San Francisco Pro-Am Basketball League

The San Francisco Pro-Am Basketball League is a summer basketball league for high school, college and professional players. For young players entering or already in college, it can be an important venue to be discovered by talent scouts. For professional players in the NBA or foreign leagues, the league provides an opportunity to practice during the off season. The games, which are Monday-Thursday and run from mid-June to mid-August, are free to the public and take place at the Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco. Recently, the official name of the league was changed to SF Bay Area Pro-city.

The league began in 1979 and has been in existence since then, acting as a place not only for players to stay active, but for fans of the game to see some professional caliber play for no cost. The games are officiated and announced over a loudspeaker. Teams have an open roster policy and it is common for players come back every year to participate.

List of teams

* San Francisco
* Bay City
* Dream Team
* East Bay
* Oakland
* Bay Raiders
* South Bay
* Bay Pride

Past champions

* 1979 High Hopes
* 1980 San Francisco
* 1981 Parker’s Nike
* 1982 Budweiser
* 1983 San Francisco
* 1984 Graduate Bar
* 1985 Blazers
* 1986 Thomas Tycoons
* 1987 San Francisco
* 1988 San Francisco
* 1989 San Francisco
* 1990 San Francisco
* 1991 Bay Raiders
* 1992 Bay Pride
* 1993 Bay Raiders
* 1994 San Francisco
* 1995 Bay Pride
* 1996 Bay Pride
* 1997 S.F. City
* 1998 Dream Team
* 1999 East Bay
* 2000 San Mateo
* 2001 Bay Pride
* 2002 SF City
* 2003 SF City
* 2004 East Bay
* 2005 East Bay

NBA players in the league

Some of the NBA players to play in the league are as follows:
* Shareef Abdur-Rahim
* Gilbert Arenas
* Brent Barry
* Vonteego Cummings
* Antonio Davis
* Adonal Foyle
* Tim Hardaway
* Hook Mitchell
* Steve Nash
* Jason Kidd
* Sean Lampley
* Michael Olowokandi
* Gary Payton
* Leon Powe
* Jason Richardson
* Cliff Robinson
* Jalen Rose

Other notable players and coaches

* Nick Harper (The King of the Flop)
* "Snake" Jones
* Doc Holiday
* Eddie Joe Chavez
* Bucky Chavez
* Raymond "Circus" King
* Edward "Topper" Allen
* "Cell Phone" Merv

2006 season

The 2006 regular season ended on August 3rd. Three teams ended the season with a record of 6-1. These teams were San Francisco, Bay City and Dream Team. Because San Francisco had the best record against the other first place teams, they were granted a bye and advanced to the finals automatically.

In the end, Bay City was the championship team, beating San Francisco in the final series two games to zero.

The MVP of the 2006 season was Luke Whitehead, a graduate from Saint Ignasius High School. He recently finished his college career at Louisville and is trying out for the NBA.