Two New Homes, Plenty of Old Faces : Basketball: Although games will be played at two sites--Redondo and Inglewood highs--the summer league continues to draw top-notch players.
The Southern California Summer Pro Basketball League begins its 23rd season tonight with two new South Bay homes, a team featuring alumni from one of college basketball’s most successful programs and a new sponsor.
The Lakers play the Michigan Stars in the opener at 6 at Inglewood High. The most familiar names on the Laker roster are former Fairfax High standout Sean Higgins, who has played with the San Antonio Spurs and Orlando Magic, Keith Owens, Gerald Madkins and Trevor Wilson from UCLA and Duane Cooper, the team’s second-round draft choice from USC.
Michigan’s roster includes Gary Grant of the Clippers, former teammates Olden Polynice and Tom Garrick along with former Laker Mike McGee and Vernon Maxwell, a member of the Houston Rockets.
The second game, scheduled to start at 8:15, matches the NBA Pros against the Rebels. The Pros are led by NBA slam-dunk champion Cedric Ceballos (Phoenix Suns), Brian Williams (St. Monica High, Orlando Magic) and John Williams (Crenshaw High, Washington Bullets). The Rebels, a Nevada Las Vegas alumni team, are led by Reggie Theus, George Ackles, Anderson Hunt, Freddie Banks, Gerald Paddio and Jarvis Basnight.
The Clippers’ Summer League team will debut Aug. 4 against the Utah Jazz at 6 p.m. at Redondo High. Randy Woods and Elmore Spencer, the team’s two first-round draft choices, have both committed to play, along with veterans Bo Kimble and Loy Vaught and William Bedford, acquired in a draft-day trade from the Detroit Pistons.
“(Woods and Spencer) will get a taste of the physical play of the NBA by participating in the summer league,” Clipper General Manager Elgin Baylor said. “It’s a great benefit for all of us.”
The Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings will also be fielding teams. Other players that league officials say have committed to play include Clippers’ Ron Harper and Danny Manning, Laker guard Byron Scott, Minnesota Timberwolf Pooh Richardson and Sacramento’s Spud Webb.
Unable to secure enough dates for a complete playing schedule at its home for the past seven years, Loyola Marymount’s Gersten Pavilion, league president Larry Creger originally sought to move this year’s schedule of games to Redondo High.
But when repairs to other gymnasiums forced summer recreational classes to be shifted to Redondo’s gym, making the facility unavailable for the entire summer league schedule, Creger devised a split schedule using Redondo and Inglewood highs.
The league is also getting a promotional boost from The Times, which is running advertisements for the league and sponsoring a team in exchange for a contribution to the Los Angeles Times Fund, the newspaper’s charitable unit that supports organizations assisting Southern California’s underprivileged youth.
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