Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference; the team plays its home games at Barclays Center. They are one of two NBA teams located in New York City; the team was established in 1967 as a charter franchise of the NBA's rival league, the American Basketball Association. They played in New Jersey as the New Jersey Americans during their first season, before moving to Long Island in 1968 and changing their name to the New York Nets. During this time, the Nets won two ABA championships. In 1976, the ABA merged with the NBA, the Nets were absorbed into the NBA along with three other ABA teams. In 1977, the team returned to New Jersey and played as the New Jersey Nets from 1977 to 2012. During this time, the Nets won two consecutive Eastern Conference championships, but failed to win a league title. In the summer of 2012, the team moved to Barclays Center, took its current geographic name.
The Brooklyn Nets were founded in 1967 and played in Teaneck, New Jersey, as the New Jersey Americans. In its early years, the team led a nomadic existence, moving to Long Island in 1968 and playing in various arenas there as the New York Nets. Led by Hall of Famer Julius "Dr. J" Erving, the Nets won two ABA championships in New York before becoming one of four ABA teams to be admitted into the NBA as part of the ABA–NBA merger in 1976; the team moved back to New Jersey in 1977 and became the New Jersey Nets. During their time in that state, the Nets saw periods of losing and misfortune intermittent with several periods of success, which culminated in two consecutive NBA Finals appearances in the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons by teams led by point guard Jason Kidd. After playing 35 seasons in New Jersey, the team moved back to the state of New York, changed its geographic name to Brooklyn, began playing in the new Barclays Center, starting with the 2012–13 NBA season; the Boston Celtics were once rivals of the Nets during the early 2000s because of their respective locations and their burgeoning stars.
The Nets were led by Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin, while the Celtics were experiencing newfound success behind Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker. The rivalry began to heat up in the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals, preceded by trash-talking from the Celtics who claimed Martin was a "fake" tough guy. Things progressed as the series started, on-court tensions seemed to spill into the stands. Celtic fans berated Kidd and his family with chants of "Wife Beater!" in response to Kidd's 2001 domestic abuse charge. When the series returned to New Jersey, Nets fans responded, with some brandishing signs that read "Will someone please stab Paul Pierce?" Referring to a night club incident in 2000 in which Pierce was stabbed 11 times. When asked about the fan barbs being traded, Kenyon Martin stated, "Our fans hate them, their fans hate us." Bill Walton said at the time that Nets-Celtics was the "beginning of the next great NBA rivalry" during the Eastern Conference Finals in 2002 with the Nets advancing to the NBA Finals, though New Jersey swept Boston in the 2003 playoffs.
On November 28, 2012 there were indications that the rivalry might be rekindled when an altercation occurred on the court, resulting in the ejection of Rajon Rondo, Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries. Rondo was suspended for two games in the aftermath, while Kevin Garnett were fined; the story was revisited on December 25, when Wallace grabbed Garnett's shorts and the two had to be broken up by referees and players alike. However, the rivalry between the Nets and the Celtics appeared cooled off by the June 2013 blockbuster trade that dealt Celtics stars Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Nets in exchange for Wallace and others; this move was billed as a merger of the two Atlantic Division teams. Celtics announcer Sean Grande said, "It's as if you found a great home for these guys. You couldn't have found a better place; these guys will be in the New York market, they'll be on a competitive team, they'll stay on national TV. It's funny. So with Celtics fans feeling the way they do about the Heat, feeling the way they do about the Knicks, the Nets are going to become the second team now."
The Knicks–Nets rivalry has been a geographical one, with the Knicks playing in Madison Square Garden in the New York City borough of Manhattan, while the Nets played in the suburban area of Long Island and in New Jersey, since 2012 have been playing at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Media outlets have noted the Knicks–Nets rivalry's similarity to those of other New York City teams, such as the Major League Baseball Subway Series rivalry between the American League's New York Yankees and the National League's New York Mets, the National Football League rivalry between the National Football Conference's New York Giants and the American Football Conference's New York Jets, the result of the boroughs' proximity through the New York City Subway; the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn competed via the Dodgers–Giants rivalry, when the two teams were known as the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. Like the Knicks and Nets, the Giants and Dodgers played in Manhattan and Brooklyn and were fierce intraleague rivals.
