1971–72 Memphis Pros season

ABA basketball team season August 2023 Memphis Pros ABA 1972 Memphis Area Sports, Inc. (until December 11, 1971)ABA (rest of the season) 26 58 ABA 5th Babe McCarthy Mid-South Coliseum WMC 5 WREC Memphis Tams The 1971–72 Memphis Pros season was the second and final season of the Pros in the American Basketball Association, as well as the fifth season of the franchise when including the previous seasons they played in New Orleans as the New Orleans Buccaneers. By the halfway point of the season, they were a below-average 17–25. In the second half of the season, they performed at an even worse 9–33, with a 10-game losing streak from February 4 to February 23 being the lowlight of the season. In fact, the team ended the season on a nine-game losing streak, with the Denver Rockets getting easy way to sneak into the 1972 ABA Playoffs for the final Western Division spot. The biggest winning streak they had was 3 games long, which they accomplished three different times throughout the season. The major catalyst for Memphis losing even more games then they already did was an ill-fated trade with the Carolina Cougars on January 3, 1972 that coach Babe McCarthy claimed was "the day they traded my ball club away" with the Pros trading away Wendell Ladner, Bob Warren, and rookie center Tom Owens for George Lehmann, Warren Davis, and rookie center Randy Denton in an attempt to win more games during the season; instead, Lehmann suffered a season-ending injury after only 15 games played for Memphis before sitting out the rest of the season, leading to the Pros playing worse than they previously were beforehand and later leading to coach Babe McCarthy leaving the team after being the oldest tenured ABA coach by this point in time to end up coaching the Dallas Chaparrals for close to an entire season. The Pros were tenth in points scored with 107.5 points per game and sixth in points allowed with 113.0 points per game.https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/MMP/1972.html 1971-72 Memphis Pros Roster and Stats On December 11, 1971, the operation of the franchise was taken over by the ABA after the local Memphis Area Sports, Inc. ownership group (who took over the franchise from P.L. Blake the previous season) ran into their own monetary issues themselves (due in part to the way they were operating as a make-shift operation to save the franchise at the time). With the team struggling financially, to the point of considering the Memphis squad as the first team to actually fold in the ABA alongside both "The Floridians" and Pittsburgh Condors franchises (both of whom ended up folding themselves) after the season ended, the team was sold on June 13, 1972, to Charles O. Finley, who owned the MLB's Oakland Athletics and the NHL's California Golden Seals at the time of the sale. Soon after the sale was completed, they were rebranded as the Memphis Tams while still playing in the same arena as the Pros. However, their losing ways in Memphis would continue even with the new change in team names and ownership (as well as moving from the Western Division to the Eastern Division), with the rebranded Tams being the first ABA team to lose 60 games in a season since the Miami Floridians and later briefly holding the worst record in ABA history not long afterward. ABA Draft 1971 ABA draft This draft was the first ABA draft to have a properly recorded historical note of every round in their draft available. Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College 1 6 Randy Denton C USA United States Duke 2 19 Jake Ford SG USA United States Western Kentucky 3 29 Thorpe Weber F USA United States Vanderbilt 4 36 Tom Owens PF/C USA United States South Carolina 4 38 Amos Thomas SG/SF USA United States Southwestern State College 5 49 Kennedy McIntosh PF USA United States Eastern Michigan 6 60 Fred Hilton SG USA United States Grambling College 7 71 Loyd King SG USA United States Virginia Tech 8 82 James Douglas G USA United States Memphis State University 9 93 Henry Smith F USA United States Missouri 10 104 Jim Gregory F USA United States East Carolina 11 115 Danny Davis F USA United States Henderson State College 12 125 Gary