Do you know what the APBR is? If you do, do you think it's just for statheads much like baseball's Society for American Baseball Research (SABR)? Well, I had a chance to interview Ray LeBov, Association for Professional Basketball Research (APBR) Executive Director to get these answers. He talks about the group - its members, where its services have been utilized, and its mission.
About.com: What does APBR stand for?
Ray LeBov: The Association For Professional Basketball Research.
About.com: Why and when was APBR founded?
LeBov: Robert Bradley founded the group in December of 1997 when he was working on his book, THE COMPENDIUM OF PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL. After running into several dead ends in his research, he felt that basketball needed a group similar to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and the Professional Football Researchers Association (PFRA) and so he started APBR. Membership has increased mainly through word of mouth and people finding the APBR.org web site.
Robert articulated the goals of the organization as follows:
- To promote interest in the history of professional basketball.
- To correct historical inaccuracies and uncover missing information.
- To provide a central library and database of books, historical facts and statistics for researchers, authors and fans.
- To promote awareness of extinct basketball leagues and their teams, players, coaches and executives.
About.com: What is your role in the APBR?
LeBov: I have been a member for 2 years and have recently been named Executive Director of the organization by the newly formed APBR Executive Board. In that capacity, I am taking over the day-to-day operation of the organization from our esteemed founder Robert Bradley who has somehow managed to perform that task over the past decade.
In addition I am actively working with the Board to grow the organization and its role. This is a very exciting time for APBR as we make structure, governance and mission decisions that will guide the projects we undertake as an organization.
About.com: How many members are currently in APBR? Any members of note?
LeBov: There are approximately 650 members. Several do work for NBA teams : Dean Oliver works for Denver after a couple years in Seattle, Dan Rosenbaum works for Cleveland, Roland Beech works for Dallas, Brett Ballantni works for Chicago, and Daryl Morey is the assistant GM of Houston. Also, draft guru Matt Maurer {theDraftReview.com).
Members also include authors of these noted books: John Hollinger ("Pro Basketball Prospectus"), Dean Oliver ("Basketball on Paper: Rules and Tools for Performance Analysis"), Ben Green ("Spinning the Globe: The Rise, Fall, and Return to Greatness of the Harlem Globetrotters"), Marshall Terrill (co-author of "David Thompson: Skywalker"), Robert Cherry ("Wilt: Larger Than Life"), Bob Bachelor (editor of "Basketball in America" anthology),Bijan Bayne ("Sky Kings:Black Pioneers of Professional Basketball"), Kevin Grace ("Bearcats: The Story of Basketball at the University of Cincinnati"), Brian McCormick ("Crossover: The New Model of Youth asketball Development"), Wayne Federman (co-author of "Maravich"), Marc Hugunin (co-author of "Minnesota Hoops: Basketball in the North Star State"), Morgan Brenner ("College Basketball's National Championships"), Bob Bellotti ("Points Created" and "Basketball Analyst"), Ken Shouler ("Basketball's Best 50 Players"), Derek Gentile ("Smooth Moves: Juking,Jamming,Hooking & Slamming; Basketball's Plays, Players, Action and Style"), Chic Hess ("Prof Blood & The Wonder Teams: The True Story of Basketball's First Great Coach"), Thomas Owens ("Basketball Arenas"), Mark Pollak ("Sports Leagues and Teams: An Encyclopedia"), Brett Ballantni (former Editor-in-Chief of Basketball Digest), Robert Bradley ("Compendium of Professional Basketball"). The late Robert W. Peterson, author of "Cages to Jump Shots: Pro Basketball's Early Years" was also a member. Also, Bill Tosheff, NBA co-rookie of the year in 1951-52 (w/ Mel Hutchins), founder of the Pre-1965 NBA Players Association.
About.com: Who has the APBR or its members done research for? Any professional basketball leagues or franchises?
LeBov: We have done research for (among others) the NBA (specifically their public relations department) and several NBA, college and foreign professional teams, the Children's Television Workshop, Total Sports, Turner Sports, Sportsline.com, Sports Illustrated, ESPN and MSNBC.com.
Several members (Chris Anderson, Robert Bradley, Morgan Brenner, John Grasso, Dave Hereen,Sean Lahman, Roger Meyer, Robert Peterson, Ken Schuler and Nate Trella) of the group were contributors to TOTAL BASKETBALL: THE ULTIMATE BASKETBALL ENCYCLOPEDIA.
About.com: Would you say your desired audience need to be statistics lovers or just anyone that enjoys the sport of basketball? How fuzzy is that line?
LeBov: APBR welcomes everyone who is interested in professional basketball. The interests of the members are incredibly diverse in terms of aspects of the game, historical periods, points of emphasis, etc. Most of the exchanges on the discussion board do not involve statistical analysis but focus on historical and contemporary issues. Some members' main interest and focus is on statistical analysis and they have their own subgroup (APBRMetrics) with its own discussion board. One of the strengths of the organization is that we all learn from each other.
