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The 23rd annual NBA Draft took place on April 7th and May 7th, 1969. Once again we had 14 teams selecting over 200 players, 215 to be exact.
The big name in the draft was a center from UCLA, Lew Alcindor (aka Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). Alcindor won titles in Milwaukee and Los Angeles, he's the league's all-time leading scoring, first ballot hall of famer, 19 time All-Star, 15 All-NBA Team, eleven times elected to all defensive team and is also the all-time leader in blocks.
Other notable names in this draft were Jo Jo White, Bobby Dandridge, Norm Van Lier, Butch Beard and Steve Mix.
In the 13th round, The San Francisco Warriors selected a high school player that averaged 62.8 points per game their senior year. That's not the monumental part, her name was Denise Long and she was the first ever woman drafted into the NBA.
Her selection was later voided by the NBA because they declared the selection a publicity stunt.
Name: Lucius Allen
School: University of California Los Angeles
Pick: First round, 3rd overall
Breakdown: Allen was an All-American and two-time NCAA champion. He was suspended his senior year at UCLA because of a marijuana possession charge. For a rookie that did not play organized ball for over a year he did have a decent first campaign.
|
Season |
G |
MP |
FG |
FGA |
FG% |
FT |
FTA |
FT% |
TRB |
AST |
PF |
PPG |
|
1969-70 |
81 |
22.4 |
3.8 |
8.5 |
.442 |
2.2 |
3.1 |
.731 |
2.6 |
4.2 |
2.5 |
9.8 |
Just before the start of the 1970 season, Allen and Bob Boozer were sent to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Don Smith (Zaid Abdul-Aziz) and cash. Allen would win a title with the Bucks in 1971 and overall have a decent 10 year career.
Grade: D
Name: Ron Taylor
School: University of Southern California
Pick: Second round, 18th overall
Breakdown: Taylor never played for the Sonics; he instead played in the ABA for two seasons with the New York Nets and Pittsburgh Condors. He also won six championships playing in the Austrian basketball league.
Ron "Tiny" Taylor is most known for being a film actor. Taylor has been in such films as Roadhouse, The Naked Gun, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Camp Fear, The Rocketeer and the timeless classic, Sasquatch Mountain.
Grade: F
Name: Lee Winfield
School: North Texas State University
Pick: Third Round, 32nd overall
Breakdown: Who would have thought that Lee Winfield would have been the best player the Sonics took in this draft?
|
Season |
G |
MP |
FG |
FGA |
FG% |
FT |
FTA |
FT% |
TRB |
AST |
PF |
PPG |
|
1969-70 |
64 |
12.0 |
2.2 |
4.5 |
.479 |
1.4 |
1.8 |
.750 |
1.5 |
1.6 |
1.5 |
5.7 |
|
1970-71 |
79 |
20.3 |
4.2 |
9.1 |
.466 |
2.1 |
3.1 |
.664 |
2.4 |
2.8 |
1.7 |
10.5 |
|
1971-72 |
81 |
25.2 |
4.2 |
8.5 |
.496 |
2.2 |
3.2 |
.668 |
2.7 |
3.6 |
2.4 |
10.6 |
|
1972-73 |
53 |
20.0 |
2.7 |
6.3 |
.431 |
1.2 |
2.0 |
.574 |
2.4 |
3.5 |
1.7 |
6.6 |
|
Sonics Career |
277 |
19.8 |
3.5 |
7.3 |
.472 |
1.8 |
2.6 |
.667 |
2.3 |
2.9 |
1.9 |
8.7 |
Never a star with the Sonics, he did have some big stretches. Over the last 11 games of the 1972 season he averaged almost 23 points a game, including a career high 38 against the Bulls on March, 3rd.
Grade: C
This draft is going to make me create a new gimmick. Hindsight 20/20; Jo Jo White could have been a Sonic instead of Lucius Allen, could have had Bobby Dandridge instead of Ron Taylor. I know the whole "you could do this for any draft," but it would have been nice to be able to add two guys that were winners and had long careers instead of what we drafted.
Though having taken those two guys would have prevented the Sonics from taking a certain shooting guard from the University of Iowa.
This draft class gets a D-.