Category: Basketball

So, what’s there to remember about the 2023-24 Birmingham Squadron?

Well, with Saturday night’s 123-107 victory over the Cleveland Charge at Legacy Arena, the New Orleans Pelicans’ NBA G League affiliate finished with a 15-19 regular season record (25-25 overall) and missed the playoffs for a second consecutive season.

And if you want some quick and dirty details from Game 50, Landers Nolley II led the winners with 27 points while Malcolm Hill added 23.

But if the season finale played in front of 1,962 fans is what sticks in your mind, then I hope you don’t mind if I say you might be missing the bigger picture.

The primary purpose of the G League is to get players ready for the NBA. And T.J. Saint and the Squadron staff (assistants  Joe Barrer, Jodie Meeks and Jonathan Mitchell, player development coach Jalen Cannady, GM of basketball operations Adam Barnes and trainer Gilchrist Schmidt and his crew) did a really nice job of that this season.

As I mentioned after their last home game, the Squadron was second only to Eastern Conference rival Westchester in the number of call-ups this season. The Knicks had seven and Birmingham finished with six.

UAB standout Trey Jemison – who played high school ball at Ramsay, Homewood and Hoover before originally signing with Clemson – was called up to a 10-day contract by the Washington Wizards on Jan. 20. He was the first Squadron player to get a call-up since Auburn star Jared Harper in 2022.

Hill, now on a two-way contract with New Orleans, was signed to a 10-day contract by the Pelicans on Jan. 27. Jemison got his second and the team’s third call-up on Jan. 30 when he signed a 10-day contract with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Following the conclusion of that 10-day pact, Jemison was given a two-way contract by Memphis.

“If you have one of those things happen in two years, that’s a major success,” Saint said. “And to have two happen in two years and not both from the (Pelicans) organization is something. We got a lot of comments throughout the year from other coaches and other teams that we play the right way, and it’s a credit to Adam and the front office for getting the right guys.”

Jalen Crutcher and Izaiah Brockington were also called up by New Orleans on 10-day contracts.

Being a UAB grad, I’m especially happy for Jemison.

I remember talking to him before the season and he stressed how much he had learned by playing summer ball with the Pelicans and then working under Saint and company.

And when he first got the call-up, Saint came up to me a couple of hours before the Squadron’s next game and said, “Trey’s not coming back. He’s gonna stick.”

Jemison tallied a career-high 24 points against the Washington Wizards on March 12, and has now become an integral part of the Grizzlies.

The G League – and Birmingham – not only gave him a path, but a push.

“The only time Trey will be back in Birmingham is when he’s running for mayor,” Saint said.

And Hill? If you don’t like Malcolm, you don’t like people.

Saint calls him one of the “foundational players” of the organization and, indeed, he was here when the Squadron first landed in Birmingham.

“He’s literally one of the pillars of the Squadron,” Saint said. “He is entirely our essence … lives it, breathes it – he was in the gym last night until 10 o’clock working on his shooting. He’s the man.”

But I don’t want Hill to come back – not wearing Birmingham colors, anyway. He’s played in Germany, Israel and Kazakhstan and has three stints with three different NBA teams. He’s paid so many dues, he’s due for some good luck.

I’m not sure I’ve ever wanted to see a guy earn an NBA roster spot more than him.

But as I followed the club all season, I found myself cheering for every guy who suited up. Saint constantly played up the character angle of his team, and it became quite obvious over time that they weren’t just good players, but good dudes.

Their interactions with fans – especially young ones – was always genuine.

But more than anything else, the Squadron was exciting. G League is quality professional basketball, and 24 times in 2023-24 that quality was on display in the Magic City.

It was always better when Birmingham won, but even if they didn’t, we were all in for a show.

So sure, it would’ve been great if the Squadron had notched a winning season and were preparing for the playoffs, but that didn’t happen.

What did happen, though, was Jemison.

And Hill.

And opportunities – more of which will come.

“We’ll look at the guys that want to return or want to go overseas, but there’ll be a lot of turnover,” Saint said. “We’ve got to improve our defense, and we’ve really got to improve our rebounding. We’ll look at all that during the offseason.”

Birmingham coach T.J. Saint said after his team’s 142-118 loss to Osceola on Tuesday that he was looking forward to Thursday’s rematch because the Squadron usually fares well in “bounce back” games.

Usually, but not always.

And certainly not this time.

The Orlando Magic farm club turned in another dominant performance, thrashing the New Orleans Pelicans’ affiliate, 168-133, in front of 1,433 fans at Legacy Arena.

When asked what he could learn from a game like this Saint said, “It’ll be something in the offseason … I don’t know.”

E.J. Liddell gave Birmingham a 2-0 lead with an opening bucket but it was all Osceola the rest of the way as the NBA G League Eastern Conference pacesetters – who lit it up for 85 first half points – improved to 21-9.

The 168 points is a season-best for the circuit in 2023-24 and the most scored by a team since the 2014-15 campaign. That season the Los Angeles D-Fenders defeated the Reno Bighorns, 175-152, while Reno topped L.A., 174-169, in a rematch.

Mac McClung led the way with 40 points, followed by Jett Howard (27), Kevon Harris (25), Trevelin Queen (22), Chris Walker (15), Myron Gardner (12) and Miye Oni (10).

Queen had 10 rebounds and Walker, 13, to give the players double-doubles.

