Continental Basketball Association

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This article is about the American CBA. For the CBA in China, see Chinese Basketball Association.

Continental Basketball Association

Sport	Basketball
Founded	1946
Claim to fame	"Oldest professional basketball league in the world"
No. of teams	8
Country	United States Canada
Current champions	Yakama Sun Kings
Official website	www.cbahoopsonline.com

The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) is a professional men's basketball league in the United States. It is affiliated with USA Basketball, the sport's governing body in the United States.

[edit] History

The CBA can date its origins back to April 23, 1946, when it was called the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League (1946-47). Between 1948 and 1970 it was called the Eastern Professional Basketball League, and then renamed the Eastern Basketball Association. On June 1, 1978, the league's name became the Continental Basketball Association. Tracing the league's operation back to its Pennsylvania origins, it claims to be the oldest professional basketball league in the world (the NBA's predecessor, the Basketball Association of America, also began operations in 1946, but in June of that year). Its first commissioner was Harry Rudolph, the father of Mendy Rudolph, one of the first great referees of the National Basketball Association.

[edit] Notable CBA Accomplishments

[edit] Integration

In the 1946-47 Eastern League season, the Hazleton Mountaineers had three African-American players on their roster during the season - Bill Brown, Zack Clayton and John Isaacs. Isaacs previously played with an all-black touring squad, the Washington Bears, while Brown and Clayton were alumni of the Harlem Globetrotters.

In the 1955-56 season, the Hazleton Hawks Eastern League team were the first professional league franchise with an all-black starting lineup: Tom Hemans, Jess Arnelle, Fletcher Johnson, Sherman White and Floyd Lane.

[edit] Three-Point Line

Although the 1961-63 American Basketball League used a three-point scoring line, the Eastern League added a three-point line for the 1964-65 season. In that year, Brendan McCann of the Allentown Jets led the league with 31 completed 3-pointers for the year. Although three-point plays in the 1960s were very few and far-between, the Eastern League did develop several scorers who used the three-point shot to their advantage, including sharpshooters Stan Pawlak and Rich Cornwall.

[edit] Collapsible Rims

After Darryl Dawkins shattered two basketball rims in the 1979-80 NBA season, the CBA tested out a collapsible hinged rim. Eventually, other leagues converted their rims over to the collapsible hinged model, which is still in use today.

[edit] Ten-Day Contract

In the early 1980s, the CBA and the NBA entered into an agreement where CBA players would be signed to 10-day NBA contracts, mostly to replace an injured player or to test out a top CBA prospect. Under the 10-day contract rule, a player is signed at the prorated league minimum salary for 10 calendar days. If the NBA team likes the player, the team can sign him to a second 10-day contract. After the second 10-day contract expires, the team must either return the player to the CBA or sign him for the rest of the NBA regular season.

[edit] The Isiah Thomas Years (1999-2001)

As of 1999, the CBA had survived for 54 years. That year all the league's teams were purchased by an investment group led by former NBA star Isiah Thomas. The combined ownership plan was unsuccessful, and by 2001, the CBA declared bankruptcy and ceased operations. Several of its teams briefly joined the now defunct, International Basketball League.

The popular scapegoat for the demise of the CBA is Isiah Thomas, who purchased the CBA and ran it as a single-entity league, only to abandon it a year later for an NBA coaching job.

The following is a timeline of the events surrounding Thomas' ownership of the CBA:

