San Francisco Pro-Am Basketball League
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The San Francisco Pro-Am (short for Professional-Amateur) Basketball League is a summer basketball league for high school, college, and professional players. For young players entering or already in college, it can be an important venue to be discovered by talent scouts. For professional players in the NBA or foreign leagues, the league provides an opportunity to practice during the off season. The games, which are Monday-Thursday and run from mid-June to mid-August, are free to the public and take place at the Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco. Recently, the official name of the league was changed to SF Bay Area Pro-city.
The league began in 1979 and has been in existence since then, acting as a great place not only for players to stay active, but for fans of the game to see some professional caliber play for no cost. The games are officiated and announced over a loudspeaker. Teams have an open roster policy, and it is common for players come back every year to participate.
The style of play is, for the most part, conservative. Players stray away from the flashy style of street ball in hopes of being recognized by a talent scout from colleges, the NBA, or other professional leagues. That said, exciting plays are not rare in the league. Many slam dunks and stylish no-look passes are made, much to the delight of the fans who will sometimes dance on the court after an amazing play.
[edit] List of Teams
Current
San Francisco
Bay City
Dream Team
East Bay
Oakland
Bay Raiders
South Bay
Bay Pride
Past Champions
1979 High Hopes
1980 San Francisco
1981 Parker’s Nike
1982 Budweiser
1983 San Francisco
1984 Graduate Bar
1985 Blazers
1986 Thomas Tycoons
1987 San Francisco
1988 San Francisco
1989 San Francisco
1990 San Francisco
1991 Bay Raiders
1992 Bay Pride
1993 Bay Raiders
1994 San Francisco
1995 Bay Pride
1996 Bay Pride
1997 S.F. City
1998 Dream Team
1999 East Bay
2000 San Mateo
2001 Bay Pride
2002 SF City
2003 SF City
2004 East Bay
2005 East Bay
[edit] NBA players in the League
Some of the NBA players to play in the league are as follows:
Other Legendary Players/Coaches
"Snake" Jones
Doc Holiday
Eddie Joe Chavez
Bucky Chavez
Edward "Topper" Allen
"Cell Phone" Merv
[edit] 2006 Season
The 2006 regular season ended on August 3rd. Three teams ended the season with a record of 6-1. These teams were San Francisco, Bay City, and Dream Team. Because San Francisco had the best record against the other first place teams, they were granted a bye and advanced to the finals automatically.
In the end, Bay City was the championship team, beating San Francisco in the final series two games to zero.
The MVP of the 2006 season was Luke Whitehead, a graduate from Saint Ignasius High School. He recently finished his college career at Louisville and is trying out for the NBA.
