Scott Adamson, Author at Adamsonmedia.com

Stars shoot past Squadron

**James Kelly Sr. shoots a free throw while Kelan Martin looks on.**

Lately if you say “The Birmingham Squadron lost,” you sound like a broken record.

Unfortunately for the Magic City’s NBA G League club, Friday’s loss meant they actually did break a record.

**Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Twitter @adamsonsl**

Playing as the Erie Bayhawks, the team now located in Birmingham had a franchise-worst seven-game losing streak between January 23 and February 11, 2020. The 2022-23 club matched that skid with a 126-106 road setback to the Ontario Clippers on Wednesday, completing the first quarter of the 32-game regular season with a 1-7 mark.

Returning to Legacy Arena to face the Salt Lake City Stars in the first of a five-game homestand, T.J. Saint’s club hoped to avoid losing eight in a row and reaching an unwanted milestone.

However, SLC had a hot hand from wire-to-wire and was more than happy to contribute to the slump.

The Stars (3-4) rocked the Squadron (1-8) 132-110, shooting 54.7 percent from the field and hitting 15 of 39 3-pointers.

The Squadron managed a 43.3 percent shooting clip and struggled mightily from outside the arc, making just six of 30 attempts. At one point during the second quarter, Birmingham missed seven consecutive shots – including three layups that looked good going up only to rattle out.

“We changed some coverages,” Saint said. “We actually wanted them to shoot threes. They shoot a lot of them – they’re top five in the league – but they usually only shoot about 31 or 32 percent, so we actually wanted them to take them as long as they were contested.

“But we didn’t contest a lot. To be honest, we didn’t have the right effort coming into a game like this at all.”

Birmingham led 28-27 after one quarter but SLC pulled in front 53-48 at the half and outscored the hosts 79-62 over the final 24 minutes.

Frank Jackson led the winners with 29 points, while Micah Potter chipped in 27 and Johnny Juzang contributed 25.

“When you’re losing games like this, you address it,” Saint said. “You talk about what you’re doing to get in a slump. Our defense was top five and we were 4-2 in the early stretch of the Showcase Cup, and since then it’s been bottom three. You can’t win games and play this kind of defense.”

Feron Hunt finished as the Squadron’s top scorer with 24 points. Javonte Smart popped for 21, followed by Zylan Cheatham (18), Kelan Martin (17) and James Kelly Sr. (13).

Hunt also had 10 rebounds, while Kelly Sr. ripped down 14 boards

Birmingham will try to snap out of its skid when it takes on SLC again on Saturday at 7 p.m.

TODAY IN HISTORY

On this date in 1949, the Birmingham Steelers defeated the New Orleans Sports, 119-75, improving to 14-8 in the Southern Professional Basketball League. Birmingham was led by Bob Murphy’s 28 points, followed by Johnny Murphy (27), Darrel Lorrance (26) and Joe Parker (23).

The game, played before 1,100 fans at Birmingham’s Municipal Auditorium, saw the Steelers set a SPBL scoring record for most points scored by a team in a league game.

RED-HOT RIVALS

While Birmingham is currently mired at the bottom of the Western Conference standings, the Squadron’s main G League rival – the Memphis Hustle – is off to a perfect start to the regular season.

Memphis improved to 6-0 on Tuesday night with a 115-104 victory over Wisconsin. The Hustle is currently the fifth highest-scoring team in the league, averaging 120 points per outing. And with Maine’s 149-137 loss to Delaware on Thursday, Memphis is the only undefeated team left in the NBAGL.

Birmingham and Memphis are scheduled to meet one more time during the regular season, that coming on February 7 at the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi.

NEXT UP GAME

The G League on Thursday released details for its inaugural “NBA G League Next Up Game,” which will be held in Salt Lake City on February 19 as part of the NBA 2023 All-Star Game festivities.

Twenty-four G League players will compete, including 10 selected by fan vote. Any player currently on G League rosters or Two-Way players who have seen action in at least four games are eligible.

Fans can vote for their favorites now at NBAGLeague.com/vote, and voting continues until February 3 at 10:59 CT.

The remaining 14 players will include members of G League Ignite and at least one member of the Salt Lake City Stars.

The Global Basketball Association

Professional basketball has blossomed into an international game, with high level hoops played not just in North America, but Spain, Germany, Turkey, Australia and beyond.

But what if there was one league that spanned the globe?

Actually, there was – or at least one that billed itself as such.

If you don’t remember the Global Basketball Association you aren’t alone; its lifespan was shorter than that of a gym rat’s second-hand sneakers.

Officially formed on March 5, 1991, the GBA was spearheaded by former American Basketball Association commissioner Mike Storen. In making the announcement, Storen said the first season – which was to begin just eight months later – would start with four teams based in the United States as well as franchises in Italy and the Soviet Union. Ultimately, Storen hoped the league would have divisions in the U.S., Europe, Central America and South America with four to six teams in each grouping.

“Our goal is to present professional basketball in a number of major communities that today do not enjoy professional basketball,” Storen said during an introductory press conference in New York. “If you look at the NBA, it’s not expanding. The Continental Basketball Association (where Storen also served as commissioner) is in about two or three markets.