August 3, 1999 - Former NBA superstar Isiah Thomas purchases the CBA - the entire league, including all the teams, and its marketing company, CBA Properties - for $10 million. Thomas says that the league will now operate as a single-owner entity, and that the CBA will continue to be the official developmental league of the NBA.
October 7, 1999 - the sale of the CBA to Thomas is finalized. Thomas paid $5 million up front and agreed to make four additional payments to the CBA's former team owners for the balance of the debt.
October 24, 1999 - Thomas announces that there will be salary cuts in the CBA. The average salary of $1,500 per week will be reduced to $1,100 per week, with rookies getting $800 a week. Thomas' reasoning is that by reducing the number of veterans in the league, there will be more young talent available for NBA teams.
January 18, 2000 - For the first time in three years, the CBA holds an All-Star Game. The Sioux Falls SkyForce hosts the event. The All-Star Game also features an All-Rookie game, featuring the CBA's top 16 rookies.
March 2000 - the NBA offers Thomas $11 million and a percentage of the profits for the CBA. Thomas chose not to sell the league to the NBA. "The NBA made an offer that wasn't what Isiah expected," said Brendan Suhr, a former coach and co-owner of the CBA's Grand Rapids Hoops, "so he decided not to sell the league at that time."
May 2000 - a CBA All-Star team travels to China for a three-game series.
June 28, 2000 - Isiah Thomas is offered the head coaching job of the NBA's Indiana Pacers. Since the NBA rules forbid a coach from owning his own league, as it would be a conflict of interest (he could sign the minor league's best talent to his NBA team, for example), Thomas has to sell the CBA. On this day, Thomas signs a letter of intent to sell the CBA to the NBA Players' Union.
In the summer of 2000, after twenty years of using the CBA as its developmental league, the NBA announces it will form its own minor league feeder system, creating the National Basketball Development League (NBDL or "D-League"). The CBA will no longer be the NBA's official developmental league after the 2001 season.
On October 2, 2000, Isiah Thomas, unable to sell his ownership in the CBA, places the league into a blind trust, and accepts the head coaching job of the Pacers. With the league in a blind trust, there are no funds available to pay players, to buy plane tickets for away games, or to handle day-to-day operations.
February 8, 2001 - the CBA suspends play and folds. The blind trust that was to find a new owner for the league gives up. The league has over $2 million in debts. The teams are offered back to their original owners for $1.00, simple consideration. A few owners take the offer. Many more refuse and their clubs are shuttered.
February 24, 2001 - 18 months after Thomas purchased the CBA, the league declared bankruptcy. Five of the former CBA team owners repurchased their franchises and joined the rival International Basketball League (IBL) to finish out the season. Other team owners chose to let their franchises fold completely, rather than reincur debts that were not theirs originally.
Summer 2001 - The IBL folds.
November 2001 - The CBA reorganizes for the 2001-02 season, as CBA franchises in Rockford, Gary, Grand Rapids and Sioux Falls merge with the smaller International Basketball Association (IBA), with franchises in Bismarck (Dakota Wizards), Fargo (Fargo-Moorhead Beez) and Saskatoon (Saskatchewan Hawks). The Flint (Mich.) Fuze joining as an expansion team.

[edit] Rebirth of the CBA

In the fall of 2001, CBA and IBL teams merged with the International Basketball Association and purchased the assets of the defunct CBA, including its name, logo and records from the bankruptcy court and re-started operations, calling itself the CBA.

[edit] Teams

Location of CBA teams and divisions

[edit] Current Teams

[edit] American Division

[edit] National Division

[edit] Future Expansion

[edit] Complete team List

See: Continental Basketball Association franchise history

[edit] CBA Champions

See: List of Continental Basketball Association Champions

[edit] All-Star Games

See: List of Continental Basketball Association All-Star Games

[edit] Notable People

See: List of Continental Basketball Association MVP's and Notable Alumni

[edit] CBA/NBA Relationship

During the early years of the CBA, when it was the EPBL, the league's relationship with the NBA was frosty at best. In 1953, the NBA refused to accept any players from the EPBL after the EPBL signed several college basketball stars who were involved in point-shaving gambling scandals during their college years, including such players as Jack Molinas, Sherman White, Floyd Layne and Ed Roth. The Eastern League also signed 7-foot center Bill Spivey, the former University of Kentucky standout who was accused of pointshaving (although Spivey was acquitted of all charges, the NBA still banned him from it league for life).

The NBA and EPBL did, however, play several exhibition games in the 1950s, including a 1956 matchup in which the NBA's Syracuse Nationals lost to the EPBL's Wilkes-Barre Barons at Wilkes-Barre's home court. Other EPBL-NBA exhibition matchups include an October 1959 contest in which the New York Knicks defeated the Allentown Jets, 131-102, in a game in Allentown; and a contest in April 1961, in which the Boston Celtics also played an exhibition contest against Allentown, defeating the Eastern Leaguers soundly.

The Eastern League also signed various basketball stars, even those who had not completed their college eligibility. Even though Ray Scott had left Portland University two months after his matriculation, the NBA could not sign Scott to a contract until Scott's class graduated. The EPBL, however, could sign him, and Scott played 77 games for the Allentown Jets before later joining the NBA's Detroit Pistons.

By 1968, the Eastern League lost many of its players when the upstart American Basketball Association formed. Players such as Lavern "Jelly" Tart, Willie Somerset, Art Heyman and Walt Simon, all of whom were all-stars in the Eastern League just a year prior, were now in ABA uniforms. The ABA continued to siphon both NBA and Eastern League talent, leaving the Eastern League with only six teams in 1972; and four teams in 1975. Only the merger of the ABA and the NBA kept the Eastern League alive, as an influx of players from defunct ABA teams joined the Eastern League.

