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62-585: The Montana Golden Nuggets are a former Continental Basketball Association (CBA) team that played from 1980 to 1983. They played their home games at Four Seasons Arena in Great Falls . Montana reached the CBA finals in 1981 and 1983, with George Karl earning Coach of the Year honors both seasons. Karl's 1980-81 team, led by John Douglas, Phil Taylor, Willie Smith and Geoff Crompton , went 27–15. The Nuggets met

124-610: A three-point field goal arc , pioneered in the earlier ABL. Also, the ABA used a colorful red, white and blue ball, instead of the NBA's traditional orange ball. The ABA also had several "regional" franchises, such as the Virginia Squires and Carolina Cougars , that played "home" games in several cities. In the 1973–74 season, the ABA also adopted the no-disqualification foul rule: instead of fouling out after six infractions, when

186-426: A financial situation or familial needs, players should be able to leave for professional leagues early. While the NBA and NCAA initially contested the rule, after the courts ruled in favor of Haywood playing in the ABA, the NBA followed suit and relaxed the four year rule to allow players to enter the league if they qualified as a hardship on the basis of “financial condition…family, [or] academic record.” Haywood paved

248-477: A game in Kansas City due to the lack of a suitable arena. In addition to the four surviving ABA teams, eight current NBA markets have ABA heritage: Utah , Dallas , Houston , Miami , New Orleans , Memphis , Minnesota , and Charlotte all had an ABA team before their current NBA teams. With the ABA cut down to seven teams by the middle of its final season, the league abandoned divisional play. In 1999,

310-495: A high scoring Rochester team in the championship, where they were swept, four games to none. The club went 30–16 the next season with a roster featuring Ronnie Valentine , Walter Jordan , U.S. Reed , Robert Smith, Kenny Dennard and Terry Stotts , but lost in the conference finals to in-state rival the Billings Volcanos . A return to the championship marked the 1983 season, the team's last. Montana lost to Detroit in

372-413: A no foul-out rule and a change in the way league standings were determined. Under the "7-Point System", seven points were awarded each game: three points for winning a game and one point for every quarter a team won. As a result, a winning team would wind up with four to seven points in the standings, while a losing team could collect from zero to three points. This made for at least some fan interest even in

434-527: A player is charged with his seventh or succeeding fouls, the opposing team retains possession and the offended team attempts any free throw. The ABA also went after four of the best referees in the NBA: Earl Strom , John Vanak , Norm Drucker and Joe Gushue , getting them to "jump" leagues by offering them far more in money and benefits. In Earl Strom's memoir Calling the Shots , Strom conveys both

496-492: A professional Northeastern regional league and as an unofficial feeder system to the NBA and ABA . The CBA's first commissioner was Harry Rudolph, father of NBA referee Mendy Rudolph . Steve A. Kauffman , currently a basketball agent, succeeded Rudolph as commissioner in 1975. Kauffman executed a plan to bring the Anchorage Northern Knights into the league beginning with the 1977–78 season. Kauffman kept

558-480: A randomly selected fan could hit one shot from the far foul line, 69.75 feet (21.26 m). No one won the insured prize, but the shot attracted national media coverage in Sports Illustrated , The New York Times , and The Sporting News . In 1984, the CBA signed a cable television contract with BET with 10 CBA games televised on a tape delay. For national media attention, the league created

620-499: A second 10-day contract. After the second 10-day contract, the team had to either return the player to his CBA team or sign him for the balance of the NBA regular season. The CBA teams, in turn, received compensation for each 10-day contract. By 1980, the CBA had become the official development league of the NBA. CBA teams had exclusive rights to players released by their NBA affiliated teams. NBA teams could sign players from any CBA team. By 1986, 54 former CBA players were playing in

682-638: The American Basketball League (1961–1962) in adding a three-point line, the Eastern League added a three-point line for its 1964–65 season. Although three-point shots during the 1960s were few and far between, the Eastern League developed several scorers who used the three-point shot to their advantage. For the 1970–71 season, the league rebranded itself the Eastern Basketball Association, operating as

