WEEKENDER : Summer Pro League Offers the Next Best Thing to NBA
If your hunger for NBA action didn’t end when the Detroit Pistons defeated the Portland Trailblazers last month, another season of basketball action starts tonight at Loyola Marymount’s Gersten Pavilion.
The Southern California Summer Professional Basketball League, which draws some of the NBA’s top rookies and free agents, opens play for the next four weeks with a doubleheader at 6 p.m. Most of the players are trying to impress scouts who are seeking to fill roster openings on National Basketball Assn. or European teams.
After today’s doubleheader, at least four games will be played daily.
In tonight’s opening game, the Clippers, minus top draft pick Bo Kimble, will play the NBA Vets. At 8:15, the NBA Stars, led by the Lakers’ Byron Scott, play the NBA Pros, led by John Williams, the former Crenshaw High standout who plays for the Washington Bullets.
Saturday’s schedule of five games begins at 11:15 a.m. and Sunday’s schedule starts at 10:30 a.m.
Magic Johnson and Michael Cooper of the Lakers, Dominique Wilkins of the Atlanta Hawks and Isiah Thomas of the Pistons have been known to play a game or two to stay sharp.
Two teams to keep an eye on are the Lakers, coached by one of their assistant coaches, and the Canadian Olympians, made up of that country’s official entry in the 1992 Olympic Games.
Information: (213) 202-1258.
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