Everyone loves their favorite NBA draft busts.
Recently I started a new video series titled The Biggest draft busts by the decades.
Last week we took a look at the TOP 10 draft busts of the 1960s and today we continue to
educate ourselves with the history of the game.
Hello everyone.
This is PRPLPRNCH and it’s time to look at the top 10 draft busts of the 1970s.
Let’s start!
Number 1.
Jim Ard - Number 6 pick of the 1970 NBA draft ]
Jim Ard was a solid player for the University of Cincinnati.
Well, to be honest, he was more than solid.
After all, he was named All-Missouri Valley Conference all three seasons.
In his senior season the 6 foot 8, 215 pound Jim Ard was Missouri Valley Conference MVP
with averages of 19.2 points and 15.2 rebounds.
After great college seasons, Jim Ard was drafted by the Seattle Supersonics in NBA draft and
by the New York Nets in the ABA.
Like several players from the 1960s, Jim Ard first chose to go to the ABA, where he would
spend 4 seasons serving as a backup forward/center.
In 1974 NBA Offseason, Jim Ard signed with the Philadelphia 76ers for whom he wouldn’t
even play a game before being released and a month later he was signed by the Boston
Celtics who needed a backup to Dave Cowens.
Ard spent 4 seasons in Boston as a backup and actually was great in his role in the
1976 NBA Finals where in a triple overtime game against the Phoenix Suns, Jim Ard made
the go ahead free-throws and the Celtics went on to win the 1976 NBA championship.
His Celtics career ended abruptly after only a 1 game in 1977-78 season after which he
signed with the Chicago Bulls to play only 14 games for them before being released.
Jim Ard ended his career with 218 games played, 12.2 mpg, 3.5 ppg and 3.8 rpg.
Definitely not something you would expect from a college monster in Cincinnati, but
he will always have that moment in the 1976 NBA Finals.
Number 2.
Ken Durrett - Number 4 pick of the 1971 NBA draft
The 6 foot 7, 190 pound power forward from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was a member of La
Salle college’s basketball team.
A 3-time recipient of the Robert V. Geasey trophy which is awarded to the most outstanding
player in Philadelphia BIG 5 basketball program, finished his college career averaging 23.6
points per game.
After his stellar college career Ken Durrett was drafted by the Cincinnati Royals as the
4th pick of the 1971 NBA draft.
Unfortunately he was still carrying effects from his knee injury in college.
In his rookie season Ken Durrett ended up playing just 19 games, next year, he played
just 8.
In his third season for then Kansas City Omaha Kings Durrett played 45 games and had his
best season averaging 4.8 points and 1.7 rebounds.
During his fourth NBA season Ken Durrett was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers where he
would play just 27 games before deciding to retire for good.
The fourth pick was gone from basketball after just 4 years.
In his NBA career, Ken Durrett played a total 120 games, averaging 10 mpg, 4 points and
1.9 rebounds.
Sadly, Ken Durrett died at a young age of 52 of an apparent heart attack.
Number 3.
Clarence Glover - Number 10 pick of the 1971 NBA draft
Clarence Glover was a 6 foot 8, 210 pound power forward who played 4 years for Western
Kentucky college.
Glover was actually a part of history when in 1971 the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers became
the first team to start five African-American players.
Glover averaged 8.4 points and 10.9 rebounds in his last year in college and eventually
was drafted with the Number 10 pick by the Boston Celtics.
The Legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach was actually very high on drafting Glover.
Auerbach said: “He reminds me of Tom Sanders except that
he's bigger and quicker.
Adolph Rupp told me he's the quickest big man he's ever seen.
He should help us against the more physical teams such as Phoenix and Atlanta which give
us trouble.
He's also a guy who can take the good forwards on defense”.
The things didn’t turn out as great as planned though.
Glover was really bad in his rookie year, he played only 25 games for the Celtics and
averaged only 2.6 points and 1.8 rebounds in 4.8 minutes of action.
Just a year after being drafted ,Glover was one of the 18 players fighting for 12 spots
on the team and after one season, coach Auerbach already had a different stance on him:
“Glover appears to have poise now and he's improved 200 percent on his outside shot,
but he still needs improvement.
What bothered me about Clarence when he first joined the team was that he was strung like
a violin which is out of tune and always busting.
He was releasing the ball for a shot too soon after getting it on the fastbreak and blowing
layups.
I don't mind a couple of mistakes but he was making too many.”
Turned out, he wasn’t improved.
Those 25 games were his only games in the NBA and his career was a bust.
Number 4.
Larue Martin - Number 1 pick of the 1972 NBA draft
Larue Martin is one of those all-time busts everyone remembers and talks about.
If you look at his NBA career statistics it says 271 games played, 14 minutes per game,
5.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
It doesn’t seem that awful considering his minutes per game and that a lot of guys have
done worse, right?
Well the thing here is that Larue Martin was supposed to be an all-time great.
In college, Martin played for the Loyola Ramblers averaging 16.6 points and 14.4 rebounds as
a sophomore.As a junior, Martin averaged 18.7 points and 17.6 rebounds and in his senior
season the averages were 19.6 points and 15.7 rebounds.