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744-859: The Hazleton Mountaineers had three African-American players on their roster during the season – Bill Brown, Zack Clayton and John Isaacs . Isaacs previously played with an all-black touring squad (the Washington Bears), while Brown and Clayton were alumni of the Harlem Globetrotters . During the 1955–56 season, the Hazleton Hawks Eastern League team was the first integrated professional league franchise with an all-black starting lineup: Tom Hemans, Jesse Arnelle , Fletcher Johnson, Sherman White and Floyd Lane. The all-black Dayton Rens competed in

806-711: The New York Knicks defeated the Allentown Jets 131–102 at Allentown; and a contest in April 1961, in which the Boston Celtics also played an exhibition contest against Allentown (defeating the Eastern Leaguers soundly). The Eastern League became a haven for players who wanted to play professionally, but were barred from the NBA because of academic restrictions. Even though Ray Scott had left

868-752: The "CBA Sportscaster Contest" to select a color commentator for its BET telecasts. With tryouts nationwide, the promotion was featured on the NBC Nightly News , Entertainment Tonight , Sports Illustrated and other media. The contest was won by a NJ high school basketball coach, Bill Lange, who later coached the Philadelphia Spirit minor league team in the United States Basketball League. After two tape-delayed seasons on BET, CBA games moved to ESPN , with 13 games televised live. ESPN sportscaster Bob Ley did

930-474: The 1948–49 National Basketball League. During the early years of the CBA, when it was known as the EPBL, the league's relationship with the NBA was frosty at best. The NBA sent several players to the Eastern League for extra playing time, and for several seasons two Eastern League teams played the opening game of a New Year's Eve doubleheader at Madison Square Garden (with the NBA playing the nightcap game). Although

992-488: The 1950s through the 1960s, many NBA teams had unofficial quotas on the number of black players on their teams. Many players joined other professional leagues, including the EPBL. The league was fast and physical, often played in tiny, smoke-filled gyms across the Northeastern United States , and featuring the best players who could not make many NBA teams because of the quotas. Following the lead of

1054-466: The 1979–80 NBA season, the NBA used the CBA to test an innovation as part of the basket, the breakaway rim , in the 1980–81 CBA season. Three designs were chosen to be used in games, being chosen from ten prototype designs. Several college basketball players were asked to try to break the rims before being introduced in the CBA. When force was placed upon the spring-loaded rim, it would be pulled down, then spring safely back in place. The NBA and CBA adopted

1116-614: The 2000–01 season. Before the 2000–01 season, the CBA signed a television contract with BET to broadcast up to 18 games, including the CBA All-Star Game, although the CBA folded midway through the season. Several of its teams briefly joined the now-defunct International Basketball League . Highlights of Thomas's ownership of the CBA included: In fall 2001, CBA and IBL teams merged with the International Basketball Association and purchased

1178-528: The 57 pick in the 1986 CBA draft; in the 1994 CBA draft Mexican soccer player Jorge Campos was drafted by the Mexico Aztecas , despite his ineligibility. In 1997, Lamar Odom , then a highly recruited high school prospect, was given the opportunity to enter the CBA draft and choose the team he wanted to play for, reversing the traditional drafting process; Odom, however, decided not to hire an agent and opted to play in college. The commissioners of

1240-467: The ABA eventually caught on with fans, but the lack of a national television contract and protracted financial losses would spell doom for the ABA as an independent circuit. In 1976, its last year of existence, the ABA pioneered the now-popular slam dunk contest at its all-star game in Denver . The league succeeded in forcing a merger with the NBA in the 1976 offseason. Four ABA teams were absorbed into

1302-556: The CBA were: American Basketball Association The ABA was conceived at a time stretching from 1960 through the mid-1970s when numerous upstart leagues were challenging, with varying degrees of success, the established major professional sports leagues in the United States. Basketball was seen as particularly vulnerable to a challenge; its major league, the National Basketball Association ,

