Saturday, October 20, 2012

Article about the Premier Basketball League

Premier Basketball League

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This article is about the North American basketball league. For the South African basketball league, see Premier Basketball League (South Africa).
Premier Basketball League (PBL)
PremierBasketballLeague.PNG
Logo PBL
Sport Basketball
Founded 2007
Commissioner Brij M. Desai (President/CEO)
Inaugural season 2008
No. of teams 11
Country(ies)  United States
Continent FIBA Americas (Americas)
Most recent champion(s) Central Illinois Drive (1st title)
Most titles Rochester Razorsharks (3 titles)
Official website www.ThePBL.com
The Premier Basketball League, often abbreviated to the PBL, is a men's professional basketball minor league in the United States that began play in January 2008. The league had ten teams for the 2008 season and thirteen teams for the 2009 season. Nine teams from Canada and the United States participated in the 2010 season. Eight started the 2011 season.

Contents

History

2008 Season

The PBL was formed after a number of disagreements between several former member teams of the modern American Basketball Association (ABA) and ABA CEO Joe Newman.[1] Eight of the initial ten PBL teams either played in or were slated to play in the ABA.
In early 2007, Newman was voted out of his position as CEO of the ABA by the board of directors, which included Maryland Nighthawks owner and then-ABA COO Tom Doyle (who was later a commissioner of the PBL), citing dissatisfaction with how Newman executed his duties as CEO. Newman responded by using his and other shares that formed a controlling interest to remove the entire board of directors.[2]
Newman then refused to reschedule a weather-delayed playoff game between the Rochester Razorsharks and Wilmington Sea Dawgs although the two teams agreed to a make up date, wanting instead to force Rochester to accept a forfeit.[3] It was on the heels of these two incidents that the Nighthawks and Razorsharks ownership groups decided to found the PBL.[1]
Former Houston Rockets point guard and current NBA on TNT analyst Kenny Smith was the league's first commissioner.[1]

2009 Season

Defections from other leagues

During the 2008 off season, six more former ABA teams decided to move to the PBL. First, on May 9, the Manchester Millrats and the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 ABA champion Vermont Frost Heaves moved.[4] Then on May 20, the inactive Detroit Panthers re-activated and joined the league.[5] And on May 21, the Quebec Kebs joined.[6] On June 5 another team with an ABA history, the Augusta Groove, joined the league, but from the Continental Basketball Association.[7] On June 23, the Halifax Rainmen, an ABA team the previous year, announced they were also joining the PBL after a bid to join the NBA Development League fell short.[8] The first International Basketball League defection came on July 31 when the Battle Creek Knights joined the league.[9]

Defunct Franchises

On February 5, 2009, the league removed the original ownership of the Montreal Sasquatch for non-payment of players and removed the team from the league.[10] Montreal's four best players were drafted by other teams and all of the other players were given unconditional releases.[11] However, on February 11, the league announced new ownership for the team and the team was reinstated for the remainder of the year.[12]
Two thirds of the way through their inaugural season, there was a split among the members of the ownership group of the Mid-Michigan Destroyers and the team suspended operations for at least 2009, if not permanently.[13] The league also said the remaining Mid-Michigan games on the schedule would be filled by the remaining teams in the league.[13]

Playoffs

The original league playoff plan called for an initial play-in game between the league's 4th and 5th seeds, then a best of three semi-final series and final series. The Rochester Razorsharks had to delay the third game of their semi-final series. By the time the finals would have taken place, there were concerns about date availability at Kellogg Arena (home of the Battle Creek Knights)[14] and the ability of the league to honor a commitment to broadcast the games overseas due to limited broadcast capability from Kellogg Arena. Rather than the scheduled best of three finals series a single game final was played at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester.[15][16]

2010 Season

The Battle Creek Knights returned to the IBL[17] The Wilmington Sea Dawgs moved to the Continental Basketball League.[18] The Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry joined the league from the CBA.[19] The Maryland Nighthawks changed the name of their franchise to the Maryland GreenHawks.[20] The Puerto Rico Capitanes joined the league, performing concurrently in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional.
At the end of the season, the league officially severed ties with the Buffalo Stampede, citing a failure by the team to adhere to league standards.[21] The Maryland GreenHawks were also dropped from the league.[22] The Bluegrass Stallions, another ABA team, joined.[23] The league also added the expansion Dayton Air Strikers.[24]

