Jim Ard

Ard was selected in the first round (sixth overall) of the 1970 NBA draft by the National Basketball Association's Seattle SuperSonics^[7] as well as by the New York Nets^[8] of the American Basketball Association. He signed with the Nets.

His three seasons with the Nets he served primarily as a backup forward/center, averaging about 14 minutes per game over those three seasons. In his rookie year of 1970–71, he averaged 5.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, followed in 1971–72 with 5.6 points and 5.2 rebounds. In 1972–73, his numbers slipped to 3.3 points and 3.5 rebounds.^[7]

He had a bit of a resurgence in 1973–74 with the ABA's Memphis Tams, averaging a career-high 6.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.^[7]

In the summer of 1974, he was signed by the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, who released him a month later, but he then signed with the Boston Celtics. He is best known for his three years (1974–77) with the Celtics, for whom he provided rebounding and hustle as a backup to Dave Cowens, averaging about 13 minutes per game.^[9]

Ard sank the go-ahead free throws in game five of the 1976 NBA Finals, a triple-overtime affair between the Celtics and the Phoenix Suns. These free throws have been described as "the two most historic free throws in both Celtics and NBA history."^[10][11] The Celtics went on to win that series for the 1976 NBA championship and a ring for Jim Ard.^[12]

In 1977–78, after one game with the Celtics, he was waived by the Celtics and, one month later, signed with the Chicago Bulls. After 14 games with the Bulls he was released, and his eight-year professional career came to an end. In his career, he totaled 1,909 points and 1,832 rebounds.^[7]

After basketball he became a technical sales rep, first for Honeywell Corporation in the Phoenix area and later as a company award-winning rep for Amdahl for a decade in California, Florida and New Jersey. He served as sales manager and in executive sales positions for several other companies including Storage Technology Corporation in California, Andataco, Sun Microsystems, Marimba, Global Message Systems Corporation, Xiotech (now known as X-IO) and Sterling Commerce.^[13]

He currently resides in the Eugene, Oregon area.^[13]