Game Time: Pistons 84, Spurs 80

For about the first 46 minutes of the contest, Rasheed Wallace hustled on defense and lazed around on offense. But when the game was on the line, it was Rasheed who was there for the Pistons.

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"I can still live well on what's left," he said, "and it's much better than having to play basketball wearing a striped uniform."

However, the owner of the franchise wasn't quite so delighted. It seems that he, too, was worried about some potential IRS problems — and he had one solution.

"If we let those tax guys poke around our finances, who knows how much they'll dig up? Charley, you've got to trade him ASAP."

My best player? One who was committed to playing in the CBA and who had no chance of going overseas or being called up to the NBA (he'd already failed there)?

Yes. That was an order.

So I scratched around, made hundreds of phone calls and came up with a semi-acceptable deal. Although he wasn't nearly as dominating as the guy I had to trade, the player I would get in return was another CBA veteran whose presence could make a huge difference in my team. Trouble was, he was currently playing in South America and wouldn't be coming back to the States under the CBA season was halfway finished. But it was the best bargain I could make.

OK, so my "new" player came back and was eager to play for me, but his agent demanded a salary of $600 per week.

"No way," the owner said. "The most you can pay him is $500."

But ...

Nope.

But ...

That's final.

Unfortunately, the agent was just as stubborn.

"Six hundred or he's not going to play."

I offered to pay the extra $100 out of my own pocket, but the agent still refused.

Turned out that they guy I traded away had an All-Star season and led his team to the CBA championship. Also, the guy I traded for stayed home for the rest of the season.

And the owner? He was forced to sell his share of the team and retire to Florida after it came out that all season long he had been skimming cash from the front-gate receipts.