For the night the winners outrebounded the hosts, 63-35, and outscored the Squadron in the paint, 78-56.

The overwhelming show of scoring force overshadowed the 41-point showing by Birmingham’s Landers Nolley II, who was just three points shy of a franchise single game scoring mark.

Dereon Seabron added 27 points and E.J. Lidell was good for 26.

The Squadron fell to 14-18 and are assured of a losing season with just two games to go.

“There was some collective will that was not shown tonight,” Saint said.

Osceola set the tone for this one early, leading by as many as 22 points and holding a big 45-36 advantage after one. The Magic also held a 19-8 rebounding edge through 12 minutes.

The cushion inflated to 26 in the second quarter before Osceola settled on an 85-68 lead at halftime.

In the second half it was simply a matter of whether or not the Squadron could make it respectable.

The Magic was relentless, eclipsing the century mark at the 7:30 mark and entering the final period with a comfortable 129-100 margin.

Next up: Birmingham travels to Oklahoma City on March 27 to take on the Blue at noon. The game at Paycom Center will be the Squadron’s final road trip of the 2023-24 season.

OTD in 1992: The Birmingham Bandits of the Continental Basketball Association fell to the Quad-City Thunder, 125-102, in the first round of the CBA playoffs.

Jim Farmer led Birmingham with 28 points while Skeeter Henry added 15, although the duo hit just 13-of-34 from the field combined. The loss put the Bandits in a 2-0 hole against Quad City in the best-of-three series.

College basketball began the First Four segment of March Madness on Tuesday.

But the Birmingham Squadron? Well, the New Orleans Pelicans’ NBA G League affiliate jumped straight to its version of the Final Four.

Birmingham faced the Eastern Conference-leading Osceola Magic at Legacy Arena, the first of its remaining four regular season games for the 2023-34 season. And what was billed as battle of the league’s leading scorers (both Birmingham’s Malcolm Hill and Osceola’s Mac McClung came into the contest averaging 24.4 points) went the way of the Orlando Magic’s developmental club, 142-118.

“We were down 13 at halftime and a lot was going on and I think we cut it to like six maybe in the third,” Squadron coach T.J. Saint said. “I do think we ran out of gas, and I do think we got down on ourselves individually. In building a team you’ve got to find somebody who can galvanize the group and tonight we didn’t have enough guys play well on their own to do it.

“It was tough loss, but I told them when we’ve been popped by someone we’ve responded (the next game).”

Osceola improved to 20-9 to tighten its grip atop the East while Birmingham falls to 14-17 and is all but eliminated from playoff contention. A crowd of 1,098 was on hand to watch.

Alex Morales came off the bench to lead the victors with 24 points, while McClung was just under his average with 23. Trevelin Queen had 22 in the win.

Other double-digit scorers for the Magic were Jett Howard (17), Kevon Harris (16), Daeqwon Plowden (14), Miye Oni (12) and Myron Gardner (10).

Morales had 10 rebounds and McClung dished out 11 assists to earn double-doubles.

Dereon Seabron had his third highest-scoring game of the season with 31 Squadron points, while Karlo Matkovic had 20 points and 11 boards and Jalen Crutcher scored 17 points to go with 10 assists to account for the home side’s double-doubles.

Hill finished with 15 points, Izaiah Brockington pumped in 13 and E.J. Liddell hit for 11.

The Squadron was outrebounded, 50-38.

“Offense isn’t our problem,” Saint said. “We’re the number one offense in the G League but defense is our problem … we’re the worst defense in the league. They played with a lot of physicality. We have a lot of young players and I don’t think they have a rookie, and even though it doesn’t feel good, it’s all part of growth.”

Matkovic had a 3-pointer, slam and two other buckets in the first quarter, but Morales’ 12 points helped Osceola take a 37-27 lead after one.

Seabron found the range for the Squad in the second – finishing the first half with 21 points – but the Magic led by as many as 19 in the frame.

McClung had already netted 18 points for the visitors, and Osceola was on top, 74-61, after 24 minutes.

The Magic held double-digit leads throughout most of the third and was in front 111-100 heading into the fourth.

Howard opened the quarter with a three for Dylan Murphy’s crew, and that set the stage for a dominating finish by Osceola that saw the Floridians empty their bench toward the end.

Next up: Birmingham finishes its two-game set with Osceola here on Thursday. Tip-off is 7 p.m.

Developing players: Job One of a G League team is to get players ready for the NBA, and the Squadron trails only the Westchester Knicks in the number of call-ups this season. The Knicks have seven and Birmingham, six.

Magic City native and UAB standout Trey Jemison was called up to a 10-day contract by the Washington Wizards on Jan. 20. He was the first Squadron player to get a call-up since Jared Harper in 2022.

Hill, now on a two-way contract with New Orleans, was signed to a 10-day contract by the Pelicans on Jan. 27. Jemison got his second and the team’s third call-up on Jan. 30 when he signed a 10-day contract with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Following the conclusion of that 10-day pact, Jemison was given a two-way contract by Memphis.

Crutcher (10-day) and Brockington (10-day) have also been called up by New Orleans.

OTD in 2023: The Squadron lost to the Mexico City Capitanes, 124-115, in Mexico City.

Seabron scored 29 points for Birmingham, followed by Hill, who had a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds. James Kelly Sr. added 18 points, Kelan Martin scored 14, and Feron Hunt scored 12 points.