1974–75 Milwaukee Bucks season
NBA professional basketball team season
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The 1974–75 Milwaukee Bucks season was the Bucks' seventh season in the NBA.[1] Before the season began for the Bucks, they would join the Kansas City-Omaha Kings as the only two NBA teams to not have any players of theirs selected by any of the rivaling ABA teams in the 1974 ABA Draft of NBA Players. For the first time since 1969-70 season, Oscar Robertson was not on the opening day roster. This would be Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's last season in Milwaukee before being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers the following the season.
| 1974–75 Milwaukee Bucks season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Larry Costello |
| President | John Steinmiller (vice) |
| General manager | Wayne Embry |
| Owners | Milwaukee Professional Sports and Services, Inc. (Milwaukee Pro) |
| Arena | MECCA Arena |
| Results | |
| Record | 38–44 (.463) |
| Place | Division: 4th (Midwest) Conference: 7th (Western) |
| Playoff finish | Did not qualify |
Stats at Basketball Reference | |
Just before the start of the regular season, Kareem had privately requested a trade on October 3, 1974, at a dinner meeting in Downtown Milwaukee. His preferred trade destinations were the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Lakers. General manager Wayne Embry later stated in 1987, "We asked Kareem if there was dissatisfaction with us and he said, 'no'. He just wanted to be traded from Milwaukee. He said his life style and the life style in Milwaukee were not compatible." With the Knicks failing to trade for Kareem in the 1975 offseason, the Lakers then traded for Kareem on June 16, 1975, in a trade that also sent Walt Wesley to the Lakers and Junior Bridgeman, Dave Meyers, Elmore Smith, and Brian Winters to the Bucks.[2][3]
Draft picks
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | Nationality | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | Gary Brokaw | SG |  United States | Notre Dame |
| 3 | 54 | Greg McDougald | United States | Oral Roberts | |
| 4 | 72 | Lionel Billingy | F/C | United States | Duquesne |
| 5 | 90 | John Johnson | SF | United States | Denver |
| 6 | 108 | Larry Williams | United States | Kansas State | |
| 7 | 126 | Bob Hornstein | United States | West Virginia | |
| 8 | 144 | Ralph Palamar | United States | Cameron | |
| 9 | 161 | Mike Deane | United States | SUNY Potsdam | |
| 10 | 178 | Bruce Featherston | United States | Texas State |
Roster
| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Head coach
Assistant(s)
Legend
|
Regular season
With the retirement of Oscar Robertson, the Bucks started the season 1–13 before slowly coming back and after 48 games they were 24-24 and were poised for their 6th straight trip to the postseason, but the Bucks faded down the stretch and missed the playoffs for the first time since their inaugural season in 1968–69.
Season standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Div | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| y-Chicago Bulls | 47 | 35 | .573 | – | 29–12 | 18–23 | 11–15 |
| x-Kansas City–Omaha Kings | 44 | 38 | .537 | 3 | 29–12 | 15–26 | 17–9 |
| x-Detroit Pistons | 40 | 42 | .488 | 7 | 26–15 | 14–27 | 10–16 |
| Milwaukee Bucks | 38 | 44 | .463 | 9 | 25–16 | 13–28 | 14–12 |
| # | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | PCT | GB | |
| 1 | z-Golden State Warriors | 48 | 34 | .585 | – |
| 2 | y-Chicago Bulls | 47 | 35 | .573 | 1 |
| 3 | x-Kansas City–Omaha Kings | 44 | 38 | .537 | 4 |
| 4 | x-Seattle SuperSonics | 43 | 39 | .524 | 5 |
| 5 | x-Detroit Pistons | 40 | 42 | .488 | 8 |
| 6 | Portland Trail Blazers | 38 | 44 | .463 | 10 |
| 6 | Milwaukee Bucks | 38 | 44 | .463 | 10 |
| 8 | Phoenix Suns | 32 | 50 | .390 | 16 |
| 9 | Los Angeles Lakers | 30 | 52 | .366 | 18 |
- z – clinched division title
- y – clinched division title
- x – clinched playoff spot
Season schedule
Playoffs
The Milwaukee Bucks failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first since 1968-69 season.
Player statistics
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game |
| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | 65 | 42.3 | 51.3 | 76.3 | 14.0 | 4.1 | 1.0 | 3.3 | 30.0 | ||
| Bob Dandridge | 80 | 37.9 | 47.3 | 80.5 | 6.9 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 19.9 | ||
| Lucius Allen | 10 | 34.2 | 41.5 | 83.8 | 3.1 | 5.3 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 16.7 | ||
| Jim Price | 41 | 37.3 | 44.0 | 85.9 | 3.8 | 5.4 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 14.9 | ||
| George Thompson | 73 | 27.2 | 44.3 | 78.5 | 2.5 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 10.7 | ||
| Jon McGlocklin | 79 | 23.5 | 49.6 | 87.5 | 1.5 | 3.2 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 9.0 | ||
| Gary Brokaw | 73 | 22.5 | 45.5 | 68.5 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 8.1 | ||
| Cornell Warner | 79 | 31.9 | 45.8 | 68.4 | 10.3 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 7.6 | ||
| Mickey Davis | 75 | 14.4 | 47.9 | 88.6 | 3.2 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 5.7 | ||
| Kevin Restani | 76 | 23.1 | 44.0 | 71.4 | 5.3 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 5.4 | ||
| Ron Williams | 46 | 11.4 | 37.6 | 82.8 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 3.2 | ||
| Steve Kuberski | 59 | 8.8 | 39.0 | 78.6 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 2.8 | ||
| Walt Wesley | 41 | 5.2 | 44.0 | 60.9 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 2.1 | ||
| Terry Driscoll | 11 | 4.7 | 23.1 | 50.0 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.6 | ||
| Bob Rule | 1 | 11.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||
| Dick Cunningham | 2 | 4.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Awards and records
Transactions
Trades
| October 8, 1974 |
To Milwaukee Bucks---- | To New Orleans Jazz---- |
| November 8, 1974 |
To Milwaukee Bucks---- | To Los Angeles Lakers---- |
Free agents
| Player | Signed | Former team |
| Bob Rule | July 7, 1974 | Cleveland Cavaliers |
| Walt Wesley | November 27, 1974 | Washington Bullets |
| Subtractions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Player | Date signed | New team |
| Curtis Perry | Expansion Draft May 20, 1974 | New Orleans Jazz |
| Terry Driscoll | November 27, 1974 | N/A |