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1364-505: The CBA. From 1978 through 1986, CBA commissioner Jim Drucker created several new rules to raise fan interest, which were then adopted by the league: The CBA established a draft in 1985, following the NBA's decision to reduce its draft from 10 rounds to 7. This allowed the CBA teams to have a wider selection of players: the selection criteria were the same as the NBA draft. As with the NBA draft, players had to renounce their college eligibility if they wanted to declare early. While initially

1426-550: The Eastern League a year before) were now in ABA uniforms. The ABA continued to siphon off NBA and Eastern League players, leaving the Eastern League with only six teams in 1972 and four teams in 1975. Only the ABA-NBA merger in June 1976 kept the Eastern League alive, as an influx of players from defunct ABA teams joined the league. In 1979, the NBA signed four players from the newly renamed CBA. The CBA, receiving no compensation from

1488-754: The Knicks, the Nets were forced to pay $ 4.3M to the Knicks organization. The Nets offered league superstar Julius Erving instead but the Knicks declined. The Nets had to settle for an arena in Piscataway, New Jersey , and, to meet expenses, were forced to sell the contract of Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers . Two other clubs, the Kentucky Colonels and the Spirits of St. Louis , were disbanded upon

1550-597: The NBA after being one year removed from their high school graduation. The origin of the Hardship Rule was a result of the NBA prohibiting players from joining the league until they had completed their four years of college eligibility. In 1969, Spencer Haywood left the University of Detroit as a sophomore and signed with the Denver Rockets. The ABA believed that in extenuating circumstances, such as

1612-514: The NBA and the Spirits ownership agreed to phase out future payments in exchange for a one-time payment of $ 500M, making the total value for the deal over $ 800M. The seventh remaining team, the Virginia Squires , received nothing, as they had ceased operations shortly before the merger. The players from the Colonels, Spirits, and Squires were made available to NBA teams through a dispersal draft;

1674-463: The NBA for these signings, sued the NBA. The suit was settled and in exchange for the right to sign any CBA player at any time, the NBA paid the CBA $ 115,000; it also paid the CBA $ 80,000 to develop NBA referees in the CBA. During this time, the NBA created the "10-day-contract", where an NBA team could sign a CBA player for 10 days, at the pro rata NBA minimum salary (as per the NBA's collective bargaining agreement ). The NBA team could re-sign him to

1736-615: The NBA in 1976–77 as a season-long competition for that season only, and on a permanent basis as a standalone event as part of the NBA All-Star Weekend in 1984. Of the original 11 teams, only the Kentucky Colonels and Indiana Pacers remained for all nine seasons without relocating, changing team names, or folding. However, the Denver Larks/Rockets/Nuggets , a team that had been planned for Kansas City, Missouri , moved to Denver without playing

1798-403: The NBA played exhibition games with the Eastern League during the late 1940s and early 1950s, the exhibition games ceased in 1954 when the Eastern League signed several college basketball players involved in point-shaving gambling scandals during their college years, including Jack Molinas , Sherman White , Floyd Layne , and Al Roth . The Eastern League also signed 7-foot center Bill Spivey ,

1860-571: The NBA, including Phil Jackson (Albany Patroons), Bill Musselman ( Tampa Bay Thrillers ), Eric Musselman (Rapid City Thrillers), Flip Saunders (LaCrosse Catbirds) and George Karl (Montana Golden Nuggets). In 2001, the NBA formed its own minor league, the National Basketball Development League (the NBDL or "D-League"). At the end of the 2005–2006 season, three current and one expansion CBA franchises jumped to

1922-562: The NBA. In 1987 the CBA announced that teams were allowed to sign players banned for drug use by the NBA. Mitchell Wiggins , who was suspended by the NBA for cocaine use, was one of the first players signed in the CBA under the new rule that was implemented in conjunction with the NBA and NBA Players Association . During the 1993–94 season, the NBA–CBA affiliate relationship was replaced by an annual draft of NBA players. The draft gave CBA teams exclusive negotiating rights with NBA players in

