NBA on TNT
The NBA on TNT is a branding used for broadcasts of the National Basketball Association games, produced by Turner Sports, the sports division of the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of WarnerMedia and televised on TNT since 1989. TNT's NBA coverage includes the Inside the NBA studio show, weekly doubleheaders throughout the regular season on Thursdays, as well as Tuesdays in the second half of the season, a majority of games during the first two rounds of the playoffs, one conference finals series. TNT airs many of the NBA's marquee games. In recent years, fans have reckoned it as what NBC was doing throughout that network's coverage of the league. TNT would seem to be the NBA's preferred carrier as well. TNT airs most of the big games during the regular season, TNT studio content is streamed to NBA.com via the TNT Overtime section. Ernie Johnson Jr. has been TNT's NBA studio host since the 1990-1991 season. Johnson is joined by Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal; the NBA postgame show which features the four, Inside the NBA, has gained popularity in recent years for the chemistry and banter they have.
Johnson, O'Neal and Barkley are joined by Chris Webber, Kevin McHale, David Aldridge, Reggie Miller or Isiah Thomas. TNT's playoff coverage is nicknamed 40 Games in 40 Nights. In previous years, TNT and TBS aired doubleheaders opposite each other on each night of the first round of the playoffs, with one network airing a doubleheader at 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. and the other network airing a doubleheader at 8:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.. TNT carries exclusive coverage of one NBA Conference Final. Since the 2004 NBA Playoffs, TNT has aired the Eastern Conference Finals in odd-number years and the Western Conference Finals in even-number years, a pattern which will continue until the expiration of its television contract. ESPN airs the other Conference Final, with weekend coverage of the ESPN-covered series and the Finals being broadcast on ABC. For the first round, TNT's coverage of the playoffs is not exclusive. After the first round, only national coverage from TNT or ESPN/ABC is produced. Starting in 2000, the NBA spread out playoff series.
TNT would air doubleheaders on most weekdays. With the advent of the new NBA television deal in 2003, TNT has aired playoff games alone, including some weekday tripleheaders; the tripleheaders, which were criticized by both fans and many in the media, consisted of one game at 6:00 p.m. another at 8:30 p.m. and a final game at 11:00 p.m. After 2003, the NBA and TNT discontinued the tripleheaders, instead settling for a doubleheader on TNT and a single game on NBA TV simultaneously. However, when Turner Sports acquired NBA TV in 2008, the network abandoned airing the lone non-national Thursday game, instead leaving it up to the local sports networks. However, TBS may still air the start of the second game in case the ongoing first game on TNT extends beyond the tip-off time of the second game. Other than their regular Thursday schedule, TNT airs NBA regular season games on Martin Luther King Day, during which tripleheaders were still used. However, in 2011, ESPN opted to air one matinee game on MLK Day, NBA TV on the second matinee, leaving TNT to air the remaining two night games.
In 2008, TNT broadcast on Christmas Day for the first time as Marv Albert, Mike Fratello and Craig Sager broadcast the game between the Washington Wizards and the Cleveland Cavaliers in Quicken Loans Arena and Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller and Cheryl Miller broadcast the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Portland Trail Blazers in Rose Garden. TNT broadcast on Christmas Day again in 2011, when it broadcast the game between the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, the first game of the 2011–12 season, as a result of a lockout. Albert and Steve Kerr called the game. Due to TNT's part in coverage of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament beginning in March 2011, the league shifted over what would have been the Thursday night games in the third week of that month to Monday nights and they aired as part of ESPN's coverage instead. In addition, NBA TV's ` Fan Night'; the studio crew of Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley would stay in the TNT Atlanta studios for all of the regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs.
