The Atlantic City Seagulls were a professional basketball team based in Atlantic City,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. They played 6 seasons in the

United States Basketball League The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

(USBL), winning 3 consecutive league titles between 1997 and 1999.

History

The franchise was founded in early 1996 by a group of investors led by

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

native Paul Lipschutz. The first coach was Mike Gatley. In their inaugural season, the team won the Northern Division title with a 22–7 record and reached the league finals, after defeating Connecticut Skyhawks in the quarterfinals and the Tampa Bay Windjammers in the semifinals; the Seagulls lost to the Florida Sharks in the USBL finals, 115–118. Former

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and Syracuse

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Michael Lloyd won the USBL Rookie of the Year award, and three players were named to all-league teams ( Greg Grant to the All-USBL First Team and Mark Strickland and Ron Anderson to the Second Team). In April 1997 the Seagulls signed R&B singer

R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses. During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwi ...

to a professional basketball contract. The team ended the regular season with the best record in the league (20–6, .769), won their second division title in a row, and again reached the USBL finals, defeating the Philadelphia Power in the quarterfinals and the Raleigh Cougars in the semifinals. Facing the Long Island Surf in the USBL finals, the Seagulls won the game, 114–112, and obtained their first USBL title. The team could count on the league's top rebounder, Brent Scott, and the season assists leader Mark Baker: Scott and Baker were named Postseason co-MVPs, while coach

Kevin Mackey Kevin Mackey (born August 21, 1946) is a former head coach of men's basketball at Cleveland State University. His CSU Vikings upset the Indiana Hoosiers and the Saint Joseph's Hawks to make the Sweet 16 in the 1986 NCAA Division I men's basketbal ...

received the Coach of the Year award. In 1998 the Seagulls were moved to the newly created Mid-Atlantic Division: they finished the season with an 18–8 record (second in the league behind the Long Island Surf's 18–7) and qualified for the playoffs for the third consecutive season. In the second round the team defeated the Atlanta Trojans, 118–107, and in the Final Four they beat the Jacksonville Barracudas, 122–107. For the second season in a row, the Seagulls beat the Long Island Surf in the league finals (100–96) and won the USBL title.

Adrian Griffin Adrian Darnell Griffin Sr. (born July 4, 1974) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played in the NBA as a shooting guard ...

won the Postseason MVP award. In 1999 the team won the Mid-Atlantic Division title again with a 23–6 record, the best in the league and also the best in franchise history (.793). They reached the finals after defeating the Tampa Bay Windjammers in the quarterfinals and the Pennsylvania Valleydawgs in the semifinals; in the USBL finals they beat the Connecticut Skyhawks, 83–77, and obtained their third consecutive championship. Adrian Griffin won both the Player of the Year and the Postseason MVP awards, while Kevin Mackey was named the league's Coach of the Year and Lloyd led the league in scoring at 27.3 points per game. In 2000, the Seagulls' performance dropped: they was assigned to the Northern Division, and they ended with a 12–18 record, the first losing record in their history, and barely qualified for the postseason, where they lost to the Dodge City Legend, 107–122. In 2001 the team lost all 28 games and had the worst record in the history of league, finishing at the last spot of the Northern Division: on that same year, the team was disbanded. In their last season, the Seagulls had averaged less than 100 fans in attendance.

Season-by-season records

:''Source'':

Awards

*USBL Player of the Year:

(1999) *USBL Postseason MVP: Mark Baker & Brent Scott (1997), Adrian Griffin (2×, 1998–1999) *USBL Rookie of the Year: Michael Lloyd (1996) *USBL Coach of the Year:

(2×, 1997 and 1999)

Notable players

* Mark Baker * Mark Blount * William Cunningham * Paul Graham * Greg Grant * Evric Gray * LaMarr Greer *

Chris Jent Christopher Matthew Jent (born January 11, 1970) is an American basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was formerly the head coach of the Bakersfi ...

Eric Johnson Eric Johnson may refer to: Music *Eric Johnson (guitarist) (born 1954) an American guitarist and recording artist * Eric D. Johnson (born 1976), member of multiple indie-rock bands including Fruit Bats, The Shins and Califone Politics * Eric Joh ...

Garth Joseph Garth McArthur Fitzgerald Joseph (born August 8, 1973) is a retired Dominican basketball player. At 7'2" and 315 pounds, his physique was often compared to that of Shaquille O'Neal, especially when he was a young and raw-skilled center at The Co ...

Marijan Kraljević Marijan "Mario" Kraljević (born April 30, 1970 in Pforzheim, West Germany) is former Slovenian-Croatian professional basketball player. National team career Kraljević was a member of the senior Slovenia national basketball team. He competed a ...

* Michael Lloyd * Mark Macon * Brent Scott * Charles Smith * Mark Strickland * Carl Thomas * Charles Thomas * Marko Tušek * K'zell Wesson :''Source''

References

{{United States Basketball League Defunct basketball teams in the United States Defunct sports teams in New Jersey Basketball teams in New Jersey 1996 establishments in New Jersey Sports in New Jersey Basketball teams established in 1996 2001 disestablishments in New Jersey Sports clubs disestablished in 1996 Sports clubs disestablished in 2001 United States Basketball League teams