Page 10/The Battalion/Wednesday, January 16, 1987
NBA bans Houston’s Lloyd, Wiggins
after testing positive for cocaine use
NEW YORK (AP) — Lewis Lloyd
and Mitchell Wiggins of the Hous
ton Rockets on Tuesday became the
third and fourth NBA players to be
banned from the league for using
cocaine.
Commissioner David Stern said
the two were tested last Saturday af
ter the league was presented with ev
idence of drug use “that would be
adequate to cause a magistrate to is
sue a search warrant.”
Lloyd and Wiggins join Micheal
Ray Richardson of the New Jersey
Jets and John Drew, formerly Of the
Utah Jazz, as players banished after
failing drug tests.
However, Richardson and Drew
were banned as “three-time losers”
under provisions of the drug
agreement that a player can be
treated without penalty if he comes
forward voluntarily.
Lloyd and Wiggins did not volun
teer for treatment, so they do not get
a second chance.
“They had plenty of chances to
come forward,” Stern said. “Our
anti-drug program is not passive.
We are constantly counseling all the
players about the treatment pro
grams available to them.”
Rockets Coach Bill Fitch said the
situation had taught him a lot about
lying.
“They’ll look you straight in the
eye every time and deny it. ThaPs
frustrating,” he said.
The commissioner said the test re
sults on Lloyd and Wiggins were
confirmed Monday night by the
PDLA Laboratory in South Plain-
field, N.J.
Under terms of the NBA antidrug
agreement signed by the league and
the NBA Players Association on
Lewis Lloyd
Sept. 28, 1983, an independent ex
pert, R. Harcourt Dodds, a former
assistant U.S. attorney and deputy
police commissioner for the city of
New York authorized the tests after
evaluating the NBA’s evidence.
Stern would not elaborate on the
nature of the evidence or how the
NBA got it, saying only that “the
NBA has security personnel all over
the country.”
Stern said Tuesday’s devel
opments reaffirm the effectiveness
of the drug program. He said he was
disappointed, but “the program is
working the way we expected it
would and hoped it wouldn’t.”
“The underpinnings of the NBA’s
antidrug program are forceful and
clearly stated,” Stern said. “Any
player voluntarily coming forward
and seeking help is entitled to re
ceive, without penalty or loss of sal
ary, the finest rehabilitation treat
ment that they NBA and the Players
Association can secure.”
Mitchell Wiggins
Stern said, however, that Lloyd
and Wiggins will still be treated at
NBA expense at a rehabilitation fa
cility in Van Nuys, Calif.
The four players can apply for re
instatement two years after their dis
qualifications took effect. Both the
NBA and the players union have to
approve any readmission.
“Drug use will not be tolerated in
the NBA,” Stern said. “But we want
to combine that toughness with the
need to protect individual rights. We
believe we have the most effective
and enlightened drug program in
sports.”
Lloyd and Wiggins are the second
and third guards the Rockets have
lost to drugs in the past year. John
Lucas, a starter who was among the
league’s assist leaders, was cut by the
Rockets last season.
Stern said he is not concerned
about how the Rockets will handle
their sudden depth problem in the
backcourt.
“Our drug agreement is enforced
without regard to the consequences
to the teams involved,” Stern said.
“Now you can go back and second
guess just like replaying a ball game
and see things you might have over
looked,” Fitch said when asked if he
suspected either player was using
drugs. “All 1 can say about Mitch
and Lew is if we were able to test
them we could help, sit down and
talk.
“No one has ever come up to me
and said 1 know this for sure. As
long as you are dealing in maybes
and then you talk to a person who
has the ability to lie, that’s what is so
frustrating.”
Fitch, asked the effect the ban
would have on his Rockets, said:
“You can’t measure this in terms
of wins and losses. 1 met with the
club right after we got the news and
it’s the type of thing that should not
happen to any club, but 1 would ex
pect that we will react in postive
ways.”
Lloyd, 6-foot-6, started every
game for Houston last season, but
was a disappointment when the
Rockets lost in the NBA finals
against Boston. He averaged 16.9
points a game during the season, 7.7
against the Celtics.
He has averaged 20 points per
games as the Rockets won five of
their last six games. Lloyd averagetl
12.4 points from the field for the
season, and Wiggins 11.1.
Wiggins, 6-4, was a First-round
pick of Indiana in 1983, but was
traded to Chicago before the start of
the season. He started 40 games for
the Bulls, averaging 12.4 points a
game and was traded to the Rockets
the next season.
Ex-Aggie Siler on trial
for murder charge
FORT WORTH (AP) — Rich
ard Siler, who three years ago was
a standout tight end at Texas
A&M, is sitting in a Florida jail
cell awaiting trial on a murder
charge.
In the early hours of Jan. 1, a
bullet from a gun in Siler's hand
struck a 17-year-old girl in the
head, leaving her brain dead.
Terry Harry was pronounced
dead on Saturday.
Siler said he accidentally fired
the gun. Creg Smith, the Daytona
Beach police detective investigat
ing the case, thinks it was a practi
cal joke with tragic consequences.
In 1983, the Florida native
caught 40 passes for 485 yards, a
performance good enough to
earn him nationwide recognition.
But an injury the following year
bounced him from his starting
role.
A&rM sports information direc
tor Tom Turbiville said Siler l>e-
catne bitter over losing his top
spot. But A&M assistant coach
Lynn Amedee said that by his se
nior year in 1985 Siler had re
grouped and was ready to jxt-
form.
“I think any time a guy who
was a starter no long is, he’s going
to have strong feelings alxuit it,"
Amedee said. “But I don't think
his attitude was ever a problem
(his senior year).”
But Siler was unable to regain
his starting role, now occupied by
Rod Bernstine. He caught only
eight more passes as an Aggie af
ter his 1983 season.
Still, he was invited to play in
the 1986 Japan Bowl in Tokyo.
His performance there was not
outstanding, but scouts took an
interest in his size and quickness.
The NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals
saw enough potential to invite
him to their summer camp in
1986.
“He had a little quicknessanda
toughness about him,” a Cardi
nals personnel official told the
Fart Worth Star-Telegram. “He
didn’t have great speed, but he
caught the ball well.”
But Siler never had muchofa
chance to make an impression.
He broke his leg during training
and the Cardinals released him
Sept. 25, 1986. He returned to his
mother’s home to train for an
other shot at an NFL tryout.
Athletics ran in Siler’s family.
His brother, Herbert Lorenzo
Siler, was a high school standout
and attended Illinois University
on a football scholarship. Butin
November 1985, he was con
victed of conspiring to distribute
cocaine and sentenced to six
months in prison.
Siler played his freshman year
at Illinois, but transferred to
A&M.
On New Year’s Eve, Siler and
three companions, including his
younger brother Clarence, were j
riding around. They were carry-1
mg a 9-mm pistol that the Silen
sa\ they wrestled from a drug!
dealer when he confronted them I
with it.
As the four neared the comer]
where Harry was standing, the |
gun jammed, Richard Siler said.
When he pounded on the backof |
the weapon to free it, the
went of f, he said. The shot strud |
Harrv in the forehead.
Now% Siler sits in jail trying to]
remain optimistic he will again
see the glory’ days.
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