However, in the 2010-11 NBA season the studio crew started taking their pre-game and Inside the NBA shows on the road in the regular season select games involving the Miami Heat on TNT, due to the heightened media coverage surrounding the Heat's acquisitions of LeBron James and Chris Bosh. The substitute studio hosts will be on hand for Inside the NBA and the other game's pre-game and halftime presentations. On May 11, 2011, Turner Sports broadcast its 1,000th playoff telecast. In July 2011, it was announced that Shaquille O'Neal would join as an analyst and he signed a multi-year agr
Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association as a member club of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division; the team was founded in 1968 as an expansion team, play at the Fiserv Forum. Former U. S. Senator Herb Kohl was the long-time owner of the team, but on April 16, 2014, a group led by billionaire hedge fund managers Wes Edens and Marc Lasry agreed to purchase a majority interest in the team from Kohl, a sale, approved by the owners of the NBA and its Board of Governors one month on May 16; the team is managed by Jon Horst, the team's former director of basketball operations, who took over for John Hammond in May 2017. The Bucks have won one league title, two conference titles, 14 division titles, they have featured such notable players as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sidney Moncrief, Oscar Robertson, Bob Dandridge, Bob Lanier, Glenn Robinson, Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, Junior Bridgeman, Michael Redd, Terry Cummings, Vin Baker, Jon McGlocklin, Marques Johnson, Brian Winters.
On January 22, 1968, the NBA awarded a franchise to Milwaukee Professional Sports and Services, Inc. a group headed by Wesley Pavalon and Marvin Fishman. A fan contest was held to name the new team, with over 40,000 fans participating. While the most-voted fan entry was the Robins, named for Wisconsin's state bird, the contest judges went with the second-most popular choice, the Bucks, a reference to Wisconsin's official wild animal, the white-tailed deer. One fan, R. D. Trebilcox, was awarded a new car for his part in reasoning why the Bucks was a good nickname, saying that bucks were "spirited, good jumpers and agile." The Bucks marked a return of the NBA to Milwaukee after 13 years. In October, the Bucks played their first NBA regular-season game against the Chicago Bulls before a Milwaukee Arena crowd of 8,467; as is typical with expansion teams, the Bucks' first season was a struggle. Their first victory came in their sixth game as the Bucks beat the Detroit Pistons 134–118; the Bucks' record that year earned them a coin flip against their expansion cousins, the Phoenix Suns, to see who would get the first pick in the upcoming draft.
It was considered a foregone conclusion that the first pick in the draft would be Lew Alcindor of UCLA. The Bucks won the coin flip, but had to win a bidding war with the upstart American Basketball Association to secure him. Despite the Bucks' stroke of fortune in landing Alcindor, no one expected what happened in 1969–70, they finished with a 56–26 record – a nearly exact reversal of the previous year and good enough for the second-best record in the league, behind the New York Knicks. The 29-game improvement was the best in league history – a record which would stand for 10 years until the Boston Celtics jumped from 29 wins in 1978–79 to 61 in 1979–80; the Bucks defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in five games in the Eastern semifinals, only to be dispatched in five by the Knicks in the Eastern finals. Alcindor was a runaway selection for NBA Rookie of the Year; the following season, the Bucks got an unexpected gift when they acquired Oscar Robertson, known as the "Big O", in a trade with the Cincinnati Royals.
Subsequently, in only their third season, the Bucks finished 66–16 – the second-most wins in NBA history at the time, still the most in franchise history. During the regular season, the Bucks recorded, they steamrolled through the playoffs with a dominating 12–2 record, winning the NBA Championship on April 30, 1971, by sweeping the Baltimore Bullets in four games. By winning it all in only their third season, the Bucks became the fastest expansion team in the history of North American sports to win a championship; as of 2018, it remains the only title in team history. The Bucks remained a powerhouse for the first half of the 1970s. In 1972, they recorded their third consecutive 60-win season. During the year, Lew Alcindor changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Milwaukee beat the Warriors in the playoffs 4–1, but lost the conference finals to Los Angeles 4–2. Injuries resulted in an early 1973 playoff exit, but the Bucks were back in the 1974 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics. In game six of the series, Abdul-Jabbar made his famous "sky hook" shot to end a classic double-overtime victory for the Bucks.
