The Orlando Magic are offering refunds to fans who bought season tickets just after Billy Donovan’s hiring.

More than 200 packages sold within 24 hours of the announcement that the Magic had lured Donovan away from Florida, where he won two straight NCAA titles. Donovan changed his mind a day after his May 31 introduction, deciding to return to the Gators.

The Magic said they were contacting individual fans who bought tickets within 48 hours of the Donovan announcement. So far some have decided to keep the tickets, the team said without specifying an amount.

Orlando let Donovan out of the deal after some legal wrangling and hired former Miami Heat Coach Stan Van Gundy to replace him.

● NO FIRE SALE: The Detroit Pistons have no plans to fire Coach Flip Saunders despite disappointing endings the past two seasons.

"Just because we haven’t gotten to the" NBA "Finals, it doesn’t mean Flip has done a bad job," President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars said.

Dumars added that the team doesn’t plan drastic changes this off-season.

"We don’t have a fire sale going on," Dumars said.

With four of the same starters, the Pistons have lost in the Eastern Conference finals as the top-seeded team the past two seasons after winning a title in 2004 and falling just short of repeating the following year.

Dumars said his No. 1 priority is re-signing point guard Chauncey Billups when he becomes a free agent next month. He said he plans to bring back most of his key players.

● OFF PACE: Former Indiana Pacers Coach Rick Carlisle, who had the option of staying with the organization as part of its management structure, announced today that he is leaving the club, according to ESPN.com.

The Pacers decided that Carlisle would not be retained as coach and hired former Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers Coach Jim O’Brien as his replacement.

"I have given notification that I will not be returning to the Indiana Pacers next season as Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations," Carlisle said via e-mail.

"I met with both Larry Bird and Donnie Walsh last Friday and expressed my sincere appreciation for the opportunity to come back next year in a front office capacity, but felt it was better for both the Pacers and myself to part ways at this time. Jim O’Brien and Dick Harter are great basketball men who I respect and have worked with before, and they will do an outstanding job with this team going forward."

Carlisle, who went 181-147 in four seasons with the Pacers, is believed to be a top candidate for the coaching opening in Seattle.

● ACCIDENT VICTIM DIES: A New Jersey man who was thrown from Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith’s sport utility vehicle when it overturned last weekend died in the hospital, state police said.

Andre Bell, 21, was sitting in the back seat of the vehicle Smith was driving when it went through a stop sign, collided with another car and flipped over at 4:30 p.m. CDT Saturday in Millstone Township, N.J.

Bell, who was in a coma, died from head injuries at 5 p.m. yesterday at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, said state police spokesman Sgt. Stephen Jones.

Smith, 21, who was also thrown from the sport vehicle, remained at Jersey Shore with an injured left shoulder and numerous scratches, Jones said.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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