Tuesday, July 18, 2000 | 10:15 a.m.
Two men who have never seen an International Basketball League game may ultimately be responsible for the success or failure of its Las Vegas franchise.
Brad Rothermel, a former UNLV athletic director, and Lionel Hollins, a player and coach over 22 seasons in the National Basketball Association, were introduced as CEO and head coach, respectively, of the Las Vegas Silver Bandits. The announcements were made Monday at a press conference at the Thomas & Mack Center.
By his own choice, Rothermel bypassed the Bandits' games last season, while Hollins was coaching the NBA's Vancouver Grizzlies. Yet for all their unfamiliarity with the two-year-old league, each feels the IBL can be a viable entity in the difficult Las Vegas market.
"We're trying to create the best non-NBA franchise in the world," Rothermel said. "We know we have to be competitive and we know we have a lot of tickets to sell."
Rothermel, who ran the athletic department at UNLV from 1981 to 1991, will rely on his local contacts to strengthen the Bandits' bond with the community.
"There's a reasonable probability that there will be no better basketball in Nevada for many years, if ever, to come," he said. "The IBL is a developmental league and always will be. But I'm not interested in going to the NBA or leaving Las Vegas, so my concentration will be directed toward doing everything we can to make the team successful and creating an event concept for our games.
"We need to take the good things the Silver Bandits accomplished last season and build on them."
Joining the Bandits is something Rothermel considered a year ago.
"We chatted about it over dinner," he said of a summer of 1999 meeting with league executives. "I was never formally offered a job, but I passed on it. There didn't appear to be much in the way of stability."
But after ex-UNLV basketball player Jackie Robinson took control of the team earlier this year, Rothermel was hooked. He abandoned his role as point man for a Las Vegas franchise in a new league -- the American Basketball Association -- and cast his lot with Robinson instead.
"After I'd gone around town in my role with the ABA, I realized the only sensible thing to do was to merge with the IBL," he said. "I proposed that to Jackie and he said 'I agree.' "
While the IBL and ABA will hold a meeting Wednesday in Indianapolis to discuss a formal merger of the two upstart leagues, Rothermel predicted the merger wouldn't happen. But he did say the ABA has withdrawn its interest in Las Vegas.
"We don't need two professional basketball teams here," he said. "Putting an ABA franchise in Las Vegas doesn't make sense right now and I got a little leery because the ABA has taken so long getting its infrastructure in place."
He joins a Silver Bandits franchise that needs to average 4,000 paid spectators per game to meet its financial requirements.
"The most difficult year is the first year and, fortunately, I didn't have to go through all the trials and tribulations," Rothermel said. "Last season the team didn't sell many season tickets and then got off to a terrible start, and there was a sense that the organization had no chance to succeed.
"But this year I think things will be different."
On the court the Bandits will have a different look, with Hollins replacing interim coach Barry Hecker, who replaced Rolland Todd late last season. Hollins is a native of North Las Vegas who attended Rancho High School and played 10 seasons in the NBA.
"Jackie is a great salesman and he told me how great this situation could be," Hollins said of deciding to coach the Bandits rather than seek another position in the NBA. "I'm looking for good things here and we'll present as good a product as possible."
He coached the Grizzlies for their final 60 games last season.
"Just leaving that NBA comfort zone is a huge step for me," he admitted. "But there's nothing wrong with the IBL -- it's just new. I had some other overtures about coaching (in the Continental Basketball Association) but that didn't appeal to me.
"I liked the idea of coming back to Las Vegas. I lived here before this city was even a city."
In addition to adding Rothermel and Hollins, the Silver Bandits announced the hiring of Jim Gemma as Media Relations and Publications Coordinator. Gemma has worked in the sports information department at UNLV since 1990, but has given his two-week notice at the university.
The Bandits also announced a new radio contract with KSHP (1400 AM) and an Internet merchandise provider, Dunk.net.
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