The Albany Patroons of the TBL and the London Lightning of the National Basketball League of Canada get ready to tip off in the first ever inter-league game between the TBL and NBLC on March 31. The Patroons won the game 97-90.
ALBANY, NY – It is the last day of March in Albany, NY, and amidst the sound of pelting rain on Washington Avenue is a sense of excitement in the air. Inside the Washington Avenue Armory Sports and Convention Arena, the Albany Patroons of the five-year old The Basketball League are about to play their biggest game in the last five seasons. An unfamiliar foe has made an eight hour-plus bus trip from Ontario to the Armory to lock horns with the Patroons.
The London Lightning are a Canadian powerhouse, members of the National Basketball League of Canada, an entity that has been in operation since 2011. The Lightning are four-time champions of the NBLC and have led their league in attendance numerous years. They are visiting Albany as part of the season-long partnership between the NBLC and the TBL that has seen franchises from both leagues match-up in inter-league games, 24 total, between six TBL franchises and four NBLC franchises. Each Canadian franchise resides in big Ontario cities London, Sudbury, Windsor, and Kitchener, while the TBL franchises competing are the Patroons, Syracuse Stallions, Jamestown (NY) Jackals, Kokomo (IN) Bobcats, Dayton Flight and Toledo Glass City (both out of Ohio), and two teams from Michigan, the Flint United, and Lansing Pharaohs.
You could say the contest between the Patroons and Lightning was an unofficial “USA vs. Canada” affair, judging by the few boos during the introduction of the Lightning’s starting lineup from some of the 1,105 fans in attendance. It was also a game where the rule differences from both leagues came into play. The Lightning’s Cameron Forte nearly took the ball off the rim while retrieving a rebound, something legal in the NBLC (which uses FIBA rules), but illegal in the TBL, which uses NBA rules. In the game, the Lightning were also called twice for defensive three seconds, a rule that does not exist in FIBA.
The Patroons emerged victorious, 97-90, despite relinquishing a 28-12 first quarter lead that saw them fall behind by double digits. With the seven-point win though, they improved to 8-1 while handing the Lightning their first loss of the season after an 11–0 beginning.
While the game wasn’t on the stage of, and may not have had as much at stake as the Patroons’ 1988 CBA Finals series against the Wyoming Wildcatters or its 2019 TBL Championship run, it definitely was the most unique victory in their recent history. The result was nothing accidental.
PART I: THE FOUNDATION
For the past five years, the Patroons have been hard at work, re-branding themselves in a new league.
Will Brown is their head coach, hired prior to the 2022 season, and also doubles as team General Manager. Brown, who spent 19 seasons as the head coach of the University of Albany Great Dane’s men’s basketball team, took over the coaching reins from longtime Patroon Derrick Rowland. For UAlbany, Brown won 261 games, five America East Conference championships and led the school to five NCAA Tournament appearances. After being in college for so long, a very personal decision factored in to making the change to the pros.
“My son was going to be a freshman in college and I wanted to have time to see him play,” said Brown, who would make the extended road trip to SUNY Fredonia to see his son Jackson play and drive back the same night. “One of the things the Patroons job allowed me to do was allow me to take off whenever I needed to take off to see my son play (Jackson left SUNY Fredonia in the middle of January to transfer to Sage and be closer to home).”
Brown instructs his team during a timeout in the first quarter of their 112-90 home win on March 26 home against the Pennsylvania Kings.
The 50-year-old, Miller Place, NY native is a true student of the game and basketball lifer. He played for his father at Miller Place High School, and has been coaching more than half his life, with stops at the College of Saint Rose and Sullivan Community College, the latter where he was head coach and Assistant Athletic Director, prior to the Great Danes.
Brown’s pregame custom includes posting up at the head of the table in his makeshift office on the upper floor of the Armory looking over game notes. On a day where his team is facing the Connecticut Cobras, the coach has yet to change into his formal coaching attire, and is wearing a green and white Under Armour jumpsuit. Scouting reports are delivered to the table in front of him, and he keeps an eye on a first round NCAA Tournament game that is streaming on his laptop. Brown is obviously no stranger to the college game, and says that he is keenly aware of the college coaching carousel that will ensue following the NCAA season. Here he is though, leading the Patroons 13 years after the Continental Basketball Association ceased operations. He prepares while photos of distinguished Patroons of the past reside throughout the office. Phil Jackson is high up on the front wall in a vintage photo that is worn around the edges. A photo of Micheal Ray Richardson dowsing former head coach Bill Musselman with water as they celebrate their 1988 championship is on the corner wall, and a picture of three-time NBA champion Mario Elie, who played in Albany from 1989-1990, stands by the door. The mystique is thick in the room.