The rivalry between the New York Islanders and New York Rangers of the National Hockey League has taken on a similar dimension since the Islanders moved to
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is a professional baseball organization, the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. A total of 30 teams play with 15 teams in each league; the NL and AL were formed as separate legal entities in 1901 respectively. After cooperating but remaining separate entities beginning in 1903, the leagues merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball in 2000; the organization oversees Minor League Baseball, which comprises 256 teams affiliated with the Major League clubs. With the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB manages the international World Baseball Classic tournament. Baseball's first all-professional team was founded in Cincinnati in 1869; the first few decades of professional baseball were characterized by rivalries between leagues and by players who jumped from one team or league to another. The period before 1920 in baseball was known as the dead-ball era. Baseball survived a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, which came to be known as the Black Sox Scandal.
The sport rose in popularity in the 1920s, survived potential downturns during the Great Depression and World War II. Shortly after the war, Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier; the 1950s and 1960s were a time of expansion for the AL and NL new stadiums and artificial turf surfaces began to change the game in the 1970s and 1980s. Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s, media reports began to discuss the use of anabolic steroids among Major League players in the mid-2000s. In 2006, an investigation produced the Mitchell Report, which implicated many players in the use of performance-enhancing substances, including at least one player from each team. Today, MLB is composed of 1 in Canada. Teams play 162 games each season and five teams in each league advance to a four-round postseason tournament that culminates in the World Series, a best-of-seven championship series between the two league champions that dates to 1903. Baseball broadcasts are aired on television and the Internet throughout North America and in several other countries throughout the world.
MLB has the highest season attendance of any sports league in the world with more than 73 million spectators in 2015. MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution; this document has undergone several incarnations since its creation in 1876. Under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, negotiates marketing and television contracts. MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball; this is due in large part to the 1922 U. S. Supreme Court ruling in Federal Baseball Club v. National League, which held that baseball is not interstate commerce and therefore not subject to federal antitrust law; this ruling has been weakened only in subsequent years. The weakened ruling granted more stability to the owners of teams and has resulted in values increasing at double-digit rates. There were several challenges to MLB's primacy in the sport between the 1870s and the Federal League in 1916.
The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner Rob Manfred. The chief operating officer is Tony Petitti. There are five other executives: president, chief communications officer, chief legal officer, chief financial officer, chief baseball officer; the multimedia branch of MLB, based in Manhattan, is MLB Advanced Media. This branch oversees each of the 30 teams' websites, its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the league, but it is under the same ownership group and revenue-sharing plan. MLB Productions is a structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media. MLB owns 67 percent of MLB Network, with the other 33 percent split between several cable operators and satellite provider DirecTV, it operates out of studios in Secaucus, New Jersey, has editorial independence from the league. In 1920, the weak National Commission, created to manage relationships between the two leagues, was replaced with the much more powerful Commissioner of Baseball, who had the power to make decisions for all of professional baseball unilaterally.
From 1901 to 1960, the American and National Leagues fielded eight teams apiece. In the 1960s, MLB expansion added eight teams, including the first non-U. S. Team. Two teams were added in the 1970s. From 1969 through 1993, each league consisted of an West Division. A third division, the Central Division, was formed in each league in 1994; until 1996, the two leagues met on the field only during the All-Star Game. Regular-season interleague play was introduced in 1997. In March 1995 two new franchises, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, were awarded by MLB, to begin play in 1998; this addition brought the total number of franchises to 30. In early 1997, MLB decided to assign one new team to each league: Tampa Bay joined the AL and Arizona joined the NL; the original plan was to have an odd number of teams in each league, but in order for every team to be able to play daily, this would have required interleague play to be scheduled throughout the entire season. However, it
Willis Reed
Willis Reed Jr. is an American retired basketball player and general manager. He spent his entire professional playing career with the New York Knicks. In 1982, Reed was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was voted one of the "50 Greatest Players in NBA History". After retiring as a player, Reed served as assistant and head coach with several teams for nearly a decade was promoted to general manager and vice president of basketball operations for the New Jersey Nets; as senior vice president of basketball operations, he led them to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003. Reed was born on June 1942 in Dubach, Louisiana within Lincoln Parish, he grew up on a farm in Louisiana. His parents worked to ensure. Reed showed athletic ability at an early age and played basketball at West Side High School in Lillie, Louisiana. Reed attended Grambling State University, a black college. Playing for the Grambling State Tigers men's basketball team, Reed amassed 2,280 career points, averaging 26.6 points per game and 21.3 rebounds per game during his senior year.
