Minor-league basketball team to have tryouts

Winston-Salem Storm hopes to play 30 games in the ABA this season

By: John Dell | JOURNAL REPORTER
Published: July 03, 2008

The Winston-Salem Storm is starting to come together.

The Storm -- a first-year minor-league team in the American Basketball Association -- will have a kickoff event at 6 p.m. July 24 at the Whitespace Gallery on East Fourth Street and will have open tryouts starting at 10 a.m. July 26 at the Gateway YWCA.

"We won't start playing games until around Thanksgiving," General Manager Bryan Short said. "The way it's worked out with the league is we will play about 30 games, with 15 at home and 15 on the road."

The Storm will play games at Joel Coliseum Annex, Short said. The team does not yet have a head coach, but Short said he hopes that one will be named by the end of the month.

"We want to have a coach in place and then work on putting the team together," said Short, who also works full time for Alliance Sports Management, an athlete representation company. "This is a league that gives players a place to play, and it will hopefully be a stepping stone for them."

Short said he expects 40 to 50 players at the tryout, with most coming right out of college. The tryout fee is $100.

Short didn't know how much players who make the team will be paid, but the ABA has a salary cap of about $120,000 a team. He also said that the team wants to keep ticket prices reasonable, with the most expensive ticket at about $20.

Wes Mason III, the CEO of Old Vineyard Behavioral Services in Winston-Salem, owns the Storm.

Short said that the team is considering a 12th-man promotion for advertisers and sponsors, as a way to raise money for operating expenses. Under the plan, a sponsor or advertiser would pay a certain amount to be able to sit in uniform on the bench and actually play two minutes in the game.

"They were trying to get me to agree to five minutes a game, but what if we are going for a playoff spot at the end of the season?" Short said. "So two minutes is a better fit."

Short expects the schedule to be out by August and said that he'll do more marketing when that is done. He also said he plans to play home games on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

"In addition to bringing one of the most exciting professional sports to Winston-Salem, the Winston-Salem Storm plans to provide employment opportunities and internships, raise funds for local charities and create scholarship funds," Short said.

Anyone interested in more information can call 336-409-1936 or visit www.winstonsalemstorm.com.

■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.