Sam Smith

With the NBA in Las Vegas these next two weeks for the Tournament of the Americas to try to win a place in the 2008 Olympics (the top two teams earn the berths), I’m reminded of Lloyd Bridges’ scenes in the 1980 spoof movie Airplane with the plane in trouble.

With the crisis increasing, traffic controller Bridges says it looks like he picked the wrong week to quit smoking. Then he mentions how it was the wrong week to quit drinking.

“Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines,” he goes on, and then adds: “Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit sniffing glue.”

It looks like the NBA picked the wrong year to be playing Olympic qualifying games in Las Vegas, the world’s gambling capital.

The NBA didn’t actually select Las Vegas, which was done by FIBA, but in the wake of referee Tim Donaghy’s gambling admissions and names still to come involving gambling with the NBA now hiring an independent prosecutor, having its top players spend almost a month in Las Vegas makes for, at least, some wincing at league headquarters.

This is the third time in a year, with last summer’s training for the World Championships and the 2007 All Star game, that the NBA is in Las Vegas.

It seemed like a good idea: Growing city hungry for a professional sports franchise, an appealing rights feel that could earn each owner upwards of $10 million.

But that’s over: The NBA is not coming to Las Vegas. Not soon and probably never.

I was one who thought in David Stern’s knight-like quest for continued new revenues, putting a franchise in Las Vegas was inevitable.

Now, it seems ridiculous, especially in light of the referee gambling scandal that has the NBA’s entire credibility at stake.

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Although the NBA played its All Star game at the Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus, Stern made it clear last February that arena was not suitable for an NBA team and a new arena would have to be built.

Now, Harrah’s says it’s building an NBA style arena. And the mayor said plans continue for a downtown arena.

Fine, Kansas City has one, too, with no NBA team. It’s hardly a guarantee anymore.

Most of the big casinos have their own large theaters or facilities. So we’ll see whether the other casinos are so happy about that.

Then there was last February’s All Star game, which scared the heck out of much of Las Vegas.

It wasn’t dangerous, and reports afterward of riot-like conditions-except where the NFL’s Pacman Jones was-were bogus.

But Las Vegas-and its visitors-got an impression of what the NBA would be like, though it was completely mistaken. Even so, it is said to have substantially cooled the ardor of many locals for the NBA. With boxing and concerts and shows, you don’t necessarily need a sports team to build an arena in Las Vegas.

The NBA All Star game has become one of the biggest hip hop party events of the year.

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Whereas the Super Bowl might attract the NASCAR crowd, the All Star game, with the NBA’s majority black population, has come to attract the hip hop music world.

It’s actually quite the fun weekend, though something Las Vegas rarely sees.

Just about every hotel was bustling and bursting with men wearing pounds of jewelry and beautiful women in frilly low cut outfits. The crowds were not unlike Times Square on New Year’s Eve. You could barely move in the lobbies of most of the hotels. It was hardly an unsafe atmosphere, and, in fact, was primarily festive. The people who come to NBA All Star weekend come for the parties, the dancing and the good times. And in that spirit. The sponsors and their families and friends attend the games.

That weekend didn’t represent the audiences that attend regular season NBA games.

But Las Vegas doesn’t know that. There was a sort of good riddance message for the NBA from many upon the end of the weekend. The airport was tied up for hours, it was difficult to get a taxi. Main roads were gridlocked. Many of Vegas’ regular customers were said to not be happy. And they let the casinos know.

It was a false impression. It really was an enjoyable, fun loving crowd to be in. But it was not the picture Las Vegas seemed to enjoy. Look, they don’t send anyone away, but it is a pretty conservative part of the country. It’s a delicate issue to confront, so the casinos have been mum. After all, everyone’s money spends the same. It just didn’t look that weekend like the Las Vegas they know there.

So Las Vegas isn’t exactly as excited as it once seemed to be about the NBA; and the NBA certainly isn’t seeking to have its players and officials around so much gambling anymore in the current atmosphere. Which, by the way, is just unfolding with Donaghy’s guilty plea. As with every major disaster, the changes come for years afterward, and it wouldn’t be surprising in some future Collective Bargaining Agreement to see the NBA try to keep its players and coaches out of casinos during the regular season. It would be hard to do that with a team in Las Vegas.

The USA team of NBA players should reach the tournament finals, which would guarantee a berth in the Beijing Olympics.

My guess is it’s the last Las Vegas sees of the NBA for many years.

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