The Bucks lost the series to the Celtics. As the 1974–1975 season began, Abdul-Jabbar suffered a hand injury and the team got off to a 3–13 start. After his return, other injuries befell Milwaukee, sending them to the bottom of their division with 38 wins and 44 losses; when the season ended, Abdul-Jabbar made the stunning announcement that he no longer wished to play for the Bucks, stating that he needed the big city, requesting a trade to either Los Angeles or New York City. The front office was unable to convince him otherwise and on June 16, 1975, the Bucks pulled a mega-trade by sending Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers for Elmore Smith, Junior Bridgeman, Brian Winters and David Meyers; the trade triggered a series of events. The Bucks' largest stockholder, cable television executive Jim Fitzgerald, opposed the trade and wanted to sell his stock. Although Fitzgerald was the largest stockholder, he did not own enough stock to control the team. After the deal, the Bucks
Indianapolis
Indianapolis shortened to Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U. S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to 2017 estimates from the U. S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion County was 872,680; the "balance" population, which excludes semi-autonomous municipalities in Marion County, was 863,002. It is the 16th most populous city in the U. S; the Indianapolis metropolitan area is the 34th most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U. S. with 2,028,614 residents. Its combined statistical area ranks 27th, with a population of 2,411,086. Indianapolis covers 368 square miles, making it the 16th largest city by land area in the U. S. Indigenous peoples inhabited the area dating to 2000 BC. In 1818, the Delaware relinquished their tribal lands in the Treaty of St. Mary's. In 1821, Indianapolis was founded as a planned city for the new seat of Indiana's state government; the city was platted by Alexander Ralston and Elias Pym Fordham on a 1 square mile grid next to the White River.
Completion of the National and Michigan roads and arrival of rail solidified the city's position as a manufacturing and transportation hub. Two of the city's nicknames reflect its historical ties to transportation—the "Crossroads of America" and "Railroad City". Since the 1970 city-county consolidation, known as Unigov, local government administration operates under the direction of an elected 25-member city-county council headed by the mayor. Indianapolis anchors the 27th largest economic region in the U. S. based on the sectors of finance and insurance, manufacturing and business services and health care and wholesale trade. The city has notable niche markets in auto racing; the Fortune 500 companies of Anthem, Eli Lilly and Company and Simon Property Group are headquartered in Indianapolis. The city has hosted international multi-sport events, such as the 1987 Pan American Games and 2001 World Police and Fire Games, but is best known for annually hosting the world's largest single-day sporting event, the Indianapolis 500.
Indianapolis is home to two major league sports clubs, the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association and the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League. It is home to a number of educational institutions, such as the University of Indianapolis, Butler University, Marian University, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis; the city's robust philanthropic community has supported several cultural assets, including the world's largest children's museum, one of the nation's largest funded zoos, historic buildings and sites, public art. The city is home to the largest collection of monuments dedicated to veterans and war casualties in the U. S. outside of Washington, D. C; the name Indianapolis is derived from the state's name and polis, the Greek word for city. Jeremiah Sullivan, justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, is credited with coining the name. Other names considered were Concord and Tecumseh. In 1816, the year Indiana gained statehood, the U. S. Congress donated four sections of federal land to establish a permanent seat of state government.
Two years under the Treaty of St. Mary's, the Delaware relinquished title to their tribal lands in central Indiana, agreeing to leave the area by 1821; this tract of land, called the New Purchase, included the site selected for the new state capital in 1820. The availability of new federal lands for purchase in central Indiana attracted settlers, many of them descendants of families from northwestern Europe. Although many of these first European and American settlers were Protestants, a large proportion of the early Irish and German immigrants were Catholics. Few African Americans lived in central Indiana before 1840; the first European Americans to permanently settle in the area that became Indianapolis were either the McCormick or Pogue families. The McCormicks are considered to be the first permanent settlers. Other historians have argued as early as 1822 that John Wesley McCormick, his family, employees became the area's first European American settlers, settling near the White River in February 1820.
On January 11, 1820, the Indiana General Assembly authorized a committee to select a site in central Indiana for the new state capital. The state legislature approved the site, adopting the name Indianapolis on January 6, 1821. In April, Alexander Ralston and Elias Pym Fordham were appointed to survey and design a town plan for the new settlement. Indianapolis became a seat of county government on December 31, 1821, when Marion County, was established. A combined county and town government continued until 1832. Indianapolis became an incorporated city effective March 30, 1847. Samuel Henderson, the city's first mayor, led the new city government, which included a seven-member city council. In 1853, voters approved a new city charter that provided for an elected mayor and a fourteen-member city council; the city charter continued to be revised. Effective January 1, 1825, the seat of state government moved to Indianapolis from Indiana. In addition to state government offices, a U. S. district court was established at Indianapolis in 1825.
