Andre Levingston wants to settle the Premier Basketball League’s business with Puerto Rico quickly.
The PBL president has submitted a proposal to the Baloncesto Superior Nacional openly inviting the league’s 11 teams to join his circuit.
One of the main components of the proposal is shifting the PBL’s schedule so it starts in October and wraps up in January.
It currently runs January to April.
Levingston has given BSN owners until Monday, July 26, to respond.
“We’re just waiting to see how many teams are interested in participating in the PBL,” Levingston said. “We’ll go from there.”
The schedule change is necessary because the end of the PBL’s current schedule overlaps with the start of the BSN’s regular season.
Levingston doesn’t want the process to take long because he hopes to release the PBL schedule by early August.
The PBL only has five confirmed teams for 2011 and is counting on Puerto Rican additions to round out its circuit.
Notes
• The Vermont Frost Heaves have raised $23,000 in cash and have $12,000 in “known commitments,” according to the Times-Argus newspaper, in their attempts to raise the $100,000 the PBL has requested by Aug. 1. Levingston said the amount is not one he is “comfortable with at this time.”
• Centre DeAndre Thomas, who played 10 games with the Rainmen last season, was named International Basketball League playoff MVP on the weekend. He scored 21 points and added 19 rebounds in the Albany (N.Y.) Legends’ 126-111 win over the Bellingham Slam. Rainmen owner Andre Levingston said he will consider bringing Thomas back in a backup role.
• Levingston scouted Connor Atchley in NBA Summer League action in Las Vegas on the weekend and said he’s interested in signing the six-foot-10 forward.
• Levingston is attending a “big-man camp” — players six-foot-seven and taller — in Las Vegas today. Levingston’s quest to find a quality big man has seemed unending.