He led the Tigers to three Southwestern Athletic Conference championships. Reed became a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity; the New York Knicks selected Reed in the second round, with the eighth overall selection, in the 1964 NBA draft. Reed made a name as a fierce and physical force on both ends of the floor. In March 1965, he scored 46 points against the Los Angeles Lakers, the second-highest single game total by the Knicks' rookie. For the 1964–65 season, he ranked seventh in the NBA in scoring and fifth in rebounding, he began his string of All-Star appearances and won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award while being named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. Reed proved to be a clutch playoff performer throughout his career, he gave an early indication of this in the 1966–67 season when he improved his regular season averages to 20.9 points per game, scoring 27.5 points per game in the postseason. He played center. Despite his average stature for a basketball player, he made up for his lack of height by playing a physical game ending seasons with respectable averages in blocking and rebounding.
He stood 6 ft 9 in when contemporaries such as Wilt Chamberlain stood 7 ft 1 in and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was 7 ft 2 in. The team continued to struggle for a few years while adding good players through trades and the draft. Dick McGuire was replaced as coach with Red Holzman, midway through the 1967–68 season; the Knicks had gone 15–22 under McGuire. In 1968, New York's record was its first winning record since the 1958 -- 59 season. Reed continued to make annual appearances in the NBA All-Star Game. By this time, he was playing power forward. Reed averaged 11.6 rebounds in 1965–66 and 14.6 in 1966–67, both top 10 marks in the league. By the latter season, he had adjusted to the nuances of his new position, averaging 20.9 points to rank eighth in the NBA. In 1968–69, New York held opponents to a league-low 105.2 points per game. With Reed clogging the middle and Walt Frazier pressuring the ball, the Knicks would be the best defensive club in the league for five of the next six seasons. Reed scored 21.1 points per game in 1968–69 and grabbed a franchise record 1,191 rebounds, an average of 14.5 rebounds per game.
In the 1969–70 season, the Knicks won a franchise record 60 games and set a single season NBA record with an 18-game win streak. In 1970, Reed became the first player in NBA history to be named the NBA All-Star Game MVP, the NBA regular season MVP, the NBA Finals MVP in the same season; that same year, he was named to the All-NBA First Team and NBA All-Defensive First Team, as well as being named as ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year, the Sporting News NBA MVP. Reed's most famous performance took place on May 8, 1970, during game seven of the 1970 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers in Madison Square Garden. Due to a severe thigh injury, a torn muscle that had kept him out of game six, he was considered unlikely to play in game seven. However, Reed surprised the fans by walking onto the court during warmups, prompting widespread applause. Starting the game, he scored the Knicks' first two field goals on his first two shot attempts, his only points of the game. Following the game in the winner's locker room, a moved Howard Cosell told Reed on national television, "You exemplify the best that the human spirit can offer."