Growth occurred with the opening of the National Road through the town in 1827, the first major federally funded highway in the United States. A small segment of the failed Indiana Central
Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball
The Purdue Boilermakers basketball team is a college basketball program that competes in NCAA Division I and is a member of the Big Ten Conference. Purdue basketball has the most Big Ten Championships with 24; the Boilermakers have reached two NCAA Tournament Final Fours. The 1931–32 team was retroactively named the national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll. Purdue has sent more than 30 players including two overall No. 1 picks in the NBA draft. Purdue shares a traditional rivalry with in-state foe Indiana University, leads the all times series 120–89 over them; the history of Purdue basketball dates back to 1896 with their first game against the Lafayette YMCA. In the 1902–03 season, head coach C. I. Freeman, in his only season, led them to an undefeated 8–0 record. Upon conclusion of the season, the university recognized the popularity of the sport and made it part of the Purdue University Athletic Association; the Boilermakers began play in the Big Ten Conference three years with its first championship coming in 1911 under the direction of Ralph Jones.
In 1917, Ward "Piggy" Lambert, a former basketball player at Wabash College, was named head coach of the Boilermakers. What followed was one of the most dominant eras of Purdue Basketball on the conference and national level. Under Lambert, Purdue became a front-runner in the development of the fast-paced game as it is today. In 28 seasons, Lambert mentored 16 All-Americans and 31 First Team All-Big Ten selections, which included the 1932 National Player of the Year John Wooden. Wooden was the first college player to be named a Consensus All-American three times. Lambert compiled a career record of 371 -- a. 709 winning percentage. His 228 wins in Big Ten play have been bested by only Indiana's Bob Knight and former Purdue head coach Gene Keady. Lambert won an unprecedented 11 Big Ten Championships, which Bobby Knight tied for most in conference history. In 1943, the Helms Athletic Foundation retroactively recognized Purdue as its national champion for 1932; the Premo-Porretta Power Poll recognized the Boilermakers as the 1932 national champion as well.
Ward Lambert announced his resignation on January 23, 1946. That same year and the year following, under new head coach Mel Taube, Purdue would win both meetings against coach John Wooden's Indiana State team. On February 24, 1947, three students were killed and 166 people were taken to hospitals after the 3,400-student section of the Purdue Fieldhouse collapsed during a game against Wisconsin. Center Paul Hoffman became the only Boiler to be named a First Team-All Big Ten selection four times in 1947. With third overall-picked teammate Ed "Bulbs" Ehlers, the two were the first players in the program's history to be selected in the NBA draft, while Paul Hoffman became the BAA's first player named Rookie of the Year in 1948. After Mel Taube's four-and-a-half seasons, Ray Eddy, a former player and teammate of Wooden's under Lambert, took over as head coach. During his 15-year tenure, he coached Terry Dischinger and Dave Schellhase, both Consensus All-Americans, Ernie Hall, the first Purdue junior college transfer and African-American player to wear a Boilermaker uniform.
In 1955, his team played one of the longest games in college basketball history, lasting six overtimes in a loss to Minnesota. Over the next few decades the Boilermakers would enjoy moderate success, culminating in 1969 when they won their first conference title in 29 years and advanced to the 1969 NCAA Finals game under head coach George King and led by All-American Rick Mount, where they would fall to former Purdue great, John Wooden, his UCLA Bruins squad. Former Los Angeles Lakers coach/general manager, Fred Schaus, who spent time as West Virginia's head coach, took over the program after George King stepped down to become the school's athletic director. Schaus led the Boilermakers to the 1974 NIT Championship, becoming the first Big Ten team to capture the NIT title. In the 1978–79 season, new head coach Lee Rose introduced Purdue basketball to a new approach with a slowed-down, controlled style of play. With All-American center Joe Barry Carroll, he led them to the 1979 NIT Finals and to a 1980 NCAA Final Four appearance.
