Advertisement

Is Anaheim fit for the Kings?

Share

Anaheim has Disneyland, a former Stanley Cup winner in the Ducks and, as of last month, Sir Albert Pujols.

So why would the city want any part of the Sacramento Kings?

The NBA franchise was in disarray after Coach Paul Westphal temporarily dismissed promising-but-erratic center DeMarcus Cousins last week, only to be fired four days later.

The Kings responded by making a Smart hire — not Shaka, mind you, but Keith Smart, he of the NCAA tournament heroics while making a last-minute shot for Indiana against Syracuse in the 1987 national championship game — to replace Westphal.

With his team in last place in the Pacific Division, Smart, the former Golden State coach, inherits a promising point guard in Tyreke Evans and a young but unproven roster.

There was also the not-so-minor issue of the Kings’ future home. The NBA and owners Joe and Gavin Maloof have given Sacramento until March 1 to approve a plan to help finance a new arena.

Given the way things are going, these paupers may soon be on the move again.

Schedulegate

When the Dallas Mavericks visit the White House on Monday, they will be in the presence of a fearless pioneer willing to rile influential figures.

Advertisement

Barack Obama will be there as well.

The president could easily be upstaged by the tell-it-like-it-is Mark Cuban, the Mavericks’ owner, who blasted the NBA and said his team had to set up its own visit to the White House after winning the NBA title.

The brouhaha arose after Dallas was not among the teams listed on Washington’s lockout-shortened home schedule, complicating the Mavericks’ efforts to meet the president and prompting Cuban to call the NBA “stupid.”

League spokesman Tim Frank disputed the assertion that the Mavericks did all the work in setting up the visit, saying there was no guarantee Obama would be available even if Dallas had been scheduled to play at the Verizon Center.

The Mavericks are squeezing in their White House visit before a two-game trip to Boston and Detroit that starts Tuesday. While Brian Cardinal mused about going one-on-one with a president known for being a hoops junkie, Lamar Odom adopted a more serious tone, saying he would wear his best suit.

What will Cuban wear?

“I’ll still be wearing my Skechers,” he said.

Border patrol

None of the usual excuses applied when Cleveland’s Samardo Samuels sat out the Cavaliers’ game in Toronto on Wednesday.

The backup center was not injured, suspended, sick, being disciplined or attending to a family emergency.

Samuels, it turns out, did not have a passport.

He tweeted that he had lost the document that would have allowed him to enter Canada. There was probably plenty of eye-rolling among Cleveland fans after the Cavaliers lost to the Raptors, 92-77.

Advertisement

Samuels will presumably get a new passport by the time Cleveland returns to Toronto for a game on April 6.

Advertisement