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1984-541: The NBDL. During the 2006–07 season no players were called up from the CBA to the NBA, ending a streak of over 30 seasons of at least one call-up per year. That soon led to the beginning of the end for the CBA. The CBA followed largely the same basketball rules as the NBA and most other professional leagues. Sometimes rules adopted by the CBA on an experimental basis later became permanent in that league and were adopted by other levels of basketball as well; others remained unique to

2046-514: The University of Portland two months after his matriculation, the NBA could not sign Scott to a contract until Scott's class graduated. The EPBL, however, could sign him and Scott played 77 games for the Allentown Jets before later joining the NBA's Detroit Pistons . By the 1967–68 season, the Eastern League lost many of its players when the upstart American Basketball Association formed. Players such as Lavern "Jelly" Tart, Willie Somerset , Art Heyman and Walt Simon (all of whom were all-stars in

2108-531: The assets of the defunct CBA (including its name, logo and records) from the bankruptcy trustee and resumed operations as the CBA, assuming the former league's identity and history. The league obtained eight new franchises (for a total of ten) for the 2006 season. The Atlanta Krunk Wolverines and Vancouver Dragons deferred their participation until the 2007–2008 season and the Utah Eagles folded on January 25, 2007. The CBA's 2007–08 season began with 10 franchises,

2170-419: The centerfold of their game program, each identified with a unique serial number, and attempt to throw it through the moon roof of a new Ford Thunderbird parked at mid-court. Four fans were successful and a tie-breaker determined the winner who drove home with the new $ 17,000 car. In August 1999, the CBA's teams were purchased by an investment group led by former NBA star Isiah Thomas . The group bought all of

2232-593: The draft was limited to players who were not drafted in the NBA, this later changed, and on several occasions players were drafted by both the NBA and the CBA. Some examples include Nick Van Exel (1993, Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA and Rapid City Thrillers of the CBA), Dontonio Wingfield (1994, Seattle SuperSonics and Rapid City Thrillers), Stephen Jackson (1997, Phoenix Suns and La Crosse Bobcats ), and Jason Hart (2000, Milwaukee Bucks and Idaho Stampede ). CBA franchises usually selected players who had

2294-423: The event of their release from an NBA roster. The CBA team owned exclusive rights to the draftee in perpetuity. During the 1980s and 1990s, the NBA's relationship with the CBA grew to the point where dozens of former CBA stars found their way onto NBA rosters, including Tim Legler (Omaha Racers), Mario Elie (Albany Patroons), and John Starks (Cedar Rapids Silver Bullets). The CBA also sent qualified coaches to

2356-472: The final ABA All-Star Game in 1976. The game was held in Denver, and the owners of the ABA teams wanted to ensure that the event would be entertaining for the sellout crowd of 15,021 people. The ABA and NBA had begun to discuss a possible merger, and the ABA owners wanted to establish the viability and success of their league. The Dunk Contest operated as a means of unique halftime entertainment that displayed

2418-476: The former University of Kentucky standout who was accused of point-shaving; although Spivey was acquitted of all charges, the NBA still banned him from the league for life. After a few seasons, however, the NBA and EPBL resumed exhibition games in the 1950s (including a 1956 matchup in which the NBA's Syracuse Nationals lost to the EPBL's Wilkes-Barre Barons at Wilkes-Barre's home court). Other EPBL-NBA exhibition matchups include an October 1959 contest in which

2480-457: The four teams absorbed by the NBA were allowed to choose players from this draft. One of the more significant long-term contributions of the ABA to professional basketball was to tap into markets in the southeast that had been collegiate basketball hotbeds (including North Carolina , Virginia , and Kentucky). The NBA was focused on the urban areas of the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast. At

2542-674: The greatest number of teams to start a CBA season since the 2000–01 season. In addition to six returning franchises the CBA added three expansion teams – the Oklahoma Cavalry , the Rio Grande Valley Silverados and East Kentucky Miners ; the Atlanta Krunk joined the league after sitting out the 2006–07 season. The 2008–2009 season began with only four teams, instead of the expected five. The Pittsburgh Xplosion folded under unclear circumstances, and

