This isn't new. You can go back 10 years and find NBA Draft prospects who did or didn't work out for a particular team, looking to manipulate the process.

Sometimes it's about when that team picks. Sometimes it's about market size. Sometimes it's about players already on the roster at the same position.

Regardless, it's frustrating.

"There are so many [agents] out there who think they're going to control the NBA and control the draft," Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown said Monday, after confirming a handful of players declined invitations to work out.

General manager Rod Higgins placed the number at three or four, declining to reveal names. One appears to be UCLA big man Kevin Love, who's projected to go before the Bobcats' No. 9 pick.

"Some have canceled, some have been reluctant to come," Brown said after auditioning six players.

He said the cause is agents trying to control the draft because they they don't want a player chosen at a certain spot.

"I don't worry about that," he said. "If we think a kid can play, then I don't care what the agent thinks."

(The Charlotte Observer)

YAO NOT YET CLEARED TO PLAY: The prognosis for Yao Ming's left foot is "very good," but it remained uncertain whether the Houston Rockets' center will be cleared to play in time for a pre-Olympics tournament, his agent, John Huizinga, said Monday.

GAME 5 RATINGS UP: Television ratings for the NBA Finals on Sunday were up from the last time the series went five games.

The Los Angeles Lakers' 103-98 win over the Boston Celtics averaged a 10.1 fast national rating on ABC. That's an 11 percent increase over the 9.1 for Game 5 of the Dallas-Miami series in 2006.

The rating is the percentage watching a program among homes with televisions.

(The Associated Press)