The Cincinnati Stuff were a

professional basketball In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger a ...

team in the

International Basketball League The International Basketball League (IBL) was a semi-professional men's basketball league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States. In 2010 the Albany Legends became the first team in the Northeastern United States to join. The ...

(IBL) from 1999 to 2001.

History

The Cincinnati Stuff were founded in March 1999, with Doug Kirchhofer as president and former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

MVP

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played ...

as an advisor and part owner together with Neil Kirchhofer. The Stuff held the 1st pick of the 1999 IBL draft, which they used to select Devin Davis. However, Davis never played for the franchise, and the final roster for the first season was announced in late November 1999: the first players were

Roderick Blakney Roderick Bertrand Blakney (born August 6, 1976) is an American-born naturalized Bulgarian former professional basketball player. College career Blakney, a 6 ft 1 in (1.86 m) point guard played college basketball at South Carolina State Univ ...

, Lenny Brown, Allen Edwards, Damon Flint, Damon Frierson, Phil Hickey, Courtney James,

Chris Kingsbury Christopher J. Kingsbury (born September 18, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player. A shooting guard who was known for his long range 3-point shooting, he was one of the top ranked players in the 1993 high school class. He p ...

Soumaila Samake Soumaila Samake (born March 18, 1978) is a Malian former professional basketball player. A 7'0" tall center, he was drafted by the New Jersey Nets in the second round of the 2000 NBA draft, and played for the Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers. H ...

, Alex Sanders, Eric Taylor and Wayne Turner. The head coach was

Joby Wright Joseph "Joby" Wright (born September 5, 1950) is an American former college and professional basketball player who was men's basketball head coach at Miami University and at the University of Wyoming. Married to Loretta Wright, August 18, 2017. ...

, with Greg Herenda and Scott Spinelli as assistant coaches. In their first season, the Cincinnati Stuff finished with a record of 43–21 and won the East Division, qualifying for the playoffs, where they lost 2–0 in the conference semifinals against the Richmond Rhythm. In 32 regular season games, the team had an average attendance of 3,615 (the league average was 3,072). In June 2000 Joby Wright announced that he would not return to coach the Stuff for the 2000–01 season. In the

2000 NBA draft The 2000 NBA draft was held on June 28, 2000, at the Target Center in Minneapolis. It was the last draft held at the home arena of an NBA team until 2011; the following and subsequent drafts (through 2010) all took place at The Theater at Madis ...

Soumaila Samake, who averaged 9.7 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game, was selected by the

New Jersey Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

with the 36th pick: he is the only player drafted from the IBL to the NBA. On July 1, 2000 the franchise announced Mike Frink (former assistant coach of the

Brazil national basketball team The Brazil national basketball team is governed by the Brazilian Basketball Confederation (), abbreviated as CBB. They have been a member of the International Federation of Basketball (FIBA), since 1935. Brazil's national basketball team remain ...

during the

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

1996 Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

) as the new head coach. In their second season the Stuff signed Billy Thomas, who they had drafted in 1999, and finished the season with a 27–24 record (.529). The franchise ceased operations after the IBL folded in 2001.

Season-by-season records

All-time roster

*Lenny Brown * Joe Courtney * Allen Edwards *Damon Flint *

Tremaine Fowlkes Tremaine J. Fowlkes (born April 11, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player at the small forward position. Fowlkes was drafted out of Fresno State by the Denver Nuggets with the 54th pick of the 1998 NBA draft, though he did n ...

*Damon Frierson *

Ronnie Grandison Ron Calvin Grandison (born July 6, 1964) is a former basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary obj ...

*Derrick Hayes *Phil Hickey * Courtney James * Nate Johnson *Jamie Kendrick *

* Melvin Levett *Martin Lewis * Todd Lindeman *Jeff Potter * George Reese *

*Alex Sanders *Nick Sheppard *Eric Taylor *

Marcus Taylor Marcus Taylor (born November 25, 1981) is a retired American professional basketball player. He was a Naismith All-American, McDonald's All-American, two-time Parade All-American and USA Today 1st-team All-American. He also went on to win Mr ...

* Billy Thomas * Wayne Turner *

Jaquay Walls Jaquay Walls (born April 3, 1978) is a retired American professional basketball player who was selected by the Indiana Pacers in the second round (56th pick) of the 2000 NBA draft but who never played in the NBA and spent most of his career over ...

*Fred Williams

Awards

*All-IBL First team:

(2000),

(2001) *All-IBL Second team: Alex Sanders (2000)

References

{{reflist

External links

INTERNATIONAL BASKETBALL LEAGUE HISTORY
on apbr.org Defunct basketball teams in the United States Basketball teams in Cincinnati International Basketball League (1999–2001) teams Basketball teams established in 1999 1999 establishments in Ohio Basketball teams disestablished in 2001 2001 disestablishments in Ohio