Hoops team to make debut tonight

Deepa Bharath

Orange County’s first professional basketball team will make its

debut today at the Pyramid at Cal State Long Beach.

A rivalry is already brewing between the American Basketball

Assn.’s Orange County Crush and the Long Beach Jam after a handful of

players from the Jam were imported to form the brand new team,

headquartered at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

“We haven’t played yet, so I don’t know if we can call it a

rivalry yet,” said Crush general manager Kevin Copeland. “But there’s

going to be a natural rivalry because our coach Earl Cureton used to

be the Jam’s coach and six of our players are former Jam players.”

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who signed a contract with the

Orange County Crush earlier this week, is also expected to ignite the

season with his own brand of exciting play.

The ace rebounder won five NBA championships with the Detroit

Pistons and Chicago Bulls. He left the NBA in March 2000, when he was

released by the Dallas Mavericks after less than a month with the

team.

Rodman’s contract with the Crush leaves him available only for

games in Costa Mesa and for the playoffs because the team can’t

afford the 43-year-old, who has his sights set on an NBA comeback,

Copeland said.

“The [ABA] has a salary cap that’s way below what Rodman’s worth,”

Copeland said. “He’s also got so many things going on all over the

place. I can control my venue, but there’s only so much control I

have at other venues. The nice thing is people in Orange County can

watch Dennis play.”

Copeland would not reveal the financial terms of Rodman’s contract

but said Rodman will come to practice sessions regularly.

Rodman is playing only home games because “he wants to concentrate

on staying home and getting in the best basketball shape possible,”

said Darren Prince, his New Jersey-based agent.

“He doesn’t want to deal with all the hoopla that comes along with

being Dennis Rodman when he’s traveling,” Prince said. “Dennis has

one goal in mind, and that’s getting back to the NBA.”

The former West Newport resident, who moved to Huntington Beach in

September, has also worked on his issues with alcohol and has

remained sober for a year now, his agent added.

The first few home games will be played at UC Irvine’s Bren

Center. The first home game is scheduled for Dec. 9.

“The bubble’s not ready yet,” said Copeland, referring to the tent

on the Speedway track at the fairgrounds, where the team was

scheduled to play its home games.

The team has also been having problems with its schedule because

it recently signed a contract with ESPN for game coverage, he said.

“We’re still in the process of restructuring our schedule,” he

said.

Season ticket information for Crush games may be obtained by

calling (714) 708-3247. Tickets for the individual games will be on

sale at the Bren Center and at Ticketmaster a week from today. For

more information, visit https://www.ocfair.com.