Early Franchise History
On February 6, 1970, the NBA board of governors granted the Blazers franchise, after the Blazers paid $3.7 million to join the league. In that year, the Buffalo Braves (now the Los Angeles Clippers) and the Cleveland Cavaliers also joined the league. The team was based around Geoff Petrie, a first round draft choice out of Princeton University, and the 6'10" (2.08 m) tall LeRoy Ellis, whom they acquired in the expansion draft. In their first season, the Blazers finished with a 29-53 record, which was the best out of the three new teams in the NBA. The next year, the Blazers won only 18 games, but rookie Sidney Wicks was named Rookie of the Year. The following year, the team used the first pick in the NBA Draft on LaRue Martin.
The Blazers did not beat their first season's record until they drafted Bill Walton from UCLA in 1974. In the first two years, under coach Lenny Wilkens, the Blazers improved, but still did not post a winning record (nor did they make the playoffs). In the 1976 off-season, Wilkens was fired and replaced with Dr. Jack Ramsay. That off-season, the team acquired forward Maurice Lucas in the dispersal draft that occurred when the American Basketball Association was acquired by the NBA (and several of its teams folded).
Read more about this topic: History Of The Portland Trail Blazers
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