Has the NBA Become The Very ABA It Used To Mock?

Does anyone really have fear of the NBA becoming the ABA? During an early-season contest involving the Brooklyn Nets, there was an interview with a gentleman named Herb Turetzky, who has been the Nets’ official scorekeeper since the team’s and American Basketball Association’s (ABA) inception in 1967 as the New Jersey Americans. He talked about how, from the beginning, the ABA was routinely mocked by the NBA – he specifically named legendary Celtics’ Coach and President Red Auerbach as one of the main culprits – as a league that shouldn’t really be taken seriously.

Yes, the ABA Was Different

The red, white and blue basketball, the three-point line, the sparsely-attended games in cold arenas with low defensive intensity and scores in the 130’s, quirky personalities, eccentric owners and bizarre halftime entertainment that included dancing girls, wrestling bears and cow-milking contests led many to view the upstart league with skepticism as merely a rebellious, attention-starved sideshow.

Then Someone Thought the Three-Point Line Was A Good Idea. (Sigh.)

Turetzky then went on to mention that during the league’s final ABA contest, the May 13, 1976 championship series Game 6 between the New York Nets and the Denver Nuggets, there were six three-point field goals attempted for the entire game.

His point? The NBA, particularly with its growing emphasis on the three-point shot, is ironically on its way to becoming the very ABA it used to ridicule. Even more ironic is that his employer, the Brooklyn Nets, is one of the main culprits, hoisting them up at a clip of almost 35 per game, which is second in the league.

In today’s NBA, a team like the Houston Rockets will launch over 40 three-point attempts per game; this season the New York Knicks have averaged a league-low 22 attempts per game.

The NBA league average for three-point attempts per game has increased steadily from 2.8 during the 1979-80 season to nearly 29 per game this season, which would be a league record for the seventh straight year.

By contrast, during the ABA’s final campaign in 1975-76, the champion New York Nets led the league with 372 three-point attempts, an average of 4.4 per game during the 84-game regular season. The arc was there, but teams didn’t rely on it because only a handful of guys could really shoot it at a decent percentage.

So, at least where the three-point shot is concerned, the NBA is out-ABA-ing the ABA.

An Entertaining League, Even When There Was Play Stoppage

Turetzky didn’t mention the replacement of organ music during timeouts and halftime with dancers and other forms of entertainment as ABA staples, but the NBA has certainly evolved from its days of the haunting pipe organ at places like Chicago Stadium.

To be sure, the ABA had quite an interesting run during its nine-year existence (1967 – 1976). Before its dissolution in 1976 via merger of its strongest franchises with the NBA, the league brought its fans the best and worst of everything the sport has to offer.

Hey, Wait A Minute…These Guys Can Play!

But what allowed the ABA to endure as long as it did was its impressive collection of on-court talent. Basketball Hall of Famers like Julius Erving, Dan Issel, George Gervin, David Thompson and Moses Malone, among others, began their professional careers in the ABA before continuing their dominance after the NBA-ABA merger. Others like Zelmo Beaty, Rick Barry and Billy Cunningham started in the NBA, moved between leagues and excelled in both. Roger Brown played his entire Hall of Fame career in the ABA and remains one of the most underappreciated (and underexposed) superstars in the history of the sport.

Turetzky added that basketball fans who only saw Julius Erving play in the NBA did not get to see the best he had to offer. As someone who watched Dr. J play when he was a member of the ABA New York Nets, I agree wholeheartedly. He was incredible in the ABA.

According to the website Remembertheaba.com, NBA and ABA teams competed against one another in a series of preseason exhibitions games between 1971 and 1975, including several as part of NBA-ABA doubleheaders, and the ABA more than  held its own, winning 79 of the 156 games played.

There was enough talent in the ABA to have four of its teams absorbed by the NBA during the 1976 merger and also have several of its top players who weren’t on one of those four teams land spots on NBA rosters and perform at a high level. Players from the Kentucky Colonels (who were not part of the merger) like Artis Gilmore and Maurice Lucas immediately come to mind.

More ABA Innovation

The first even Slam Dunk Contest? It was held at the 1976 ABA All-Star Game and was won by Julius Erving in a field that included David Thonpson, Artis Gilmore and Larry Kenon and George Gervin, with all but Kenon eventually becoming Hall of Famers.

Although this may change within a few years, what is still considered the main event at the annual NBA All-Star Weekend? The Slam Dunk Contest.

The NBA Maintains Its Own Identity, But…

To be fair, the now financially-stable NBA doesn’t have franchises folding in mid-season or teams playing home games in multiple cities, and most of its 30 teams will at least attempt to play defense at various stages of games, if only for a handful of possessions and as much as the offensively-slanted rules will allow.

The ball is still brown-orange (at least for now) and the shot clock is still 24 seconds per possession. The NBA has a strong players’ union and huge television contract, state-of-the-art arenas, a global following and well-compensated athletes with top-notch training facilities. Jersey sales are high and the top players are recognizable. The league’s level of competition continues to be enhanced by the influx of international players, though somewhat hampered by the number of 19-year-olds who come into the league who aren’t quite ready.

And although over time we’ve seen an increase in the number of flying mascots dunking basketballs after triple somersaults off trampolines, and in general the halftime entertainment has become zanier with time, the cow-milking thing is probably not something we’ve seen during an NBA halftime.

Or have we?

Giving The ABA Its Due

The NBA owes a lot of its success to finally embracing the idea of its league as both a sport and entertainment package (the likes of Jordan, Magic, Bird, etc., passing through didn’t hurt, either), something the ABA did from the start. To that end, particularly for those of us old enough to remember the ABA, it’s difficult to watch an NBA game with the quickened pace and number of three-pointers attempted, or witness the growth and popularity of the NBA All-Star Weekend and the overall attempt to keep fans engaged even during stoppages in play, without at least silently giving the ABA some credit for being a bit radical and having an impact on the presentation of the sport as we now know it.