The Knicks slipped to a 52–30 record in the 1970–71 season, still good enough for first place in the Atlantic Division. Once again, Reed started in the All-Star Game. For the season, he averaged 20.9 points and 13.7 rebounds per game, but the Knicks were eliminated by the Baltimore Bullets in the Eastern Conference Finals. In 1971 -- 72, Reed was bothered by tendinitis in his left knee, he missed two weeks early in the season and returned, but shortly thereafter the injured knee prohibited him from playing, he totaled 11 games for the year. Without Reed, the Knicks still managed to make the NBA Finals, but were defeated in five games by the Los Angeles Lakers; the 1972–73 Knicks finished the season with a 57–25 record and went on to win another NBA title. Reed was less of a contributor. In 69 regular season games, he averaged only 11.0 points. In the playoffs, the Knicks beat the Bullets and upset the Boston Celti
Walt Hazzard
Walter Raphael Hazzard Jr. Mahdi Abdul-Rahman was an American college and professional basketball player and college basketball coach, he was best known for his association with the men's basketball team at the University of California, Los Angeles, having been a star player for that team when it won its first national championship in 1964 and having served as the team's head coach in the 1980s. Hazzard attended Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, where his teams went 89-3 and he was named the city's player of the year when he was a senior. Hazzard went on to UCLA, where he became a key player on the varsity basketball team. In Hazzard's first season on the varsity squad, the UCLA Bruins made their first Final Four appearance in the 1962 NCAA Toournament, they lost 72-70 to the eventual champion, in the semi-finals. UCLA's first undefeated season of 1963–64 was in no small part due to Hazzard, his backcourt partner Gail Goodrich, the team's coach John Wooden; the team won its first NCAA Championship, Hazzard was selected by the Associated Press as the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Following UCLA's victory in the 1964 tournament, Sports Illustrated featured a cover photograph of Walt Hazzard dribbling the basketball up court and the headline, "UCLA Is The Champ. Walt Hazzard Drives Through Duke." Hazzard was chosen as an All-American and selected as College Player of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association. His number 42 jersey was retired by UCLA in 1996 in Pauley Pavilion, but Hazzard gave his permission for stand-out recruit Kevin Love to wear the number. Hazzard and Bill Bradley earned a spot on the 1964 Olympic basketball team for the U. S. which unsurprisingly won the gold medal. He was pre-draft territorial pick in 1964 by the Los Angeles Lakers. Hazzard played in the NBA, first with the Los Angeles Lakers from 1964–1967 the Seattle SuperSonics, the Atlanta Hawks, the Buffalo Braves, for the Golden State Warriors, he returned to the SuperSonics for the 1973–74 season, after which he retired from professional basketball. While playing for the SuperSonics in their inaugural 1967–68 season, Hazzard scored a career high 24.0 points per game, averaged 6.2 assists per game, was selected to play in the 1968 NBA All-Star Game.
Seattle traded him to the Hawks during the off-season for Lenny Wilkens. Hazzard's career high average in assists came during the 1969–70 season, when he averaged 6.8 assist per game while playing for the Hawks. In 1984, he returned to UCLA as its men's basketball coach, twenty years after winning the national championship as a player; that same year, he was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame. He coached for four seasons; the 1984–1985 UCLA Bruin basketball team won the NIT championship. The 1986–1987 UCLA Bruin basketball team won both the Pac-10 regular season championship as well as the inaugural Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament. However, after the 1987-88 Bruins finished only two games above.500 — the closest they had come to a losing record in 40 years — Hazzard was fired. He spent a number of years working for the Los Angeles Lakers, first as an advance scout on the west coast and as a special consultant. During his professional basketball career, Hazzard converted to Islam and changed his name to Mahdi Abdul-Rahman.
However, he felt that the name change was poorly received in basketball circles, believing that it cost him opportunities, both during and after his playing career. Therefore, although he remained devout in his Muslim faith, he chose to return to using the name Walt Hazzard professionally. Hazzard and his wife Jaleesa had four children: Yakub, Jalal and Khalil, the last being a record producer, well known in hip-hop circles by the stage name DJ Khalil, his grandson, Max Hazzard, plays basketball for U. C. Irvine. On March 22, 1996, Hazzard was hospitalized following a stroke. Although he made a substantial recovery over the ensuing years, his health never returned in full and subsequent to his illness he was much less active in the public sphere. Shortly after the stroke, Lakers owner Jerry Buss promised Hazzard's family that he would remain on the team's payroll as long as Buss owned the team. By the middle of 2011, his health had deteriorated and he was hospitalized in intensive care. On November 18 of that year, Hazzard died at the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center due to complications following heart surgery.
