The American Basketball Association waged a war against the NBA throughout its nine-year history. From the beginning, it was an unfair fight. The NBA had better players, better arenas, and most importantly, a network television contract that gave it more visibility and way better funding.
But the ABA had one thing going for it. The league simply refused to play by the NBA’s rules. It cared little for the sanctity of contracts and broke the unwritten prohibition against signing college underclassmen.
The ABA opened its doors to players who had been blackballed from the NBA like Connie Hawkins, Doug Moe, and Roger Brown, and found a home for players deemed too small or just plain too weird. You can’t understand the history of pro basketball without the ABA, and you can’t be any kind of a basketball person if you don’t know Willie Wise and Bob Netolicky.
Read Full Article »