Ex-Clipper Williams Signs With Pistons

Free agent center Brian Williams, who held out almost all last season before joining the Chicago Bulls for the stretch run, signed a seven-year, $45-million contract with the Detroit Pistons on Saturday.

The 6-foot-11, 260-pounder signed with the Bulls for the final nine regular-season games and was one of their best bench contributors during the playoffs, averaging 7.4 points and 5.2 rebounds in 19 games. For his career, the 28-year-old Williams, a Clipper in 1995-96, has averaged 9.0 points and 5.6 rebounds.

“The Detroit Pistons’ future is very bright and I wanted to be a part of that,” Williams said. “This is the most excited I have been during my basketball career. For the first time, I was in control of my own destiny and I chose the best situation.”

The move had been expected after the Pistons traded power forward Otis Thorpe to the Vancouver Grizzlies earlier this month to make room under the salary cap.

Williams gives the Pistons much-needed help at the one position where they have been notoriously weak in recent seasons. Terry Mills, Don Reid and Theo Ratliff split time at the spot the last two seasons.

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Matt Maloney, shunning more lucrative offers from other teams, signed a one-year contract worth $326,700 to remain with the Houston Rockets, the most they could offer because of salary-cap limitations. . . . The salary cap increased to $26.9 million Friday night, a jump of $2.5 million from last season. Another bump could be coming, but it is expected to be less than $100,000. . . . Charges of marijuana possession against Clifford Robinson, a free agent who has spent the last eight years with the Portland Trail Blazers, will be dropped, prosecutors say. The charges were dismissed after Robinson’s brother, Torrey, pleaded guilty to possessing a small amount of marijuana found in Robinson’s Humvee during a traffic stop July 30 in Oregon.

Motor Racing

Tom Kendall of Santa Monica remained undefeated for the season and won his 10th consecutive Trans-Am race, the 100-mile Road America Trans-Am Classic in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Records in the early days of road racing are incomplete, but available records show that Kendall is the first driver ever to win 10 in a row in any professional road racing series.

Joe Amato recorded the quickest run in NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series history during qualifying for the 16th annual Champion Auto Stores Nationals at Brainerd, Minn., covering the quarter-mile in 4.562 seconds, or at 317.01 mph. Matt Hines of Whittier leads the Pro Stock Motorcycle field at 7.424 (182.40 mph).

Steve Park held off Jimmy Spencer for victory in the Detroit Gasket 200 and set a rookie record for the NASCAR Busch Grand National series in the process with his seventh top-five finish. It was the second win for Park.

Rino Mastronardi earned his third pole of the year, qualifying at 107.062 mph for today’s Barber Dodge Pro Series race in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Marco Greco, consistent but winless on the Indy Racing League circuit, captured the pole for today’s Pennzoil 200 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Mike Bliss won the pole for tonight’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck series Federated Auto Parts 250 at Nashville Speedway.

Tennis

Mary Joe Fernandez pulled out after two sets of a semifinal match against Anke Huber in the du Maurier Open in Toronto because of tendinitis in her right wrist. Fernandez, seeded 10th, took the first set, 6-3, and lost the second, 6-2, against eighth-seeded Huber, then quit.

Carlos Moya of Spain and Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden advanced to the final of the RCA Championships in Indianapolis with straight-set victories. Moya defeated Wayne Ferreira of South Africa, 6-4, 6-2, to reach his fourth final of the year, less than 14 hours after Ferreira completed an exhausting Friday night quarterfinal match against Magnus Larsson of Sweden, ending with a 12-10 tiebreaker. Bjorkman dominated Mark Woodforde of Australia, 6-0, 6-2, assuring the Swede of his first top 20 ATP ranking.

Top-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov advanced to his second singles final final of the year, defeating Petr Korda, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), in straight sets at the Pilot Pen International in New Haven, Conn. Kafelnikov will face the winner of Saturday night’s match between Patrick Rafter and Greg Rusedski.

Track and Field

Wilson Kipketer couldn’t duplicate his three-day-old record-breaking performance in the 800 meters, but added to his undefeated record this season by winning at the Hercules Monte Carlo Grand Prix in 1:42.77.

In other events, Tim Montgomery defeated world champion Maurice Greene in the 100, and Daniel Komen, the world 5,000 champion, ran the 1,500 and won. Sergei Bubka, the six-time world champion, was eliminated early in the pole vault after missing three times at his opening height of 18-8 1/4.

Marion Jones defeated Merlene Ottey in the 200, a race in which Gwen Torrence suffered a possible torn muscle in the left leg.

Diving

Troy Dumais, 17, of Ventura staked a claim as an early 2000 Olympic hopeful by winning his second national title in two days at the USA Diving Senior National Championships in Dallas.

Dumais won the 3-meter springboard title over an impressive field of six finalists that included 1996 Olympian David Pichler and past national champions Dean Panaro and Bryan Gillooly. Pichler finished a disappointing fifth.

It was also the first time in U.S. diving history that a brother tandem finished 1-2. Justin Dumais, 18, finished second.

In the women’s platform, Laura Wilkinson, 19, won her first national title.

The top two finishers qualify for the Sept. 10-14 World Cup in Mexico City and the World Aquatics Championships in Perth, Australia, next January.

Hockey

The Chicago Blackhawks, their trade for Chris Gratton voided by an arbitrator, have requested another hearing, according to a third team trying to acquire the Tampa Bay Lightning center.

The Philadelphia Flyers, who claim they sent an offer sheet to Gratton before the Chicago-Tampa Bay trade was consummated, said the Blackhawks have requested another hearing. Blackhawk officials could not be reached for comment, but a Flyer spokesman said the second arbitration hearing would take place Monday in Chicago.

In the dispute between Philadelphia and Tampa Bay, it was ruled that the Flyers’ five-year, $16.5-million offer faxed to the Lightning was legible and, therefore, valid. Tampa Bay officials had argued that some numbers were smudged, making the offer void.

Miscellany

Athletic and entertainment celebrities and corporate leaders will take part in the JRF Invitational Golf Classic Monday at Wilshire Country Club. Proceeds benefit the Jackie Robinson Foundation, a scholarship program established more than 20 years ago by Rachel Robinson to preserve her husband’s memory.