In 1980, Gene Keady, the head coach of Western Kentucky and former assistant to Eddie Sutton with the Arkansas Razorbacks, was named the new head coach of the Boilermakers. Over the next 25 years, Keady led the Boilermakers to six Big Ten Championships and 17 NCAA Tournament appearances with two Elite Eights. Purdue received their highest Associated Press and Coaches Poll ranking in its program's history during the 1987–88 season, where they were ranked as high as 2nd in the nation. In 1991, Keady and assistant coach Frank Kendrick recruited Glenn Robinson, who became an All-American and Purdue's second-named National Player of the Year. A few years Purdue managed to recruit the program's first of many foreign players when they picked up Matt ten Dam from the Netherlands. In December 1997, Keady became Purdue's all-time winningest head coach, surpassing Lambert with his 372nd win, he became the second-winningest coach in Big Ten history behind Indiana's Bobby Knight, against whom Keady went 21–20 in head-to-head meetings.
Soon afterward, the playing surface at Mackey Arena was named Keady Court in his honor. Many of Keady's former assistant coaches and players throughout the years have gone on to enjoy success as head coaches. Included in the Gene Keady coaching tree is current Purdue head coach Matt Painter, former St. John's head coach Steve Lavin, Pittsburgh head coach Kevin Stallings, Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber, Wisconsin-Green Bay head coach Lin
Duke Blue Devils men's basketball
The Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team represents Duke University in NCAA Division I college basketball and competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The team is fourth all-time in wins of any NCAA men's basketball program, is coached by Mike Krzyzewski. Duke has won 5 NCAA Championships and appeared in 11 Championship Games and 16 Final Fours, has an NCAA-best.755 NCAA tournament winning percentage. Eleven Duke players have been named the National Player of the Year, 71 players have been selected in the NBA Draft. Additionally, Duke has 36 players named 14 Academic All-Americans. Duke has been the Atlantic Coast Conference Champions a record 21 times, lays claim to 19 ACC regular season titles. Prior to joining the ACC, Duke won the Southern Conference championships five times. Duke has finished the season ranked No. 1 in the AP poll seven times and is the all time leader in total weeks ranked as the number one team in the nation by the AP with 135 weeks. Additionally, the Blue Devils have the second longest streak in the AP Top 25 in history with 200 consecutive appearances from 1996 to 2007, trailing only UCLA's 221 consecutive polls from 1966 to 1980.
Adapted from Duke University ArchivesIn 1906, Wilbur Wade Card, Trinity College's Athletic Director and a member of the Class of 1900, introduced the game of basketball to Trinity. The January 30 issue of The Trinity Chronicle headlined the new sport on its front page. Trinity's first game ended in a loss to Wake Forest, 24–10; the game was played in the Angier B. Duke Gymnasium known as The Ark; the Trinity team won its first title in 1920, the state championship, by beating the North Carolina State College of Agriculture and Engineering 25 to 24. Earlier in the season they had beaten the University of North Carolina 19–18 in the first match-up between the two schools. Trinity college became Duke University. Billy Werber, Class of 1930, became Duke's first All-American in basketball; the Gothic-style West Campus opened that year, with a new gym to be named for Coach Card. The Indoor Stadium opened in 1940, it was referred to as an "Addition" to the gymnasium. Part of its cost was paid for with the proceeds from the Duke football team's appearance in the 1938 Rose Bowl.
In 1972 it would be named for Eddie Cameron, head coach from 1929 to 1942. In 1952, Dick Groat became the first Duke player to be named National Player of the Year. Duke left the Southern Conference to become a charter member of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1953; the Duke team under Vic Bubas made its first appearance in the Final Four in 1963, losing 94–75 to Loyola in the semifinal. The next year, Bubas' team reached the national title game, losing to the Bruins of UCLA, who claimed 10 titles in the next 12 years. Bob Verga was Duke's star player in 1967; the basketball program won its 1000th game in 1974, making Duke only the eighth school in NCAA history to reach that figure. In a turnaround, Coach Bill Foster's 1978 Blue Devils, who had gone 2–10 in the ACC the previous year, won the conference tournament and went on to the NCAA championship game, where they fell to Kentucky. Gene Banks, Mike Gminski and Jim Spanarkel ran the floor. Mike Krzyzewski has been at Duke since 1980, his many accomplishments include: 5 National Championships – 2nd most all time 12 Final Fours as well as five in a row from 1988 to 1992.
