San Francisco — Game day. Jon Greenberg is in the middle of the same routine that he has been doing every summer for 42 years. At night he prepares the facility for the San Francisco Bay Area Pro-Am basketball league contest.
As he prepares for his evening at the Kezar Pavilion, Greenberg recalls a memorable night eight years ago.
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry was standing.
gear in hand.
Game ready.
Curry walked over and the cell phone went up.
Some fans took pictures and others texted their friends.
“I didn’t know he was coming,” said Greenberg. “I looked up from the press box, looked at him and said, ‘I’m going to have a good time tonight.'”
And that’s the beauty of summer pro-am basketball across the country. You never know who will play on any given night.
This year it was Juan Toscano Anderson, who recently signed with the Los Angeles Lakers after winning a title with the Warriors last season. Toscano-Anderson was scheduled to play Wednesday night at the Kezar Pavilion.
In the past, NBA and college players (Shareef Abdul Rahim, Gilbert Arenas, Matt Barnes, Tim Hardaway, Steve Nash, Aaron Gordon, etc.) have filled the roster of this long-running competitive league.
“We’ve had many great years here, but local guys like Jason Kidd, Bryan Shaw and Gary Payton came to play regularly, so the 1990s “They enjoyed it because it allowed them to play quality games over the summer and hone their skills.”
The league started in 1979 out of Greenberg’s desire to see quality basketball in the Bay Area in the summer.
“There’s so much talent here,” said Greenberg. “And we felt that if we could have them all play under professional rules, we could attract high-end players and large crowds.”
After receiving approval from the NCAA and NBA to allow the players to participate, Greenberg contacted local colleges. Soon, schools like the University of San Francisco, the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford sent players to leagues that also included Warriors players.
“[Then-Warriors coach] Don Nelson sent a group of them out and we played them six times here at Kezar and actually beat them once,” Greenberg said. “He was pretty mad about it. But having them here helped us establish ourselves as a league.
“I was able to put on a great show.”
Otto Grell Jr./Getty Images
It was the mid-1990s, and Edward Allen was on the Kezar floor, giving the job to a team featuring Gary Payton for half the time.
Allen was thrilled when the team arrived in the locker room at halftime.
Payton was furious because the team’s locker room was nearby.
“Who’s got the top? Who’s checking him out?” Peyton said, referring to Allen by his nickname. “We can’t let him keep scoring.”
The solution: Payton slid his glove over the top, slowing him down in the second half. “We hung in there for a while, but in the end they beat us,” Allen said.
But it proved to be a magical season for Allen in the San Francisco Bay Area Summer Pro-Am, winning an MVP award in a league full of NBA stars.
“Winning the MVP against the likes of Jason Kidd, Brian Shaw, Gary Payton,” Allen said. “I felt that if I could play against them in the league and win the MVP, I should be in the league.”
Almost every city has a talented player who never quite cracked that NBA. franklin session Drew League, Rashard Powell crowsover, and Stanton Kidd Branson League (Played four games for the Utah Jazz in 2019).
We have a lot of players here in the Bay Area, including Allen, who is from San Francisco. Allen capped off his college career as the starting guard for Pepperdine after playing for City at his College of San Francisco.
It’s been 20 years since Allen retired as a pro-am (he’s won several titles as a coach), but the two-time league MVP is still in those leagues, including half of basketball with Payton’s team. Some of the big moments are very memorable. , a 44-point outing in the midgame of the Best-of-3 Championship Series against former University of Utah guard Johnny Bryant (now assistant coach of the New York Knicks), and he torched Kidd’s team for 36 in 1995. points in the contest championship game of the year.
“I remember this vividly: I made a shot, came down on the court and pointed at him and he [Kidd] You pushed me with both hands,” Allen said. “It was a friendly poke. He did it because I was feeling myself.”
Allen continued to play the game he loved pro-am until he could no longer play. In 2002, when it became difficult to keep up with kids eager to beat a local legend, Allen played in his last league game after 12 fruitful years.
Allen still looked fine as he took to Center Court after the Dream Team, the league team he now coaches, won. I can’t keep up with these guys because I was starting to blow up. Father time has caught up with me.
Allen, now 56, is still playing his game. He has just played for his 40+ league winning team in Auckland.
“I’m not running like I used to,” Allen said. “These days I have to pick a spot.”
These days, he’s the coach of the Dream Team and the current league champion until the new champion is crowned this week.
“Even if you’re not playing, it’s great to be here,” Allen said. “This place will always be special to me.”
San Francisco Chronicle by Rea Suzuki/Getty Images
The place, Kezar (built in 1924, capacity 4,000), is a special place for many people for many reasons.