“Our goal is to go into major markets and create the first international professional basketball league and create a feature attraction in those communities.”

Some of the early stakeholders in the GBA included former North Carolina State standout Monte Towe and Larry Schmittou, owner of the Nashville Sounds of minor league baseball’s American Association.

Storen said franchise fees would be $300,000 with an operating budget of $1 million per year.

Greensboro, North Carolina, Greenville, South Carolina, Raleigh/Durham and Nashville were tapped as the flagship U.S. franchises, with teams planned for Talinn, Estonia, and San Marino, Italy.

There was also talk of putting clubs in Cincinnati, Louisville, Buffalo and Richmond along with locales in Finland, Greece, Belgium, Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico and France.

Teams would play a 64-game schedule, compete under a combination of NBA and international rules, and use a white basketball.

Salary caps would be set at $250,000 per squad – a pittance compared to the NBA – but Storen said the GBA would not be a minor league.

“Our function is not to be a farm system for or to the NBA,” he stated. “Our goal is to create a viable international professional basketball league. The average NBA salary is $900,000. If a player has an opportunity through his ability to become an NBA player, we would not hinder his ability to do that.”

Historically, fledgling leagues that try to begin play the same year of their formation often miss their deadline, but that wasn’t the case with the GBA. In fact, in August the league got an infusion of franchises when it absorbed Pro Basketball USA, a minor league consisting of teams in Memphis, Albany, Georgia, Fayetteville, North Carolina, Wichita, and Saginaw-Flint, Michigan. (Memphis didn’t make the jump to the GBA).

“We can survive without them and they can survive without us, but it makes more sense to merge,” Ron Bargatze, general manager of the GBA’s Nashville franchise, told Associated Press. “Geographically, we sort of intermingle a little bit.”

When the 1991-92 season began the GBA had 11 teams: the Albany Sharp Shooters, Fayetteville Flyers, Greensboro City Gaters, Greenville Spinners, Huntsville (Alabama) Lasers, Louisville Shooters, Mid-Michigan Great Lakers, Music City Jammers, Pensacola HotShots and Raleigh Bullfrogs.

There were also a couple of “name” coaches on board. Johnny Neumann (former Ole Miss standout who became the first player to sign a hardship clause with the ABA) guided Louisville, and Cazzie Russell (top pick of the 1966 NBA Draft who played 13 years in the Association) coached Mid-Michigan.

Conspicuously absent from the lineup were international teams, although Storen suggested they would join the league for the 1992-93 campaign.

The Jammers – despite finishing fourth in the Western Division with a 24-40 record – won the league championship by eliminating Huntsville and Mid-Michigan before downing Greenville in the championship series, four games to two.

On the plus side, the GBA made it through a full season.

On the minus side, it seemed that very few basketball fans cared that they did.

Attendance was often in the hundreds throughout the league, and every franchise seemed to be a money-losing proposition.

Storen left the GBA at the end of the season and was replaced by Ted Stepien, and when it returned for 1992-93 it was down to eight franchises.

Hall of Famer Rick Barry gave the circuit a shot of positive publicity when he was named head coach of the expansion Cedar Rapids Sharpshooters, and that club was a league-best 12-4 through 16 games.

But there would be no 17^th game as the GBA folded on December 20, 1992. Each team owed $23,000 in league dues that had to be paid by January 1, 1993, and the money wasn’t there.

“This is really a crushing blow to me,” Barry told The Gazette newspaper of Cedar Rapids. “I’ve worked as hard as I could probably work, maybe as hard as I’ve ever worked to make something happen.”

The league had a handful of quality players, including John Crotty, who went on to play 11 seasons in the NBA, and Lorenzo Williams, who had an eight-year career in roundball’s biggest league. And the multinational idea was great (even though the league never even made it to the West Coast of the United States). But with the Continental Basketball Association already well-established and getting the bulk of second-tier players, the GBA simply couldn’t generate enough interest to stay afloat.

“All of the teams were experiencing financial problems,” Albany team owner John Payne told AP. “The bottom line is you can’t continue to produce a product that nobody is buying.”

Ignite nips Squadron

**The Squadron coaching staff discusses strategy in the fourth quarter.**

BIRMINGHAM – After ringing out 2022 with a split decision against the Texas Legends, the Birmingham Squadron rang in 2023 with a setback to the G League Ignite, 126-124, in a thriller at Legacy Arena this afternoon. It was round one of their two-game bout; the teams meet again here Tuesday at 7 p.m.

This one was an instant classic witnessed by 2,423 fans.

The teams spent the better part of 48 minutes trying to get – and keep – the upper hand in momentum, but neither could pull away. With just four seconds left, however, Scoot Henderson made an acrobatic layup to put the Ignite ahead, and also drew the foul.

He missed the free throw, giving Birmingham a shot at winning or forcing overtime, but a buzzer-beating effort by Daeqwon Plowden wouldn’t fall.

The win moves the Ignite to 2-1 while the Squadron is 1-2 entering the rematch.