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2604-632: The heady sense of being courted by a rival league with money to burn — and also the depression that set in the next year when he began refereeing in the ABA, with less prominent players performing in inadequate arenas, in front of very small crowds. Nevertheless, the emergence of the ABA boosted the salaries of referees just as it did the salaries of players. However ABA Teams like Nets, Colonels, Pacers, Spurs, Nuggets and Stars, especially in latest seasons, registered higher attendance on average than most of NBA teams at that time (excluding Lakers, Knicks, Celtics, SuperSonics and Bucks). The freewheeling style of

2666-492: The higher chance to sign for them instead of signing overseas or in the NBA, even though some teams used their picks in the later rounds to select players who were likely to be drafted in the NBA, in the event these players were cut in the preseason. Some teams also used their picks for publicity: for example, Cheryl Miller , a female player who played for USC in college, was selected by the Rockford Lightning with

2728-497: The individually owned franchises of the CBA, in a $ 10 million acquisition. Over the course of the next 18 months, Thomas was faced with a plethora of business troubles, losing the league's partnership with the NBA and ultimately abandoning the league into a blind trust that left teams unable to meet payroll or pay bills. The combined-ownership plan was unsuccessful and, by 2001, the CBA had declared bankruptcy and ceased operations; it folded on February 8, 2001, without managing to complete

2790-413: The late stages of games that were otherwise blowouts; the trailing team could still get a standings point by winning the final quarter, especially if the team that was leading chose to rest some or all of its starters. The league used this method to calculate division standings from its implementation in 1983 until the league's end in 2009. After Darryl Dawkins shattered two basketball backboards during

2852-601: The league featured the "Easy Street Shootout". In that shootout, 14 contestants, one from each CBA city, were selected and the person making the longest shot won a $ 1,000,000 zero-coupon bond . The winner was Don Mattingly of the Evansville Thunder , unrelated to the New York Yankee baseball player . After the league's 1985 All-Star Game in Casper, Wyoming , the CBA invited fans to make a paper airplane from

2914-752: The league finals, four games to three. In late 2006, the "Electric City" saw the return of the CBA in the form of the Great Falls Explorers . Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association ( CBA ), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League , and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association ,

2976-529: The league name because he felt having a team in the Eastern League from Alaska might get the league additional notice and recognition. The establishment of the Anchorage franchise garnered national media attention, including a feature story in Sports Illustrated . Kauffman served as commissioner until 1978, when his deputy commissioner, Jim Drucker , took the reins. Drucker's eight-season reign

3038-473: The league scheduled games against American Basketball Association (ABA) teams for the first month of the season in an attempt to stay solvent. The maneuver was not enough. On February 2, 2009, the league announced a halt to operations, turning a scheduled series between the Albany Patroons and Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry into the league-championship series. During the 1946–47 Eastern League season,

3100-402: The merger, with each getting a buyout: the Colonels received a one-time buyout that owner John Y. Brown, Jr. used to purchase the NBA's Buffalo Braves , while the Spirits owners negotiated a cut of the other ABA teams' television revenues in perpetuity. This deal netted the ownership group of the Spirits over $ 300M over nearly four decades due to a large increase in television revenues. In 2014,

3162-486: The most resilient design among the three for the 1981–82 season. Also during this time, the CBA created a series of halftime promotions. The most successful was the "1 Million Dollar CBA Supershot". In an era where the typical basketball halftime promotion, even in NCAA Division I and the NBA, featured a winning prize worth less than $ 100, the CBA's Supershot, created in 1983, offered a grand prize of $ 1 million if

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3224-485: The older league: the New York Nets , Denver Nuggets , Indiana Pacers , and San Antonio Spurs . As part of the merger agreement, the four teams were not permitted to participate in the 1976 NBA draft . The merger was particularly hard on the Nets; the New York Knicks were firmly established in their arena, Madison Square Garden , and would not permit the Nets to share dates there. For drawing audience away from

