Running just slight ahead of the note asking about Thabo Sefolosha’s chances of ending up with Da Bulls, the following is my favorite bit of Q and A from the Chicago Tribune’s NBA Agony Aunt, Sam Smith this Friday.

Q : Sam, I have seen Carlos Boozer’s name mentioned in the Q&A over the past few months. You can let your readers know it’s not going to happen. Scratch that. Are the Bulls willing to give up both Ben Gordon and this year’s No. 2 pick? Then maybe. –Joseph, Salt Lake City

A : Boozer is an intriguing name–the drinking suggestions aside. Though the Jazz say they want to keep him now with the big front line they’re developing, I believe his price tag is too high for what seems like a team that is a first-round playoff candidate at best for now. It seems clear he’s not thrilled with Utah and they haven’t always been with him and his injuries. With four years left averaging about $11.5 million, he’s not much of a bargain given he’s not that big and plays face up more. I doubt the Bulls would be interested at all, let alone for all that. At some point, the Jazz may just have to take a draft pick to get out from under his salary. I still wonder about a package from the Lakers, where Boozer is said to want to play and has been rumored going for a few years because he’d had a home there.

I hate to make light of a serious legal matter, but perhaps right now would be a good time to see if Zach Randolph would be willing to wear a wire during a guided tour of the San Francisco Giants clubhouse?

Though the New York Post’s Peter Vescey has little in the way of new revelations from the Larry Brown/Isiah Thomas/James Dolan saga to impart, at the very least he’s able to share a few lines that he’s been saving up for Friday.

The last time “The Knicks” and “The Finals” were mentioned in the same sentence, Jeff Van Gundy was seen on their sidelines and Pat Riley’s aura had been downgraded to just plain obscene.

While everyone censures James Dolan and Steve Mills and Thomas for their perceived uncouth treatment of Brown and portray his professed public humiliation as a permanent stain on the magical world of Madison Square, I wish to highlight the following fact:

Long after flim-flam franchises like San Antonio, Detroit, Phoenix and New Jersey have evacuated our stream of unconsciousness, the Knicks clearly haven’t lost the knack for arresting our undivided attention.

What other 23-win oddball outfit could possibly get this sort of pub the day before the Belmont? (Author’s aside: noted tout Ken Lay advocates betting out on High Finance.)

Down below the double-parking, lame-duck coach, who’s looking for love in all the wrong places, is within my unobstructed view. Each workout Brown makes a habit of burrowing between frayed security blankets – Donnie Walsh, Billy King and Kevin O’Connor. During break he intermingles with very few others.

Every now and then, Brown’s spirits are buoyed, as he’s made to feel less unwanted by a courtesy call from the Mayo Clinic.

If I turn to my right and look to the extreme rear, there’s the overmatched president of basketball operations/coach-in-waiting, who’s hanging the current one out like a wind chime. Thomas is rubbing knees (I’m not the jealous type) with assistant GM Brendan Suhr, fired wherever he’s been – Detroit, Atlanta, Orlando, Detroit – for being brazenly untrustworthy.

If I hadn’t witnessed the genius that is Isiah up close and personal at any number of his previous pit stops, I might be a bit concerned about the roster he has assembled and the company he’s keeping.

By the way, wasn’t it last summer (or the Summer of ’42) that coach-for-the-moment and coach-for-next season did everything short of exchanging vows in a civil ceremony?

Yet, as far as we know, nary a word has been spoken since Brown and Thomas arrived here earlier this week. So much for Disney World being the happiest place on earth!

I Heart KG’s ‘Lil Dice shares the following public service announcement — good luck finding parking in downtown Minneapolis a week from tomorrow :

Chuck Klosterman is teaming up with Mpls musician Mark Mallman on Saturday, June 17 in the 7th St Entry in what is being billed as a one time event. The writer will be reading from his new book “Killing Yourself To Live” while Mallman will be performing a “musical illustration” of the passages.

I tried to engage Dick Young in a similar collaboration prior to his death some years ago. I hope Chuck and Mark’s partnership is more fruitful.