Columnist Dean Juipe: New team has look of bad joke

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2002 | 9:05 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

After years of close calls, we in Las Vegas can finally say we have seen the absolute height of absurdity.

It can't get any less intelligent than this: A low-level basketball league that is one step above insolvency has not only placed a team in Las Vegas but, unbeknownst to any of us, had that team play a game last week in Kentucky.

Even though we were the last to know, don't feel bad about this apparent slight. The ABA 2000 and its Las Vegas Slam won't be here for long.

But they will, apparently, be here Monday night for a game at an as yet undetermined site. Adding to the uncertainty is the fact the team has neither a coach nor a set roster, even though it has an 0-7 record and quickly wore out its welcome in Chicago.

Once you get past the shock, you have to laugh at this league and its decision to suddenly move a team to Las Vegas. I mean, what they're doing is so stupid that it's funny.

I'm skeptical that they'll even play Monday, but let's say they do.

Here's what we'll get: A vagabond team with zero credibility, accented by a roster that's apt to be culled from an impromptu tryout session at Sunset Park.

An earlier incarnation of the team -- the Chicago Skyliners -- has all but disbanded and isn't making the move to Las Vegas intact. A website check of the Skyliners' roster did not reveal a single recognizable name, nor many guys who had even played in college.

The same holds true for the entire seven-team league. In terms of talent, the ABA 2000 is to the NBA what a Nothing Over $1 store is to Neiman Marcus.

Worse yet, the ABA talent level appears to be well beneath what we saw when the International Basketball League was in town. You remember our team in that league, the Bandits? If so, you probably also recall what a dismal failure they were and how they folded in midseason just a year ago.

Las Vegas does not want, need or enjoy minor league basketball. Period.

This is not only an opinion, it is a proven fact.

And the Slam will not be the team to break that cycle. Whether they play in the Cox Pavilion or at Valley High or linger at a third interim site until the proposed downtown arena is built, they will not under any conditions make any money and by their very existence they will be cutting into some millionaire's son's inheritance.

The comical nature of moving an inept and failed team from Chicago to Las Vegas at midseason tops any and all previous attempts to force minor league sports on this particular community. At least the previous hucksters had a misguided plan that they brazenly tried to follow.

The Slam -- owned in part by former NBA player A.C. Green -- is simply winging it.

That they played as the Las Vegas Slam and lost to the Kentucky Pro Cats last Saturday in someplace called Crestview Springs, Ky., only adds to the joke.

A fool and his money are soon parted, and Green (and his two fellow owners) can go ahead and trade in their suits for something approximating the costumes of jesters from days of yore. Something in bright green, yellow and red would be apropos.