Category: Basketball

Thursday was an active day for the Birmingham Squadron.

It started with the acquisition of 6-11 center/forward Karlo Matkovic, brought in to add some size and strength to the lineup.

Later in the afternoon Malcolm Hill – the NBA G League’s top scorer – was given a two-way contract by Birmingham’s parent club, the New Orleans Pelicans.

And Jalen Crutcher, who has played every game for T.J. Saint’s squad in 2023-24,  got a 10-day contract with New Orleans and was immediately assigned to the Squadron.

For the day to have a happy ending, though, the Squadron needed to topple the visiting Maine Celtics at Legacy Arena.

Dereon Seabron made sure they did.

Seabron scored on a reverse layup with 1.3 seconds left as Birmingham (9-12) downed Boston’s developmental team, 127-125, in front of 1,353 fans.

The Squadron led by six late but the Celtics (11-10) managed to rally and knot the score at 125-all just 14 seconds from the finish.

Opting to work the clock down, Seabron made sure the ball was in his hands when it came time for the last shot.

It was the most important bucket of his 16-point night, and he also added 11 rebounds to earn the double-double.

But the “W” was secured in large part by Hill and Matkovic; Hill finished with a team-high 27 points and Matkovic was outstanding in his Magic City debut with 19 points and nine rebounds.

E.J. Liddell aided the cause with a double-double of his own (16 points, 10 boards), while Landers Nolley II added 12 points, Izaiah Brockington chipped in 11 and Crutcher wound up with 10.

Joe Wieskamp led Maine with 36 points and University of Alabama product JD Davison, a two-way player, contributed 28 points and eight rebounds.

Other double-digit scorers for the Celtics were Drew Peterson (18), Tony Snell (12), Jordan Walsh (11) and DJ Steward (10).

The game was tight throughout, with Maine leading 30-27 after the first quarter and 62-54 at intermission.

Birmingham won the third quarter 28-20 to erase the deficit, and outscored the visitors 45-43 in a wild fourth stanza. The victory leaves the Squadron three games out of the final playoff position with 13 games remaining.

Next up: The Squadron and Celtics square off again here Friday at 7 p.m.

Ignite in trouble?: One of the unique aspects of the G League is the Ignite, a team based in Nevada and made up of elite NBA prospects. It was formed as an alternative to college basketball, offering salaries up to $500,000.

However, NBA commissioner Adam Silver suggested that G League Ignite will be “reassessed” due to NIL options for current college players.

“I think given that that’s happened, I think we are in the process of reassessing Team Ignite,” Silver said during his state of the league address during All-Star weekend. “Now some of those same players who didn’t want to be one-and-done players because they felt it was unfair and they wanted the ability not just to earn a living playing basketball but to do commercial deals that weren’t available to them at college, to hire professional agents, an opportunity that wasn’t available to them at college, they now — all of those same opportunities have become available to them.

“I’m not sure what the future of Team Ignite will be, because before there was a hole in the marketplace that we thought we were filling before doing that, and now my focus is turning to earlier development of those players.”

OTD in 1948: The Birmingham Vulcans of the Southern Professional Basketball League defeated the Mobile Gulls, 77-46, for their ninth consecutive victory in league competition and tenth straight overall.

Shag Hawkins led the winners with 20 points and four other Vulcans notched double figures.

OTD in 1949: The Birmingham Steelers of the SPBL lost to the Laurel Oilers, 78-49, allowing Montgomery to clinch the league title.

As someone who loves symmetry, the NBA G League’s 31-team lineup has been bugging me for a while.

Don’t misunderstand – I love the Association’s developmental circuit. Once ESPN+ began televising games in 2018, I watched as many as I could. (The Brooklyn Nets are my favorite NBA team, so I cheered for the G League’s Long Island Nets until my hometown Birmingham Squadron – affiliates of the New Orleans Pelicans –  came along in 2021).