This evening, the Patroons make quick work of the Cobras, and improve their record to 4-1. Their opponents have all been within a relative stone’s throw of the capital region - teams from Taunton, MA, Atlantic City, NJ, Allen, PA, and Norwalk, CT.
Brown relishes the support of the home crowd on this night and all game nights at the Armory, making their presence felt in the vintage venue. "The Albany community has embraced the Patroons," says the coach.
Outside of the Washington Avenue Armory at 195 Washington Ave in Albany, NY. Originally built in 1890, it is the home venue of the TBL’s Albany Patroons.
Such an embrace goes back decades in this historic building. In 2006, the Armory was added to the National Register of Historic Places following a $6 million renovation spearheaded by current CEO Benito Fernandez. Giving the venue character are its wide doors and distinct cherry wood, and to get to the locker rooms, you have to take some narrow steps down a couple flights of stairs that are located about 20 yards from the end of the court. Two spaces attached to the parking garage comprise both the home and visitor locker rooms, not exactly a typical spot for a locker room. In fact, Richardson once told me that he and his Patroon teammates that included future NBA coaches Rick Carlisle, Sidney Lowe, and Scott Brooks, would celebrate home victories with a cold beer in that cramped space. Honestly, the Armory does not look like a place where you would see competitive basketball. A newly-built downtown arena, Knickerbocker Arena, was supposed to be the team's home starting in 1990, but it only lasted two seasons due to poor attendance.
The Patroons came back to the Armory in 2005 when they re-emerged after a 13-year hiatus, stayed until 2009 when the CBA ceased, and picked back up at the venue when the TBL started. For decades a member of what was the preeminent minor basketball league in America, the Patroons are what keeps the Armory going.
The Patroons have had 34 players or coaches throughout their history who also had NBA experience. Above is a list of the most notable. In addition to Jackson and Karl, both of whom turned in Hall of Fame coaching careers, Richardson was a four-time All Star and Elie a three-time champion.
Chuck Miller, a team historian who is also the official statistician of the NBLC and a central interviewee in the 2018 Upside Collective documentary The Minor League Mecca, has a spot in the media box behind the visiting team’s bench for every game. On a night when the Patroons host the Pennsylvania Kings, a 112-90 home team win, Miller is doing what he does now for the team, writing game reports. The Albany native has spent a large part of his journalism career around the Patroons writing game inserts, doing photography, and broadcasting. He jokes that he has filled every role for the club “short of starting at small forward.” He is quick to identify the Patroons’ history and value to the city.
“One of the things that made it really unique for this area is that in the 1980's, Albany didn’t have anything suitable in the way of a sports arena”, says Miller. “There was no downtown arena for hockey or anything like that. So, the Armory was well-suited for minor league basketball and it was perfect for the team.”
Miller attended more Patroons games after college, eventually delving into the history of, in his words, “Albany’s true sports team.” as teams like the Albany River Rats of the AHL (American Hockey League) and the AC (Albany-Colonie) As and Yankees, Double-A affiliates of the Oakland Athletics (1983) and New York Yankees (1984), came and went. That first title for the city's true sports team was in 1984 under Jackson’s stewardship, who took over coaching duties from former New York Knick Dean Meminger during the inaugural 1982 season. Jackson parted ways with the team in 1987, and was actually at the Ulster County Unemployment Office in the county where his wife worked when he got a call from the Chicago Bulls to be their next head coach. He led them to six championships before guiding the Los Angeles Lakers to five more. George Karl, who coached the Patroons from 1988-1989 and 1990-1991, became the sixth-winningest head coach in NBA history, and he is going into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of its 2022 class. A large photo from his Patroon days is displayed prominently above the team merchandise stand.
One look into their past, and it’s no secret that the Patroons are steeped in success. It is why TBL founder Dave Magley, a member of Jackson’s 1984 team, targeted Albany when he founded the league.
PART II: THE PRESENT
Five years ago, the TBL was founded by Magley as North America Premier Basketball (NAPB), with the Patroons the linchpin of the then-eight team league. The Rochester Razorsharks represented the only other New York state club, with the other teams in Nevada, Washington state, Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri. Now the league is divided into six conferences, the West, Central, Lower Midwest, Upper Midwest, Northeast and Southeast, with a healthy amount of teams complementing each region. Eight weeks into 2022, and the Patroons lead the Northeast with a 12-2 record, ahead of the second-place 9-4 Atlantic City Gambits.
The team’s leading scorer is AJ Mosby, a 6’3 guard out of Alcorn State who is averaging 21.6 points per game. Mosby is regarded by Brown as a high-level scorer, and in watching him, it is easy to see why Brown termed him as such. He is an adept ball handler with quickness and a smooth jump shot, and a prime example of the new Patroons, a team that doesn’t have the NBA names of the past but has very talented, under the radar players that are well worth the $15 general admission ticket.
