New Zealand Basketball Federation Ousts Lloyd Daniels

Lloyd Daniels, who was a controversial basketball player when he was playing in the United States, apparently was no less controversial during a brief career in New Zealand. He has been dismissed from the New Zealand Basketball Federation for missing practice and drinking too much beer, according to Newsday.

Dave MacCalman, coach of the Waitemata team in Auckland, said Daniels appeared in just four games with the team. He was ejected from the first game after joining an on-court fight, then averaged 27 points a game before the suspension.

“He was drinking too much beer,” MacCalman told Newsday. “We like to drink and we really don’t like to hold a man back when he is having a few beers. But when it begins to affect his work, well, you have to ask him to stop. It got to the point where he was bringing home a case a night.”

Daniels, 20, went to New Zealand after he was suspended by the Topeka Sizzlers of the Continental Basketball Assn. because of rumored drug use. Before playing in the CBA, Daniels was arrested in Las Vegas and charged with attempting to purchase rock cocaine. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge last July and entered a drug rehabilitation program.

Daniels, a legendary schoolyard player in New York, attended four high schools in three states without graduating. He enrolled at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, then went on to Nevada Las Vegas, which dismissed him after the drug-related arrest. He is among a dozen underclassmen who have applied for eligibility in the National Basketball Assn. draft.