Alt.hoops

Basketball Digest, Dec, 2000 by Brett Ballantini

While the NBA may be the best game in town, it's not the only one. From the ABA 2000 to the USBL, we present a breakdown of basketball's minor leagues

EARLIER THIS YEAR, NBA COMMISSIONER David Stern, when asked about competing minor basketball leagues, remarked: "We don't have any enemies in the basketball world. We're all in this together."

Perhaps that's true. But it sure helps when Stern, the Don Corleone of the basketball world, has every other legitimate pro hoops league--eight total by our count--in his hand and cowering. In fact, the only league remotely willing to challenge the Stern's strangle-hold on basketball, ABA 2000, is currently being sued by the NBA. (The NBA claims it holds all rights to the ABA name since the 1976 merger between the two leagues.)

After years of jockeying to be "the" minor league of the NBA, Stern--all sweetness aside--swept past his suitors with a wave of his hand, dubbing the NBA's own creation, the National Basketball Developmental League, the true NBA minor league. As they say, it's good to be the king.

Six years ago, there were two minor leagues--the CBA and USBL. Both conveniently competed at different times, the CBA in the winter, the USBL in the summer. That's no longer the case. Six new leagues, including the NBA's own spawn, have popped up since the mid-'90s. They play with different-colored basketballs, different rules, and in different (and sometimes remote) parts of North America.

What follows is an up-to-date roundup of all the minor basketball leagues a out there, new and old. And if you thought the only pro buckets you could find bore the NBA brand, think again. It's a wide basketball world out there.

ABA 2000

If you can't shake your visions of flying red, white, and blue orbs, don't worry, you're not suffering flower-power hallucinations. From 1967-76. the American Basketball Association competed as a viable alternative to the NBA (in head-to-head competition, in fact, the ABA won more often than the NBA). The ABA introduced the red, white and blue ball, three-point shot, and slam dunk contest to basketball fans, and gave us our first exposure to Julius Erving, George Gervin, and Artis Gilmore.

Well, the ABA has bounced back, to begin the 21st Century as ABA 2000. The league will employ a whole new set of rules, including the use of zone defenses. The "3D Rule" encourages press defenses by giving an extra point for baskets scored off of backcourt turnovers. Another, the "shirted" rule, eliminates fouling out; players have an unlimited number of fouls, but after five fouls must wear a different jersey. Fouls by "shirted" players are like flagrant fouls in the NBA--two shots and possession of the ball.

Like many startup leagues, ABA 2000 has been beset with delays and franchise shifts before its first tipoff. Originally slated to start in January 2000, the league will now only barely earn its monicker by playing its first games on December 26.

ABA 2000 is most similar to the existing International Basketball League Both leagues play in major U.S. cities, and the missions of both leagues appear to be the virtually the same (lower ticket prices, diversity in ownership). However, player salaries in ABA 2000 are pegged at 90,000 on average, second to no league but the NBA.

The teams: Chicago Skyliners, Detroit Dogs, Jacksonville Jackals, Los Angeles Stars, Kansas City Knights, Tampa Bay ThunderDawgs, Hampton Roads (Va.) Titans, and Memphis Houn'Dawgs.

The players: Memphis made Eddie House of Arizona State the overall No. 1 pick in the league's inaugural draft August 15. Other first-round selections included Ohio State's Scoonie Penn, North Carolina's Ed Cota and ABA legacy Gee Gervin, who will play for his father, George, in Detroit. The first two veterans drafted were Dennis Rodman and Dominique Wilkins. Los Angeles drafted ex-Laker A.C. Green and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Jr. while Chicago made Olympian Tim Hardaway the very last pick in the draft at No. 120. Minor league coaching journeyman Darryl Dawkins is set to coach the Tampa Bay franchise.

The schedule: A 60-game schedule begins December 26.

Headquarters: Indianapolis.

For more information: ABA2000.com

Collegiate Professional Basketball League

The CPBL's mission--to provide players ages 17-22 both a paid basketball career and an education--is a novel one. Players are paid with up to eight years of .scholarship money, a signing bonus, and a room and board stipend.

CPBL teams have corporate sponsors, a pretty common occurrence outside of the U.S. For $400,000, companies can jump off of sideline placards and scoreboard ads right onto team uniforms.

For an inactive league, the CPBL's credentials are impressive. The Wall Street Journal editorialized an endorsement of the CPBL's mission. The league's directors include former NBA players George Mikan, Jo Jo White, M.L. Carr, and Spencer Haywood, as well as rumormonger Peter Vecsey of NBC Sports and the New York Post. The league has a $1 million TV deal with the PAX-TV network, to televise 96 CPBL games. Broadcast.com, a team sponsor, will provide Internet broadcasts of all regular season and playoff games that are shown on the PAX network, audio and video game highlights, and live broadcasts of CPBL press conferences.