The strange case of the Dallas team

[The Magician]

The strange case of the Dallas team
http://www.usbasket.com/PBL/PBL.asp

The last things happened in Dallas, instead, leave us perplexed. This team, in fact, sent on the court on February 23, a roster of 11 players, 8 of whom ( Taron Hill, Steven Dunn, Dameon Sansom, Randall Williams, Jonathan Young, Mario Kinsey, Melvin Mitchell and Ty Thomas ) are all yet listed as active players of the Texas Tycoons (ABA). These facts can not be denied by anyone, every fan can check the official game boxscore on the PBL website, and compare it to the roster listed on the official Tycoons website. In a recent e-mail exchange with Usbasket.com, Mr. Erin Patton, Dallas team Owner and GM, and also the only person authorized to discuss or distribute Defenders media information, told us about a 'roster restructured to accommodate more local players from a cost management standpoint'. We understand these needs, and appreciate the availability and the courtesy of Mr. Erin Patton, but the same we believe that the PBL league needs to clarify this situattion some more. Was it a simple, temporary 'loan' of those players from the Tycoons ? Will be this the first case of the group of players competing at the same time in two 'professional' leagues ?? For sure, this is a strange case, and should be, a totally new case in minor league basketball history....

This could stir up some interesting discussion

[meyes]

That "writer" is so bad even the Gwizzlies probably wouldn't touch him.
He can't even write his own name.

[ChumpDumper]

There seemed to be more than a little contact between the Tycoons and Defenders when I saw both earlier this season. At least one former Tycoon was already on the Defenders' roster and some of the faces in the operations personnel looked awfully familiar (the Tycoons' PA announcer served as a statistician for the Defenders, for example). There will probably be a dropoff in quality of play, but not as much as one might think. Who knows how the hell this is all going to end up.....

[preeths]

One could make the case that the Tycoons players who take the court in the PBL are competing in only one professional basketball league. Regardless of whether or not you consider the ABA a professional league, or even a league at all, the Tycoons have only sporadically been competing with anyone, due to the ABA's inability to establish Texas teams.

[BBallBoy]

I saw the original Defenders play and they were certainly by far the best team in the PBL and probably one of the two or three best teams in all of the minor leagues. In fact, I have also seen the D League Austin Toros play and the original Defenders would have beaten that team (one of the best in the D League). But that was the original Defenders. Most, if not all, of the players and coaches from that team have left because they allegedly were not paid. They have ceased to play games in Dallas, my friend went to the arena last week to watch the scheduled game only to find no one there and the building locked with no notice. Apparently they now play their games in Chicago with some of the Tycoons and some volunteers ("The Best in Professional Basketball" I believe is their slogan). At least three of the original Defenders are now on D league rosters and two signed big money deals in Italy after they left the team according to Eurobasket.