Basketball
TREE RETIRES AGAIN: The on-again, off-again retirement of journeyman center Tree Rollins is on again. Rollins, 40, who came out of retirement to serve as a player-coach for the Orlando Magic two seasons ago, will hang up his jersey and retain his assistant coaching duties, the team said Monday.
NBA SIGNINGS: Kevin Garnett, the first player in more than 20 years to be drafted out of high school by an NBA team, agreed to terms with the Minnesota Timberwolves on a three-year contract.
The 6-foot-11 Garnett, 19 averaged 25.2 points, 17.9 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 6.5 blocks last season for Farragut Academy in Chicago.
- Voshon Lenard, who returned to Minnesota for his senior season after the Milwaukee Bucks selected him in the second round of the 1994 draft, signed a one-year contract with the NBA team Monday.
Lenard averaged 17.3 points last season and had 2,085 points in his college career.
STACKHOUSE INJURED: Jerry Stackhouse, chosen third overall by Philadelphia in the NBA draft, suffered a hairline fracture on his left hand that will keep him out of action for the next two to three weeks.
Stackhouse, who left North Carolina after his sophomore season, will earn $6.855 million over the next three years. He was expected to be the 76ers' shooting guard.
MAGIC DECISION: Health officials said today they haven't yet decided to allow former NBA star Magic Johnson to visit Taiwan with his touring basketball team because Johnson has the virus that causes AIDS.
Under Taiwanese law, the government can bar the entry of people who have AIDS or are HIV-positive, as Johnson is.
Johnson and his team were to arrive in Taipei on Oct. 30 and play two exhibition games against the Taiwanese Hung Fu Rams basketball team before departing Nov. 2.
Baseball
SPEED-UP? Baseball's speed-up rules caused a slight drop in game times, not a big one.
The average time of a nine-inning game this season was 2 hours, 54 minutes, down three minutes from July 27, the last day before the speed-up rules took effect. From then until the end of the season, the average time was 2:51.
PADRES CONTROVERSY: The San Diego Padres said that general manager Randy Smith would not be back in 1996, but an agitated Smith later revealed that the team still has not accepted his resignation.
Smith submitted his resignation last week, but team president and CEO Larry Lucchino declined to immediately accept it.
Smith and Lucchino met, and Smith informed Lucchino that his decision to leave was final.
Gymnastics
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Defending champion Romania stamped its mark on the World Gymnastics Championships today with near-flawless displays of twisting and tumbling, knocking the U.S. women out of first place.
Romania scored 192.570 in compulsory exercises, eclipsing the 191.722 points that had given the U.S. team the opening day lead Monday.
Gina Gogean's score of 38.799 was the highest individual total of the nine-day tournament so far and contained a 9.875 on the floor, the highest single mark. She edged 1993 and 1994 world champion Shannon Miller of the United States, who scored 38.699, into second place in individual qualifying.
Lavinia Milosovici, the 1994 world silver medalist, scored 38.650 and stood fourth overall.
Russia, the 1994 bronze medalist, and nine other teams compete in compulsories Wednesday, followed by optional exercises over the next three days to decide the women's team medal and the 36 qualifiers for the individual all-around final.
The top 12 teams at the championship qualify for the Atlanta Games.