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The 26th annual NBA draft was held on April 10, 1972. It featured 18 rounds with 198 players being selected. The draft featured two future Hall of Famers in Bob McAdoo (2nd overall) and Julius Irving (12th overall).
This is also the draft that started a string of terrible first overall picks for the Portland Trailblazers. The Blazers selected LaRue Martin, a 6'11" center from Loyola University Chicago.
Martin is widely regarded as the worst number one pick of all time. He only has 1430 points in his four-year career (McAdoo has 1441 his rookie season). Portland would have a chance to make up for this pick two years later.
Name: Isaac Stallworth
School: University of Kansas
Pick: First round, 7th overall
Breakdown: Isaac "Bud" Stallworth was a very athletic, 6'5" shooting guard from the University of Kansas. He averaged double figures all four years at the University of Kansas, including 25.3 PPG his senior year. The highlight of his senior year at KU was when he dropped 50 points on archrival, Missouri.
|
Season |
G |
MP |
FG |
FGA |
FG% |
FT |
FTA |
FT% |
TRB |
AST |
PF |
PPG |
|
1972-73 |
77 |
15.9 |
2.6 |
6.8 |
.379 |
1.1 |
1.5 |
.754 |
2.9 |
0.8 |
1.8 |
6.3 |
|
1973-74 |
67 |
15.2 |
2.8 |
7.1 |
.392 |
0.7 |
1.1 |
.623 |
2.6 |
0.5 |
1.9 |
6.3 |
|
Sonics Career |
144 |
15.6 |
2.7 |
7.0 |
.386 |
0.9 |
1.3 |
.702 |
2.8 |
0.6 |
1.9 |
6.3 |
In his two seasons with the Sonics, despite flashes of brilliance, he never really caught on to the NBA game. His career high as a Sonic came his rookie year against Detroit where he scored 32 points. He only broke double digits in scoring 33 times with the Sonics and it became obvious that he was never going to get starting time with the emergence of the pervious years' pick, Fred Brown.
Stallworth became expendable.
Sonics left him unprotected in the 1974 NBA Expansion Draft. The New Orleans Jazz picked him up, he played three seasons with the Jazz before retiring in 1977 due to a serious car accident that really hurt his back.
Stallworth had his #15 retired at Kansas in 2005. He currently still lives in Kansas and is a co-host of the "Rock Chalk Sports Talk" show for KLWN 1320.
Grade: F
Name: Joby Wright
School: University of Indiana
Pick: Second round, 18th overall
Breakdown: Wright was a 6'8" forward from Indiana. The Sonics acquired this second round pick from the Philadelphia 76ers as part of the Bob Rule trade.
|
Season |
G |
MP |
FG |
FGA |
FG% |
FT |
FTA |
FT% |
TRB |
AST |
PF |
PPG |
|
1972-73 |
77 |
12.1 |
1.7 |
3.6 |
.478 |
0.5 |
1.2 |
.416 |
2.8 |
0.5 |
2.1 |
3.9 |
Wright only played one season with the Sonics. I couldn't find anything on to why he was released. I found article clippings of him signing a multi-year deal with the Sonics.
Currently, Wright runs a youth basketball charity in Indianapolis. He is also the Head Coach/Technical Trainer for NBA's Royal Bafokeng Nation in South Africa.
Grade: F
Name: Brian Taylor
School: Princeton University
Pick: Second Round, 23rd overall
Breakdown: Never played for the Sonics. Was also drafted by the New York Nets of the ABA and decided he would play there over Seattle.
Grade: F
Name: Jim Creighton
School: University of Colorado
Pick: Third round, 40th pick overall
Breakdown: Creighton did not make the team out of training camp and was released. He was out of the league for three years before the Atlanta Hawks picked him up in 1975.
Grade: F
After a big pick in 1971 with Fred Brown, Sonics went right back down with another terrible draft. This draft gets an F and hopefully 1973 brings us better luck.