NBA Would Come of Age Sponsoring Minor League

While wondering why, if basketball players under 20 aren’t ready for the NBA, teams continue to draft them, I was thinking:

David Stern should forget about minimum ages in the NBA. If Doogie Howser can be a doctor, Jonathan Bender and Leon Smith can be professional basketball players. . . .

If the league is really looking out for the interests of teenagers, it should require teams to have minor league affiliations, perhaps in conjunction with the CBA, so that 19-year-olds who aren’t mature enough to deal with life in the NBA, or Shaquille O’Neal and Tim Duncan, would have an alternative to college. . . .

College basketball coaches would scream. Let them. College sports shouldn’t exist as a farm system for professional leagues. . . .

Maybe student-athlete would no longer be considered an oxymoron.

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When you read that Jim Edmonds might miss the rest of the season while recovering from shoulder surgery, you can’t help but wonder how the Dodgers avoided trading for him. . . .

You know, this might not be the best season for Fox to try to squeeze money out of cable customers for additional Dodger and Angel games. . . .

Granted, the Angels have excuses. But they ran out well before the Rangers scored the 32nd run of their three-game series at Edison Field this week. . . .

Of all the Angels’ catastrophic injuries, none have been to pitchers. . . .

You think if Edmonds and Tim Salmon had been playing, the Angels would have outscored the Rangers, 19-18, Wednesday night? . . .

I can’t remember who wrote the line--”Mike Colangelo is a young outfielder on the Angels’ disabled list and a very great artist”--but I wish I’d thought of it. . . .

San Diego’s franchise-record 13-game winning streak is tainted. Six of the victories were scored against the last-place Dodgers. . . .

Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone says he finds comfort in reading the Bible. The book of Job, I bet. . . .

As poorly as the Dodgers have been playing, they are only 8 1/2 games behind the first-place Giants. Call it “The Mild, Mild West.”

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Considering the box-office success of the Women’s World Cup, wouldn’t you think that the three major network affiliates in town, Channels 2, 4 and 7, could have squeezed a few seconds into their sportscasts Wednesday night to give the scores of two quarterfinal games? . . .

Having said that, I’m not so overcome with women’s soccer fever that I believe a professional league would be an automatic success. . . .

Marla Messing, WWC president, says, “People love this [U.S.] team. These ladies are having a Beatles effect.” Yeah, except that Mia Hamm is John, Paul, George and Ringo. . . .

OK, maybe Julie Foudy or Brandi Chastain is Ringo. . . .

My early favorite for the Oscar for best original song: “What Would Brian Boitano Do?” from “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.” . . .

The players gathered in Washington for the NBA draft Wednesday dressed sharp, but they’re not going to challenge actresses Geena Davis and Minnie Driver from the Academy Awards for fashion supremacy. Agent David Falk reported that Elton Brand’s suit was provided by the Rochester Big and Tall store. . . .

Vera Wang and Giorgio Armani can relax. . . .

The Clippers have to like Lamar Odom’s confidence. “When Michael Jordan was drafted, the Chicago Bulls weren’t great,” he says. . . .

We’ll have to get used to Dan Goossen, of the Sherman Oaks Goossens, as a big-time boxing promoter. . . .

Reports are that his “America Presents” has signed an extension with Mike Tyson to promote his next four fights. . . .

Memo to Goossen: If you would like for Tyson to fulfill his four-fight commitment, don’t start his next comeback with Axel Schulz. . . .

Butterbean would be safer. . . .

Or not. Although he is a four-round fighter, he is angling for a bout with Tyson. “He might think it’s a 10-round fight,” Butterbean says, “but it wouldn’t take four rounds before either I knocked him out or he knocked me out.”

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Winning 12 major singles championships would be a greater accomplishment for Pete Sampras than it was for Roy Emerson. Emerson won six of his titles at the Australian Open at a time when not every great player competed Down Under because of the travel involved. . . .

For a journalist, Alexandra Stevenson’s mother, Samantha, sure says “no comment” a lot. . . .

Didn’t she know when Julius Erving was listed as Alexandra’s father on her birth certificate that she might someday have to answer questions about it from the media? . . .

Referring to Wayne Gretzky and the Staples Center, King President Tim Leiweke says, “Our house is his house.” But the Kings need to do more. They should be saying, “Our offices are his offices.” . . .

I’m not saying he should be the president, but he should have a significant role in the team’s management. The last time he was calling the shots, the Kings went to the Stanley Cup finals. . . .

You didn’t think it was because of Barry Melrose’s coaching, did you? . . .

I gave considerable thought to the subject of high jumper Amy Acuff’s nude calendar before writing what I hoped would be considered a balanced analysis of its potential impact on social attitudes toward women’s sports. To the one person who commented via e-mail, thank you. . . .

To the other three dozen or so who wanted to know where to buy the calendar, check out trackgirls.com.

Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com.