What a wise decision at the time
I attempted to cover this once upon a time, it was far too complex for me to devote but a few paragraphs to the narrative. A little background, in 1977 as the ABA-NBA merger was completed a specified number of ABA teams would be disbanded among them the St. Louis Spirits. The remaining ABA teams, Nets, Spurs, Pacers and Nuggets would be absorbed into the NBA. A financial agreement was concluded with owners of the Spirit, the agreement contained no expiration date and remains in place today. The NBA and the Spirit are in court this month due to a disagreement on revenue return. I located a great read by Harlan Scrieber of hoopsanaylist.com; it’s rather lengthy but certainly informative. Read when you have an opportunity:
http://hoopsanalyst.com/blog/?p=345

I ain’t headed to Sprint Center
NBA basketball is special for me; it’s become more important without the opportunity to see the games live and in person. I have satisfied myself with the annual Kansas City game each year. Last year with the Lockout the game was cancelled, this season I'm cancelling the October 24th game myself.  The Wizards John Wall is out and indications are he will be out at least 8 weeks; he will not play in Kansas City. On the Heat side Dwayne Wade is recouping from surgery and probably will play limited minutes in the pre-season. I just read LeBron James indicates he will “sit-out” selected pre-season games. Sorry NBA, I cannot justify paying the price of an NBA ticket for game I know in advance Wall’s out, in addition the prospect of Wade and James not playing are highly probable. 

Think he might be a little covetous?
Mark Cuban also lent his voice to the chorus providing an assessment of the 2012-13 Lakers. He reminded a gathering of season ticket holders the 2003-04 Laker team, of course that team lost the ‘04 championship to the Pistons. “It takes great chemistry, like coach (Rick Carlisle) alluded to, it takes guys wanting to be there — I don’t know if all their guys want to be there — it’s going to be interesting.” Cuban went on and on about chemistry or the lack of it. While discussing chemistry we might discuss the acquisition of eight (8) new Mavs players. In fact the Mavs might have undergone as many personnel changes as the Laker team he questions chemistry. One question for Mark, when are you going to get over “my dad can beat up your dad mentality?” (sportingnews.com)

I hate to repeat myself
Allow me to introduce a number of you to Cody Riley, this 6-7 athlete is the number one player in the Class of 2017. If he’s number one in 2017 that would indicate he's just begun his 8th grade year.  The Los Angeles resident attends Sierre Canyon a private school in Chatsworth.  This reminds me of a 60 Minutes television segment years ago, a feature story focused on an 8th grade player too.  This 8th grader was actually entering high school if I remember the story correctly, the young athlete turned out to be Knicks center Tyson Chandler.  Scouts and coaches will discover you no matter where you play, it's impossible to "hide you talent" anymore.  (prospectcentral.com)