Teams Leaving CBA for NBDL

[Pounder]

http://www.idahostatesman.com/apps/pbcs ... /604050354

It's apparently to be announced Thursday.

[SignGuyDino]

I think ultimately this is in the best interest of the players. I hope the fans feel this way because I fear a backlash and that would hurt the team owners and basketball in their cities in the future, not the players.


Just my .02....

[panchess]

Looks like the fearsome foursome left is Gary, Yakima, Rockford and Albany, along with the new Hunter franchise.

Wonder if the CBA could buy the ABA?

[Chuck the Writer]

Looks like the fearsome foursome left is Gary, Yakima, Rockford and Albany, along with the new Hunter franchise.

Wonder if the CBA could buy the ABA?

If that's the only four teams left, the CBA needs some serious expansion NOW. Rockford and Gary aren't exactly the strongest franchises out there, and the league really needs to operate with a minimum of six strong franchises - eight to ten would be ideal.

Solution -

if the D-League's going to cherry-pick the CBA, it's time for the CBA to cherry-pick the ABA. Teams that should move up to the CBA from the ABA should include the San Jose SkyRockets, the Rochester RazorSharks, the Montreal Matrix, a merged version of the Bellingham Slam / Tacoma Navigators, and maybe a resurrected Tri-City Chinook. Look for expansion into Bend OR, Great Falls MT, Caspar WY, and maybe Vancouver BC. And if the Vermont Frost Heaves want to get into the CBA... hey, at least we would get written up each week in Sports Illustrated...

As for the CBA buying the ABA, I could see that happening, sure. Joe Newman running the CBA. 3-D lights all over the league. Franchises with 2-25 records making the playoffs, while undefeated teams "step aside" so that another city can play in the playoffs without participating in a regular season. Uh huh. And monkeys might fly out of my butt.

[panchess]

..that would be fun.

More than likely, two "pods" will be constructed for the CBA, with one road trip between the pods for next season.

I would pick Buffalo over Montreal, but a pod of Albany, Rochester, Buffalo, Vermont and Gary might work.

The western pod would be Yakima, Great Falls, Bend, and so on. What happened to Wyoming the first time, anyway.

[Minor League Man]

My proposal:

NEW CBA
EAST
Albany Patroons
Buffalo Rapids
Gary Steelheads
Rochester Razorsharks

WEST
Bellicoma Slamigators (lol)
San Jose Skyrockets
Tri-City Chinook
Yakama Sunkings

[bectond]

The CBA if it last should be much stronger than the D-league next year for the following reasons....
1-All the older players will continue to play in the CBA
2-The D-League will only get about a eighth of the CBA talent because the NBA only wants players that are young and developing. therefore Idaho may only keep Freije and Davis, Sanchez will go to Bloomfield, Sioux Falls may only keep Myles, Diggs and Castleberry. Dakota will keep most of their talent.
3-The NBDL will be extremely diluted because of all the new teams and only 12-14 CBA players moving over with the teams.
4-The CBA should not go over 8-9 teams so that the level of play does not decline like the NBDL's will.
The CBA will return to being the unquestioned top Minor league

West East
Yakama Albany
Tri-Cities (expansion) Gary
Reno (Expansion) Rockford
San Jose (ABA) Rochester (ABA)

[Chuck the Writer]

According to the Gary Post-Tribune, it looks as if the CBA might acquire as many as six new teams, including three ABA squads (San Jose SkyRockets, Buffalo Rapids, Rochester RazorSharks), two cities that had CBA teams in the past, Great Falls MT and Reno NV (Golden Nuggets and Bighorns, respectively), and Bend OR. This is of course assuming that all five teams from the CBA return for another season (Yakama, Michigan, Rockford, Gary, Albany).

So a 10-team, 2-division league could look like this -

EAST

Albany
Rochester
Buffalo
Gary
Rockford

WEST

Michigan
Yakama
Bend
Great Falls
San Jose

And if this remains solid, then bring on Hartford and Montreal and Trenton and Allentown and Scranton and Kennewick and Eugene and Saskatoon and Vancouver and Caspar and Butte...

[Shootmaster_44]

I'd love to see a CBA team here in Saskatoon again. But I figure that it won't be well supported as fans in this city won't support a team until it proves that it won't be here for one season and then die.

[mikel]

East
Albany
Rochester
Buffalo
Rockford
Gary

West
Yakama
San Jose
Great Falls
Reno
Bend (may now go to D-League)

Others that are rumored...Rapid City (hurts now that the other dakotas left), Kansas City, Tri Cities, Bellevue, etc.