UNSCRIPTED: Tim Bawmann
A Q&A with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants’ president
By Keith Edmonds
Of Fort Wayne Ink Spot
Tim Bawmann was selected as the new President of the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Developmental League in 2016 after nearly 30 years of being involved in minor league baseball. Before that, he served as the president and general manager of the Lowell (MA) Spinners, the Class A affiliate to the Boston Red Sox from 2003-2016.
The Mad Ants are Fort Wayne’s professional basketball team of the NBA “G” (Gatorade) League and play their home games in the Memorial Coliseum. Currently, they are into their 2021 season in Orlando, Florida, in the “G” Leagues version of the NBA “bubble”. Recently I had the opportunity to spend a few moments with Tim as he shared why he made the decision to leave his baseball “roots” and come to the Mad Ants.
Q: Being the president of a sports organization I’m sure is a tedious position. Can you share with us a little of what your position with the Mad Ants entails?
A: The way the Indiana Pacers have our organization structured is, we have a basketball operations side which is primarily responsible for the trainers, coaches, players, and anything that takes place on the floor would be handled by them. The other side would be taking care of anything that takes place away from the floor or the business side which is where I come in. This could be hiring staff to sell tickets, or managing staff that sells advertisements, setting our promotional schedule, budgeting or community events or anything else that you could think of in terms of “running a business” would all fall under my umbrella.
Q: So as far as the drafting of players to become a part of the Mad Ants, and the evaluation of new talent that could come to this organization, does your position have any responsibilities with this aspect?
A: Now that would fall under the basketball operational side which is headed up by Brian Levy who’s our general manager. He has an assistant general manager (Chris Taylor), and they work closely with the Indiana Pacers to formulate a plan in regards to who we’re interested in and how they would “fit” into our organization.
Q: So, if you would, share with us how the Mad Ants evolved, and how have you seen the league change since you became a part of this organization five seasons ago?
A: Yes, it really is different in that Jeff Potter started the franchise and sold it to the Pacers six years ago, and with this being my fifth season with the franchise I’ve seen the league change its name from the D-(Developmental) League to the G-(Gatorade) among many other things. The G-League has expanded from 22 teams to 28 teams since I arrived in Fort Wayne with the goal being to have every NBA team have a direct affiliation with a franchise. (Currently the Denver Nuggets and the Phoenix Suns being the only NBA franchises without a G League affiliate.)
The whole concept of our league being “developmental” goes throughout our league as we’ve sent employees and executives to the NBA as well. Our main goal is to develop players that can become contributing factors to NBA teams, and that keeps us encouraged as we continue partnering with our NBA teams league-wide. The main thing that I’ve seen is that the NBA is really committed to giving the G-League its players and personnel as much exposure as possible in an effort to promote the “pipeline” from us to them.
Q: So, do G-League presidents work with each other to promote policies and league rules, or does each team have their own separate team policies that they enforce?
A: Our policies pretty much mirror the NBA. We have a league president (Shariff Abdul Raheem) that runs our league and works closely with Mark Tatum and Adam Silver at the NBA level who sets the rules for how our league will function. With that being said, we are free to experiment with rule changes and concepts to see if the NBA likes it enough to adopt into their league. Things like the 14-second shot clock where when a team grabs an offensive rebound the shot clock only resets to 14 seconds (that we now see in the NBA) started in the G-League.
Another concept is, if a player is fouled in the “act of shooting” in our league, they will get one corresponding free-throw depending on if the attempted shot was a 2-point or 3-point effort (until the last 2 minutes of each game). After two years of this rule, it hasn’t been adopted by the NBA (which is good for us “traditionalists”) but shows that we are continually marketing our league towards making the games more enjoyable for our players and fans.”
Q: I’m curious as to what happens to the players that don’t make it to the NBA. Are they allowed to play for other teams or organizations “outside” of the NBA and its G-League teams?
A: What would occur is, if we drafted you and signed you to a G-League contract, you would be under “rights and restrictions” of the Indiana Pacers who have the controlling interest in you. You could elect to go and play in Europe if you wanted and then when you returned your contractual rights would belong to the Pacers. You know, this is the 2nd best basketball league to the world, and I think that the NBA’s vested interest is to try to keep players here in America so that when there is an injury or a need to find a player for one of our teams, we don’t have to leave the country to get his replacement. That’s why you’ll find players opting to stay home and not going to Europe knowing that the “best” opportunity to get to the NBA is through the G-League. The money is good in Europe but not the competition that the players are accustomed to here in the states, which is what the players are looking for.
Q: Can you explain the concept of the “2-way player” in the NBA/G-League?
A: So, we have Brian Bowen and Cassius Stanley who are both 2-ways players in that there are a certain (determined by the NBA) number of days that they must be on an NBA roster which includes practices and games. Currently, it’s 45 days. When that contract ends then the remaining season must be completed with your G-League team. Now, if that particular team needed him back, then he would return and must be offered an NBA contract for the balance of the season.
Q: What’s one thing that you’d like to see the city of Fort Wayne gravitate towards in regards to supporting the Mad Ants?
A: There’s no question, that I’d like to see us have a downtown arena to house our team. In the 12,000 seat Coliseum, our facility has gotten too big for us and we would thrive in a smaller venue. It would (in my opinion) revitalize downtown Fort Wayne as concerts, collegiate tournaments, and other events could be held there and would be a huge economic boost for our city. I think our franchise would thrive in that environment and more people would come to see us play!
Q: My final question for you is, share something on a personal level that makes Tim Bawmann click. What are you passionate about?
A: Having been in sports for over 30 years has changed my passion. If you’d asked me this question five years ago, my response would have been different. Today my heart is towards asking those I come in contact with, “How can I help?” Our community is in a tough spot as there are so many that are hungry, people are homeless, and those in our educational system are trying as best they can to make things work. I often ask myself “how we as the Mad Ants use our platform to assist others that are in need.”
Look, we are owned by the Pacers, so we have a tremendous opportunity to assist in ways that others can’t. We want to continue to find ways to use our resources to help others.