IBL team opens camp on Nov. 3

Victoria Sun

Wednesday, Oct. 6, 1999 | 10:43 a.m.

The National Basketball Association, it isn't.

Officials of the new eight-team International Basketball League never said it would rival the world's strongest basketball conglomerate because that would be foolish.

But on Nov. 3, the Las Vegas Silver Bandits of the IBL will start training camp.

Grant Hill, Tim Duncan and Karl Malone won't be there.

In their place will be former college and junior college players trying to maintain their skills and perhaps be picked up by an NBA team in the future.

So what can you expect at a Silver Bandits game?

"We're a different product," team president Harry Stokes said. "We're trying to encourage a very up-tempo, fast-paced game and to get scoring in the game again."

The Silver Bandits will be coached by former UNLV coach Roland Todd.

The team will open the 64-game season Nov. 26 against San Diego at the Thomas and Mack Center.

Fans will park for free and will pay less for better seats. The upper level of the arena will be blocked off so that even the lowest-price ticket of $8 guarantees a good view.

IBL officials maintain that they want the league to help with the development of players that one day get to the NBA.

If you think that mantra sounds a lot like the Continental Basketball Association, the official developmental league for the NBA, you're right.

Still, there are distinct differences between the CBA and the IBL.

The IBL season is eight games longer than the CBA season, although the CBA has one more team.

CBA teams are located in smaller cities including Rockford, Ill., and Yakima, Wash. IBL teams are in larger markets such as former NBA cities Cincinnati and Baltimore.

A player with a CBA team can be picked up by an NBA team for a 10-day contract or longer during the season. IBL players are signed for a full year without the option of leaving early.

"Our players don't leave our market," Stokes said. "They come in here so our fans can follow them from the first until the end of the season.

"If the NBA wants them, they can take them at the end of the season."

The IBL draft was held in July, about two months before the CBA draft. IBL teams were allowed to draft CBA players as well as NBA second-round draft picks, although there's no guarantee any of those players will sign.

How long the league can last with borderline NBA players is another question.

In Las Vegas, many teams have come and gone including a CBA franchise, the Las Vegas Silvers, who debuted -- and left -- during the 1982-83 season.

"It is certainly something we need to deal with," Stokes said of failed attempts to sustain minor league professional sports teams in Las Vegas.

"There is certainly an ability to sustain ourselves (the league claims it has deep pockets and will run the Las Vegas franchise in lieu of local ownership) for a long period of time. In our minds, we don't see how it doesn't work. We're bringing in affordable and good, quality basketball."

Tickets for Silver Bandits games are $8, $10, $15 or $20. They can be purchased by calling 938-3838.

* LAWSUIT DISMISSED: U.S. District Court Judge John W. Sedwick, has granted the International Basketball League's motion to dismiss the case against it brought on by the Continental Basketball League for lack of personal jurisdiction.

Sedwick granted the motion on Sept. 29, and IBL attorney Brian Sheahan of Gebhardt & Smith in Baltimore, Md., received the ruling in the mail on Tuesday.

The CBA filed the lawsuit on Jan. 12 in U.S. District Court for the district of Arizona, alleging that the IBL tortuously interfered with a contract that the CBA said it had with the IBL's teams in Trenton, N.J. and St. Louis, Mo. The CBA also claimed that the IBL tortuously interfered with a prospective contractual relation.