City of Basketball Love

Jerome Taylor (@ThatGuy_Rome)
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After coming back from a 20-point deficit in the first half, Team Brotherly Love found themselves within one basket of winning an intense Brotherly Love Pro-Am game. Team captain Novar Gadson caught the ball on the inbound to close the game, then euro stepped his way to the basket and laid the ball in to reach the 100-point target score. 

For Team Brotherly Love, this type of matchup against Da “P” proved to be a good tune-up game as they prepare for their first matchup in The Basketball Tournament (TBT). The victory pushed Team Brotherly Love to 4-0 in the Brotherly Love Pro-Am, a summer league created by Team Brotherly Love co-captains Gadson and Ramone Moore. The league was created with TBT in mind, evident by the league’s use of the Elam Ending. 

“We're not only here to have fun and enjoy ourselves and play ball in the summer. We’re actually trying to prepare ourselves for TBT, and what better way to do it?” Moore said about implementing the Elam Ending. “I think [the Elam Ending] just made it competitive… instead of just being in a summer league and cruising you got to play hard and compete and go out there and ball.”

Most basketball fans were introduced to the Elam Ending during the 2020 NBA All-Star game. But TBT has been using it part-time since 2017 and implemented it full-time in 2018. Ball State professor Nick Elam created the Elam Ending and designed it to create “a more natural ending” to a basketball game.

For the uninitiated, it works like this: Traditional basketball is played up until the first whistle/dead ball within four minutes of the fourth quarter. At that point, the game clock is turned off, and a target score is set (8 points from the leading team’s point total at the time the game clock is turned off). The innovative ending creates a no-overtime environment where games must end on a made basket. Because the concept is still pretty new, changes have been made; TBT recently amended the rules last year to further discourage late-game fouling.

“You know, you can't just sit there and dribble the ball out, wait for fouls and make free throws.” Team Brotherly Love newcomer Steve Zack said. “You actually got to play defense and score… You know, a lot of teams hold the ball or stall. That doesn't work… I would have never thought that's how you end a basketball game until I actually played it… The guy's a genius and I can see it really coming to maybe the high school game, college game… You have to score to win the game. And that's what people watch basketball for: the score.”

Team Brotherly Love ﹘ which is made up of players who grew up playing in the Philadelphia area﹘ is bringing a re-tooled roster into TBT. They’re looking to advance past the quarterfinals for the first time. They have been knocked out in that round the past two years. Heading into this year’s tournament run, Team Brotherly Love was looking to add size, shooting, and depth, so the team added former La Salle teammates Zack, a 6-11 center, and 6-9 forward Jerrell Wright. Team Brotherly Love also made additions to the wing with 6-5 forward Dwayne Davis and 6-6 forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson.

“With Dwayne Davis, we added him because we needed a shooter and we think we covered that. His nickname is ‘The Rifleman’ so he can shoot that thing,” Moore said. “And Jerrell Wright and Steve Zack were two guys that we felt can help us with rebounding and size… During the tournament when the teams get bigger, they can help us down there… We added Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson as well. We know what he can do: run the floor, get up and down, high intensity.”

Zack, Wright, Davis, and Hollis-Jefferson will join an accomplished team that includes players that have played in a combined 30 countries and five continents. Additionally, Zack and Hollis-Jefferson bring some TBT experience with them as Hollis-Jefferson played with the North Broad Street Bullies from 2014-2016. Zack was a part of 20th and Olney (a La Salle alumni team) from 2015-2016 and Team Fredette in 2019. 

For Davis, this will be his first time competing in a setting with the Elam Ending. But coming to Team Brotherly Love will allow him to adjust around familiar faces, specifically Gadson, who he’s played against since high school and as recently as last year when they both played in Japan.

“I went to [Strawberry] Mansion, [Gadson] went to [John] Bartram. It's always been that rivalry since high school,” Davis said. “Instead of having to face him, it’s going to be a great opportunity to play with him.”

Strategy was important when rebuilding the 2021 TBT roster, but it wasn’t the only factor. Moore said that the team wanted players who played with the same mentality that Team Brotherly Love has shown throughout their time in TBT. But also, when it came time to start finding players for the 2021 tournament run, the two captains wanted players who would contribute to the family culture surrounding the team.

“Our biggest goal is to create as many memories as possible. You know, life is short,” Gadson said. “We go to each other's family functions. You know, we just stick together as brothers and we take that name Brotherly Love very seriously.”

TBT viewers can hear some of that family mentality every time they break the huddle: “1,2,3 The Mob” can be heard as the team checks back in after timeouts.

“The Mob, it’s not ‘The Mob’ as far as violence and negativity, but it's just us against anybody,” Gadson said.

 #TheMob’s path to becoming TBT champions, and one million dollars richer, starts Sunday, July 25 at 8 pm Eastern Time in an  No. 8/9 first-round matchup against Playing for Jimmy V.

“[The biggest success will be] August 3rd,” Gadson said. “We win, when we get to push the button and when the money hits our account, that's the biggest success.”