In Brief

BASKETBALL

76ers send center Dalembert to Kings for Nocioni, Hawes

The Philadelphia 76ers traded Samuel Dalembert to the Sacramento Kings on Thursday for Andres Nocioni and Spencer Hawes.

Dalembert, 29, was the Sixers’ longest-tenured player, but he played for seven coaches and never developed into a dominant force after being drafted in the first round in 2001. The 6-foot-11-inch center averaged 8.1 points and 8.3 rebounds in eight seasons and was often mentioned in trade rumors.

Nocioni, a 6-7 forward, averaged 8.5 points last season. Hawes, a 7-1 center who was Sacramento’s first-round draft pick in 2007, averaged 10.0 points and 6.1 rebounds last season.

Also: The U.S. Basketball Academy All-Stars, featuring six men’s players from the Las Vegas area, completed their tour of China with a 2-7 record.

Marcus Falley, a 2009 graduate of Durango High School who played last season at Mount Zion Christian Academy (N.C.), scored 36 points as the All-Stars lost 74-67 to the Slovenian junior national team Tuesday in their final game.

HOCKEY

Former Devil MacLean finally gets opportunity to coach club

John MacLean, a perennial candidate to lead the team he played for and coached as an assistant, was named the head coach of the New Jersey Devils, replacing the retired Jacques Lemaire.

MacLean, who played 14 years with the Devils and is their all-time leading goal scorer, was considered for the job three other times, but New Jersey hired Claude Julien in 2006, Brent Sutter in 2007 and Lemaire in 2009.

MacLean spent last season coaching the Devils’ American Hockey League affiliate in Lowell, Mass. That followed seven years as a Devils assistant.

Also: The St. Louis Blues acquired goalie Jaroslav Halak, whose stellar play helped the Montreal Canadiens reach the Eastern Conference finals, for minor league forwards Lars Eller and Ian Schultz. Halak won two Game 7s and helped the Canadiens bounce heavily favored Washington and Pittsburgh from the playoffs.

Philadelphia Flyers star center Danny Briere and his 9-year-old son escaped serious injury in a collision with a tractor-trailer near the New York-Pennsylvania state line early Thursday, authorities said. Briere and his son, Cameron, were taken to a Binghamton, N.Y., hospital, treated for minor injuries and released.

MISCELLANEOUS

NFL needs to eliminate two preseason games, Goodell says

Commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL no longer needs four preseason games and that the league should change its offseason training programs.

“It’s clear the fans don’t want four preseason games. It’s clear the players don’t want four preseason games,” Goodell said after speaking to high school players at a clinic in Queens, N.Y. “So we have to evolve just as we did a couple of decades ago when we went from six preseason games to four.”

NFL and union officials discussed adding two games to the regular season when they met Wednesday. Players have expressed concerns about an increase in injuries, but Goodell said adjustments in offseason programs could alleviate that.

Also: Southern California’s season-opening football game against Hawaii will go on as scheduled despite NCAA sanctions. The NCAA’s Committee on Infractions delayed for one year the penalty against USC that would have prevented the Trojans from playing a 13th game in the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Hawaii athletic director Jim Donovan had said the school would have lost more than $1 million if the game had been canceled.

Wayne Webb, Henry Gonzalez, Pete McCordic and Peter Knopp remain undefeated in match play entering the final day of the U.S. Bowling Congress Senior Masters at the South Point. Play will resume at 8 a.m. today, with the championship match scheduled for 3:30 p.m. The winner will make $16,000.

Justine Henin defeated Kristina Barrois 7-5, 6-3 to reach the semifinals of the Unicef Open in Den Bosch, Netherlands, without dropping a set. In the men’s draw, defending champion Benjamin Becker beat Simon Greul, 6-3, 6-1.

Kim Clijsters of Belgium lost 7-6 (6), 6-4 to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the quarterfinals of the Eastbourne (England) grass-court tournament. Clijsters had dropped just three games in her first two matches.

Lance Armstrong finished fifth in the sixth stage of the Tour of Switzerland and is seventh overall, 55 seconds behind the Netherlands’ Robert Gesink, who won the stage to take over the lead.

John Daly shot a 4-under-par 66 in the first round of the Fort Smith Classic in Arkansas, his first Nationwide Tour event since 1991. Daly, five strokes off the lead, is from Dardanelle, about 75 miles from Fort Smith, and committed to the tournament to perhaps boost attendance and attract a title sponsor.

Colm Moriarty of Ireland and Martin Wiegele of Austria each shot a 5-under-par 66 to share a two-shot lead after the first round of the Saint-Omer Open in Saint-Omer, France.