Now tied for most all time with John Wooden at 12. 15 Elite Eights 23 Sweet Sixteens and nine straight from 1998–2006 33 NCAA tournament berths 91 NCAA tournament wins 13 No. 1 seeds 25 conference titles, 10 of the 14 ACC Tournament Titles from 1998–99 through 2016–17 14 30-win seasons 32 20-win seasons Number 1 AP ranking in 17 of the past 28 seasons 7 Naismith College Player of the Year Awards 9 National Defensive Players of the Year Awards 26 AP All-Americans 14 consensus first team All-Americans 11 NBA top-10 picks: T-1st 23 NBA Draft first round picks 1071 Career winsKrzyzewski's teams made the Final Four in 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2010 and 2015. Duke upset the favored UNLV Runnin' Rebels 79–77 in the Final Four in 1991, a rematch of the 1990 final in which Duke lost by 30 points; the team, led by Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, Thomas Hill, went on to defeat Kansas 72–65 to win the university's first NCAA Championship. Ranked #1 all season and favored to repeat as national champions in 1992, Duke took part in a game "acclaimed by many the greatest college basketball game played," according to ESPN.
In the Elite Eight, Duke met the Rick Pitino-led Kentucky Wildcats. It appeared Kentucky had sealed the win in overtime when guard Sean Woods hit a running shot off the glass in the lane to put Kentucky up by one with 2.1 seconds left on the clock. After a timeout, Duke's Grant Hill threw a full-court pass to Christian Laettner. Laettner took one dribble and nailed a turn-around jumper at the buzzer to send Duke into the Final Four with a 104–103 victory. Duke went on to defeat the Sixth-seeded Michigan 71 -- 51, they would meet Kentucky for another classic regional final game, but blow a 17-point second half lead in losing to the Wildcats. The Blue Devils would lose the 1994 title game to Arkansas and their "Forty Minutes of Hell" defense; the next two seasons would see them fall to just 31–31, though they made the 1996 tournament with an 18–12 record, 8–8 in conference play. They would fall in the 1999 title game, this time to Jim Calhoun and the UCONN Huskies
Dallas Mavericks
The Dallas Mavericks are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas, Texas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association as a member club of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division; the team plays its home games at the American Airlines Center, which it shares with the National Hockey League's Dallas Stars. As of the 2017 season, the Mavericks have sold out 704 consecutive games since December 15, 2001, the longest running sellout streak in North American major league sports. Since their inaugural 1980–81 season, the Mavericks have won three division titles, two conference championships, one NBA championship. In 1978, Californian businessman Garn Eckardt met Dallas lawyer Doug Adkins, mentioned he was trying to raise capital to move an NBA team to the city. Asking for a possible partner, Adkins recommended him one of his clients, Home Interiors and Gifts owner Don Carter. Negotiations with Eckardt fell through, but Carter remained interested in the enterprise as a gift to his wife Linda, who played basketball while at Duncanville High School.
At the same time, Buffalo Braves president and general manager Norm Sonju developed an interest in bringing the NBA to Dallas as he studied possible new locations for the ailing franchise. While the Braves went to California as the San Diego Clippers, Sonju returned to Texas, was introduced to Carter by mayor Robert Folsom, one of the owners and team president of the last professional basketball team in the city, the Dallas Chaparrals of the American Basketball Association, which moved to San Antonio in 1973 to become the San Antonio Spurs. Sonju and Carter tried purchasing both the Milwaukee Bucks and the Kansas City Kings, but disagreement on relocation stalled the negotiations, leading them to instead aim for an expansion team; the league was reluctant to expand to Dallas, given Texas had both the Spurs and Houston Rockets, the 1978–79 NBA season was proving unprofitable and unpopular. Still, during the 1979 NBA All-Star Game weekend, NBA commissioner Larry O'Brien announced the league would add two new teams in the 1980–81 season, with teams in Dallas and Minneapolis.