Sounds pretty damn good.
Portland Trail Blazers thought the same way and drafted Martin with the 1st pick of the
1972 NBA draft.
At 6 foot 11 inches tall and weighing 205 pounds Larue Martin was quite small for the
center position and the head coach Jack McCloskey wasn’t quite impressed with the rookie.
Martin himself believes that his low numbers are partly a result of a head coach who didn’t
believe in him:
“"Jack wasn't a believer in my ability," Martin said.
"He came from Wake Forest in North Carolina, and he wanted Bob McAdoo.
Hey, Bob was a hell of a player.
I know that.
Maybe I wasn't the right guy for Jack.
So be it.
But I never gave him any grief when I was playing for him.
I'm not into that.
I just kept my mouth shut and did what I was told.
I guess it wasn't good enough."
After 2 years of struggling, things got even harder for Larue Martin when Bill Walton was
chosen as the 1st pick in the 1974 NBA draft.
Bill Walton was a center, and a better one.
Martin was on a minutes limit and after just 4 seasons in Portland, Larue Martin was traded
to the Seattle Supersonics, but almost immediately was cut by the team.
For 2 consecutive years he was then signed by the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Chicago
Bulls, but got waived just weeks after signing with the team.
Whether Larue Martin wasn’t as good as advertised or just wasn’t given a chance the end result
was that he’s an All-Time NBA Draft bust.
The one that people remember.
For his career, Larue Martin played in 271 games, averaging 14 minutes, 5.3 points, 4.6
rebounds and 41.6% fg percentage.
Pretty bad.
Number 5.
Russ Lee - Number 6 pick of the 1972 NBA Draft
The 1972 draft was full of disappointments and one of those disappointments was Russ
Lee.
The 6 foot 5, 185 pound shooting guard/small forward was another one of those college darlings.
In four season with the Marshall University basketball team he averaged 23.9 points and
11.3 rebounds per game.
So with the 6th pick of the 1972 NBA draft the Milwaukee Bucks chose Russ Lee.
He joined a team of Superstars.
Kareem Abdul Jabbar at the center, Oscar Robertson at the point, Bob Dandridge at the Small Forward.
Really, the only things Bucks didn’t have was a really good shooting guard.
Russ Lee wasn’t that either.
He was more of a small forward and that position was already taken.
In his rookie season Russ Lee played in 46 games averaging 2.8 points in 6 minutes per
game.
Next year he would play even less before going to New Orleans Jazz where he would enjoy his
career year…
averaging 4.3 points and 2.1 rebounds.
After playing just 15 games for the Jazz that year, Russ Lee was cut.
That was his last season in the NBA as he decided to retire.
Russ Lee ended his NBA career with a total of just 97 games averaging 6 minutes, 2.9
points and 1.2 rebounds.
Yikes!
Number 6.
Tom Riker - Number 8 pick of the 1972 NBA draft
With the 8th pick of the 1972 NBA draft, the New York Knicks select Tom Riker.
Tom Riker was a 6 foot 10, 225 pound center who played for South Carolina.
Man, the 1972 NBA draft really was a bad draft to choose yourself a center.
In South Carolina, Tom Riker was a solid player.
In his first 2 years Riker averaged 13.9 points and 8.5 rebounds.
But It was really his last year in college when he kinda broke out averaging 19.6 points
and 10.4 rebounds.
That was good enough for the New York Knicks to draft him with the 8th pick.
Right away,.
Riker wasn’t playing much and boy did he have some competition at center with Willis
Reed on the roster.
In his rookie year Riker played in just 14 games, but that was the season when the New
York Knicks won the NBA championship, so kudos to Tom Riker for helping them I guess.
In his sophomore year, Riker played in just 17 games and the 1974-75 season was his breakout
year.
51 games played, 3 points, and 2.1 rebounds per game.
Tom Riker’s NBA career consisted of just 82 games 7.4 minutes per game and averages
of 2.7 points and 1.7 rebounds.
Talk about not meeting your expectations.
Number 7.
Bob Nash - Number 9 pick of the 1972 NBA draft
Another dud of the 1972 NBA draft was Bob Nash who was drafted with the 9th pick by
the Detroit Pistons.
At 6 foot 8 and 195 pounds Bob Nash was a pretty imposing Small Forward.
Bob Nash played 2 years for San Jacinto before transferring to the UNiversity of Hawaii.
There, he became a bit of a legend holding a bunch of school records like grabbing 30
rebounds in a game.
For his 2 years in University of Hawaii Bob Nash averaged 16.8 points and 13.6 rebounds
per game which was enough to be a TOP 10 pick.
His success in college though wasn’t replicated in the NBA.
Although Detroit didn’t have a clear number 1 star at the Small Forward position Bob Nash
didn’t really help besides making the bench deeper.
In his first season Bob Nash played in 36 games but only 4.7 minutes per game.
In his second year Nash played 8 minutes per game.