Reist G USA United States Rice 13 135 Edward Hoskins SF USA United States LeMoyne–Owen College 14 144 Ken Riley F USA United States Middle Tennessee State 15 153 Rod Behrens PF USA United States Samfordhttps://www.nasljerseys.com/ABA/Players/B/Behrens.Rod.htm Rod Behrens www.nasljerseys.com December 23, 2024https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/media/samford-university-basketball-team-1969/ Samford University Basketball Team, 1969 Encyclopedia of Alabama December 23, 2024 June 19, 2024 https://web.archive.org/web/20240619104141/https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/media/samford-university-basketball-team-1969/ live 16 162 Don Johnson F USA United States Tennessee 17 170 Haywood Hill SG/SF USA United States Oral Roberts 18 177 Reggie Wood F USA United States College of Steubenville 19 183 Billy Barnes PF/C USA United States Southern State College 20 188 Allan Dalton G USA United States Suffolk University The Memphis Pros would join the Denver Rockets as one of only two ABA teams to actually utilize all 20 rounds of this year's ABA draft, with both teams also having an extra draft pick in an early round for good measure (in Memphis' case, they'd acquire an extra fourth round pick to go with their own fourth round pick in this draft). The fourth round pick that the Pros would acquire at Pick #36 would come from a trade involving "The Floridians" franchise (who would later go defunct after their final season concluded here, despite them making it to the ABA Playoffs that year by comparison to the Pros) some time before the 1971 ABA draft began.https://prosportstransactions.com/basketball/DraftTrades/Years/1971-aba.htm 1971 ABA Draft Pick Transactions Pro Sports Transactions December 23, 2024 Funnily enough, a trade that the Pros did during the season would involve them trading their fourth round pick they acquired from "The Floridians" franchise (Tom Owens) in order to acquire their first round pick (Randy Denton) back from the Carolina Cougars after Denton decided to sign up with the Cougars for the start of the season instead of the Pros. This draft period was also notable for Memphis acquiring local-born sophomore player Johnny Neumann from the University of Mississippi as an undrafted prospect; while Neumann started out promising enough like Julius Erving and George McGinnis for the Virginia Squires and Indiana Pacers respectively before him, Neumann's own immaturity issues would cause him to not have as much of a successful playing career as Erving or McGinnis had. Roster Memphis Pros 1971–72 #D50032 #FFFFFF #041E42 #D50032 Larry Cannon basketball SG 6 4 195 April 12, 1947 La Salle 34 Lee Davis PF 6 8 235 October 11, 1945 NC Central 35 Warren Davis basketball PF 6 6 212 1943-06-30 North Carolina A&T 32 Randy Denton C 6 10 240 February 18, 1949 Duke 12 Coby Dietrick C 6 10 220 July 23, 1948 San Jose State 13 Jerry Dover PG LeMoyne–Owen 155 October 16, 1949 5 7 25 Gerald Govan PF 6 10 220 January 2, 1942 Saint Mary of the Plains College 11 Wil Jones basketball, born 1947 PF 6 8 205 February 27, 1947 Albany State University 23 Loyd King 180 6 2 SG May 29, 1949 Virginia Tech 33 Wendell Ladner SF 6 5 220 1948-10-06 Southern Miss 21 George Lehmann SG 6 0 180 May 1, 1941 Campbell 14 Johnny Neumann SG 6 6 200 September 11, 1951 Ole Miss 24 Tom Owens C 6 10 215 June 28, 1949 South Carolina 22 Don Sidle PF 6 8 215 June 21, 1946 Oklahoma 21 Bob Warren SG 6 5 basketball 190 July 17, 1946 Vanderbilt Elnardo Webster basketball SF 6 5 190 1948-03-06 Saint Peter's 10 Charlie Williams basketball PG 6 0 165 September 5, 1943 Seattle University Babe McCarthy https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/MMP/1972.html Final standings Western Division + Team W L % GB Utah Stars 60 24 .714 - Indiana Pacers 47 37 .560 13 Dallas Chaparrals 42 42 .500 18 Denver Rockets 34 50 .405 26 Memphis Pros 26 58 .310 34 Awards and honors 1972 ABA All-Star Game selection (game played on January 29, 1972) Wil Jones References External links RememberTheABA.com 1971–72 regular season and playoff results Memphis Pros page Memphis Pros Memphis Pros, 1971-72 Memphis Pros, 1972-72 Category:Basketball in Memphis, Tennessee