In 1979, the NBA signed four players from the newly-renamed CBA. The CBA, receiving no compensation from the NBA for these signings, filed a lawsuit against the NBA. The suit was settled and in exchange for the right to sign any player at any time, the NBA paid the CBA $115,000 and also paid the CBA $80,000 to help develop NBA referees at CBA games.

NBA/CBA relationships grew tense again in 1982, when the CBA added the Detroit Spirits to their league roster. Since the Spirits played in the same city as did the NBA's Detroit Pistons, the NBA chose to not sign any CBA players, arguing that the CBA illegally moved into an NBA city. After much negotiation between the two leagues, the NBA agreed to sign qualified CBA players to a 10-day contract. A player could be called up to an NBA team for 10 days at the league minimum, often replacing an injured NBA star. The CBA player could sign a second 10-day contract, but after the completion of the second 10-day contract, the NBA team would have to sign the player for the rest of the season, or return him to the CBA. The CBA teams, in turn, would receive compensation for each 10-day contract.

During the 1980s and 1990s, the NBA's relationship with the CBA grew, to the point where dozens of former CBA stars found their way onto NBA rosters, including Tim Legler (Omaha Racers), Mario Elie (Albany Patroons), and Ron Davis (Anchorage Northern Knights). The CBA also sent qualified coaches to the NBA, including Phil Jackson (Albany Patroons), Bill Musselman (Tampa Bay Thrillers), Eric Musselman (Rapid City Thrillers), Flip Saunders (LaCrosse Catbirds) and George Karl (Montana Golden Nuggets).

In 2002, the NBA formed its own minor league, the National Basketball Development League (the NBDL or "D-League"). At the end of the 2005-2006 season, three current and one expansion CBA franchise jumped to the NBDL. The CBA obtained eight new franchises for a confirmed total of 10 for the 2006 season. The Atlanta Krunk Wolverines and Vancouver Dragons deferred their participation to the 2007-2008 season, and the Utah Eagles folded as of January 25, 2007.

[edit] Rules

The CBA follows the same basketball rules as does the NBA and most other professional leagues. However, in the late 1970s CBA commissioner Jim Drucker added several new rules to increase scoring and raise fan interest.

During each game, a team can win up to seven standings points - three points for winning the game, and one point for each quarter in which they outscore their opponent. The teams with the greatest number of standings points at the end of the year go to the playoffs.
A player cannot foul out of the game - after a player's sixth personal foul, the opposing team receives an automatic free throw.
During the 1982-83 and 1983-84 seasons, overtime games were decided by the team who scored the first three points in overtime. During the 1984-85 season, that rule was modified so that victory went to the first team to lead by three points in overtime. By the 1987-88 season, that rule was superseded by a standard five-minute overtime period to determine the winner.
During the 1981-82 season, the CBA created a six-foot by five-foot "no call box", an area in front of the baskets in which any contact in the box between offensive and defensive players was to be an automatic defensive foul. This rule, which was designed to encourage drives to the hoop, caused more confusion than scoring, and the rule was quickly abandoned. However, a variant of this rule would be adopted by the NBA in 2002.
For a few years in the early 1980s, the CBA offered a money-back guarantee, returning a patron's money if before the start of the second quarter, the fan left the game. There was also a "national season ticket," allowing fans to attend any CBA games within a 100-mile radius of his hometown.

Other CBA rules and innovations that were later adopted by the NBA include the three-point line (first used in the CBA in 1964), collapsible rims to keep backboard glass from being destroyed in a dunk (first used by the CBA in 1980), and the offering of three foul shots if a player is fouled in the act of shooting a three-point behind-the-arc play.

Drucker also created a series of high-profile, big-money promotions that attracted increased attendance and league sponsorhips and substantial media interest. From 1984-86, "The 1 Million Dollar CBA Supershot" offered a $1,000,000 cash prize for a fan selected at random at halftime who made a 3/4 court shot. Although no fan won that one, in 1986 one fan did win a $1,000,000 zero coupon bond. The winner, Don Mattingly (no relation to the New York Yankee player with the same name), won the bond in the "CBA Easy Street Shootout" at the 1986 CBA All-Star Game in Tampa, Florida. Other promotions included the "Ton of Money Free Throw" which consisted of 2,000 pounds of pennies ($5,000) for making one foul shot, and "The Fly-In, Drive-Away" Contest where each fan received a paper airplane with a distinct serial number. At halftime, a new car, with the sun roof opened, was driven to mid-court and the fan who threw his airplane into the sun roof won the car. A new Ford Thunderbird was won by a fan at the CBA All-Star Game in Casper, Wyoming in 1984.