He Has Five Players Better Than Jordan

FIBA Basketball, a European basketball magazine, recently asked former NBA coach Jack Ramsay to rank players who are candidates for free agency.

His rankings: 1. Shaquille O’Neal. 2. Alonzo Mourning. 3. Reggie Miller. 4. Juwan Howard. 5. Gary Payton. 6. Michael Jordan. 7. John Stockton. 8. Dikembe Mutombo. 9. Dale Davis. 10. Kenny Anderson.

Of O’Neal, Ramsay said, “He’s young and he’ll just get better. . . . He led the league in turnovers his first year, but last year he had more assists than turnovers. That’s a huge turnaround. [His game] isn’t just catch-and-dunk, he’s learned how to play.”

On Miller: “He’s established himself as a great perimeter shooter, great clutch player. He’s more patient with his offensive game and he’s putting it on the floor better in either direction.”

On Jordan: “He’s only got a couple more years left . . . but he’s still the best player in the league.”

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Trivia time: How many triple-doubles have been achieved in Pac-10 basketball this season? This is a trick question.

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Foreign game: The Toronto Raptors’ Zan Tabak, a Croatian who played for a European powerhouse team, Jugoplastika Split, was asked recently by FIBA Basketball to compare the NBA and European pro basketball.

“Let’s say the worst team in the NBA is Philadelphia,” he said. “If they met Jugoplastika, under European rules, I really don’t think the Sixers would win.”

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Geography 101: Added Tabak, talking about Americans’ knowledge of Europe:

“If you ask 90% of USA people if they know any other [European] city other than Paris or Venice . . . they don’t even know where my country is!

“They don’t know . . . because for them the world ends at the United States border.”

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No karma here: Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, telling how new Comiskey Park came to be, said the original plan was to share the new facility with the Chicago Bears.

Bear owner Mike McCaskey nixed it, saying he’d share a stadium only with the Cubs.

“He told us, ‘Bears and Cubs [fans] have a natural affinity for each other,’ ” Reinsdorf said.

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The good old days? The Philadelphia Daily News’ Bill Conlin, writing about Mickey Mantle’s prime years:

“The food tasted better. The beer was colder. The girls were prettier. And a dollar went much farther. There was nothing you couldn’t get rid of with a penicillin shot. There were no skyjackings, carjackings or drive-by massacres performed by junior high school kids.”

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Eternal Dodger: Tom Lasorda was the speaker recently at the Stadium Managers Assn. meeting in Tucson. He told them he plans to continue working for the Dodgers even after he’s dead.

“I told my wife, Jo, to make sure the Dodger schedule is posted on my gravestone every season, so that maybe someone comes by, sees it, and decides to go see a game.”

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Trivia answer: Three, all by UCLA players: Jelani McCoy and Toby Bailey for the men’s team, and Erica Gomez for the women’s.

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Quotebook: Former pitcher Whitey Ford, asked if he was ever nervous as a Yankee: “Only when I had to ride the subway.”