Category: Basketball

Every second of every NBA G League game is designed to get players ready for the next level.

For those signed to two-way contracts, more minor league minutes can translate to more major league opportunities.

Guard Dereon Seabron, for example, got a triple-double for Birmingham on Thursday in the Squadron’s 125-115 loss to the College Park Skyhawks. The two-way standout – who has made five appearances with the parent club New Orleans Pelicans this season – closed the night with 16 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds.

And the rest of the NBA hopefuls on the roster know that their hopes depend on making the most of every appearance.

Former Squadron standout Trey Jemison was a rebounding machine during his time in the Magic City. Today, the center out of UAB is on his second 10-day contract, and coming off a five-point, three-rebound showing for the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday. That game saw him get 13:34 of court time and register his first NBA points.

And forward Malcolm Hill parlayed a great season-long showing in Birmingham with a 10-day contract with the Pelicans.

Assigned back to the Squadron on Thursday, he scored a game-high 33 points and is averaging 24.9 points per game when suiting up for T.J. Saint’s club.

But while every player in the G League wants to move up, they also want to win. And with a 7-8 record, the Squadron will close out the first half of its 34-game regular season with a weekend doubleheader against the Motor City Cruise.

The first game is Saturday when Birmingham celebrates HBCU Night at Legacy Arena with a 7 p.m. tip-off.

On Sunday, the teams meet again at 4 p.m.

After that, the Squadron will play three road games leading up to the All-Star break, which runs from February 16-21.

Birmingham faces the Westchester Knicks February 8 and February 9 in White Plains, New York, and returns to Gateway Center Arena on February 15 to square off with College Park again.

“You obviously want to be playing well going into the all-star break, and when you look at the standings, we know it’s really knotted up between the first seed and the tenth seed,” Birmingham guard Devin Cannady said following a recent home game. “So, for us, we kind of look at the block of five games – a five-game chunk.”

As of today, the Delaware Blue Coats (8-4), College Park (10-5) and Indiana Mad Ants (10-5) are in a statistical tie for first in the Eastern Conference.

The Squadron sits in 11^th place, but is still just three games out of first and one game out of sixth – and playoff position.

The top six teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences earn spots in the postseason.

“The way I look at it, is you want to go 4-1 during five-game blocks,” Cannady added. “A lot of teams are going 3-2 and 2-3, so if you can go 4-1, you can start separating yourself.”

Using those markers, Birmingham has gone 1-4, 4-1 and 2-3.

“When we’re out there playing, we’re not trying to chase anyone or catch anyone, we’re trying to focus on our fundamentals,” Cannady said. “T.J. always says we just have to keep getting better and have that next man up mentality. Everybody’s got to lock in, everybody’s got to focus, and that’s how you win games.”

With call-ups and assignments, lineups can vary wildly from one night to the next. Saint didn’t know he would have access to Hill and Pelicans forward E.J. Liddell for Thursday night’s game until Thursday morning.

Throw in mandated minute restrictions and coaches – and players – have to adjust on the fly.

“We’re like fish living in water,” said Saint, who has watched 16 different players take the floor in 2023-24. “They don’t notice the water, it’s just what you’re in. Things and situations change, but we’re kind of used to it.”

Regardless of the situation, the Squadron would like nothing better than to finish up the first half of the slate with a home sweep of the Cruise.

“Home stretches are really important,” guard Izaiah Brockington said. “This is the time you realize you need to start stacking wins on top of each other.”

For ticket information, go to birmingham.gleague.nba.com/tickets.

The Windy City Bulls finally got to wear their own unforms on Tuesday.

And unfortunately for the homestanding Birmingham Squadron, this time they were dressed for success.

Quenton Jackson scored 40 points and five of his teammates managed double figures as the Chicago Bulls’ G League affiliate downed the New Orleans Pelicans farmhands, 117-104, at Legacy Arena.

The Bulls were forced to don Birmingham training gear on Sunday because their regular unis weren’t loaded onto the flight, and lost that clash, 130-127. They had better luck in the rematch wearing traditional road threads.

Windy City blew open a tight game by capitalizing on Squadron turnovers and finding success from inside and outside, outscoring Birmingham 28-21 in the fourth quarter and leading by as many as 18.

“Jodie Meeks and Joe Barrer, our assistants, talked to the team yesterday and told them, ‘Look, their two-ways are gone and that means other guys are going to get more opportunities and we have to be ready,’” Birmingham coach T.J. Saint said. “I think maybe we took it for granted. I thought we played hard to start the game. We missed shots early, but were doing things we wanted to do. The fourth quarter … we kinda let go of the rope and that’s something that’s gonna be addressed tomorrow.”

Jalen Crutcher paced the Squad with 21 points, followed by Devin Cannady (19), Izaiah Brockington (15), Landers Nolley II (15) and Dereon Seabron (13).

