Miami Hurricanes Basketball Great Rick Barry will be the only presence with a connection to the University of Miami to participate in the new three-on-three basketball league “The Big Three“
The Big Three is a basketball league that begins play today. Teams with rosters of five players each will play three on three games. The league will tour across the country much like the golf and tennis tours. The teams will not represent a city.
The league is made up mostly of retired NBA players. Several major NBA stars are involved. Allen Iverson, Chauncey Billups, Gary Payton, Jermaine O’Neal, Mike Bibby, George Gervin, Al Harrington, Kenyon Martin and Rashard Lewis are among the former NBA All-Start participating in the league.
The league will tour for ten weeks with two weeks of playoffs. They will not be coming to Miami.
League play commences at the home of the Brooklyn Nets and the recently completed NBA Draft the Barclay’s Center. Barry has participated in several upstart basketball leagues and spoke about it with USA Today’s For the Win.
Barry was one of the biggest stars in the first upstart basketball league the American Basketball Association in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. He is the only player in the history of basketball to lead the NCAA, NBA and ABA in scoring.
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He has also taken part as a coach in the defunct Global Basketball Association. He was Head Coach of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Sharpshooters.
The league lasted only a season plus 16 games. The Sharpshooters were 12-4 with the league’s best record in their only season when it folded.
The Ball Hogs. He has the White Mamba Brian Scalabrine and Josh Childress as his captains and Derrick Byars, former Miami Heat player Rasual Butler and Dominic McGuire on his roster.
Asked about the comparison between the GBA and the Big Three Barry said:
"“Oh my God! Are you kidding me? There’s no comparison…I can’t even compare it. It’s a bigger difference than night and day. This is going to be incredibly well-funded, incredibly well-marketed.”"
Barry is very confident that the league will be successful:
"“This is a great opportunity to market…Take the NBA, it was always a great product but was never marketed properly until David Stern got there along with Rick Welts. It’s the same with BIG3. If marketed properly, it could be a huge success.”"
There are several Miami players who will be perfect candidates to play in the big three in future seasons if it does well.
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John Salmons completed a 13 year NBA career in 2015. James Jones is nearing the end of a 14 active NBA Career. Tim James who played three years in the NBA and a few more overseas could play on his summers off from his job as a Junior College Head Coach.