Brendan Prunty - Basketballs Game Changers: Icons, Record Breakers, Rivalries, Scandals, and More

Brendan Prunty has been a sportswriter since 2006, covering major sporting events and national figures. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, and the Newark Star-Ledger among other outlets. He has twice been recognized in the honorable mention section of the Best American Sports Writing series, and by the Associated Press Sports Editors and U.S. Basketball Writers Association. He graduated from Saint Josephs University in Philadelphia with a degree in political science, and a minor in English. He lives in his hometown of Cranford, New Jersey, with his wife Amanda, daughter Quinn, and dog, Winnie. This is his first book.

Writing a book is hard work. Writing a book trying to encapsulate the entire history of the sport of basketball is incredibly hard. This is not a cry for pity, just letting you know that the book youve just digested was the product of nearly a year of intense writing sessions, interviews, and most of alltime.

A hearty thanks to Keith Wallman and the wonderful folks at Lyons Press for not only choosing me to take on this project, but for providing a steady guiding hand throughout it all. I would also be remiss in not thanking the truly superb Cranford Public Library, in my hometown of Cranford, New Jersey. Its a place where I grew up loving and devouring books, and where I spent so many days in quiet writing my own.

When I took on this book project, I was a sportswriter looking for work. I had spent nearly nine years at the Newark Star-Ledgermy home newspapercovering everything under the sun. The confidence in my writing and storytelling skills is due mainly to two people, who took me under their watchful eyes and showed a young kid out of college how its done: Steve Politi and Tom Luicci. Thanks also to James Montgomery of Rolling Stone, Melissa Hoppert of the New York Times and B. J. Schecter of Sports Illustratedtheir encouragement while I worked as a freelancer helped make the writing in this book feel full of life. An additional round of thanks to my new bosses Chris Brienza and David Cooper at Coyne PR, who helped me connect with folks from their NBA days.

My familyfrom my mother (whom I got the journalism bug from) and father (love of sports)this book is a product of you both. My brothers, in-laws, friends, all of you kept me going throughout this process.

Finally, Team Prunty on my homefront. My wife, whose relentless support of this bookfrom giving me time to work on it to being my first line of defense in reading it throughyou are my rock in every sense of the word. And to my wonderful daughter Quinn: This book is for you. There will come a day when I hope you read it all, and know that you were the inspiration to write it. Seeing your joy and love for books inspired me to write one you can read in the future and know that your dads name is on the front. I can see already that you have the inquisitive and sport-loving genes from your old man. Hopefully you have your mothers athletic ones, though. Thats why when I was picking out which sport to try out first, before you even turned a year old, it was an easy decision.

You got a basketball.

When it came, the end was swift. The American Basketball Association had been sputtering along for its last two years, struggling to draw fans and attract attention, like a car long past its expiration date. The final season of 1975-76 saw the league begin with 10 teams, but between October and May, four had folded operations. It was over. The party that had been so grand, so opulent, so one-of-a-kind, was coming to an end. Owners lamented over what could have been. Players wondered what was next. The league that the ABA had pushed and poked and prodded for nearly a decade became its savior in many ways.

Thats how the ABA ended.

How it lived, though? Oh boy, is that ever a story.

It was always a little crazysimply because of the financial situations of some teams, said Len Elmore, who played for the Indiana Pacers during its ABA days, from 1974 to 1976. But it was all so fun because you knew you were competing against some of the greatest players. That was ultimately borne out in 76 when the merger occurred and you took a look at the (NBA) all-star teams. You took a look at who led in scoring, rebounds, assiststhey were all ABA guys.

For nine glorious years, the ABA was the antidote to boring, plodding basketball. Or more succinctly: It was the antidote to the NBA. When the league began in 1967, the idea was to force a merger with the NBA. Potential owners interested in buying or starting an NBA franchise were going to be burdened with incredibly high costs and demands. In the ABA, you could get or start a team for half of what the NBA was asking. The league started, taking off with 11 teams in cities all over the countrynear or in the vicinity of already-established NBA markets, and in some cases in new ones altogether.

There were the Pittsburgh Pipers, Minnesota Muskies, Indiana Pacers, Kentucky Colonels, and New Jersey Americans in the East. In the West, there were the New Orleans Buccaneers, Dallas Chaparrals, Denver Rockets, Houston Mavericks, Anaheim Amigos, and Oakland Oaks. The hope was to get the league off the ground, give fans an alternative to the NBAwhich most were becoming disenchanted withand then tell the big brother league: Hey, lets link up to save each other. It was kind of a foolproof plan. And given the ABAs business model at the outset (get attention), it looked like it might actually work.

For nine glorious years, the ABA was the antidote to boring, plodding basketball.

By 1967, the NBA was being smothered by the Boston Celtics. Red Auerbachs teams had been to the finals 10 times in an 11-year span, winning nine titles. They were dominant. Some might argue, too dominant for a league that was trying to grow in its own right through television. Plus, the Celtics were kind of well, boring. They were ruthlessly efficient and fundamentally sound. But they were not fun to watch if you lived outside of Beantown. Hardly anyone dunked, the 3-point shot did not exist, and most of the players in the NBA were clean-cut. In other words: The NBA was as stiff as its backboards.

The ABA, on the other hand, added a 3-point shot. (Its first commissioner, former NBA legend George Mikan, called it the home run.) The league encouraged dunking. It stood up toand beatthe NCAA, in challenging its Four-Year Rule, which kept players from turning pro before the end of their senior year. Team uniforms were brightly colored. Black players could sport huge afros, while white players could wear long, moppy hair. It was a league that was completely in the spirit of the times, when America was changing and looking for ways to challenge the establishmentnot just in terms of style, but style of play, too.

I dont think the players themselves viewed it as a renegade league, Walt Szczerbiak, a player for the Pittsburgh Condors told the Beaver County Times in 2001. They just wanted to play basketball. I think players like playing the ABA game as opposed to the NBA that was kind of rough-and-tumble and slow-down. The ABA was a quicker type game.

Pretty soon, players in college wised up that they could come out of college early, play professional in the United States against viable competition, and either make a career out of the ABA or wait for the NBA to take notice and jump ship. Either way, they were making money and playing good basketball at a time when they otherwise would have been playing in college for nothing. Julius Erving entered the league. Artis Gilmore did the same. Spencer Haywoodone of the most dominant players in college at the timeleft the University of Detroit early to play for the Denver Rockets for a season. Haywood signed a massive contract at the time ($450,000) and led the league in scoring (30.0) and rebounding (19.5) averages.