Aside from Jackson’s big night, Evan Gilyard finished with 16 points, Scottie Lindsey and Chris Clemons each had 13, and Ben Coupet Jr. tallied 11.

Lacey James registered the double-double for the winners with 10 points and 11 boards.

The Bulls had 19 second chance points to just four for Saint’s crew.

With the loss the Squadron (7-7) slips to ninth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Windy City (4-9) remains last in the 16-team group.

Birmingham struggled to score early, falling behind 15-6 before finally climbing back into the hunt. By the end of the opening period the Squadron had already gotten 14 points from Crutcher, but Lindsey and Jackson had hot hands for the visitors – combining for 18 points – and helped Windy City take a 34-33 lead into the second quarter.

Things stayed tight over the next 12 minutes, with Birmingham tying the game for the first time at 7:14 thanks to a Tevian Jones trey. The home team took its first lead of the night at the 2:20 mark on a Cannady shot from beyond the arc, making it 53-51, Squadron.

Very little separated the teams the balance of the first half, and Windy City went to the locker room on top, 56-55.

Brockington picked up his fifth personal foul at 9:45 of the third, limiting his action the rest of the way. Even so, Birmingham managed to lead by as many as six before the Bulls charged back, turning the frame into mostly a back-and-forth affair.

Windy City made a late run in the final two minutes, though, and held an 89-83 advantage with 12 minutes remaining in regulation.

The ran away with it from there.

Let it fly: Win or lose, no one can accuse Birmingham of playing boring basketball.

Going onto tonight’s game, the Squadron ranked first in the league in 3-pointers made (214) and 3-point percentage (40.2), second in points per game (121.1) and second in free throw percentage (80.1).

While the team normally takes roughly 40 3-point attempts per game, Saint said he’d like to see that number rise.

“I told our team from the beginning we need to shoot 40-plus threes, and now I’m doubling down on that and saying we need to try for 50 a game,” Saint said Sunday. “Threes are worth more than twos, so if we can hit more, it evens out when the other team scores more in the paint.”

Birmingham put up just 38 long rangers on Tuesday, hitting only 12.

On the move again: Former Squadron standout Trey Jemison signed a 10-day contract with the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday. He started all 25 games for Birmingham, averaging 10.9 points, 11.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.6 blocks in 31.6 minutes while shooting 56.8 percent from the field. He made two appearances for the Washington Wizards after signing a 10-day contract with that club on Jan. 20.

OTD in 1949: The Birmingham Steelers of the Southern Professional Basketball League defeated the Laurel Oilers, 62-60, at the Municipal Auditorium. It was a snowy day in the Magic City, but 250 fans still showed up to cheer on the local team.

Johnny Murphy led the winners with 22 points, while Joe Parker added 15 and Bob Murphy finished with 11.

OTD in 1992: The Birmingham Bandits of the Continental Basketball Association lost to the Sioux Falls Skyforce, 133-120, for their sixth consecutive road defeat.

Jim Farmer and Irving Thomas each scored 20 points for the Bandits.

Corey Gaines led the winners with 28 points.

The Skyforce, incidentally, is the longest-running minor league basketball team in the United States. It was founded in 1989 as a member of the CBA, joined the International Basketball Association for one season (2000-01), and after a five-year hiatus was reformed as an NBA D-League (now G League) club in 2006.

Next up: The Squadron takes a quick road trip to the Atlanta suburbs on Thursday to battle the Eastern Conference-leading College Park Skyhawks at Gateway Center Arena.

Gametime is set for 6 p.m.

Another Elam Ending, another happy ending for the Birmingham Squadron.

Landers Nolley II drained a 3-pointer on the last shot of overtime to lift the New Orleans Pelicans’ G League affiliate to a thrilling 130-127 victory over the Windy City Bulls on Sunday with 1,291 fans at Legacy Arena looking on.

Birmingham is now 3-0 all-time in overtime contests, which are played to a target score (Elam Ending) of seven points more than the tally at the end of regulation.

With both the Squadron and the Chicago Bulls’ farm club knotted at 122 after four quarters, Devin Cannady hit a 3-pointer and field goal before Nolley provided the dagger at the end.

“The (Elam Ending) is something fresh and new, and we’re the only league that does it,” Cannady said. “We picked it up from The Basketball Tournament, TBT, and it can be a three-possession game, which I think it was for us.

“It doesn’t extend the game too much, so you’ve got to lock in, and every shot matters. Obviously, we came out on the right side of this tonight.”

Izaiah Brockington led the winners with a game-high 25 points, followed by Nolley and Dereon Seabron with 18 points apiece.

Cannady closed the afternoon of free basketball with 17 points, Jalen Crutcher added 16, two-way player Matt Ryan finished with 14, and Tevian Jones added 11.

