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Here we are two months into the season and the name "Donaghy" has barely been uttered, save by an occasional fan yelling at an official for a perceived bad call. Players and coaches haven't been talking about it and the media hasn't been asking.

There haven't been any ugly incidents between officials and players, or officials and fans. There haven't been widespread cries of "Fix!" after a closely-contested game. There are plenty of empty seats in many arenas, but that has more to do with bad home teams, tough economic times and high tickets prices than a fallout over Donaghy.

Why has the Donaghy case become basically an afterthought? Some of it was timing and some of it was great public-relations spinning.

The revelation of Donaghy's legal troubles and gambling on games came to light just when the offseason began. That gave the league a built-in three- to four-month cooling-off period to deaden any public outrage. By the time the NBA season was upon us, fans were more preoccupied by who was in their team's rotation than which guy with the whistle might influence the score.

If anything has been manipulated, it's been the way Donaghy has been portrayed by the league office. They have been extremely successful at isolating him as a rogue criminal and no other official has been implicated of serious wrongdoing.

That has given the NBA license to do very little in the aftermath. The only major change the league made involving officials was to release the names of the officiating crew the morning of the game, rather than after the officials arrived at the arena. David Stern even ruled late in the preseason that officials could, in moderation, engage in recreational forms of gambling.

Before Stern can exhale, there's still the matter of Donaghy's sentencing and possible revelations of his impact on games he officiated. Donaghy pled guilty to two federal charges in August and his sentencing hearing is scheduled for January 25.

If Donaghy implicates other officials, or if it turns out he influenced the outcome of a playoff game, then the league will be under siege during the middle of the season. Even if that doesn't happen, just having Donaghy back in the public eye will have the league on edge.

The way the Donaghy story has played out has to give comfort to Major League Baseball. Like the NBA, MLB was fortunate that the Mitchell Report was released during the offseason. That gave the league four months for the controversy to blow over, or at least die down, before opening day.

Already, it seems as if a few individual players, rather than the game itself, is taking the fall from grace. Roger Clemens' Hall of Fame induction may be in jeopardy but that's not going to stop fans from going through the turnstiles.

So while the NBA has survived the integrity problem for the time being, its still got one major problem that it seems helpless to deal with: How can it stop the ñboring" San Antonio Spurs from winning another championship?

Bulls must improve from within

In retrospect, the Chicago Bulls waited too long to make a big move. Rather than firing Scott Skiles on Christmas Eve, they should have done whatever it took to acquire Kobe Bryant on Halloween. Replacing Skiles with one of his top assistants, Jim Boylan, won't cure their ills.

Owner Jerry Reinsdorf ordered general manager John Paxson to push the panic button and fire Skiles, fearing the club was in danger of not making the playoffs.

As bad as the Bulls have played, I'll reiterate what I said a few weeks back that they won't miss the playoffs. They're due to turn things around, much like Miami did in the middle of last season, and Boylan will now be the beneficiary of that.

What the Bulls will find tough, or nearly impossible to do, is improve their team via personnel changes in midstream. With the Lakers blossoming into a legitimate contender again, they can't play the Kobe card.

Acquiring a legit post player would be their best hope but they're not easy to find. They could go back to their favorite trading partner, the Knicks, and see if Zach Randolph could be had at the right price.

Otherwise, they're just going to have pick up their play, which shouldn't be that tough to do since the bar is very low.

Boylan has made one switch, moving Ben Gordon back to his former sixth-man role and promoting Chris Duhon to the starting lineup.

That should help Kirk Hinrich find his shooting touch by playing more at the off-guard while boosting the Bulls' bench scoring. Gordon, who becomes a restricted free agent this summer, wasn't pleased initially with the change but responded with 31 points against Milwaukee on Friday.

"Ben wants to be a starter," Boylan said to the Chicago Tribune. "But he understands at this point everybody needs to sacrifice. If we do that, it gives us better balance and hopefully the lulls we go through in certain stretches can be negated by having extra firepower."

Disease of 'Me' inflicting Cavs

More trouble brewing in Cleveland: Veterans on the bench are thumbing their noses at coach Mike Brown.

Ex-Piston Damon Jones and Ira Newble (Southfield) both refused to play the final minute of garbage time against Miami on Christmas Day. Newble made the excuse that he wasn't loose and was afraid he might pull a muscle.

Jones is pouting about his lack of playing time and wants to be traded, preferably to Miami where he once started. That would also allow DJ more time to hang out in South Beach. But Jones, who was fined for the incident, still has another year left on his contract, which makes him tough to move.

The Cavs have been drowning in a sea of selfish behavior this season. Their personal agendas are killing any hope of successfully defending their conference title.