Wednesday, July 18, 2007
It’s not Allen Fieldhouse, but the star power is there.
The stars of the Kansas basketball team straggle in shoulder-to-shoulder with spectators who are interested in seeing professional basketball talent. It’s three minutes to game time and half the players are still getting their shoes on as the announcer asks players for the third time to sign in at the scorer’s table.
Brady Morningstar slides his jersey over his shoulders as his Jayhawk teammates Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur slap hands with the half-capacity crowd as they make their way to a seat in the stands.
The Kansas City Pro-Am basketball league doesn’t contain a fraction of the electricity that a Big 12 Conference contest would on any given night. The games are held at a small community college in downtown Kansas City that only contains bleachers on one side of the court. At Allen Fieldhouse it’s impossible to understand, let alone hear a player talking when sitting courtside, but 15 rows up in the corner at Penn Valley Community College it’s easy to hear the profane words JaRon Rush is directing at an official who appears to have missed a foul call the pervious position.
In the stands, Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur are on their feet yelling and laughing as Morningstar catches an ally-oop pass for a dunk. Arthur said getting to know the basketball talent around Kansas City has been a worthwhile experience for him even though he can not participate because of a stress fracture in his leg.
“I still like watching the guys play,” Arthur said. “Brady told me he was gonna dunk one tonight. JaRon was telling me he can still play when I got here, so I’m just seeing what he’s got.”
JaRon, elder brother of Kansas’ Brandon Rush and a former star in his own right at UCLA, is joined in the league by NBA players Kirk Hinrich, Billy Thomas and local Kansas City products Tyronn Lue and Earl Watson, who are also in the NBA. JaRon said playing against local talent is about as much as he does with a basketball these days.
His quickness might be gone, but his scoring ability hasn’t deteriorated. His seven straight points for his team, Fadeaway, sparked a comeback victory over Morningstar and Team Holmes.
“My mother and grandmother were here watching my game,” Rush said. “My family supports me here. I’ve played a lot of places; at UCLA I partied too much and made some bad decisions. Here my family keeps me grounded.”
Co-director of the league and former Kansas basketball player Terry Nooner is busy scurrying around the scorer’s table — checking rosters and talking to sponsors. Nooner said Lue, point guard of the Atlanta Hawks, pushed him to organize the eight-team league. He said they tried to mirror the league after programs established in Chicago and Dallas.
“KU players have been very receptive to the games and the fans watching,” Nooner said. “Everything has run smoothly except for a few e-mails saying we put big names on rosters as draws but then players don’t show up.”
The grumblings of eager fans do have some merit.
Nearly a month into the season, Hinrich, the point guard for the Chicago Bulls, hasn’t made the trek from Chicago to play for his team TDS Rocks. Nooner said Hinrich missed the opening games because his dog was sick and needed to be cared for. He said Hinrich got married in the second weekend in July, not allowing him to make it to Kansas City.
Despite Hinrich’s absence, the league continues to warrant interest from players and fans. Fans can watch the games Tuesday through Thursday each week in July.
Nooner said the league was designed for the players to get a high level of competition. He said he didn’t expect the fan interest the league has received.
“We weren’t even thinking about a crowd,” Nooner said. “The seats have been filled most nights and the players take this seriously. Bragging rights are important no matter what you’re playing for.”
— Edited by Joe Caponio
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