1974 NBA expansion draft
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The 1974 NBA expansion draft was the sixth expansion draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 20, 1974, so that the newly founded New Orleans Jazz could acquire players for the upcoming 1974–75 season. New Orleans had been awarded the expansion team on March 7, 1974. The Jazz moved to Salt Lake City in 1979 and are currently known as the Utah Jazz. In an NBA expansion draft, new NBA teams are allowed to acquire players from the previously established teams in the league. Not all players on a given team are available during an expansion draft, since each team can protect a certain number of players from being selected. In this draft, each of the seventeen other NBA teams had protected seven players from their roster and the Jazz selected seventeen unprotected players, one from each team.
The Jazz were formed and owned by a group headed by Fred Rosenfeld and Sam Battistone. Former college basketball coach Scotty Robertson was hired as the franchise's first head coach and 11-time All-Star Elgin Baylor was named as one of the assistant coach. The Jazz's selections included five-time All-Star Walt Bellamy, three-time All-Star Bob Kauffman and one-time All-Star John Block. However, none of them had long careers with the Jazz; Bellamy, who was 35 years old, was waived after one game and both Kauffman and Block were traded. Prior to the draft, the Jazz made a trade with the Atlanta Hawks which brought two-time All-Star Pete Maravich to the Jazz. In exchange for Maravich, the Jazz sent the first guard and forward chosen in the expansion draft, which turned out to be Bob Kauffman and Dean Meminger, along with future draft picks to the Hawks. Ten players from the expansion draft joined the Jazz for their inaugural season, but only three played more than one season for the team.
Key
| Pos. | G | F | C |
| Position | Guard | Forward | Center |
| ^ | Denotes player who has been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame |
| + | Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game |
Selections
| Player | Pos. | Nationality | Previous team | Years of NBA experience[a] | Career with the franchise | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dennis Awtrey | C | United States | Chicago Bulls | 4 | —[b] | |
| Jim Barnett | G/F | United States | Golden State Warriors | 8 | 1974–1975 | |
| Walt Bellamy^ | C | United States | Atlanta Hawks | 13 | 1974 | |
| John Block+ | F/C | United States | Kansas City–Omaha Kings | 8 | 1974 | |
| Barry Clemens | F | United States | Cleveland Cavaliers | 9 | —[b] | |
| E. C. Coleman | F | United States | Houston Rockets | 1 | 1974–1977 | |
| Lamar Green | F/C | United States | Phoenix Suns | 5 | 1974 | |
| Nate Hawthorne | G | United States | Los Angeles Lakers | 1 | —[b] | |
| Ollie Johnson | F | United States | Portland Trail Blazers | 2 | 1974–1975 | |
| Bob Kauffman+ | F/C | United States | Buffalo Braves | 6 | —[b] | |
| Toby Kimball | F/C | United States | Philadelphia 76ers | 8 | 1974 | |
| Steve Kuberski | F/C | United States | Boston Celtics | 5 | —[b] | |
| Stu Lantz | G | United States | Detroit Pistons | 6 | 1974 | |
| Dean Meminger | G | United States | New York Knicks | 3 | —[b] | |
| Louie Nelson | G | United States | Washington Bullets | 1 | 1974–1976 | |
| Curtis Perry | F | United States | Milwaukee Bucks | 4 | —[b] | |
| Isaac Stallworth | G/F | United States | Seattle SuperSonics | 2 | 1974–1977 |
Notes
- a Number of years played in the NBA prior to the draft
- b Never played a game for the franchise
General
- . NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from on March 29, 2010.
- . NBA.com/Bobcats. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from on January 16, 2008.
- . basketball-reference.com.
Specific