“It was a tale of two halves,” Squadron coach T.J. Saint said. “I thought we came out really well with our energy and the ball was popping … we tried to get back with what we were doing against Texas a couple of nights ago. We finished the first quarter doing that, but then we hit a lull. So, at halftime, we challenged them as a staff to get back to that.

“They fought back but the Ignite were very comfortable by then. I have a phrase: ‘Toughest team sets the rules,’ and we set the rules to start the game, but not long enough and then we let them back in.”

Dereon Seabron had quite a night in a losing effort, bagging a season-high 37 points on 11 of 17 shooting from the field, hitting a pair of treys and sinking 10 free throws. He also dished out five assists.

Also netting double figures for the hosts were Kelan Martin (23), Feron Hunt (18), Zylan Cheatham (18), and Javonte Smart (10).

“After I hit a couple of layups, I started to feel it a little and then I knew I’d get it rolling tonight,” Seabron said. “We knew it was gonna be a tough game and we’d need to step it up.”

Based in metro Las Vegas, the G League Ignite is professional basketball’s answer to a trade school – albeit one that features players who’ve shown an ability to one day master their trade.

Most of the athletes on the roster are prepping for the NBA Draft, and aside from intense training toward that goal they receive life skills mentoring and scholarship opportunities.

The Mexico City Captains and Ignite are the only G League teams unaffiliated with NBA clubs, but the Ignite roster is unique among the entire circuit.

Henderson, 18, is a five-star recruit from the Class of 2022 who finished his high school course work a year and half early to join the team last season. He is projected to go No. 2 in the 2023 NBA Draft behind 7-4 French sensation Victor Wembanyama.

Another prep standout who jumped straight to the Ignite is guard London Johnson. He led the Norcross (Georgia) Blue Devils to a 7A state championship last March before joining the Jamaica U17 team. The point guard was ranked by ESPN as the No. 32 overall prospect in the Class of 2023 but reclassified to the class of 2022 and inked a contract with the G League in October, 2022.

Forward Babacar Sane, 19, is an NBA Academy Africa product who played with the Senegalese National Team; guard Sidy Cissoko, 18, of France is the first European prospect to join the Ignite; guard Mojave King, 20, is an NBA Academy graduate; and forward Leonard Miller, 19, comes to the team via the Canadian prep ranks.

But the young players need experienced mentors, and they get guidance from the likes of guard Pooh Jeter (39), forward James Southerland (32), and guard John Jenkins (31).

Jenkins led the winners with 37 points (33 from 3-point range), followed by Henderson (20), Aubrey Dawkins (20), Eric Mika (18), King (15) and Cissoko (10).

Mika also snagged 11 rebounds.

“Their roster makeup is not an NBA team as far as talent, but it’s an NBA team as far as how you would set a team up,” Saint explained. “In the NBA, there are veteran guys as well as young players who are very talented. I think it’s an interesting dynamic because they get into their lulls and you see the older guys picking things back up. A lot of G League teams are just young across the board.

“It’s interesting to see them live. We haven’t played them since the bubble year so I kinda figured guys like John Jenkins would talk to them and settle them down when they needed to.”

Coached by Jason Hart, G League Ignite is eligible to compete for the league title this year for the first time.

Birmingham started out fast, taking a 5-0 lead to start the game and leading by as many as 10 in the first quarter. But Ignite made a big push in the final minutes of the frame, and trailed only 33-28 after 12 minutes.

The visitors hit their stride in the second quarter, grabbing their first lead, 41-39 and pulling ahead by as many as seven.

The Squadron made a slight dent toward the end of the quarter, but at halftime found themselves on the wrong end of a 64-59 score.

The third stanza ended with Birmingham back in front, 98-97, but the Squadron never led by more than four the rest of the way.

Possible payback, though, is just a couple of nights away.

“We have to win some more games, but this is like a playoff,” Saint said. “It’s good to make adjustments and you can specifically see what you need to do better right away. I like the setup. We have that same set up when we go to L.A. and then when Stockton comes here to play us, so I like it.”

So does Seabron.

“It’s good, especially if you lose,” he said. “Because then you have a get back and a chance to get another win.”

TIP-INS

* On this date in 1949 the Montgomery Rebels defeated the Birmingham Steelers, 87-73, in a Southern Basketball League game in the capital city. The contest was played in front of 1,600 fans in Montgomery and – until today – marked the only New Year’s Day game involving a Birmingham-based professional basketball team.

* Cheatham is a key component of the Squadron attack and has been since the team came to Birmingham last year. In year one the Arizona State product accounted for 25.2 percent of the team’s rebounding, 12.3 percent of its points and 11.5 percent of Birmingham’s total steals.

He just missed a double-double today with 18 points and nine boards.

During his time in the G League, Cheatham averages a double-double (16.1 points and 12.1 rebounds) per game.

* The G League is experimenting with its version of an “Elam Ending” this season. In overtime games during the regular season, games will end when the first team scores seven points in an untimed period.

During the Winter Showcase Cup in Las Vegas, the entire fourth quarter was played with a target score of 25 points more than the leader’s third quarter tally.