First off, for those of you who don't know about the history of ABA, let me tell y'all.
The ABA was founded because the NBA didn't want to expand from 10 teams, and charged potential owners too much to join the league in franchise admissions fees. So the ABA was formed and the leadership reinforced the idea that it was a good deal by saying they would eventually merge, and since values of franchises were estimated to only be half of NBA-franchise values, at the merger time the value of the team would double, so owners had a sweet deal if they got into the ABA in 1967. Add to that the commissioner of the league (George Mikan) and there's a good incentive to join, so the ABA ended up with plenty of teams.
Mikan introduced the red, white and blue ball, but more significantly the three-point line. Prior to this (and until 1979-80 in the NBA) all field goals were two-pointers even from the halfcourt line and beyond. Later, Dave DeBusschere (another former NBA player, with the Knicks) introduced the slam dunk contest in the 1975-76 season, at the 1976 ABA All-Star game. The three-point line led to higher scores, the slam-dunk's precedence as an attack form led to more ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Richard JT
What Would Happen If the ABA Was Still Around?
August 8th, 2010 by Richard JT Leave a reply »
Advertisement