Baaaaaaaaalllllin In Harlem????

The New York Times -
Commissioner David Stern wants to put an N.B.A. Development League team in Harlem, U.S.A. The idea was jolting at first. Now it’s intriguing.

Harlem, Stern said Saturday, represents a caldron of basketball tradition that would give much-needed weight to the N.B.A.’s seven-year-old D-League, a place teams can send young talent to mature. “Harlem represents a basketball tradition that for decades and decades and decades has given the N.B.A. so many players,” Stern said in a telephone interview.

The most intriguing aspect of a team in Harlem is finding a place to play. Some have said the armory at 142nd Street and Fifth Avenue. But the only place to play is in the old Renaissance Casino and Ballroom on 138th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. Some see the building as an eyesore.