2011 Season

In January, the Vermont Frost Heaves abruptly announced the cessation of operations and their players were dispersed via a draft.[25] At the end of the season, the Dayton Air Strikers moved to the IBL.[26] The Rochester Razorsharks won the league championship after several controversial games where the impartiality of officiating was called into question by other league members[27]. The Halifax Rainmen and Saint John Mill Rats both announced they were leaving the league within one hour after the playoffs ended.[28] [29]Both press releases cited the way the playoffs were handled as their reason. In addition, the Lawton Constitution reported that Micheal Ray Richardson, the coach of the Lawton-Fort Sill Cavalry, stated they will not return to the PBL. They were the losing team in the especially controversial PBL Finals. [30] The Quebec Kebs announced the next day they were withdrawing from the league. [31](French) All three Canadian teams became founding members of the new National Basketball League of Canada, starting play in late 2011.
In a post on the forums about basketball at the Our Sports Central website, a poster who had previously been identified as the Bluegrass Stallions's Tony Chase stated that the Stallions had formally withdrawn from the league privately earlier.[32] This reduced the league roster to solely the champion.
On May 24, 2011, the league filed a lawsuit against the Our Sports Central website and one poster over posts on the message boards claiming some of the league games were fixed. [33]

2012 Season

The league approved expansion teams in Chicago and Scranton, PA for the 2012 PBL season. Also, Chattanooga, TN, Hershey, PA, and Madison, WI were named as cities pending approval for expansion teams.[34]
On July 18, 2011, the PBL announced the Dayton Air Strikers were returning to the league for the 2012 season. [35] In addition, the Northwestern Illinois-based Sauk Valley Predators began their inaugural season in the PBL for 2012. [36] On August 22, 2011, it was announced the Charleston Gunners would be the PBL's sixth team for the 2012 season. [37] On September 15, 2011, it was announced the Northwest Indiana Stars were leaving the ABA to be the PBL's seventh team for the 2012 season. [38] On September 21, 2011 it was announced the Lake Michigan Admirals were also leaving the ABA to be the PBL's eighth team for the 2012 season. [39] On September 23, 2011 it was announced that the PBL's ninth team for the 2012 season would be the Central Illinois Drive based in Bloomington, Illinois. [40] On October 12, 2011, it was announced that the Indiana Diesels were also leaving the ABA to be the PBL's tenth team for the 2012 season. [41] On October 14, 2011, it was announced that the St. Louis Pioneers were also leaving the ABA to join the PBL, changing their name to the St. Louis Phoenix. [42]

Clubs[43]

Current clubs

Team City Arena (Capacity)
Central Illinois Drive [40] Bloomington, Illinois U.S. Cellular Coliseum (7,000)
Charleston Gunners St. Albans, West Virginia St. Albans High School
Chicago Muscle[44] Palatine, Illinois Harper College
Dayton Air Strikers[35] Kettering, Ohio James S. Trent Arena (3,600)
Indiana Diesels[41] Columbus, Indiana Ceraland Park gymnasium
Lake Michigan Admirals[39] Berrien County, Michigan Lake Michigan Catholic High School and Benton Harbor High School
Northwest Indiana Stars[38] Crown Point, Indiana On the Square Sports Academy
Rochester Razorsharks Rochester, New York Blue Cross Arena (12,428)
Sauk Valley Predators[36] Northwestern Illinois Various
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Steamers[45] Scranton, Pennsylvania Lackawanna College Union Center (2,500)
St. Louis Phoenix[46] Normandy, Missouri Normandy High School

History of Teams

Main article: History of PBL teams

Awards

MVP

Playoffs MVP

Coach of the Year

Sixth Man of the Year

Defensive Player of the Year

Rookie of the Year

Newcomer of the Year

Championship Game/Series results

For complete playoff results of past PBL seasons, see Premier Basketball League Playoff Results.
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