Bullets Trade Grant, Acquire Duckworth

Kevin Duckworth, unable to deliver at center for the Portland Trail Blazers, was traded Thursday to the Washington Bullets for forward Harvey Grant.

The play of Tom Gugliotta, a rookie last season, made Grant expendable for the Bullets.

Duckworth, a 7-footer, averaged 18.1 points a game in 1988-89, but his average has steadily dropped, falling to 9.9 this season.

Grant, 6-9, was the Bullets’ top scorer this season at 18.6 and has averaged at least 18 points the last three years.

With the acquisition of Duckworth, the Bullets have three young forwards in Gugliotta, Pervis Ellison and Don MacLean and probably will draft a forward with the No. 5 pick in Wednesday’s college draft.

Ellison, 6-10, played center for the Bullets last season, but the club said it feels he is better suited for forward.

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Gar Heard, interim coach of the Dallas Mavericks last season, will be the first assistant hired to help new Indiana Pacers Coach Larry Brown, the club said.

Heard has not yet signed a contract, but he’s expected to finalize the deal over the weekend, a Pacer spokesman said.

Olympics

Sen. Bill Bradley said that awarding the 2000 Olympics to China would condone Beijing’s disregard of human rights and could be “an embarrassment to the world.

“I don’t think it’s right to give the Games to a country that has in its prisons--and tortures--political dissidents,” said Bradley, who played on the U.S. basketball team that won a gold medal at the 1964 Olympics.

In an interview with NBC, the New Jersey Democrat said denying Beijing the games is “one way the world can say that we don’t approve of the gross disregard of human rights that takes place in China.”

The Chinese capital is considered one of the leading candidates for the 2000 Games. The International Olympic Committee will make its selection in September.

Hockey

The Pittsburgh Penguins are negotiating with a hockey club that dominated the sport in Russia for years, hoping to establish an arrangement that would include training and scouting, according to a newspaper report.

The arrangement would make the Penguins business partners with Russia’s Central Red Army team.

If the deal is reached, the Penguins would be able to use the Red Army team as its base for scouting in the former Soviet Union. The Penguins also would be able to send players to Moscow to work under Viktor Tikhonov, the highly regarded coach of the Red Army team.

The Red Army team dominated the Soviet Elite League for decades and produced some of the world’s top players.

College Basketball

Criminal charges in Kansas against basketball recruit Arthur Long may cost him his scholarship at Cincinnati, school officials said.

Long, 6-10, was considered likely to be the Bearcats’ starting center next season.

The junior college transfer, who signed with Cincinnati in April, faces two charges of selling marijuana in Dodge City, Kan. He played junior college basketball at Dodge City Community College.

Soccer

Brazil used two goals from Palhinha to beat Paraguay, 3-0, and qualify for the America Cup tournament quarterfinals in Ecuador. Earlier, Jose del Solar scored on a penalty kick to give Peru a 1-0 victory over Chile and a spot in the quarterfinals.

The L.A. Salsa of the American Professional Soccer League acquired forward Phillip Gyau, a former APSL most valuable player, from the Colorado Foxes. Gyau will make his debut in the Salsa’s game Saturday against the Tampa Bay Rowdies at Cal State Fullerton.

Boxing

Wilfredo Vasquez of Puerto Rico retained his World Boxing Assn. super bantamweight title by knocking out Thierry Jacob of France in the 10th round at Bordeaux, France.

Miscellany

The Birmingham (Ala.) Race Course, which opened in 1987 as an $84-million horse track, will phase out thoroughbred racing as a separate entity beginning today, when it begins a racing schedule that mixes horse and dog racing on the same card.

Neil Bonnett may drive as Dale Earnhardt’s teammate in the Die-Hard 500 on July 25 at Talladega (Ala.) SuperSpeedway, a newspaper in Raleigh, N.C., reported.

It would be Bonnett’s first Winston Cup race since suffering head injuries in a crash at Darlington, S.C., in 1990. He would need a medical release.

The decision will also hinge on how Earnhardt does in the July 3 Pepsi 400 at Daytona Beach, Fla., The News & Observer reported.

Opening ceremonies for the California Special Olympics 25th Annual Summer Games are scheduled to take place today at 7 p.m. in UCLA’s Drake Stadium, and competition is scheduled for Saturday throughout the campus. Closing ceremonies are Sunday at 3 p.m.

Names in the News

New UCLA women’s basketball Coach Kathy Olivier has completed her coaching staff with the elevation of Pam Walker to assistant coach. Cori Close was named part-time assistant. . . . USA Basketball named USC center Lisa Leslie to a 12-player team that will compete in a World Championship qualifying tournament beginning Saturday at Sao Paulo, Brazil.