He was 69. Walt Hazzard is interred at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Walt Hazzard at Find a Grave
1965 NBA draft
The 1965 NBA draft was the 19th annual draft of the National Basketball Association. The draft was held on May 1965, before the 1965 -- 66 season. In this draft, nine NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U. S. college basketball players. A player who had finished his four-year college eligibility was eligible for selection. If a player left college early, he would not be eligible for selection until his college class graduated. Teams that finished last in each division, the San Francisco Warriors and the New York Knicks, were awarded the first four picks in the draft; the remaining first-round picks and the subsequent rounds were assigned to teams in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season. Before the draft, a team could forfeit its first-round draft pick and select any player from within a 50-mile radius of its home arena as their territorial pick; the draft consisted of 17 rounds comprising 112 players selected. This draft was the last in which the territorial pick rule remained in effect, before it was eliminated prior to the 1966 draft.
Bill Bradley, Bill Buntin and Gail Goodrich were selected before the draft as New York Knicks', Detroit Pistons' and Los Angeles Lakers' territorial picks respectively. Fred Hetzel from Davidson College was selected first overall by the San Francisco Warriors. Rick Barry from the University of Miami, who went on to win the Rookie of the Year Award in his first season, was drafted second by the Warriors. Four players from this draft, Bradley and fifth pick Billy Cunningham, have been inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Barry and Cunningham were named in the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History list announced at the league's 50th anniversary in 1996. Barry's achievements include one NBA championship with the Warriors in 1975, one Finals MVP, five All-NBA Team selections and four All-Star Game selections. Cunningham's achievements include an NBA championship with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1967, four All-NBA Team selections and four All-Star Game selections, he played two seasons in the American Basketball Association with the Carolina Cougars.
In his first season there, he won the ABA Most Valuable Player Award and was selected to the ABA All-Star Game and All-ABA Team. He coached the 76ers for eight seasons and won the NBA championship in 1983. Goodrich's achievements include an NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1972, one All-NBA Team selection and five All-Star Game selections. Bradley, who spent all of his 10-year playing career with the Knicks, won the NBA championships twice in 1970 and 1973 and was selected to one All-Star Game. Bradley became a successful politician after retiring from basketball, he was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate for 18 years. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000, losing to incumbent Vice President Al Gore in the presidential primaries. Bob Love, the 33rd pick, was selected to three All-Star Games. Jerry Sloan, the 4th pick, was selected to two All-Star Games during his playing career before becoming a head coach, he coached the Chicago Bulls for three seasons before being fired during the 1981–82 season.
He became the head coach of the Utah Jazz in 1988, the position he held until resigning in early 2011. He has been inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. Twin brothers Dick and Tom Van Arsdale, who were drafted with the 10th and 11th picks, became the first set of twins to play in the NBA; each of them had three All-Star Game selections. They played for different NBA teams until their last season, which they spent together as a member of the Phoenix Suns. Dick Van Arsdale had a coaching career, he was the interim head coach of the Suns in 1987. Two other players from this draft, 15th pick Flynn Robinson and 24th pick Jon McGlocklin, have been selected to an All-Star Game. Bob Weiss, the 22nd pick became a head coach after ending his playing career, he coached four NBA teams, most with the Seattle SuperSonics. Tal Brody, the 12th pick, never played in the NBA, he joined Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv in 1966 and played there until his retirement in 1980, winning several Israeli league titles and a European Cup Championship in 1977.
He became an Israeli citizen and played for Israeli national team. Aside from playing in the NBA, 20th pick Ron Reed played professional baseball in the Major League Baseball, he ended his dual-sport career in 1967 to focus on baseball. He played 19 seasons in the MLB with three teams, he was an MLB All-Star. He is one of only 12 athletes who have played in both NBA and MLB; the following list includes other draft picks. ^ 1: Jerry Sloan was selected as an eligible junior in the 3rd round of the 1964 draft by the Baltimore Bullets but decided to stay in college.^ 2: Tal Brody was born in the United States and became an Israeli citizen in 1970. He has represented Israel in international basketball competitions. General Specific NBA.com NBA.com: NBA Draft History
1963 NBA draft
The 1963 NBA draft was the 17th annual draft of the National Basketball Association. The draft was held on May 7, 1963, before the 1963 -- 64 season. In this draft, nine NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U. S. college basketball players. A player who had finished his four-year college eligibility was eligible for selection. If a player left college early, he would not be eligible for selection until his college class graduated. In each round, the teams select in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season. Before the draft, a team could forfeit its first-round draft pick and select any player from within a 50-mile radius of its home arena as their territorial pick; the Chicago Zephyrs became the Baltimore Bullets prior to the draft. The Syracuse Nationals participated in the draft, but relocated to Philadelphia and became the Philadelphia 76ers prior to the start of the season; the draft consisted of 15 rounds comprising 84 players selected. This draft holds the record for the least number of non-territorial picks who debuted in the NBA, with 17.
