Word: draft
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Last week's N.B.A. draft was a case in point. The Cleveland Cavaliers, first of the league's 17 teams to choose from this year's crop of college players, selected Austin Carr, the flashy guard from Notre Dame who averaged 38 points a game this season. Carr, said Cleveland Coach Bill Fitch, was the best "available" player in the country. Among the unavailable players was 7-ft. 2-in. Artis Gilmore of Jacksonville, who had been snatched up by the marauding Kentucky Colonels of the A.B.A. for a reported $2,600,000. Villanova's Howard...
Slick Maneuvering. By the same token, the A.B.A., which tried to get the jump on the N.B.A. by holding its draft four months ago, ignored All-America Sidney Wicks of U.C.L.A. in its first round. Rumor had it that Wicks was already committed to the N.B.A.'s Portland Trail Blazers. The battle for the bodies has become so intense this season that the hordes of agents descending on campuses almost have to stand in line. Says Norman Blass, a hard-sell recruiter for Athletics Advisory Group Inc.: "There are more agents than there are players to represent...
...more slick maneuverings than there are on the court. The N.B.A.'s Buffalo Braves, for example, picked 7-ft. Elmore Smith of Kentucky State as their first draft choice despite the fact that the Carolina Cougars had done the same in the A.B.A. draft. Presumably the Braves had got wind of a deal involving the Cougars and another 7-ft. center, All-America Jim McDaniels of Western Kentucky. If the Cougars landed McDaniels, the Braves apparently reasoned, they would give up Smith without a fight. Sure enough, the day after the N.B.A. draft, the Cougars signed McDaniels...
...second round of the N.B.A. draft, the Buffalo Braves turned the tables on Seattle by selecting Haywood on a gamble. Taking their lead from the SuperSonics, the Braves seemed to set a new rule of their own: grab whom you can any way you can, and then let the courts thresh...
...warring leagues. And the agenda will have to include more than just a merger agreement. The leagues would first need a special congressional exemption from antitrust laws. Further, they must reconcile their differences with the players. The N.B.A. Players' Association has vowed to fight any merger or common draft that "restrains and restricts" a player's ability to use competitive bidding to win higher salaries. Lou Carnesecca, coach of the A.B.A.'s New York Nets, spoke for everyone concerned about pro basketball when he said last week: "Before this thing gets completely out of hand, representatives from...