He Was No Vandeweghe, So No Way

Michael Smith is gone from the Boston Celtics, cut before the start of the season, but he is not forgotten. Celtic fans still are upset that the team wasted a first-round draft choice in 1989 on the former Brigham Young and Hacienda Heights Los Altos High star.

Wrote Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe: “Was Michael Smith a boo-boo? Yes. He was taken in the hopes that he could become a pseudo-Kiki, a productive offensive player whose shooting and passing would be good enough to overcome an obvious deficiency at the defensive end. But after two years and an exhibition season, it was clear that Michael Smith was not a Kiki Vandeweghe. He was neither physically nor mentally tough enough to survive in the NBA.

“In a kindler, gentler and softer NBA, he could glide around and get his shot off. In this NBA, he was overmatched and overpowered. Kiki has always gotten away with his defensive and rebounding lapses because he can get the ball into the basket. To the end, Michael was merely a Kiki wannabe, unable to emulate the master.”

Trivia time: What is UCLA’s bowl record for games in which Terry Donahue has not participated, either as a player or a coach?

No hard feelings: Keith Lee, a star at Memphis State but a bust in the NBA, is playing for his former coach, Dana Kirk, as a member of the Memphis Hotshots of the Global Basketball Assn.

Kirk was fired by Memphis State in 1986, shortly before a federal trial on tax evasion and obstruction of justice charges.

At the trial, Lee testified against his coach, saying that Kirk offered him a shoe box full of money to sign with Memphis State in 1981. Lee said he was paid up to $1,100 a month while with the Tigers, most of the money coming from Kirk.

Kirk ultimately was sentenced to a year in prison on a conviction of understating his income to the Internal Revenue Service and trying to influence the testimony of a grand jury witness. He served four months and was released from prison in 1989.

World B. Small: The Global Basketball Assn. stretches all the way from Wichita, Kan., in the West to Albany, Ga., in the East.

Times have changed: From Phil Jackman of the Baltimore Evening Sun: “So much for the days of ‘Win one for the Gipper.’ A wide receiver for Florida State, about to face hated rival Florida in a biggie, was suspended for skipping practice. Coach Bobby Bowden told him he would be reinstated if he ran some stadium steps, but the kid declined.”

The guilty party? Eric Turral.

Trivia answer: 0-5. With Donahue’s help, the Bruins are 9-2-1. He was a defensive tackle when UCLA upset Michigan State, 14-12, in the 1966 Rose Bowl game, and was an assistant to Dick Vermeil when the Bruins defeated Ohio State, 23-10, in the 1976 Rose Bowl game. As head coach, his postseason record is 7-2-1, including a current seven-game winning streak.

Quotebook: Boxing promoter Dan Duva, on Jimmy Ellis, who will fight George Foreman Saturday night at Reno: “The guy’s a white heavyweight, he’s 16-0 (16-0-1) and nobody’s ever heard of him. I think that tells you all you need to know about Ellis.”