Tom Thacker from the University of Cincinnati was selected before the draft as Cincinnati Royals' territorial pick. Art Heyman from Duke University was selected first overall by the New York Knicks. Two players from this draft, Nate Thurmond and Gus Johnson, have been inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Thurmond was named in the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History list announced at the league's 50th anniversary in 1996. Thurmond's achievements include seven All-Star Game selections and five All-Defensive Team selections. Johnson's achievement include five All-Star Game selections. Two players from this draft, 4th pick Eddie Miles and 13th pick Jim King, have been selected to an All-Star Game. Reggie Harding, the first player drafted out of high school when he was drafted the previous year, was drafted again by the Detroit Pistons with the 48th pick, he enter the league after spending a year in the Midwest Professional Basketball League due to the rules that prevent a high school player to play in the league until one year after his high school class graduated.
Larry Brown from the University of North Carolina was selected with the 55th pick. However, he never played in the NBA, he spent his playing career within the Amateur Athletic Union before joining the newly formed American Basketball Association in 1967. He played there for five seasons, earning one All-ABA Team selection and three ABA All-Star Game selections. After his playing career, he became a head coach, he coached nine NBA teams, most with the Charlotte Bobcats. He won the NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004 and went to the NBA Finals two other times. In between his NBA coaching career, he coached the Kansas Jayhawks of the University of Kansas for five seasons, winning the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship in 1988, he is the only coach to win both an NBA championship. As a player, he won the gold medal with the United States national basketball team at the 1964 Olympic Games, he coached the U. S. national team to a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympic Games, becoming the only U.
S. male basketball participant to both play and coach in the Olympics. Rod Thorn, the 2nd pick had a coaching career, he was the interim head coach of the Chicago Bulls in 1982. The following list includes other draft picks. A On September 14, 1962, the Los Angeles Lakers acquired the a second-round pick from the Cincinnati Royals in exchange for Tom Hawkins; the Lakers used the pick to draft Jim King. General Specific NBA.com NBA.com: NBA Draft History
NBA territorial pick
A territorial pick was a type of special draft choice used in the Basketball Association of America draft in 1949 and in the National Basketball Association draft after the 1950 season, the year in which the BAA was renamed the NBA. In the draft, NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U. S. college basketball players. Territorial picks were eliminated when the draft system was revamped in 1966. In the first 20 years of the BAA/NBA, the league was still trying to gain the support of fans who lived in or near the teams' home markets. To achieve this, the league introduced the territorial pick rule to help teams acquire popular players from colleges in their area who would have strong local support. Before the draft, a team could forfeit its first-round draft pick and select any player from within a 50-mile radius of its home arena. Although the territorial picks were selected before the draft, these picks were not factored into the overall selection count of the draft. Of the 23 territorial picks, 12 players have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Tom Heinsohn, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas are the only four territorial picks who won the Rookie of the Year Award. Chamberlain won the Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season, he went on to win the Most Valuable Player Award three more times in his career. Oscar Robertson is the only other territorial pick; the Philadelphia Warriors had the most territorial picks, having selected six who attended a total of five colleges. The University of Cincinnati had the most players taken as a territorial pick; the 1965 NBA draft, the last draft in which the rule remained in effect, had the most territorial picks in a single draft with three. The 1953 draft had three territorial picks. No territorial pick was selected in the 1957 and 1961 drafts. KHL territorial pick NBA.com: NBA Draft History
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