Life on the Rim: A Year in the Continental Basketball Association

The CBA, successor to the Eastern Basketball League founded in 1945, is 10 years old. It is a minor league for the NBA, with its players often called up to the major league. There are teams in small cities like Cedar Rapids, Iowa; La Crosse, Wis.; Rapid City, S.D.; and Wichita Falls, Tex. Each has a salary cap of $80,000 for the entire team. In this impressive account of the 1988-89 season of the Albany (N.Y.) Patroons, who won the Eastern Division of the CBA but lost in the playoffs, freelancer Levine shows graphically the pains and travails of working in the league, where players depart almost daily for the NBA, European basketball's big money, or oblivion. Photos not seen by PW. (Feb.)