The Santa Barbara Islanders 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 based in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

. They played only one season in the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...

(CBA), the defunct development league for the

National Basketball Association 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 ...

(NBA).

History

In 1989 the CBA decided to expand the league to the West Coast, and admitted expansion teams: on May 18, 1989 the CBA board approved the addition of two teams, the

San Jose Jammers The Bakersfield Jammers, known originally as the San Jose Jammers, were an American professional basketball team that were members of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) from 1989 to 1992. Originally based in San Jose, California, the tea ...

and the Santa Barbara Islanders, and on June 10, 1989 it was announced that the league had admitted the two franchises. The idea of a team in Santa Barbara was already being discussed in 1987 between Shirley Otto,

Bill Bertka William M. Bertka (born August 8, 1927) is a current basketball consultant/special assistant and a former National Basketball Association (NBA) assistant coach, scout and executive with the Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans Jazz. A pioneering p ...

and Craig Case, a local investor. A total of four expansion franchises entered the CBA for the 1989–90 season: in addition to the Islanders and the Jammers, the other two were the

Grand Rapids Hoops The Grand Rapids Hoops were a basketball team that played in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Their first season was in 1989 and their final season was in 2003. Professional basketball later returned to ...

and the

Sioux Falls Skyforce The Sioux Falls Skyforce are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and are affiliated with the Miami Heat. The team has played its home games in the Sanford Pentagon since the 2013–14 ...

. The league then held a 12-round expansion draft on June 22, 1989: the Islanders selected

Rod Foster Roderick Allen Foster (born October 10, 1960) is an American former professional basketball player (6'1", 160 lb) who played for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was drafted out of UCLA in the second round ...

Brad Wright Brad Wright (born May 2, 1961) is a Canadian television producer and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of the television series ''Stargate SG-1'' (with Jonathan Glassner), ''Stargate Atlantis'' (with Robert C. Cooper) and '' Star ...

, Herb Johnson, Cedric Henderson, Mike Phelps, Steve Burtt,

Bobby Lee Hurt Bobby Lee Hurt (born December 6, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. A strong and athletic big man, he was one of the top high school prospects of the 1981 class. After a controversial recruitment, Hurt committed to Alaba ...

, Eddie Hughes,

Devin Durrant Devin George Durrant (born October 20, 1960)"Devin G. ...

, Steffond Johnson, Ron Cavenall and

Larry Spriggs Lawrence Michael Spriggs (born September 8, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. Spriggs was born in Cheverly, Maryland. A 6'7" forward from Howard University, Spriggs began his professional career in the minor-league Cont ...

. Only Johnson, Cavenall, Phelps and Spriggs actually played for the team.

Sonny Allen Sonny Allen (March 8, 1936 – September 11, 2020) was an American college basketball coach. He was the head coach at Old Dominion University from 1965 to 1975; leading the Monarchs to six NCAA College/Division II Tournaments, winning in 1975, f ...

was appointed as head coach, and Don Ford was his assistant coach; the

Santa Barbara City College Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) is a public community college in Santa Barbara, California. It opened in 1909 and is located on a campus. History Santa Barbara City College was established by the Santa Barbara High School District in 1909, m ...

Sports Pavilion was chosen as the home arena. The team was assigned to the Western Division of the National Conference and debuted on November 14, 1989 at home against the

Columbus Horizon The Columbus Horizon is a defunct basketball team from Columbus, Ohio that played for five seasons in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) from 1989 to 1994. History Plans to bring professional basketball to Columbus were unveiled in Sept ...

, winning the game 123-113. The Islanders ran a fast offense and led the CBA in scoring through the first games of the season. They had a very successful season, ending with a 37-19 record (the fourth-best in the entire CBA), winning the Western Division and qualifying for the playoffs. Derrick Gervin led the league in scoring with a 31.7 points per game average. In the playoffs the Islanders won the National Conference semifinals against the

Tulsa Fast Breakers The Savannah Spirits were a professional basketball team that played for two years in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) from 1986 to 1988, amassing a total regular season record of 42 wins and 60 losses for a total of 306.5 points. The ...

in five games (3-2, including two

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

wins), but lost the finals against the

Rapid City Thrillers The Rapid City Thrillers were a semi-professional basketball team in Rapid City, South Dakota, that competed in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) beginning in the 1987 season. They were reincarnated in 1998 as an International Basket ...

in six games (4-2). On March 22, 1990

Jim Les James Alan Les (born August 18, 1963) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the UC Davis Aggies men's team. A former point guard, Les played seven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) after hi ...

set a CBA single game playoff record for assists in a game with 24 in a 137-133 win against the Tulsa Fast Breakers. Despite their success on the court, the franchise had developed severe financial issues throughout the season, and debt ultimately forced the dismissal of the team from the league.

Season-by-season records

All-time roster

*Luther Burks * Ron Cavenall *Brian Christiansen *Stan Easterling *Antoine Ford *Kevin Francewar *

Derrick Gervin Derrick Gervin (born March 28, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player born in Detroit. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and was the 1995 Israeli Basketball Premier League MVP, and a two-time top scorer i ...

* Cedric Hunter *Craig Johnson * Steffond Johnson *

* Carlton McKinney *Mitch McMullen * Jawann Oldham * Mike Phelps *Mike Ratliff *

Rory White Rory Wilbur White (born August 16, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. A and power forward, he played college basketball for the South Alabama Jaguars, and was the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in 1979. He was ...

Leon Wood Osie Leon Wood III (born March 25, 1962), is an American former professional basketball player. A college All-American, he was a first round NBA draft pick, and both an Olympic and Pan-Am Games gold-medalist. He subsequently has had a career ...

::''Sources''

Awards

*CBA scoring champion: Derrick Gervin

References

{{reflist Basketball teams in California 1989 establishments in California Continental Basketball Association teams Sports in Santa Barbara, California Basketball teams established in 1989 1990 disestablishments in California Basketball teams disestablished in 1990