Bill Russell, the NBA’s first black coach, was an All-American at the University of San Francisco and played his home college game at Kezar. The Academy of Arts, a Division II school, uses this facility as its home arena.
Perhaps the most famous team to use this building is the legendary San Francisco Bay City Bombers, a roller derby team that skated here from 1961 to 1973. The country of nationally televised games.
The San Francisco Bay Area Pro-Am did its part to keep the excitement inside the building, including special moments such as:
- Curry’s appearance in 2014 when he scored 43 points.
- Jeremy Lin’s 45-point game in 2013 captivated legions of Asian fans.
- And a number of games featuring Kid and Peyton.
Games have always been free and open to the public. This is the main reason why arenas always boast huge crowds.
“A lot of the kids that come here don’t get the chance to go to college games or NBA games,” Greenberg said. “I always had the opportunity to come here and meet the best players.”
Crowds for regular season games weren’t as strong this summer, owing to the coronavirus pandemic that forced the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.
The players are eager to return to the league’s long tradition. Greenberg hopes the crowd will follow in due course.
“We didn’t have as many fans as we would have liked,” Greenberg said. Our plan is to bring it back.”
San Francisco Chronicle by Rea Suzuki/Getty Images
Jovan Harris is the current MVP of the San Francisco Bay Area Pro-Am. The comedian’s memories of old skits by Robin Harris come flooding back when he hears stories of his Richmond native Jovan Harris making his league debut. Clippers.
“I love going to Clipper games. Sit wherever you want,” Harris said on his 1990 classic album. bb kids“One night I put on my tennis shoes and sat down with my team…we scored 18 points.”
Like the comedian, Harris (not related) wore tennis shoes when he came to Kezar to watch a league game in 1996. Crowd for possible filling.
“Do you want to play?” asked one of the men.
“‘Let’s go. Let’s do it,'” Harris replied. “I stepped out of the stands and played on the team with Ed House and Mike Bibby. [both NBA veterans]and I was the fifth.
“I was fifteen.”
Harris at the start of the game was like a deer in the headlights, which wasn’t surprising. He was a freshman in high school playing on a team of established college stars while playing against one of the Bay Area’s most legendary hoopers, Hooke Mitchell.
He was forced to wake up after the first play of the game when he allowed a player who was defending to go to the baseline, resulting in his big man being posterized.
“Other than that,” said Harris. “I did pretty well.”
Harris grew up to be a 6-foot-3 guard who starred at El Cerrito High School in the East Bay, where he was a three-time All-League selection. At the time, he averaged 15.2 points, making him the fifth-leading scorer in the West Coast Conference.
He eventually ended his college career playing two seasons at the University of San Francisco, playing professionally in the CBA, G League, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and representing Mexico on the national team.
Harris is 41 now, but he’s not as fast or as strong as he used to be. He can’t pull his young players off the dribble as quickly and he can’t attack the basket as forcefully as he once did.
but he Two-time league MVP (2008 and 2019), when his East Bay team faced the defending league champions, the Dream Team, on a recent Wednesday night, his opponents (some of whom were almost half his age) ) assured him that he had accepted it correctly.
“I’ve played against Matt Barnes, Jason Kapono, Gilbert Arenas, and many others. I’ve seen Gary Payton trash talk a guy so much he doesn’t want to raise the ball. It’s all part of the game.” .”
— Jovan Harris
“It’s all part of the game, because that’s what I did against the people I played against,” Harris said. He has played against Matt Barnes, Jason Kapono, Gilbert Arenas and many others. I’ve seen Gary Payton trash talk to opponents to the point where he didn’t want to raise the ball. It’s all part of the game. ”
When Harris spent the summer negotiating a new professional contract in Mexico, he was chasing a fourth team title.
“I want this here,” he said. ‘I want this championship’
His team fell short in the regular season game against the Dream Team that Wednesday night and in pursuit of another chip. love for is unchanged.
“I have always enjoyed playing in this league,” said Harris. “You come here and you don’t know who you’ll meet.”
like curry. Harris was in the East Bay when he got the call that Curry was in the building – his team had no plans to play that night.
Harris had to be there.
“Usually it’s a 45 minute drive,” Harris said. “I think I did it in 10 years.”
The electricity Harris felt as he entered the building that night, packed out from the expected 1,500 spectators, was just as exciting as the MVP season and league championship he experienced in the building.
“I went in and Steph hit nine straight shots,” Harris said. “My first match at age 15, Matt his championship against Barnes, and my match against Jeremy Lin, I will never forget the moments here.”
