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The Ball, Man. The Ball.

The signature of the ABA, other than the flying afro, was the red, white, and blue ball.   

The ball was the brainchild of league commissioner and former Minneapolis Lakers great, George Mikan.   He wanted a patriotic and memorable symbol.  

Watching the wild gyrations of the ball during the freewheeling havoc of an ABA game, the stripes seemed more psychedelic than patriotic.

Even though it is one of the enduring icons of ABA basketball, the initial response to the ball wasn't overwhelming.   

Alex Hannum, who coached champion teams in both leagues, said the ball "belongs on the nose of a seal."   Players said it was slick and slippery.  

The general manager of the fledgling Indiana Pacers threatened to fine any player making derogatory remarks about the ball.

Playing Hardball With The NBA

As with rival leagues in the early days of baseball, the ABA showed their blasphemous intentions to succeed by signing away NBA players, re-defining customs and traditions, and radically changing the way that players were drafted into basketball.  

In 1967, Rick Barry signed with the Oakland Oaks.   A court ruled that Barry had to honor his NBA contract. He sat out a year.  

Other significant players who jumped leagues between 1969 and 1970 were Zelmo Beaty, Billy Cunningham and Joe Caldwell.

The ABA also launched stealth attacks on the NBA draft, first attacking the way that college-age kids were recruited, and then blasting open the doors to talented high school players.

To tap into the prime supply of players ahead of the NBA, the ABA began recruiting top college underclassmen.   The brilliant move cut off the NBA with its own league rules. Their teams couldn't get sophomores and juniors because of its sacrosanct four-year rule, where a player had to be four years removed from high school to be drafted.

The ABA shattered the rule in 1969 when the Denver Rockets signed University of Detroit sophomore, Spencer Haywood.  

The following year, the Seattle Supersonics signed Haywood away from the ABA, but the NBA Commissioner, Walter Kennedy, refused to waive the four-year rule.  

A legal battle ensued.   The United States District Court ruled that the four-year rule was restraint of trade in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act.   The NBA, to comply with the law, begrudgingly amended its draft for underclassmen showing financial hardship.

In 1974, the ABA opened another forbidden door that remains controversial to this day: Signing high school players.

Their first high school recruit, Moses Malone, turned out to be a phenomenon.   As a result, the NBA again altered its own draft eligibility to deal with the realities of the new marketplace.

One of those realities became one of the key problems that led to the ABA's downfall: A bidding war on pro talent.

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