Columnist Ron Kantowski: Despite big crowd, don’t bet on NBA

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1999 | 10:26 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is sports editor of the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at ron@vegas.com or 259-4088. Regular sports columnist Dean Juipe is on vacation.

Before Tuesday's Suns-Lakers exhibition at the Thomas & Mack Center, it was safe to say that Shawn Marion was more prepared to speak to the Rotary Club than Las Vegas was to permanently host an NBA franchise.

Now I'm not so sure.

Marion, the former UNLV star now shining with the Suns, stumbled over his words as if they were land mines during a radio interview with acerbic talk show host Jim Rome this past summer. But in Marion's defense, he never claimed to be an orator.

Las Vegas, on the other hand, was talking both smooth and fast about becoming an NBA city. Only last month in New York, city officials tried to convince NBA commissioner David Stern that it would be ready, willing and able to host an NBA franchise in the not-to-distant future.

But you got the impression that Mayor Oscar Goodman was thinking more immediate future -- like when the 24-second clock expired.

In retrospect, we'll probably be riding a bullet train to Los Angeles before we witness our first technical foul for illegal defense.

The Mayor immediately learned that truth upon returning from New York.

Before he could even address the weighty issues of franchise availability, ownership and arena financing, Goodman lobbied his buddies in the sports book industry. If Stern is to be taken at his word, there will be no hand checks on defense until the books agree to take down all -- that's a-l-l -- NBA betting lines.

Most reasonable men -- even NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who during the same New York meeting said he only would ask that Las Vegas books not take action on the local NHL team, in the event his Board of Governors decided to put one here -- would be willing to compromise.

Stern apparently hasn't come to grips with the notion that just because a game isn't up on the big board in Las Vegas doesn't mean it can't be fixed. Do you actually believe there was a pipeline between the CCNY locker room and Las Vegas during those notorious point-shaving scandals of the 1950s? The hot dog vendors aren't the only guys who do business on a New York street corner.

It's too bad the betting dynamic appears to be a deal-killer. Because there is at least one sign that Las Vegas is ready to embrace an NBA team putting down roots here.

Actually, it's Las Vegans -- not Las Vegas -- that may be ready. A grand total (and for once the adjective is not meant to be sarcastic) of 12,198 of them turned out for Tuesday's game. Given the exhibition was up against Game 3 of the World Series and sources said as few as 4,000 tickets were sold in advance, the crowd was even more impressive than Marion's 16-point, 9-rebound effort.

Taken at face value, the surprising turnout shows that Goodman wasn't just blowing smoke up Stern's three-point lane in regard to Las Vegas' NBA viability from a ticket-buying (or at least ticket-using) perspective.

But as sure as one of Shaq's first two free throws is bound to clang off the rim (except Tuesday, when he sank 7 of his first 8) all bets are off in regard to our city landing an NBA franchise -- for the primary reason that all bets are still on inside the casinos.

And that's why when it comes to major league sports, we just don't get it here. And probably never will.