The 1973–74 New York Nets season was the seventh season in the American Basketball Association for the New York Nets basketball franchise, which includes their first season where they played as the New Jersey Americans before moving to Long Island to become the Nets ever since then. This season would also be the season where the team finally acquired small forward Julius Erving in a trade with the Virginia Squires after being the only other team alongside the Squires to showcase genuine interest in obtaining him after the 1971 ABA draft officially ended, despite him being a junior at the time he first signed up to play for the ABA. While the Squires never made it to the ABA Finals with Erving playing for him (which included Erving losing to the Nets while playing with Virginia in the Eastern Division Finals in his rookie season), Dr. J would prove to be the missing piece necessary for them to become one of the best teams in the ABA's final years of existence. With Erving playing alongside some of their other star-caliber players on the roster, the Nets won their first ABA Championship by first beating Dr. J's former team, the Squires, 4–1 and then swept the Kentucky Colonels before beating the Utah Stars 4–1 in the championship series.

ABA Draft

Interestingly, this year's ABA draft would involve four different types of drafts throughout the early 1973 year: a "Special Circumstances Draft" on January 15, a "Senior Draft" on April 25, an "Undergraduate Draft" also on April 25, and a "Supplemental Draft" on May 18, though the Nets joined the Indiana Pacers as one of two teams to avoid using that last draft entirely. Still, the following selections were made in these respective drafts by the Nets.

ABA Special Circumstances Draft Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 5 Jim Brewer PF United States Minnesota 2 15 Billy Schaeffer SF United States St. John's

ABA Senior Draft Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College 1 4 Doug Collins SG United States Illinois State 3 24 James Lister C United States Sam Houston State 4 32 Phil Hankinson PF United States Pennsylvania 4 34 Kermit Washington PF United States American 5 44 Ken Brady C United States Michigan 6 54 Neal Jurgensen F United States Oregon State 7 64 Nate Stephens C United States Long Beach State 8 74 Gene Doyle F United States Holy Cross 9 84 Clinton Harris F United States Iowa State 10 94 Gene Armstead PF/C United States Rutgers The "Senior Draft" done in April is often considered the official, main draft period of the 1973 ABA draft by basketball historians.

ABA Undergraduate Draft Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College 11 (1) 104 (4) Henry Williams F United States Jacksonville 12 (2) 114 (14) Campy Russell SF United States Michigan The "Undergraduate Draft" is considered a continuation of the "Senior Draft" that was done earlier that same day, hence the numbering of the rounds and draft picks here. Also, the Nets joined the Indiana Pacers as one of only two teams to decline participation in the "Supplementary Draft" entirely, meaning there will be no section for that draft with the Nets here.

Exhibition Games On September 18, 1973, the Nets opened the ABA vs. NBA exhibition season against the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. Playing in Binghamton, New York, the Nets beat the 76ers 94–88. On September 28 the Nets again faced the 76ers, this time in Trenton, New Jersey. The Nets also won this matchup, 118–100.

On September 29, in White Plains, New York, the Nets faced the Washington Bullets. Julius Erving scored a game-high 42 points as the Nets won 127–121.

On October 2, 17,226 fans showed up at Madison Square Garden to watch the Nets play the New York Knicks. Erving scored 27 points, 12 of them in the third quarter, as the Nets won 97–87.

On October 7 the Nets took their 4–0 streak against NBA teams into a contest with the Boston Celtics in Uniondale, New York. Erving scored 23 points, but John Havlicek scored 37 for Boston as the Celtics won, 121–102.

Roster

Regular season Season standings + Eastern Division Team W L PCT GB New York Nets 55 29 .655 – Kentucky Colonels 53 31 .631 2 Carolina Cougars 47 37 .560 8 Virginia Squires 28 56 .333 27 Memphis Tams 21 63 .250 341973–74 ABA Season Summary – Basketball-Reference.com

ABA Schedule Game Date Opponent Result Nets points Opponents Record Streak Notes 1 October 10 Indiana Pacers Loss 99 118 0–1 Lost 1 2 October 12 Virginia Squires Win 116 105 1–1 Won 1 1973–74 New York Nets Games – Basketball-Reference.com

Player stats Note: GP= Games played; MIN= Minutes; STL= Steals; REB = Rebounds; ASST = Assists; BLK = Blocks; PTS = Points Player GP MIN STL REB ASST BLK PTSJulius Erving8433981908994342042299Larry Kenon84290879962112191334Billy Paultz 77 2596 60 782 167 147 1260 John Williamson 77 2264 86 213 243 27 1116Brian Taylor 75 2505 154 214 341 22 834John Roche 50 1254 41 59 208 6 570Willard Sojourner 82 1316 24 335 54 88 458Billy Schaeffer 59 871 24 141 37 9 385Bill Melchionni 56 1146 51 77 207 5 296Mike Gale 32 904 60 152 124 34 257Wendell Ladner 30 637 46 161 65 3 203Gary Gregor 25 313 4 71 15 1 91Jim O'Brien 11 54 3 17 6 3 39Oliver Taylor 8 76 3 14 10 0 28Rich Rinaldi 5 28 2 5 1 0 12Bob Lackey 3 15 1 4 1 0 61973–74 New York Nets Statistics – Basketball-Reference.com

ABA Playoffs ABA Eastern Division Semifinals vs. Virginia Squires Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 April 29 New York 108–96 1–0 9,784 2 April 1 New York 129–110 2–0 10,747 3 April 4 Hampton (Virginia) 115–116 2–1 2,544 4 April 7 Norfolk (Virginia) 116–88 3–1 4,220 5 April 8 New York 108–96 4–1 1,1903 Nets win series, 4–1

ABA Eastern Division Finals vs Kentucky Colonels Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 April 13 New York 119–96 1–0 12,817 2 April 15 New York 99–80 2–0 13,726 3 April 17 Kentucky 89–87 3–0 13,797 4 April 20 Kentucky 103–90 4–0 7,800 Nets win series, 4–0

ABA Finals vs. Utah Stars Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 April 30 New York 89–85 1–0 13,740 2 May 4 New York 118–94 2–0 15,934 3 May 6 Utah 103–100 3–0 10,743 4 May 8 Utah 89–97 3–1 10,254 5 May 10 New York 111–100 4–1 15,934 Nets win championship series, 4–1

Transactions Draft and other non-trade signings Special circumstance draft pick Jim Brewer signs with Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA Undergraduate draft pick Campy Russell stays in college Head coach Lou Carnesecca returns to St. John's University Kevin Loughery becomes head coach Draft pick Doug Collins signs with Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA Draft pick Kermit Washington signs with Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA William M. Skehan is named Executive Vice President

Trades August 1, 1973: George Carter and ABA rights to Kermit Washington and $750,000 traded to the Virginia Squires for Julius Erving and Willie Sojourner September 20, 1973: Jim Ard and John Baum traded to the Memphis Tams for the rights to Larry Kenon January 24, 1974: John Roche traded to the Kentucky Colonels for Mike Gale and Wendell Ladner

Awards, Records and Honors Julius Erving, ABA MVP Julius Erving, Finals MVP Julius Erving, All-Star Team, East Division Larry Kenon, All-Star Team, East Division Billy Paultz, All-Star Team, East Division (missed game due to injury) Julius Erving, All-ABA Team, 1st Team Larry Kenon, ABA All-Rookie Team John Williamson, ABA All-Rookie Team Mike Gale, ABA All-Defensive Team

References

External links New York Nets on Basketball Reference