I won’t say it became an obsession, but I won’t say it didn’t become an obsession.

Still, there was something missing – namely a farm club for the Phoenix Suns. While the G League Ignite and Capitanes de Ciudad de Mexico (Mexico City Captains) are independent and unique, every other G League club had a parent.

Starting next season, the franchise repping Arizona’s capital will be childless no more as the Suns will own and operate a G League team located in the Phoenix metro area.

“We are honored to welcome Mat Ishbia and the Phoenix Suns to the NBA G League, and are thrilled to achieve our long-stated goal that each of the 30 NBA teams has an NBA G League affiliate,” NBA G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim said in a statement. “The NBA G League has never been more valuable to NBA teams than it is today, and the Suns’ investment only reinforces that reality. I can’t wait to join fans in the Valley next season to enjoy the unique brand of NBA G League basketball.”

That’s boiler plate stuff from Abdur-Rahim, but no less true.

The G League is an extremely valuable asset to the big league, and is, indeed, a unique brand.

One of their biggest points of pride is the fact that nearly 60 percent of NBA players have G League experience. During the 2022-23 campaign, 49 players were called up.

Of course, having two-way contracts (allowing a player to play up to 50 games with an NBA team during a season) means the guy you watch in a Thursday G League game might be on a big-league court on Sunday.

Trey Jemison was a rebounding machine for the Squadron. It put him on the radar of the Washington Wizards, who signed him to a 10-day contract, and then the Memphis Grizzlies, who offered the same deal.

Memphis was so impressed with him that they inked him to a two-way pact, and now the young man who began his pro career in Birmingham has already scored points and cleaned glass in an NBA regular season contest.

Oh, and eight current NBA head coaches (including Atlanta’s Quin Snyder and Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault) coached in the G League first. That’s impressive.

However, it’s the innovative rules that make it such a great fan experience – at least for me.

My favorite is the One Free Throw Rule, which has been part of the league since 2019. During the first 46 minutes of a game, only one charity toss is taken in all free throw situations. A two-shot foul gets you one shot worth two points, and if a guy is fouled while attempting (and missing) a 3-pointer, one successful freebie is worth three points.

During the last two minutes of a contest and overtime, standard NBA free throw rules apply.

This streamlined approach really speeds up games, and it’s rare when one takes more than two hours to complete.

My second favorite innovation? The “Elam Ending,” or target score finish to overtime. If a game is tied at the end of regulation, the first team to score seven points in the extra point is the winner.

Such experimental rules aren’t just done for kicks; the Coach’s Challenge and 14 Second Shot Clock Reset on offensive rebounds were tried in the G and later adopted by the NBA.

And you can also give the farm system a bit of credit for the new in-season tourney in the NBA. Before a G League team starts on its 34-game regular season, it plays 16 games in the Showcase Cup Tournament.

If you’re a hardcore basketball fan, there’s too much to like about the G League to ignore it. It’s not just a proving ground for future NBA stars, but it offers the next-best thing to NBA quality.

As part of the All-Star Break this weekend, four teams of G League players will compete in the NBA G League Next Up Game today, which is actually four teams squaring off in two semifinals. There are 28 players participating, with 10 selected by fan vote.

Each team will be coached by a member of the Indiana Mad Ants staff.

G League teams won’t return to regular season action until next Thursday. Once they do, it’ll be a mad dash to the March 30 finish, followed by single elimination playoffs.

Do yourself a favor and check out a game – any game. If you have a favorite NBA team, it’s fun to follow the progress of their affiliate. And since all 30 will be matched up with developmental squads next winter, a great league will be even better.

The G League might not become your next sports obsession like it did for me, but I’ll bet you’ll find watching it is time well-spent.

With its next game at Legacy Arena 18 days away, the Birmingham Squadron wanted to finish up its current home stand on a winning note.

Motor City wasn’t having it.

