Clippers are longshots, but they do have an audience with the King

NBA executive of the year wouldn’t be honor enough if Neil Olshey got LeBron James to sign with the Clippers. …

Shrewd roster-shaping by Olshey’s mentor and predecessor, Mike Dunleavy, and luck both good and bad positioned the Clippers to be granted an audience with the King. …

Of course, they’re still longshots to land him.…

If Phil Jackson adds another championship to his resume, giving him an equal number won in Chicago and Los Angeles, it would be six of one, half a dozen of the other.…

You would think that if any team had greater insight on how best to pitch to Vladimir Guerrero, it would be the Angels.…

On the other hand, they let him bolt to Texas last winter.…

Noting Matt Cain’s winless record in eight decisions against the Dodgers, reader Jerry Li of Huntington Beach e-mails to suggest, “When it comes to the Dodgers, Cain just isn’t Abel.” …

On sale now at selldodgers.com: T-shirts bearing the message, “Frank … Sell the Team, Dodger Fans Want a Divorce” on the front, and the same message to Jamie McCourt on the back.…

Why didn’t Clippers fans think of that? …

College football teams serving major NCAA sanctions — USC, for instance — are “not eligible to be voted on and will not be carried” in the USA Today coaches’ poll, says Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches Assn.…

In 1974, Anthony Davis and USC won a share of the national title when Oklahoma, which topped the media vote, was left out of the coaches’ poll because of probation.…

If 2,000-yard rusher Chris Johnson of the Tennessee Titans is searching for a nickname, here’s a possibility: 2K.…

Ilya Kovalchuk, reportedly coveted by the title-starved Kings, is sort of the LeBron James of NHL free agents, a prolific scorer still looking for a championship ring.…

In a USA Today poll asking respondents if they were still watching the World Cup since Landon Donovan and Team USA were eliminated, 44% said no.…

Ghana, which eliminated the United States in each of the last two World Cups, has never won an Olympic gold medal in any sport and has won only four Olympic medals in all.…

Adding injury to insult, UCLA first baseman Dean Espy suffered a broken right hand when he punched a wooden dugout bench in frustration after making a critical eighth-inning error in the deciding game of the College World Series.…

The Andre Ethier who opens an exhibition next week at the Honor Fraser Gallery in Culver City is not a clutch-hitting right fielder but a Toronto-based painter.…

Ethier, a Village Voice review notes, “seems to be channeling demons,” which L.A. Times arts reporter Mike Boehm says sounds to him more like Milton Bradley, the troubled outfielder traded by the Dodgers to the Oakland A’s a few years ago for the other Andre Ethier.…

Talk of “ Larry Bird rights” in NBA free agency brings to mind former NBA player Scott Hastings, who once explained why he was often mentioned in the same sentence as the Boston Celtics star by noting, “They say, ‘Scott Hastings, he’s no Larry Bird.’ ” …

Monday marks the 35th anniversary of Arthur Ashe’s upsetting fellow UCLA alumnus Jimmy Connors to become the only African American to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon.…

Defending champion Alberto Contador of Spain is the heavy favorite to win the Tour de France, according to odds posted at bodog.com, with Lance Armstrong the No. 3 pick behind 2009 runner-up Andy Schleck of Luxembourg.…

Derek Jeter, who attended John Wooden’s memorial Saturday at Pauley Pavilion, was the coach’s favorite player, Wooden told T.J. Simers several years ago, “because of his demeanor and because I played shortstop as a youngster.” …

Kentucky didn’t reach the Final Four, reader Mike Lilly of Port Hueneme e-mails to suggest, because John Wall was shut down in the regional finals by Lakers draft pick Devin Ebanks, whose defense helped West Virginia advance.…

Rutgers, looking to sell naming rights to its football stadium and basketball arena, probably won’t call Don Imus.

jerome.crowe@latimes.com