Adama Sanogo had the double-double for Windy City with 25 points and 15 rebounds. Onuralp Bitim scored 21 points, Henri Drell and Chris Clemons each hit for 19, Quenton Jackson pumped in 17 and Jalen Harris got 10.

“That was a wild ride,” Birmingham coach T.J. Saint said. “Matt’s leaving us and heading back to the Pelicans, but I appreciate his work ethic. He came in and worked at 100 percent speed and had a great workout. He’s a really good example for our guys to see.

“Matt, Dereon, and Ike Anibogu are all on a minutes restriction. And with Malcolm (Hill) getting called up and Trey (Jemison) getting called up and Kira (Lewis) getting traded … there’s a lot of moving pieces. We did some things tonight I never expected we’d have to do.”

The clash was the only NBA G League game on the schedule, meaning the winner got to move up in the standings.

And once it was done, Birmingham was just a half game out of playoff position.

Ther Squadron joins the Motor City Cruise with a 7-6 record, putting Saint’s charges just behind the Grand Rapids Gold (7-5) for sixth place in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls (3-9), on the other hand, strengthened their grip on the cellar.

The top six teams in each conference earn a spot in the win-or-go-home playoffs.

Birmingham grabbed a 28-26 lead after a fast-paced first quarter, with Brockington and Crutcher leading the charge with seven points each, and Jones coming off the bench to score five.

The Squadron was four-of-seven from beyond the arc.

Things remained tight in the second as Drell, Bitim and Sanogo stepped up for Windy City with dead-eye shooting, helping the Bulls hold a slight advantage throughout much of the period.

But Birmingham continued its success from long range – Ryan hit back-to-back 3-pointers – and sank timely free throws, leading to a 62-60 edge at halftime.  

Ryan led all scorers at the break with 14 points.

For portions of the third quarter, it appeared the goal had a lid on it when the Squadron put up shots; great looks went unrewarded on several trips down the court.

But Cannady went on a scoring binge late in the frame – nailing three 3-pointers in a row – and sparked a Birmingham surge.

After 36 minutes, the Squadron led, 89-86.

It was more of the same in the fourth, with Birmingham leading by five late before falling behind by one, going up by two, and Drell forcing overtime with a putback.

That set the stage for an untimed O.T. period that ended with a Nolley trey – and a Birmingham victory.

“I talk about this being a connected unit, and one of the plays I drew up at the end to attack Sanogo, Galen Robinson – who didn’t even play tonight – came up with it,” Saint said. “He talked to the assistants, the assistants told me, and that was the play Landers scored on.

“That’s a true team. We have a guy who didn’t even play, and still affected the game.”

Moving up again: Hill has been phenomenal for the Squadron, averaging 24.4 points in 11 regular season appearances and pumping in 19.3 points during the Showcase Cup portion of the 2023-24 slate.

His hot-shooting was good enough to earn G League Player of the Week honors but – much more importantly – his consistent play got him a 10-day contract with the Pelicans, which went into effect on Saturday.

The small forward has spent time with the Atlanta Hawks as well as the Chicago Bulls, and has also played internationally.

He joins Jemison as Birmingham’s second call-up this year.

Borrowed clothes: The Bulls made it to Birmingham from Chicago just fine.

Their uniforms?

That was a different story.

The Windy City’s road unis failed to arrive in the Magic City, so the team was forced to wear the Squadron’s practice attire for Sunday’s game. Those unis feature white tops with black numbers and G League branding, and black shorts.

The Bulls are expected to back in their normal threads for Tuesday’s rematch.

OTD in 1948: The Birmingham Vulcans lost to the Montgomery Rebels, 64-53, in a Southern Professional Basketball League game at the National Guard Armory.

Steve Kontos paced the Vulcans with 16 points, while Shag Hawkins added 12.

Montgomery’s Al Grenert was high scorer with 20 points and two other Rebels reached double figures in the victory.

OTD in 1992: The Birmingham Bandits of the Continental Basketball Association fell to the Oklahoma City Calvary, 105-101, in front of 3,111 fans at the Myriad Arena.

Although Skeeter Henry had 26 points for Birmingham, the hosts got a 24-point outing from Steve Burtt while Dave Popson registered the double-double (23 points, 13 rebounds).

OTD in 2023: The Squadron defeated the Maine Celtics, 113-106, with 2,417 fans looking on at the Portland Exhibition Center.

Dereon Seabron led the charge with 27 points, followed by James Kelly (20), Feron Hunt (18), Javonte Smart (13) and Jordan Swing (11).

Kelly also pulled down 10 rebounds for the double-double.

Next up: The Squadron and Bulls complete their two-game set on Tuesday at Legacy Arena. Game time is 7 p.m.