Patroons guard AJ Mosby makes a move to the basket against the Connecticut Cobras on March 18. Mosby scored 15 points in the game and leads the team in scoring through week eight of this season.
Mosby and his teammates go to work on a floor that gives an intimate feeling right away. The cozy space maxes out at 3,600, with every seat, aside from courtside, being general admission.
A view of the Patroons' floor prior to their game on March 18 against the Connecticut Cobras.
The Patroons’ dance squad, the Emeralds, entertains during timeouts, and there are interactive games at halftime that fans participate in, like dribbling the length of the floor with the use of only one hand and having to score a layup. If the Patroons win, the crowd whips into a frenzy at the final buzzer as Kool N The Gang’s “Celebration” plays through the loudspeakers.
Their game against the Kings is much the same as the one versus the Cobras, another distanced affair where the Patroons got out to a commanding 17-0 lead.
This night is extra special to the home crowd faithful because one of their former players and former NBA veteran Smush Parker is reffing his first game with the goal of reaching the NBA level again, this time as a referee. Parker played five seasons in the NBA and was a starting point guard alongside Kobe Bryant for two seasons in Los Angeles from 2005-2007. He played for the Patroons in the inaugural TBL season of 2017-2018. Sitting next to me for the game is a Patroons’ superfan named Dan who used to scorekeep the games. He is wearing a green t-shirt with yellow lettering that says “Smush Freakin’ Parker”. “Me and my friends created an unofficial fan club,” he says with a laugh. “The game after we had these shirts made, Smush left the team. Him and the head coach Derrick Rowland didn’t see eye to eye on things.”
After the contest, Dan, who still keeps in touch with Parker via Facebook, meets up and exchanges pleasantries with him. It is a wholesome indication of how close the bond is between the Patroons and their community.
PART III: THE FUTURE
“The best professional minor basketball franchise in North America, including the G-League, is the London Lightning.” Those were the words of TBL founder Dave Magley following the Patroons’ big victory over their Canadian opponent.
The Lightning are indeed the premier franchise in their league. Two seasons ago, their arena maxed out at 7,419 fans for a game, and their four championships are two more than the next highest NBLC franchise, the Windsor Express.
The above graph shows the monthly budget comparison between the NBLC and TBL.
General Manager Mark Frijia, 32, has held his post with the team for three years. His father Vito, a London-based commercial real estate developer, founded the Lightning when the NBLC was announced in 2011, brought on Richardson as head coach, and the team won the league's first two championships. “The talent is pretty comparable. It could happen but some things would have to be worked out like regular cross border travel,” says Frijia on the subject of the NBLC and TBL potentially merging.
Magley, too, does not rule out a continued partnership between both leagues, as such a pairing would benefit both leagues in terms of generating revenue and exposing basketball fans to more untapped talent. He is proud of what he has put together, though, and he could not overstate the importance of the night's game.
“This is pretty darn cool for our league,” he continues. “It was a good crowd, and to be able to beat them (the Lightning) when no one else has, that means the world to us.”
As the former Indiana Mr. Basketball speaks, he catches Mosby walking by, congratulating him on a job well done, as the cat-quick guard’s 37 points were a primary reason the Patroons defeated the Lightning.
The night was a major step forward for Magley's brainchild that has spread like wildfire all over the US, penetrating smaller markets and basketball hotbeds with a community focus. Currently, the TBL employs 528 players on 44 teams across 20 states.
Above is a map that shows the TBL's presence across the United States.
“The future is really bright to develop a legitimate, double-A level basketball league in North America,” says Magley. He believes it can be to the NBA what France’s LN Pro B is to their LN Pro A, the latter of which is the highest level league in France. “We’re impacting a lot of communities, and a lot of guys are getting great jobs."
Among people getting such jobs are former NBA veterans Cliff Levingston and Olden Polynice, the latter a graduate of the Bronx’s All Hallows’ High School. Levingston, a two-time NBA champion with the Bulls, coaches the Kokomo Bobcats, while Polynice coaches the So Cal Moguls. In addition, former NBA players Kendrick Perkins and Ricky Davis have ownership stake in teams, while Brown and Keno Davis, former head coach at Central Michigan University and current coach of the aforementioned Flint team, represent former college coaches in the league. Such name recognition is a big advantage for a league that is in the middle of establishing itself.
Although the game did not count towards their regular season record, the Patroons played their starters major minutes and did not get discouraged when they were down. Magley was succinct about what the victory meant for not just the Patroons but the TBL as a whole, achieving the ultimate best case scenario for a league on the come up.
“It gives us some legitimacy. We hoped we could win a couple games out of 24, and we are being pretty competitive.”
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