Albuquerque Thunderbirds Franchise History

From Hoopedia

On March 21, 2005 the Albuquerque Thunderbirds were announced as the newest NBA Development League team. The Thunderbirds were announced along with the Austin Toros, Fort Worth Flyers and Tulsa 66ers, the four teams together make up Southwest Basketball and are all owned by David Kahn.

In the months following the Thunderbirds would name Billy Widner as the first team president and Michael Cooper as the first head coach. After the establishment of a front office and coaching staff it was announced that the Huntsville, AL team would relocate to Albuquerque, becoming the Thunderbirds.

In their inaugural season in the NBA D-League the Thunderbirds were successful at capturing the league title by defeating the Fort Worth Flyers. There were many notable factors along the way though: Current Thunderbird Dijon Thompson played with the team for the first three games of the season before being called up to the Phoenix Suns. C.J. Miles was also sent down to the team from the Utah Jazz for a couple weeks.

Most notable of all Thunderbirds players last season however was the teams first round draft pick, Chuck Hayes former University of Kentucky standout, Hayes signed with the Houston Rockets mid way through the 05-06 season and is still currently on their roster.

The Thunderbirds are currently enjoying their second season in the NBA D-League as defending champions.