Scott Adamson, Author at Adamsonmedia.com

In-season tourney a G League feature

**Birmingham Squadron players put in some work at Bill Battle Coliseum ahead of Friday’s 2023-24 home opener against the Austin Spurs at 7 p.m.**

The NBA has added a new twist for the 2023-24 campaign in the form of an in-season tournament. And it’s called – appropriately enough – the In-Season Tournament.

It began on Friday with seven games. Between now and December 9 (with tourney group clashes played on Tuesdays and Fridays), the 30 clubs in the Association will battle for the eight available spots in the knockout round.

**Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Threads @sladamson1960 and Adamsonmedia on Facebook.**

The quarterfinals, semis and championship will be single elimination, and every player and coach on the team that snags the crown will pick up $500,000.

Scoff if you will about this “gimmick,” but basketball is built for tournaments and as a basketball fan, I’m all-in. I think it’s a fun idea that gives early season games some extra spice.

When it comes to mini-seasons within a season, though, the G League is way ahead of the curve.

The NBA developmental circuit tips-off next Friday, and all games will be part of the Showcase Cup, which culminates in the Winter Showcase in Las Vegas.

There have been 18 previous events, so it’s a standard feature of the G League. And starting on November 10, squads will be divided into four regional pods and play 16 games, with eight qualifying for the Winter Showcase.

After a winner is crowned at Mandalay Bay Convention Center on December 22, team records are reset to 0-0 and a 34-game regular season commences on December 27.

(By way of comparison, during the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament all games except the championship count in the regular season standings).

Malcolm Hill, who has spent time with two NBA teams and is now back on the roster of the Birmingham Squadron, has mixed emotions about the Showcase. Birmingham, the New Orleans Pelicans’ affiliate, hosts the Austin Spurs, feeder club for the San Antonio Spurs, on November 10 at 7 p.m. at Legacy Arena to open tournament play.

Birmingham and Austin are in the South Pod along with the Memphis Hustle, Mexico City Capitanes, Oklahoma City Blue, Osceola Magic, Rio Grande Valley Vipers and Texas Legends.

“Honestly, there are pros and cons to both sides, I guess,” Hill said. “You know you’re competing for a championship in the middle of the season, and that’s pretty cool. The flip side of it is it almost like means like nothing, because then (the season) starts over.

“But if you’re a bad team, you have the opportunity to kind of finish things the way you ideally wanted to once the regular season starts.”

The Squadron – which came to Birmingham in 2021-22 after two years as the Erie BayHawks – has yet to make it to the money round in Vegas.

They finished 9-5 in the 2021 event and 6-12 last year.

The stakes are different, but Birmingham coach T.J. Saint says his approach to Showcase Cup Games is the same as a regular season contest.

“Really, it’s all about building your identity to help these guys achieve their dreams,” he said. “The only incentive is that obviously if you do win the Showcase Cup you get 100 grand, so that’s on the line, but we don’t really change anything from a preparation standpoint.”

That preparation continued with a scrimmage against the College Park Skyhawks on Saturday, and cut day for training camp hopefuls is set for the middle of next week.

Then, it’s tournament time.

“I think it’s great,” said UAB product Trey Jemison, who signed with the Squadron last month. “It gives you a whole month to compete for something like the (Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy), and then you get to start the regular season.”

For tickets to next Friday’s home opener go to Birmingham.gleague.nba.com/tickets.

The math doesn’t add up

With run-of-the-mill haunted houses and standard Halloween parties anywhere and everywhere, Jack Fancher and Jean Dobbler were looking for something different. So, how could they pass up something called “Sam Haynes’ Self Storage Facility of Horror?”

Their walk from the Allantide City Center, where revelers were coming and going from parties, took them to several side streets. And it was a homemade sign staked by the side of the road that pointed to an out-of-the-ordinary establishment.

The self-storage part was self-explanatory; it was, indeed, a row of several units with rollup doors.

As for the horror, well, muffled screaming and pounding on the inside of the steel doors created a cacophony that was more irritating than frightening. And instead of a shadowy figure ready to greet unsuspecting victims, the host for the evening was none other than the rather dodgy-looking Sam Haynes himself.

Bespectacled, wheezing – a lit cigarette dangled from his lips – and topped by a horrendously-bad combover, Sam motioned Jack and Jean to come closer.