3286-561: The play-by-play and former NBA player and coach Kevin Loughery provided color commentary. Drucker left as Commissioner, and his TV production company, Global Sports, produced the ESPN telecasts. In 1985, the CBA followed with the "Ton-of-Money Free Throw", which featured a prize of 2,000 pounds (910 kg) of pennies ($ 5,000) if a randomly selected fan could make just one free throw. Two of fourteen contestants were successful. The next year,

3348-659: The stars of the New York Knicks championship teams, moved from his job as vice president and GM of the ABA's New York Nets in 1975 to become the last commissioner of the ABA and facilitate the ABA–NBA merger in 1976. One of the primary contributions of the ABA to modern NBA was the introduction of the Spencer Haywood Hardship Rule , which would later become the framework for the current NBA draft eligibility system that allows players to declare for

3410-499: The style and excitement that the ABA players brought to the game. The dunk contest was held at halftime of the All-Star game and the contestants were Artis Gilmore , George Gervin , David Thompson , Larry Kenon , and Julius Erving . The winner of the contest received $ 1,000 and a stereo system. Julius Erving went on to win the competition by completing the now famous free throw line dunk. The Slam Dunk Contest would make its way to

3472-463: The time, it showed no interest in placing a team south of Washington, D.C., other than the Atlanta metropolitan area where the NBA's Hawks franchise relocated from St. Louis in 1968. NBA great George Mikan was the first commissioner of the ABA, where he introduced both the 3-point line and the league's trademark red, white, and blue basketball. Mikan resigned in 1969. Dave DeBusschere , one of

3534-399: The time. When the merger occurred, ABA officials said their investment would more than double. The ABA distinguished itself from its older counterpart with a more wide-open, flashy style of offensive play, as well as differences in rules — a 30-second shot clock (as opposed to the NBA's 24-second clock, though the ABA did switch to the 24 second shot clock for the 1975–76 season) and use of

3596-424: The way for other players to enter the ABA before they had completed their collegiate careers such as George McGinnis and Julius Erving. Today, the "one-and-done" rule in the NBA can be traced back to the ABA's decision to allow players to leave college early and pursue a professional career before they had completed their collegiate careers. The ABA pioneered the advent of the now popular NBA slam dunk contest at

3658-741: Was a men's professional basketball minor league in the United States from 1946 to 2009. The Continental Basketball Association was founded on April 23, 1946, under its previous name, the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League. It went on to bill itself as the "World's Oldest Professional Basketball League", since its founding pre-dated the founding of the National Basketball Association by two months. The league fielded six franchises, five of which were in Pennsylvania : Allentown , Hazleton , Lancaster , Reading , and Wilkes-Barre . A sixth team, Binghamton ,

3720-811: Was located in New York , but moved to Pottsville in Pennsylvania mid-season. In 1948, the league was renamed the Eastern Professional Basketball League, and additional franchises were added in three additional Pennsylvania cities, Williamsport , Scranton , and Sunbury , three New Jersey cities, Trenton , Camden , and Asbury Park , three in Connecticut , New Haven , Hartford , Bridgeport , and in Wilmington, Delaware , and Springfield, Massachusetts . From

3782-660: Was the longest in the league's history. Drucker, son of NBA referee Norm Drucker , continued as commissioner until 1986. As commissioner, the league was renamed the Continental Basketball Association in 1978, eventually leading to expansion across the country. During Drucker's term, the league expanded from 8 to 14 teams, landed its first national TV contracts and saw franchise values increase from $ 5,000 to $ 500,000, an aggregate increase in equity value from $ 24,000 to $ 7 million. The league instituted novel rule changes including sudden-death overtime,

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3844-601: Was the youngest of the Big Four major leagues, having only played 21 seasons to that point, and was still fending off contemporary challenging leagues (it had been less than five years since the American Basketball League (ABL) shut down). According to one of the owners of the Indiana Pacers , its goal was to force a merger with the more established league. Potential investors were told that they could get an ABA team for half of what it cost to get an NBA expansion team at

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