Central Arkansas’s NBA Development League basketball team, the Arkansas RimRockers, appear headed to LaCrosse, Wis. A story today in the LaCrosse Tribune said that RimRockers owner Larry Crain, the Searcy car mogul, was venturing to the Wisconsin city this week to negotiate a sale of the club, which plays its home games at North Little Rock’s Alltel Arena. A source says Crain was in LaCrosse today.
Crain’s RimRockers debuted in the newest incarnation of the American Basketball Association three years ago, winning the league playoffs in the inaugural season, before switching to the fledgling NBA Development League last season. However, in its NBA minor league form, where teams were limited to up-and-coming stars with regional connections and the rosters changed regularly, the RimRockers never seemed to get a foothold with a large contingent of fans. In the ABA, and able to sign a roster full of players who were either aging former Razorback stars or other players with local connections, the team drew upwards of 10,000 for some games three years ago.
The RimRockers, led by Clay Tucker (in photo), finished 16-34 in the 2006-07 season, last in the NBA D-League’s Eastern Division. The team is affiliated with the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat.
There’s no word whether Crain will pursue another pro basketball team, such as an ABA franchise, to put in Alltel Arena.