Brooklynites, who have proven with the Cyclones single-A baseball team
that they can support professional sports, could be front and center for
high-scoring, fast-paced, action-packed basketball.
No, not the Nets — the Heat.
The four-year-old, resurrected American Basketball Association, which
rebounded last year with 30 new teams after a yearlong hiatus in 2002-03,
will start its 2005 season with a roster of newcomers, including the Brooklyn
Heat, say organizers.
Sherman Givens, a co-owner of the semi-pro team, said the Heat will start
play next December at either a renovated 3,000-seat arena at Downtown’s
Long Island University, or at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights.
“We’re already getting calls from across the country,”
said Givens, who bought into the league with partner Otis Strouble.
In January, the team will hold its first round of tryouts — athletes
from as far away as Tijuana, Mexico have already expressed interest in
playing. At least one big name locally, said Givens, William “Junie”
Sanders, has been scouted. The 32-year-old guard may be remembered by
some Brooklynites for his play on the Brooklyn Kings in 1999. The Kings,
who play in the semi-pro United States Basketball League, formed in 1985,
play their home games at LIU during the spring and summer.
Besides the Heat, 23 new teams are slated to join the ABA in 2005. In
all, 60 teams across the country will compete, including teams in Harlem
and Long Island. The games are expected to be broadcast on ESPN, Brooklyn
Cable Access Television and OBET, which airs throughout Europe and Africa.
And with extras like the “3D-rule,” which from the back court
lets players shoot for three and even four-pointers, the games could draw
a new crowd to the sport.
But will the Heat be viable alongside the Brooklyn Nets, should team owner
Bruce Ratner gain the necessary approvals to first, build a basketball
arena at Flatbush and Atlantic avenues for the team and, second, gain
league approval to move the team out of New Jersey when their lease at
the Meadowlands expires after the 2006 season?
Ratner spokesmen declined to comment for this article.
Givens, however, is confident that his team will be welcomed as Brooklyn’s
hometown heroes.
“We’re the real Brooklyn team, so we’re gonna have people
coming from Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx and Long Island,” said Givens,
neglecting to mention Staten Island. “The price they pay for a Nets
game could get their whole family into an ABA game.”
The original ABA, which is where the Nets first played, existed from 1967
to 1976, and gave the established NBA a run for its money with electrifying
players like Julius “Dr. J” Erving, Connie Hawkins, George “Ice
Man” Gervin, David Thompson, Artis Gilmore and Moses Malone, among
others. The fledgling league also employed a red, white and blue ball
— as does the new ABA — many of its stars wore large afros and
the league adopted the three-point shot, all of which helped earn it an
“outlaw league” status.
After the 1976 season, the four strongest ABA teams — the then-New
York Nets (they played on Long Island and featured star player Dr. J),
Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs — joined the
NBA while the remaining teams dissolved, as did the league.
The resurrected league began in 2000, took a season off in 2002 and then
returned for the 2003 season. Besides adding 30 teams to its roster, rapper
Master P and former NBA legend Dennis Rodman played, either adding credibility
or whittling away at it, depending on one’s point of view.
Even now, the ABA provides talent to the NBA, including Malik Allen, who
now plays for the Miami Heat, and Jannero Pargo of the Chicago Bulls.
Givens, who was initially offered a head coaching position with the New
Jersey Jaguars, hopes to cultivate a team that would afford those same
opportunities to his own players.
“This will be like a farm team in the city,” he said.
