Anyone here remember the ABA (or have any ABA basketball card, like I do)?

[Up2Late]

I see the look of the new movie "Semi-Pro" is right, with the giant Afro-style hair, but did they really do stunts and promotions to attract fans (like they show in the movie)?

And was the merger, as it is said in the movie, a deal like "best 4 teams get into the NBA," or how did that work?:shrug:

[MaineDem]

1. Is that the group that used red, white, and blue basketballs?

I remember them.

[Up2Late]

2. Yup, and that's the fastest way to tell the ABA and NBA cards apart in my collection.

In most of the Basketball cards, the player is holding either a regular color or a red, white, and blue basketball.

Next, you notice some old teams you probably don't remember, like the Q's, the Tams or the Stars, I guess those teams kind of sucked.

[Bluzmann57]

3. If I remember correctly

and that's a big if, the San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, and New Orleans (now Utah) Jazz were the four teams the NBA took in after the ABA collapsed. I'm pretty sure the Spurs are still the only ABA original to win an NBA championship. But the ABA had some great players. George Gervin and Julius Erving to name a couple. And yes, I still have some of my old ABA cards from my youth.

[rdmtimp]

4. 3 out of 4

The New Jersey Nets (formerly New York Nets) were the 4th team instead of the Jazz (who were an NBA expansion team in 75.) There was a Utah franchise in the ABA (the Stars) but they folded during the last ABA season.

You're right about the Spurs - they're the only ex-ABA to win an NBA title.

[Up2Late]

8. You are CORRECT! I even have a pre-NBA expansion "introducing" the New Orleans Jazz card...

...in my collection. I thought, for the longest time they were ABA, but the other night, when I sorted out the ABA from the NBA cards, I realized they were NBA. Did they join with another team in 1975?

Very good, can you name all the ABA teams that didn't make the cut?

I know most, but I don't know if I have them all.

[rdmtimp]

9. The Jazz actually joined the NBA in 74..

I had the year wrong in my first post. Here's the NBA teams in order of joining

The pre-expansion 8: Celtics, Knicks, 76ers, Hawks, Warriors, Lakers, Pistons, Kings.
1962 - Chicago Zephyrs (now Washington Wizards)
1966 - Chicago Bulls
1967 - San Diego (now Houston) Rockets, Seattle Supersonics
1968 - Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns
1970 - Buffalo Braves (now LA Clippers), Cleveland Cavs, Portland Blazers
1974 - New Orleans (now Utah) Jazz
1976 - the ABA 4 (Denver, Indiana, New Jersey, San Antonio)
1980 - Dallas Mavericks
1988 - Charlotte (now New Orleans) Hornets, Miami Heat
1989 - Minnesota Timberwolves, Orlando Magic
1995 - Toronto Raptors, Vancouver (now Memphis) Grizlies
2004 - Charlotte Bobcats

[Bluzmann57]

13. Thank you for the info

I wasn't really sure about the Nets, guess I should have known though. Also should have known about the New Orleans Jazz because of Pete Maravich playing there.

[El Supremo]

6. trivia:

The San Antonio Spurs had been the Dallas Chaparrals and the Denver Nuggets were the Denver Rockets but changed their name because of the Houston Rockets already in the NBA.

[Up2Late]

17. I don't really get the connection with the "Denver Rockets"???

What's that all about?

But I think I found the worst team mascot and worst logo, check it out:



Worst logo



<http://www.remembertheaba.com/ABAGeneralInfo/Logos.html>

[El Supremo]

20. They were called the Rockets...

Because Titan missiles were built here in Denver.

[burythehatchet]

5. I remember my ABA basketball

It really helped me with my Rick Barry style free throws.

[soleft]

12. Yes, it was red white and blue, right?

[Va Lefty]

7. I remember watching the Virginia Squires

in a nearly empty Norfolk Scope and seeing a very young Julius Erving.

[Awsi Dooger]

10. I saw the Squires play the Miami Floridians

It may have been a playoff game. I'm not sure. I was about 10 and my dad took me to the game, at some type of contrived arena the Floridians were using. That was nearly two decades before Miami had a full scale basketball/hockey arena.

We sat behind the backboard and my dad told me to watch #32's feet when everyone jumped. It sounded ridiculous but a few years earlier he directed me to watch #89 on every play at the Canes football games, and that turned out to be Ted Hendricks.

#32, of course, was Julius Erving. I remember his shoes soaring about a foot and a half higher than everyone else's, when there was a contested rebound. I doubletaked in disbelief and looked at my dad, who was grinning.

Dr. J was almost as impressive as my other mental image from that game, the ball girl in a white bikini, at court side to our left. :)

[Up2Late]

14. Miami Floridians? What happened to them? Looks like they folded before the ABA did.

Here they are in the 1968-69 season, but they are gone in 1972-73?

<http://www.remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1969Playoffs.html>

1972-73
<http://www.remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1973Playoffs.html>

And check this out, two teams just "folded" after 10 or 15 games during the 1975-76 season, weird.

<http://www.remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1976Playoffs.html>

[Awsi Dooger]

23. I think they changed to merely the Floridians

The dumped the Miami tag and tried playing throughout the state, along with games in Miami. When that didn't work it was el foldo.

[Scurrilous]

21. Ah, yes...

...the girls in white bikinis.



I have hazy memories of going to a couple of their home games. I think they were playing at Dinner Key Auditorium.

[frylock]

11. check this..

Remember the ABA

[Up2Late]

15. Thanks, that's a very cool site, but what's this!?!

Looks like the Indiana Pacers finished 5th, and the Kentucky Colonels didn't move to the NBA? Maybe they joined those two teams into one to make the Pacers?:shrug:

<http://www.remembertheaba.com/PlayoffPages/1976Playoffs.html>

[frylock]

16. according to the wiki..

In the end, the NBA agreed to take in four teams--but the Colonels weren't among them. Although it has never been confirmed, it is likely that the NBA selected the Pacers over the Colonels because Indianapolis was a more lucrative market. However, the Colonels were on far stronger financial footing than the Pacers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Colonels#Aftermath

[cboy4]

18. The ABA was the outlaw league. LOVE it

:bounce:

[ProfessorGAC]

19. Yes, I Remember. No, No Cards

But, i did have the RW&B basketball when i was in 8th grade and early high school. David Robinson, Dr. J, Ice Man, Darrel Griffith. I loved those guys.
The Professor

[GOPisEvil]

22. Hell yes I remember. I was a Spurs fan before moving to Texas.

I was a big fan of George Gervin. He defined smooth. I was also a big fan of Julius Erving's. Can you believe that the Virginia Squires had them BOTH at the same time?

I was always a bigger ABA fan than an NBA fan when I was a kid. The ABA was much more fun to watch.

www.remembertheaba.com