Once the Minnesota team backed out, only Dallas remained, through negotiations with general counselor and future commissioner David Stern, the expansion fee was settled on the $12.5 million. Carter would provide half the amount. At the 1980 NBA All-Star Game, league owners voted to admit the new team, with the team's name coming from the 1957–1962 TV western Maverick. James Garner, who played the namesake character, was a member of the ownership group; the University of Texas at Arlington, who uses the Mavericks nickname, had objections about a shared name, but did not attempt any legal action. They joined the Midwest Division of the Western Conference, where they would stay until the league went to six divisions for the 2004–05 season. Dick Motta, who had guided the Washington Bullets to the NBA Championship in 1977–78, was hired as the team's first head coach, he had a well-earned reputation of being a stern disciplinarian, but was a great teacher of the game. Kiki Vandeweghe of UCLA was drafted by the Mavs with the 11th pick of the 1980 NBA draft, but Vandeweghe refused to play for the expansion Mavericks and staged a holdout that lasted a month into the team's inaugural season.
Vandeweghe was traded to the Denver Nuggets, along with a first-round pick, in 1981, in exchange for two future first-round picks that materialized into Rolando Blackman in 1981 and Sam Perkins in 1984. In the Mavericks' debut game, taking place in the brand-new Reunion Arena, the Mavericks defeated the Spurs, 103–92, but the Mavs started the season with a 6–40 record on their way to finishing 15–67. However, the Mavericks did make a player acquisition that, while it seemed minor at the time, turned out to play a important role in the early years of their franchise. Journeyman 6 ft 3 in guard Brad Davis, who played for the Anchorage Northern Knights of the Continental Basketball Association, was tracked down and signed by the Mavs in December. At the time, there was no reason to expect that Davis would be any better than the expansion-level talent the Mavs had, but he started the Mavs' final 26 games, led the team in assists, his career soared. He spent the next twelve years with the Mavericks, his number 15 jersey was retired.
The Mavericks marked the first NBA team to have a profitable debut season, with an average of 7,789 spectators. The 1981 NBA Draft brought three players; the Mavs selected 6'6" forward Mark Aguirre with the first pick, 6'6" guard Rolando Blackman 9th, 6'7" forward Jay Vincent 24th. By the end of his seven-year Mavs career, Aguirre would average 24.6 points per game. Blackman contributed 19.2 points over his 11-year career in Dallas. But it was Jay Vincent who made the biggest difference for the Mavs in their second season, leading the team in scoring with 21.4 points per game and earning NBA All-Rookie Team honors. The Mavericks improved to 28–54, getting out of the Midwest Division cellar as they finished above the Utah Jazz. In 1982–83, the Mavericks were serious contenders for the first time. At the All-Star break, they had won 12 of their last 15 games, they could not sustain that momentum and finished seven games behind the Denver Nuggets for the sixth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
But the Mavs' 38–44 re
1993 NBA draft
The 1993 NBA draft took place on June 30, 1993, in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The draft had some talented players at the top, but injuries and personal problems hurt many of them. Anfernee Hardaway, Allan Houston, Jamal Mashburn all looked like possible Hall of Famers until their careers were cut short by injuries. Isaiah Rider and Vin Baker were plagued by personal problems. Bobby Hurley's career was derailed by a car accident in December of his rookie year; the mid-to-late first round was littered with players that failed to make any significant impact, with the exception of three-time NBA champion Sam Cassell. One of the NBA best all-time wing defensive players, three-time champion Bruce Bowen, went un-drafted. Despite having the lowest odds, the Orlando Magic won the first pick in the 1993 NBA Draft Lottery, it was the second year in a row. The Magic drafted Chris Webber with the number one overall pick, but only minutes executed a blockbuster trade; the Magic traded Webber to the Golden State Warriors for their first round pick Penny Hardaway and three of Golden State's future first-round draft selections.
These players were not selected in the 1993 NBA draft but have played at least one game in the NBA. 1993 NBA Draft
United States