On the Sidelines

Malone, Bibby added to US team\nColorado Springs, Colo. -- Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz and Mike Bibby of the Sacramento Kings were added Monday to the national team that will compete in the Olympic qualifying tournament in August.\nMalone and Bibby are the fifth and sixth members of the team, which will be coached by Larry Brown of the Philadelphia 76ers. They join Ray Allen of Seattle, Tim Duncan of San Antonio, Jason Kidd of New Jersey and Tracy McGrady of Orlando.\nUSA Basketball will select the rest of the 12-man team this spring, adding two or three more NBA players and three or four role players from other pro leagues or college.\nThe qualifying tournament involves 10 teams from North, South and Central America and is set for Aug. 20-31 at San Juan, Puerto Rico.\nA team of NBA players finished in sixth place at last year's world championships in Indianapolis, forcing the United States to play in a qualifying tournament.\nWNBA draft postponed\nNEW YORK -- The WNBA postponed its draft Monday, opening a week that could determine the league's future.\nThe draft was scheduled for Wednesday, but it became the second event called off because collective bargaining talks are stalled. A pre-draft tryout camp was canceled last week.\nThe NBA Board of Governors threatened to cancel the league's seventh season if the WNBA and its players' association do not agree to a contract by Friday.\nThe two sides met for 90 minutes Monday with Billy Hunter, executive director of the union, and Val Ackerman, president of the league, heading the negotiating committees. No formal proposals were exchanged and no further talks were scheduled.\nThe decision to call off the draft put in doubt the futures of some high-profile college seniors, such as Kara Lawson of Tennessee, Cheryl Ford of Louisiana Tech, Chantelle Anderson of Vanderbilt and LaToya Thomas of Mississippi State -- all expected to be first-round choices.\nThe league's four-year contract with its union expired in September, and talks for a new deal began in November.