Breaking open a relatively close contest with a huge third quarter, the Cruise cruised to a 133-115 victory in front of 1,450 fans, completing a two-game weekend sweep.

With its fourth consecutive loss, the New Orleans Pelicans’ developmental club tumbles to 7-10 while the Detroit Pistons affiliate improves to 9-7.

Leading 61-56 at the half, Motor City outscored Birmingham 42-26 in the third quarter, taking advantage of defensive lapses to take command.

Buddy Boeheim led the winners and all scorers with 30 points, followed by Jared Rhoden (21), Jayce Johnson (17), Nathan Knight (16), Stanley Umude (14), Zavier Simpson (13) and Malcolm Cazalon (13).

Johnson also had 15 rebounds and Simpson dished out 10 assists for double-doubles.

Dereon Seabron topped Squadron scorers with 24 points, while Tevian Jones added 19 and Malcolm Hill chipped in 18.

E.J. Liddell finished with 17 points and Landers Nolley II accounted for 11.

“We’ve played five games in eight days and haven’t practiced since nine days ago,” Birmingham coach T.J. Saint said. “A big part of coaching is not what you know, but what you can get them to do on the floor. We’ve been a connected team all year, but I’m just not seeing it on defense right now.”

Boeheim – son of Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim – already had 11 points at 6:25 of the first quarter, helping Motor City take an 18-12 lead.

The balloon would inflate to 11 before Birmingham closed the gap, and after one the Cruise was on top, 34-27.

Motor City held double-digit leads through much of the second stanza before the Squad made a push, mainly thanks to long range shooting from Jones and Hill.

Jones’ 3-pointer with 39 seconds left in the stanza cut the Motor City edge to one at 57-56, but the visitors scored the last four points to take a 61-56 lead into the locker rooms.

Jones and Hill combined for 27 points in the opening half, with Jones tallying 14 of them.

The Cruise scored the first 10 points of the third quarter and blew the game open, moving on top, 71-56.

Everything was going Motor City’s way, from 3-point shots that bounced off the iron but still went down the hole, to unlikely tip-ins for two.

The cushion reached 18 at 80-62 with 8:06 showing on the clock and 19 (87-68) at 6:21.

Once a Boeheim layup made it 89-68, the rest of the contest looked more like a recovery than a rescue for Birmingham.

After three Jamelle McMillan’s charges were in command, 103-82, and all five of the eventual winners’ starters had already reached twin figures.

“We had a great halftime talk,” Saint said. “It was very spirited and for whatever reason, that stuff happened in the third. It was Murphy’s Law.”

With the outcome no longer in doubt, both teams were able to play everyone suited up in the fourth quarter.

Up next: The Squadron begins a three-game road swing on Thursday with the Westchester Knicks providing the opposition.

Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. at Westchester County Center.

The teams play a next day rematch Friday at 6 p.m.

OTD in 1948: The Birmingham Vulcans of the Southern Professional Basketball League defeated the Detroit Vagabond Kings of the National Basketball League, 44-39, in an exhibition game.

Herman Roberson topped the scoring chart for Birmingham with 14 points. Steve Kontos scored all eight of his points down the stretch to help the winners break a 36-36 deadlock.

OTD in 1992: The Birmingham Bandits of the Continental Basketball Association defeated the Yakima Sun Kings, 98-90, in front of 441 fans at State Fair Arena.

Irving Thomas recorded the double-double for Birmingham with 25 points and 13 rebounds in a contest that snapped the Bandits’ four-game losing streak.

Dave Popson aided the cause with 19 points and Skeeter Henry chipped in 17.

OTD in 2022: The Squadron defeated the Memphis Hustle, 129-116, at the Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi.

Jared Harper led the winners with 23 points and 11 assists to get the double-double.

Other players who hit twin figures for Birmingham were Darius Adams (21), Ra’shad James (18), Joe Young (15), Riley LaChance (13), Zach Hankins (13) and Zylan Cheatham.