“Evening,” Sam said, taking a drag from his Lucky Strike. “Are you two ready for the most horrifying experience of your lifetimes?”

The couple chuckled.

“We were just looking for something new,” Jean said. “We love the name of the place … but we were hoping you could tell us a little bit about what to expect first. Also, how much are you charging for admission?”

Sam thought for a second.

“You know, I really don’t have a set price … it mostly depends on my mood,” he said. “How about this; I’ll take five dollars a head and if you don’t think the Sam Haynes’ Self Storage Facility of Horror experience is the most frightening of your lives, I’ll double your money back.

“Now, you can’t beat a deal like that anywhere.”

Jack nodded in approval.

“Hell, yeah, my man,” he said. “But Jean and me – we’ve basically seen it all, so I’m pretty sure we’ll be leaving here with 20 bucks between us.”

Sam turned and began walking toward the units.

“Follow me,” he said. “We’re going to No. 7 down here.”

The banging on the closed units continued, along with more screams and wails. Jack and Jean assumed there were some pop scares courtesy of Self Storage Facility of Horror cast members, although they had no idea how such theatrics could be done convincingly in something that was basically a small garage.

When they reached the front of the unit and looked inside, there was only a table, two chairs, two pencils, two sheets of paper, a loudspeaker attached to the wall and what appeared to be a drop box.

“OK,” Sam said. “You two step inside and I’ll close up. Then we’ll get this party started.”

Jean balked.

“Wait a minute,” she said. “Is this some kind of condo sign-up thing? I don’t see anything in there that’s scary – unless, of course, it is some kind of condo sign-up thing. We’re not interested in anything like that.”

Sam unleashed a loud, chunky cough, then unceremoniously spat dangerously close to Jack’s shoe.

“Up to you,” he said. “I can give you your money back now or – if your boyfriend here is right – you can leave with twice what you gave me. I ain’t gonna push you into doing something you don’t wanna do, though.”

Jack looked at Jean and shrugged.

“Come on Jean,” Jack said. “Even if it is some dumb gimmick, we’ll still come out ahead.”

The two walked in the stuffy unit, and Sam then stepped back to pull down the door.

“Just go in, sit down and in about a minute you’ll get instructions from the loudspeaker,” he said. “But give me your cellphones first; they can set off some pyrotechnics prematurely and we sure don’t want that, do we?”

Sam took the phones and then slammed down the door.

Jack and Jean, meanwhile, made their way to the table and pulled out the chairs. They glanced at two pencils, fully sharpened, and two blank sheets of paper, glaring under the tube lighting on the ceiling.

Moments later, the loudspeaker crackled.

“Can you guys hear me?” Sam asked.

“Yes, we can,” Jean said. “So, are we supposed to be scared of sharp pencils and paper?”

The speaker crackled again.

“Well, yeah, kinda,” Sam said. “Have either of you ever heard of something called the Riemann hypothesis?”

There was no response, so Sam assumed they had not.

“According to Wikipedia it says here that the Riemann hypothesis is – and I’m quoting – the conjecture that the Riemann zeta function has its zeros only at the negative even integers and complex numbers with real part 12.”

If this was a joke, Jack wasn’t laughing.

“This is ridiculous, man,” Jack said. “You brought us in here to do math? Just open up and give us 20 dollars.”

There was a short pause before Sam replied.

“No, see, I can’t do that,” he said. “Not unless you can solve the Riemann hypothesis. If you can, you need to put your answer in the drop box. If you can’t, then I guess this is your tomb.”

Jack banged the table.

“Enough!” he shouted. “Let us out, or I’m gonna kick your old ass.”

Sam cackled.

“Son, nobody’s every solved that math problem,” he said. “And that means nobody has ever gotten out of Sam Haynes’ Self Storage Facility of Horror … at least not alive. You can yell and bang and scream all you want – all my other victims have – but everybody screams and makes noise on Halloween an nobody thinks anything of it. Help ain’t coming, and you’ll be out of air in a couple of hours.”

Jack and Jean continued yelling and banging against the wall, draining their energy while increasing their feelings of hopelessness.

“Happy Halloween,” Sam whispered through the speaker. “Did I promise the most horrifying experience of your lifetimes, or what?”

