippers have reached agreement with Mike Dunleavy on a four-year contract extension for more than $21 million, the Los Angeles Times has learned. Andy Roeser, Clippers executive vice president, and Dunleavy's agent, Warren LeGarie, late last week finalized the framework of a package that will pay Dunleavy more than $5.3 million a season, multiple team sources said.

• The NBA fined Bobby Jackson, New Orleans Hornets point guard, $20,000 for verbally abusing officials and failing to the leave the court in a timely fashion after being ejected. Jackson was tossed in the third quarter of the Hornets' 85-73 loss at Dallas on Saturday night when he was hit with two technicals.

• Clifford Robinson had surgery on his left knee, and there is no timetable for the return of the soon-to-be 40-year-old Nets forward.

He underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove torn cartilage at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, the Nets said.