The AP reports: Pat Riley has no definitive plans to go anywhere, dismissing published reports that he was leaning toward vacating his coaching role with the Miami Heat after the season to focus on his front-office duties. Riley said before Miami’s game Wednesday night against Milwaukee that he was being philosophical when talking about the dual roles he holds and potentially stepping aside.

The AP reports: Phoenix Suns forward Grant Hill underwent an appendectomy on Wednesday and is expected to be sidelined for two to three weeks. Hill felt ill after arriving at the US Airways Center for Wednesday morning’s shootaround. At first, the Suns assumed he had the same flu that teammate Raja Bell recently had. But after being taken to see a physician, it was determined to be more serious.

The Portland Trail Blazers assigned rookie forward Josh McRoberts to the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League, it was announced Wednesday by Trail Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard.

“We look forward to seeing Josh gain more experience through increased floor time with the Stampede,” said Pritchard. “Giving him the chance to log some minutes will help Josh with his professional development this season.”

McRoberts, 20, is averaging 1.3 points, 0.7 rebounds and 2.3 minutes in three games with the Trail Blazers this season after being selected by Portland with the 37th overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.

The Duke University product becomes the 23rd NBA player assigned to the D-League this season, and the fifth in Trail Blazers history.

This is the first season the Trail Blazers are affiliated with the Boise-based Stampede.

The Hornets were getting low attendance before Katrina messed the city up, and even fewer fans have been going to home games since the team returned. And it may turn out that the lack of home fan support may result in the team being allowed to leave, this time probably for good. The Boston Globe (Marc Spears) reports:

The Boston Globe has learned that the New Orleans Hornets are expected to announce today that if they don’t average close to 15,000 fans in home games starting with tonight’s contest against the Los Angeles Lakers through all home games until February of 2009, the franchise will be allowed out of their lease with the New Orleans Arena by the State of Louisiana, according to an NBA source.

I hate to say it, but if I owned the Hornets, I’d definitely want to move the team elsewhere. Ideally they’d have stayed in Oklahoma City. I feel badly for the fans in the city that are going to games and supporting the team. I wish there were more of you. But it seems like there aren’t.