Squadron ready for Year 3

T,J. Saint enters his second year as head coach of Birmingham’s G League team. The Squadron opens at home against the Austin Spurs on November 10 at 7 p.m. (*photo courtesy of the Birmingham Squadron*)

The NBA Draft lottery took place on May 16; the Draft itself was held June 22; training camp opened on October 3; and the regular season commenced on October 24.

In the G League, however, things come together far more quickly.

The draft was today, training camp starts on Monday, and the 2023-24 season tips-off on November 10. In other words, there’s much work to be done and a short time to do it.

The Birmingham Squadron – affiliates of the New Orleans Pelicans – opens against the Austin Spurs at Legacy Arena on November 10, hoping to vastly improve on last year’s 11-21 regular season record (and 6-16 mark in the in-season Showcase Cup tournament).

“We’ll have three days of two practices a day to start camp,” T.J. Saint, entering his second season as Birmingham’s head coach, said on Friday. “We will also do a controlled practice day with College Park (the Atlanta Hawks’ G League team) and then play them in an exhibition game the next day. After that first week, and being able to compare yourself with another G League team, will give us a great barometer of where we are as a team because they have the same constraints.

“It’s really just the nature of pro basketball and this is year nine for me, so I really don’t know any different.”

The NBA voted to add an additional two-way player to each team’s roster in 2023-24, giving them three. Due to injuries, Birmingham had access to only one a year ago – Dereon Seabron.

The guard was a force for the Squadron in 2022-23, averaging 34.5 minutes on the court over 27 outings and scoring 18.4-points per night. He also made five appearances with the Pelicans last season.

“I’m really looking forward to working with Dereon … he’s not a rookie anymore,” Saint said during the summer. “Having him there in his second year means knowing what to expect and knowing he’s gotten a lot better and gotten a lot stronger. I think he’s going to have a banner year.”

This year, Seabron will have some help from two more double-dippers – Kaiser Gates and Matt Ryan.

Gates spent time with three G League teams before signing with New Orleans last month. The 6-7, 225-pound small forward appeared in 24 games with the Long Island Nets last season, averaging 14 points and six rebounds per game. His overall G League average is 12.5 points and 6.5 rebounds over 122 games, including 66 starts.

Ryan has been with the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves organizations, and last fall and winter appeared in 22 games for Minnesota.

He pumped in 19 points per outing in seven starts with the G League Iowa Wolves in 2022-23.

“We have a lot of versatility with our two-ways this year,” Saint explained. “Each of them plays a different position and have different skill sets. Kaiser brings a tremendous G League pedigree. A top defender in the G as well as his 3-point shooting, which at 55 percent and five attempts a game is incredibly impressive from last season.

“Matt has a solid amount of NBA experience and is also a lights-out shooter. Having coached against him in the G as well, he plays very hard and stretches the floor. Both players are extremely high character.”

The Squadron also signed 2021 NBA G League Finals MVP Devin Cannady earlier this month.

Playing with the Lakeland Magic, Cannady got the MVP nod after scoring 22 points in the championship game. He played for the South Bay Lakers last year, averaging 12.6 points per game.

The newest addition to the club is Pavel Savkov, who was taken in the first round of today’s draft, No. 6 overall.

Savkov is a 6-7, 200-pound guard from Moscow. Last year, the 21-year-old played in three different Spanish leagues and recently extended his international contract with Saski Baskonia of Liga ACB and the EuroLeague.

The training camp roster was released Sunday morning, with 14 players competing for 13 roster spots: Seabron, G; Landers Nolley II, G; Liam Robbins, C; Tevian Jones, G; Savkov, G; Jalen Crutcher, G; Galen Robinson Jr., G; Izaiah Brockington, G; Nate Bradley Jr., G; Kevion Nolan, G; Cannady, G; Malcolm Hill, G; Daniel Giddens, C; and UAB product Trey Jemison, C.

The Squadron moves from the Western Conference to the Eastern Conference this year and will face six new opponents for the first time in franchise history – the Cleveland Charge, Indiana Mad Ants, Motor City Cruise, Long Island Nets, Westchester Knicks and Windy City Bulls.

“Fans can look forward to seeing a team that has a high level of readiness, attention to detail, and a highly connected group,” Saint said.

For ticket info, go to BirminghamSquadron.com.