Draft Selections and Draftee Career Notes
A player who had finished his four-year college eligibility was eligible for selection. If a player left college early, he would not be eligible for selection until his college class graduated. Before the draft, eight college underclassmen were declared eligible for selection under the "hardship" rule, a similar case in which Spencer Haywood successfully argued in his court case against the NBA which allowed him to play in the NBA before his college class graduated. These players had applied and gave evidence of financial hardship to the league, which granted them the right to start earning their living by starting their professional careers earlier. This was the first draft where college underclassmen were allowed to enter.
LaRue Martin from Loyola University Chicago was selected first overall by the Portland Trail Blazers. Bob McAdoo, a college junior from the University of North Carolina, was selected second by the Buffalo Braves. He went on to win the Rookie of the Year Award in his first season. McAdoo and 12th pick Julius Erving have been inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Erving was also named to the list of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History announced at the league's 50th anniversary in 1996. McAdoo won two NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1982 and 1985, one Most Valuable Player Award in 1975, and had two All-NBA Team selections and five All-Star Game selections. Erving had left college in 1971 to play professionally in the American Basketball Association (ABA) with the Virginia Squires. He later joined the NBA in 1976 after both leagues merged. He played 11 seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers and won the NBA championship in 1983. His other achievements include an NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 1981, three ABA Most Valuable Player Award, five All-ABA Team selections, seven All-NBA Team selections, five ABA All-Star Game selections and eleven NBA All-Star Game selections.
Paul Westphal, the 9th pick, was selected to both the All-NBA Team and the All-Star Game; he had four All-NBA selections and five All-Star selections. He also won the NBA championship in 1974 with the Boston Celtics. After retiring as a player, he went on to coach three NBA teams, most recently with the Sacramento Kings. Two other players from this draft, 16th pick Jim Price and 34th pick Don Buse, were also selected to an All-Star Game. Chris Ford, the 17th pick, won the NBA championship in 1981 with the Celtics. After retiring as a player, he went on to coach four NBA teams, including the Celtics. Ralph Simpson, the 11th pick, had left college in 1970 to play professionally in the ABA with Denver Rockets. He was selected to five ABA All-Star Games and four All-ABA Teams before he joined the NBA in 1976.
LaRue Martin and the 1972 draft class is considered as one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history. Martin only lasted four seasons in the league with a career scoring average of 5.3. The other first-round picks, except McAdoo, Westphal and Erving, were also had insignificant contributions to the league. None of them had career scoring averages above 9 points per game and only one of them had lasted more than six seasons in the NBA. Two of the first-round picks, Erving and Simpson had already played in the ABA before the draft. They stayed there until both leagues merged in 1976 and none of them played for the team that drafted them.
In the tenth round, the Portland Trail Blazers selected Krešimir Ćosić from Brigham Young University with the 144th pick. However, he opted to play another season in college before returning to Yugoslavia in 1973. Ćosić, who was also selected in the fifth round of the 1973 Draft, had a successful career in Europe, winning numerous league and club titles, as well as six gold medals with the Yugoslavian national team. For his achievements, he has been inducted by to the Basketball Hall of Fame. He has also been inducted by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to the FIBA Hall of Fame.
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Famous quotes containing the words draft, selections, draftee, career and/or notes:
“If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us, and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country.”
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“Between ourselves and our real natures we interpose that wax figure of idealizations and selections which we call our character.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
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—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
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—Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962)
“The soft complaining FLUTE
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—John Dryden (1631–1700)