This actually frustrates me a little bit. I could understand why Brew wanted to leave, 100%, but this is just flat out stupid. I wish him the best, but the best thing for him would have been to finish off his 4th year of eligibility.
Let's be reminded that the ABA is not a full-time basketball league. Most of it's players have other jobs besides this to supplement the terrible income they get in the ABA.
Secondly, there haven't been any good players that ever came out of this league, and most of these teams barely stick around for more than a few years. To get the rights to start an ABA team, you can show up with a measley grand and get your own basketball team.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_B ... unct_teams That link will take you to the ABA Wikipedia page, the list of all the defunct teams can be seen below. While there are teams that have been in this league since the beginning, there are more that have quit and closed up shop after a year.
Also, since most of these teams have very little money to travel, a team may play the same opponent 20 times a year, even though the league is 45 teams. They will be expanding to 50 something next year.
The USBL used to have a team in Atlantic City by my house. They played in a high school gym in front of 400 people. I remember one game I went to, they won 125-70, and another time I think they may have actually scored 140 points.
While it's fun to watch, and while I respect these guys for trying their best and playing their favorite game for the love of it rather than the massive amounts of money, this is wayyyyyy below Brew. His best bet was to stick around for another year.