ABA’s Las Vegas Slam set for home debut

Victoria Sun

Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2002 | 8:58 a.m.

Delayed but not derailed, the Las Vegas Slam basketball team of the ABA 2000 league will make its home debut at 7 tonight at the Cox Pavilion.

The 0-2 Slam, which formed when the league's Chicago franchise folded, originally was scheduled to play its first home game Feb. 18. But that game was postponed because the team had not secured a place to play or hired a new coach.

That isn't the case now.

Former UNLV and NBA standout Reggie Theus will be the team's head coach with Robert Smith, Mike Brown and John Moran serving as assistants.

The Slam will host the California Surf tonight, the Kentucky Bobcats at 7 p.m. Wednesday and the Indiana Legends at 4 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10.

"The Las Vegas team is going to be competitive," Slam vice president and general manager Ruby Richman said. "They'll work as hard as they can.

"They've only been together less than a week. It's going to take time before they execute well. We know we're going to get better as each week goes by."

The Slam is scheduled play all 11 remaining home games at the Cox Pavilion. Team officials signed a one-year lease, according to Thomas & Mack Center director Daren Libonati, who also oversees Cox Pavilion.

"If everything works well, we'll continue to look forward to having them next year," Libonati said. "They've prepaid in advance because they know what has transpired here before with the other teams.

"They're all professional people. We just hope Las Vegas gives them a chance."

Cedric Ceballos, a forward who averaged 11.2 points over his 11 years in the NBA, has signed a contract to play for the Slam.

Other Slam members are: former UNLV players Patrick Savoy and Gerald Paddio, Damion Dantzler (Louisville), Roy Hammonds (San Jose State), Jaha Wilson (USC), Kevin Holland (DePaul), Shaheen Holloway (Seton Hall), Robbie Jones (California), Saif Abdur-Rahman (Oregon Tech) and Thomas Gillespie (Jefferson University).

The ABA 2000 employs several interesting rules designed to increase scoring.

The "three D" rule states that if the ball is stolen in the backcourt by the opposing team, an extra point will be rewarded if the team is able to convert. The "super foul" rule states that after a team is whistled for nine fouls, the next player fouled can either take two shots or go for a 3-pointer. Teams also have only seven seconds to get the ball across the half-court stripe.