Trip to Washington Suits Him Fine

What does a 7-foot-1, 315-pound man wear to the White House?

It is a question Shaq faces every day.

David Heil has the answer.

Heil, 39, is the well-dressed and well-tanned David of David Rickey and Co., clothier to many of Los Angeles’ highest-profile athletes. He flew in Friday for Game 5 of the NBA finals, he, too, considering duds for D.C.

“They’ll all have new suits on,” Heil said. “It’s probably going to be more of a classic suit, done to the nines. Solid crepes. Blacks and navies. If it’s in the summer, maybe wheats or celeries. Five-, six-button models. Side vents. A full, pleated pant. It’s more of a Desi Arnaz or Cary Grant look. The ‘40s look. They love that.”

Spare a suit? Clothing has become the currency of the NBA.

Not that light blue sweatsuit and Gilligan hat Kobe’s been wearing, either.

We’re talking $3,000 suits.

Shaq routinely buys them for friends, teammates and coaches. Laker owner Jerry Buss gives them to his coaching staff for Christmas. He recently gave two to Coach Phil Jackson, one for Christmas and the other as a welcome-to-the-Lakers gift.

While Heil builds outfits for the likes of Magic Johnson, Pat Riley, Wayne Gretzky, Wayne Huizenga, Jerry West, Rick Fox and Robert Horry, among others, it seemed Shaq is his most consistent customer.

Their relationship goes back to the day Shaq was drafted out of Louisiana State. That cobalt blue number next to David Stern? David Rickey and Co.

Shaq’s signature gift might have been to assistant coach Bill Bertka--three suits, but only if he got to choose one of them. Bertka went conservative. Shaq picked out the boldest pinstripe model.

“A mobster look,” Shaq said.

“I’m not going to wear that,” said Bertka, amused.

Turned out, he looked good in it.

Shaq once ordered a bright purple suit for Del Harris.

Alas, Harris was gone before the first hem was stitched.

Larrys for everyone: The nation has two Larry O’Brien trophies, which is awarded to the team that wins the NBA title.

One is in Indianapolis. The other is in Los Angeles.

The rest is a secret, although one NBA official revealed that the Larry O’Brien Trophy in Indianapolis was actually somewhere in Conseco Fieldhouse.

A photograph, he said, was out of the question.

“They call it security for a reason,” he said.

The Larry O’Brien Trophy in Los Angeles, he confirmed, “is in Los Angeles.”

The official also said that no civilians would be allowed to see the trophy or know its whereabouts until the finals were decided.

More on the Larrys: The NBA practices its trophy presentation, which for the last six years has been held on the arena floor rather than in the winning locker room.

The rehearsals also are done in private.

Raise the flag: Just about the hottest things in Indianapolis this week were those little plastic flags people affix to their car windows.

Often mistaken for pizza delivery banners, the flags flaunt the owners’ love for the Pacers. By one count, one of every five vehicles on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of Conseco Fieldhouse held a pennant.

You know, folks in L.A. would do the flag thing. But, come on, man, you can’t scratch the Benz.

Overheard: NBC announcer Bob Costas makes a pretty good argument against rampant accusations that the NBA and NBC conspire for teams representing high-population areas to advance in the postseason, thereby assuring better ratings and greater advertising revenue.

Costas seems like an upright guy. But, if there were a conspiracy, as an NBC employee he would look rather silly revealing it.

Still, his take: “Conspiracy theories don’t have to have any logic that sustains them. They go on a fragment of information here, a fragment of information there.

“If the NBA had a conspiracy theory, it failed in the Eastern Conference finals and it was a real case of brinkmanship in the Western Conference finals. I’m sure that the plan would have been, ‘Let’s see if we can have the team we prefer to have win go down 16 points and have to rely on a banked-in three-pointer, have to rely on the other team missing open shots . . .’

“If the league was in cahoots with NBC or anybody else in engineering an outcome, they wouldn’t take it to the brink that way.”

At the buzzer: It takes only a small thing to remind us that we are but one people.

Take the billboard one company put on a road leading out of town. It reads: “Our plumber will smell good and show up on time, or we’ll pay you.”

Just the basics: A roof over our heads and a handyman with an aroma of jasmine.