After 2 years in the NBA, Bob Nash went to the ABA to play for the San Diego Conquistadors
and similar to the NBA, he didn’t get much playing time.
Just 10.3 minutes per game with averages 3.9 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.
Seeing how his career is on the wrong path Bob Nash decided to go to Sweden and play
there for 2 years.
After those 2 years he decided to return to the NBA where he would get a chance to play
for the Kansas City Kings.
His 2 seasons with the Kings were actually his best ones.
Yes, he was just a role player,but nonetheless he enjoyed his longest playing time of 14.2
minutes per game and averages of 6 points and 2.5 rebounds.
After unsuccessful playing career Nash was an assistant coach for the University of Hawaii
from 1987 till 2007 when he was promoted to being the head coach.
He was a head coach for 3 years and then had multiple head coaching gigs in Japan.
His NBA career totals though: 219 games, 11.7 minutes, 4.7 points, 2.2 rebounds.
Bust.
Number 8.
Gene Short - Number 9 pick of the 1975 NBA Draft
It’s funny how things work out sometimes.
Just like his surname, Gene Short’s NBA career was short.
Gene Short played for Jackson State University where the 6 foot 6 200 pound small forward
didn’t really do anything memorable, but it was enough to make the 1974 US national
team and win a bronze medal in the 1974 FIBA World championships.
His NBA career though was a bust.
After being drafted by the New York Knicks, just couple of months later he was traded
to the Seattle SuperSonics before being waived after only 7 games.
The Knicks picked him up and he would play 27 games for the team that originally drafted
him.
After the season, his career was done.
Just 34 games, 6.5 minutes and averages of 2.5 points and 1.4 rebounds.
A short NBA career indeed.
Number 9.
Butch Lee - Number 10 pick of the 1978 NBA draft
The first ever Puerto Rican player to play in the NBA and the only Puerto Rican professional
basketball player to win championships in NCAA, NBA and Puerto Rican basketball league.
They sound like accomplishments, but if you really look at his career it was anything
but an accomplishment.
Alfred Butch Lee was a 6 feet tall 185 pound point guard whose college career was pretty
storied . In fact he was one of the most accomplished college players in NCAA history.
Butch Lee led his team to an NCAA Championship as a junior.
As a sophomore in 1976 Lee finished second on the Marquette Warriors in scoring and had
a 25-1 team record.
In 1977, Lee scored 19 points in the NCAA finals against North Carolina and let his
team to a 67-59 victory over North Carolina.
Butch Lee was named the tournament’s most outstanding played.
The reputation in college helped him to become the 10th pick of the 1978 NBA draft.
In the NBA however everything was different.
He had a solid run for the Atlanta Hawks - the team that drafted him, but after averaging
7.7 points in 49 games, Butch Lee was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers where he would
raise his game averaging 11.5 points and 3.8 rebounds.
Unfortunately, only 3 games in the 1979-80 season Lee suffered a knee injury which required
a surgery.
He never returned to his form.
Before the end of the season he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers who won the championship
that year.
He did have a chance to play alongside Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Magic Johnson, but only for
11 games before his injury recurred.
Butch Lee retired, but retired with an NBA championship ring.
4 years after retiring Butch Lee returned to professional basketball to play in the
Puerto Rican basketball league.
There he would play for several teams till 1990 before retiring for good.
Butch Lee’s NBA career stats are sad: 96 games played, 19.1 minutes per game with averages
of 8.1 points and 3.2 assists.
He did pave the way for hispanic players in the NBA and Ultimately it was the injury which
booted him out of the league, but nevertheless, his NBA career can be considered a bust.
And Number 10.
Roy Hamilton, Number 10 pick of the 1979 NBA draft
Coming into the 1979 NBA draft, the Detroit Pistons had 3 TOP 15 picks.
One of those picks was the number 10 pick with whom the Detroit Pistons drafted Roy
Hamilton.
A 6 foot 2, 180 pound point guard out of UCLA.
In 4 years at UCLA Roy Hamilton averaged 12.5 points and 4.7 assists which was really nothing
to write stories about, however it was his last season in UCLA where Hamilton averaged
16.8 points and 6.7 assists, which probably triggered the decision to draft Hamilton at
number 10.
Hamilton was known as a flawed college player and he carried that reputation in the NBA
as well.
Hamilton averaged 4.6 points and 2.7 assists on only 40.1% FG.
His efforts and play were so uninspiring that it was his only season in Detroit.
Next season Hamilton played 1 game for the Portland Trail Blazers scoring 3 points and
grabbing 3 rebounds.
That was it.
Nobody ever wanted ROy Hamilton on their team anymore.
He just wasn’t good.
His NBA career ended with 73 games played, 15.4 minutes per game and averages of 4.6
points, 2.6 assists and 1.5 rebounds.
Very uninspiring indeed.
So here you go guys these were the TOP 10 NBA Draft Busts of the 70s in my opinion.
Thanks for watching and I hope you liked the video.
Do you have any other additions to this list and maybe you don’t agree with some of my
choices listed here?
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This was PRPLPRNCH, and I’m out!