ABA shockers

[meyes]

I found two surprises at ABAlive this morning. George Gervin and Detroit are back in the ABA. The announcement gives the team name and a list of those involved and their positions. It is the most complete information about a new franchise I have seen yet. The announcment also says that brings the list of teams committed for next season to 16. If so, that means all of the teams playing this season will be back. We will see. Announcements of still more teams are also promised.

Oh, and the Squires beat Fresno!

[Sam Hill]

They list James "Skip" Willis as the GM in Detroit. He was their coach the last go-round.

Hate to bust your bubble, but that's not exactly a positive sign, at least not to me. Skip didn't exactly sound like he had his finger on the pulse of what was going on the last time around.

[JAKMAN]

This "expansion plan," if you can call it that, is quickly becoming a joke. 9 teams now? Dear Lord, try focusing on getting your current teams healthy before expanding. I would be shocked into a premature death if all of these teams play next year. What a sad situation. Why can't all these owners join the CBA? It's much more stable.

[rice_web]

I must agree with Jakman. However, the idea that these owners should join the CBA is just as equally a joke.

The people involved with the ABA are by and large people without a solid economic background and with no idea how to run a team. They've probably been lured in by their own perception of basketball: an untapped market dominated only by the NBA. What they fail to realize is that the NBA is a machine that pours millions of dollars into their teams each year, and a simple two-hundred grand is not going to get you NBA-caliber.

The major problem that I see with these owners is a supreme lack of information regarding the owners. In the smaller towns we have anecdotal evidence that can tell if an owner is a slimeball or if he is genuine. With the ABA, we don't even have that in most cases (and the ones that we do have don't shine a bright light on the ABA).

[meyes]

Jakman, I sort of agree with you. The ABA is having trouble trying to manage 7 teams and is looking at having something like 21 next year. That does concern me. What I would like to happen is for someone with wisdom and control to cull the 10-12 best of the 20 or so and get that group off and running at the start of next season and get all the teams through a complete season. If that is accomplished, then maybe adding a couple teams a year for the next few seasons might be manageable.

Personally, I am glad to see interest in the ABA. I lean toward liking things that are a bit different. Other than the quarter point rule, the CBA is a junior NBA. I don't find the NBA interesting so the CBA doesn't interest me either. That isn't intended as a put down of the CBA-I hope it continues to play and gets stronger. It is just my preference.

[Sam Hill]

And yet, the CBA seems to be more popular than the ABA, and is definitely more stable.

I think Natural Selection will take care of some of the 16 current/announced teams. I would be very surprised if they had that many teams tip off next season.

[meyes]

Sam, I agree completely.