Shakeup at the top for Crush

Bryce Alderton

The Orange County Crush have played nine games this season, but,

after Friday, one could argue that the first-year American Basketball

Association franchise is ready for a fresh start.

Players and coaches with the Costa Mesa-based Crush, whose 8-1

start has taken place under anything-but-smooth circumstances, were

all smiles after shaking hands with potentially new managers after a

meeting at the Atrium Hotel across from John Wayne Airport in Irvine.

The Crush will have a place to call home for the remainder of this

season, but not in Costa Mesa.

The team will play only its second home game when it hosts Long

Beach at 7:45 p.m. Sunday at Concordia University in Irvine, which

will house all remaining Crush home games this season, Coach Earl

Cureton said.

Admission for Sunday’s game will be free to all fans.

“We are just happy to still be playing,” said forward Juaquin

Hawkins, a former McDonald’s High School All-American who played for

the NBA’s Houston Rockets in 2002. “We’ve worked hard the last

month-and-a-half and we are ready to move forward.”

Uncertainties at every turn -- from a struggling financial base to

lack of a permanent home venue to players, coaches and dance team

members not receiving paychecks in the past three weeks -- has

plagued the first-year franchise, which could assume a change in

ownership.

Jim Simington, Frank Castillo and Jose Martinez introduced

themselves as co-owners at Friday’s meeting, which caught Kevin

Copeland, the team’s general manager, off guard. Castillo and

Martinez are new owners of the franchise while Simington remains from

the original four-partner ownership group.

“[The management shakeup] was a shock to us,” said Copeland, whose

job status remains in question according to Simington. “None of

[Orange County Crush Basketball LLC’s] rights have been sold or

transferred, period. Our attorney will have a statement Monday.”

Orange County Crush Basketball LLC is the ownership group that

bought the franchise.

“This is a reorganization,” Simington said. “We are going to

retain everything with the team we have.”

He said change at the top had to occur for the Crush to survive.

“In order to keep the team, new management must be put in place,

but it is not a hostile takeover,” Simington said.

Crush players haven’t received paychecks in three weeks, but

Simington said he would address the issue first thing Monday.

“It’s been tough,” Hawkins said about the break in pay. “Guys have

families and children and there are salaries we were expecting. I

have a 2-year-old daughter at home. I tell [my family] that [payment]

will come any day.

“You have to have faith and be positive. I’ve never been involved

in something like this and I’ve been in [the ABA] for three years.

[The Crush] were on the verge of not continuing, but it’s a blessing.

[Cureton] stood behind us 110%.”

Simington said ownership remains in negotiations with officials at

the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa about staging Crush home

games there next season.

The Crush were originally scheduled to play in a portable tent

constructed on the speedway at the fairgrounds, but those plans fell

through.

The team played one home game -- Dec. 9 against Las Vegas -- at

the Bren Events Center at UC Irvine. But an alleged ticket-pricing

discrepancy involving Ticketmaster, the Bren Center and the Crush,

caused team management to postpone remaining games there.

Discussions among attorneys from all three parties continue,

Simington said.

Cureton remains optimistic that things will settle and he, along

with his players, can focus on the task at hand: Basketball.

“It has been extremely stressful,” Cureton said. “There will be

bumps and bruises along the way, but at the same time, you have to

accommodate the product. The players want to keep playing and show

what they can do.”