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Basketball is big business in Texas

Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News

Published June 12, 2006 at midnight

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DALLAS - Football state, my foot.

Texas might have a reputation for preferring the game with the oblong ball. But teams in the state that play with a sphere have done just fine, thank you.

If the Dallas Mavericks win the NBA crown, it will mark the sixth time since 1994 the league will have had a victory parade in Texas. It also would make Texas the second state to have three franchises win NBA titles.

The only state that currently can make that claim is New York, having had the champion Rochester Royals (1951), Syracuse Nationals (1955) and New York Knicks (1970, 1973). But the Royals and the Nationals have been gone from New York for more than 40 years.

The Mavericks beat the Miami Heat 99-85 on Sunday night to take a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals. The Mavericks are seeking to join the Houston Rockets (1994 and 1995) and the San Antonio Spurs (1999, 2003 and 2005) as champions from the Lone Star State.

"(Texas' success is) pretty amazing, isn't it?" said Dallas assistant Del Harris, who coached the Rockets to the 1981 Finals, the first time a Texas NBA team reached the championship round.

"At that time, Texas really wasn't up for basketball. It wasn't until we got into the Finals that we had a sellout in 1981."

When he arrived in the state in the late 1970s, Harris said many colleges didn't even bother recruiting Texas high school basketball players. But he said the success of Texas' NBA teams has helped the sport in the state on all levels.

"Texas is a football state, no question about it," Harris said. "But when you get it right, Houston will show up for the Rockets and San Antonio will always live and die for the Spurs. . . . We've been hot.

"We've sold this building out four straight years. Dallas loves the Mavs."

BROOKS TO KINGS? A source said Denver Nuggets assistant Scott Brooks has received an offer with a hefty pay raise to be a Sacramento Kings assistant, and he is expected to accept.

Director of player personnel Mark Warkentien said the Nuggets late last week gave the Kings permission to speak with Brooks, who declined comment through a team official.

Brooks, who has one year remaining on his Nuggets contract, met with new Kings coach Eric Musselman during the NBA predraft camp in Orlando, Fla.

Nuggets coach George Karl said Saturday "it's a possibility" Brooks might depart and more will be known in a few days.

Brooks is from Manteca, Calif., about one hour south of Sacramento.

NUGGETS LIKE AMUNDSON: Karl said the Nuggets are looking closely at Louis Amundson, a Nevada-Las Vegas forward from Louisville's Monarch High School, for their No. 49 selection.

The 6-foot-9 Amundson helped himself considerably at the predraft camp. Many scouts believe he will be a second-round pick.

"It would be cool to play for the Nuggets. . . . But I'll take anything," Amundson said.

SITTING DOLEAC: Sitting in the locker room before Game 2, Heat center Michael Doleac discussed such topics as wallpaper and how many pastel shirts he owns.

Such is life as a benchwarmer. But Doleac, who played for the Nuggets in 2003-04, is not complaining about life as a third-string center.

"It's not tough," he said. "You do your job and be ready to play. . . . It's exciting being only one of two teams still playing."

Doleac backs up Shaquille O'Neal and Alonzo Mourning. He has not played in a Finals game and in only seven of 19 playoff games.

ETC.: Karl reiterated the likelihood of the Nuggets having to trade at least one high-priced frontcourt player. He said the team can't have four frontcourt players making "$10 million" annually. "I don't think it's ever happened before," Karl said. Marcus Camby and Kenyon Martin already have big deals, Nene will be a restricted free agent during the off-season and Carmelo Anthony can receive an extension. The Nuggets would like to trade Martin before beginning negotiations with Nene . . . Asked if the Nuggets will draft his son Coby, Karl said, "I doubt it." Karl expects Coby to announce his return to Boise State by the deadline Sunday . . . For not talking to the media after Game 2, the NBA fined O'Neal $10,000 and the Heat $25,000 . . . Miami's Dwyane Wade got a technical after claiming he did not foul Jerry Stackhouse on a successful second-period three-pointer.