How Derby City Distillers plan to grow pro hoops in Louisville after 'inconsistent' Year 1

It's been a running joke at practice between Derby City Distillers owner and head coach Akoy Agau and his players that the former Louisville men’s basketball forward still has enough left in the tank to suit up and take the court with them during a game.

With the Distillers (9-16) out of playoff contention heading into the final weekend of their first season as members of The Basketball League, Agau decided to do just that. The 6-foot-8 native of South Sudan likened himself to Will Ferrell's character in the 2008 movie "Semi-Pro," Flint Tropics owner/player/coach Jackie Moon, in a tweet five hours before tipoff Saturday encouraging members of the community to stop by Kentucky Country Day's Gardner Gymnasium for the Distillers’ game against the St. Louis Griffins.

The news of Agau coming off the bench got several of his friends, diehard U of L fans John and Justin Hale and former Cardinals guard Peyton Siva to show up to their first Distillers game, joining a crowd of roughly 50 spectators who watched the Griffins' come-from-behind, 121-112 victory. For his next attendance-boosting stunt, Agau joked he could follow in Moon's footsteps by staging a halftime wrestling match against a bear.

"If I'm gonna claim that, I might have to," he said.

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Through the ups and downs of navigating the Distillers' inaugural season, Agau views his attempt to bring professional basketball to Louisville as a success thus far. He's given guys like Waggener High School graduate JacQuess Hobbs the opportunity to earn money playing the sport they love while auditioning for roster spots in the NBA G League or overseas; and he's created an outlet for hoops fans across the city to enjoy the game well after the Cardinals and Wildcats' campaigns ended in March.

Agau dreams of taking the franchise to the G League but needs to keep building support.

"Maybe everybody's blowing smoke, but everybody who's heard about it has been excited about it," Agau told The Courier Journal. "A lot of people have gone the extra step and attended games and enjoyed their experience, so I think for us it's just continuing to get the word out."

Agau has a lengthy offseason to-do list.

For starters, he has to find a long-term replacement for former head coach Tim Gray, with whom he agreed to mutually part ways with more than a handful of games remaining in the 2023 season. His ideal candidate will bring professional experience to the table — Gray did not.

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"Got a lot of respect for him and his dad and everything that they do," Agau said of Gray, a former Rick Pitino staffer at U of L who has spent the past seven years working under his father, Kevin, as an associate head coach at Spalding University. "It was just kind of one of those things where there's a lot going on; and he had some things going on, too, personally. Being a Year 1 program, there's a lot that comes with that."

Then there's the matter of determining which players he wants to bring back and which players will have to go through the try-out process again to earn a spot. The team signed 12 and a few alternates to one-year deals — TBL's average salary range is $500 to $5,000 per month, according to the league's website — and brought new players into the fold when others left to pursue opportunities elsewhere during the season.

Count Hobbs among those in favor of returning for Year 2, especially after getting the chance to hoop in front of a player he idolized as a youngster, Siva, on Saturday evening.

"I feel like I grew a lot as a player," said Hobbs, a guard whose career took him to Eastern Kentucky, Fort Lewis College in Colorado and a professional league in Portugal before returning home to play for the Distillers. "Akoy's been a great guy, telling me different stuff on what I can do to help my game and change it and take it to the next level."

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Last, and most importantly, there's the matter of choosing a venue for next season and developing strategies for getting bigger crowds to show up.

Agau and KCD, where he once served as an assistant boys basketball coach, inked a contract that made Gardner Gymnasium the Distillers' home for practices and games during the 2023 campaign; and there's a chance the team returns for Year 2. But Agau said he's also entertaining the possibilities of moving to the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center in West Louisville, Knights Hall on Bellarmine's campus or Broadbent Arena at the Fairgrounds.

"(I'm) not trying to get into an arena too fast without having the support," he said. "It all depends on how quickly the city and the people here embrace us."

Agau said the Distillers' attendance was "a little bit inconsistent" during Year 1, as made evident by Saturday's sparse crowd. Ticket prices range from $20 for adults to $15 for military members and $10 for students.

Hobbs, who worked side hustles like Grubhub to supplement his income, said he was impressed when a couple hundred people would turn out for games in the early going, but Agau said support "died down" amid the Kentucky Derby Festival and with the city's professional soccer teams' seasons starting up at Lynn Family Stadium, among other events.

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The Distillers were at their most entertaining Saturday evening when they stifled St. Louis with a full-court press. If the franchise is to join the G League like Agau hopes, he'll need to take a similar approach on the marketing front, partnering with local television and radio stations and making players more visible in the community.

Social media also plays a big role. The Distillers as of Sunday morning had 1,204 followers on Instagram and 536 followers on Facebook, trailing TBL teams in smaller markets such as the Owensboro Thoroughbreds and the Dayton Flight. The Hales said they decided to attend the game against the Griffins after seeing Agau's tweet about playing — otherwise, they would have had no idea it was going on.

"I was hoping there’d be more people here when we pulled up," John Hale said.

Added Justin Hale: "If there were more people who knew about it, I think it would grow this style of basketball not only here but in other places, as well."

TBL launched in 2018 with just eight teams and the mission statement of providing communities with "an affordable/quality family entertainment experience." Five years later, the league had 50 members competing across four regionalized conferences during the 2023 season.

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As far as Agau knows, his is the only franchise in TBL with the big-picture goal of one day joining the G League. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver in February said there had been "no discussion on expansion recently," according to ESPN’s Marc J. Spears, but that could change after the league finalizes a new media rights deal, potentially opening the door for new teams in need of minor-league markets.

Only time, and the Distillers' attendance, will tell if a city that has tried and failed to land an NBA team is capable of making and sustaining that kind of jump. Agau said he sees the potential in "a state that truly loves and knows basketball," and with that belief he doesn’t plan on giving up anytime soon.

"It’s now trying to build for Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5," he said, "and getting the city to know that we're gonna be here for a while."

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Derby City Distillers goal: From The Basketball League to NBA G League