1976-77_Buffalo_Braves_season

1976–77 Buffalo Braves season

1976–77 Buffalo Braves season

NBA professional basketball team season

The 1976–77 NBA season was the Braves seventh season in the NBA. The Braves were purchased by John Y. Brown, Jr., the former owner of the Kentucky Colonels in the now defunct American Basketball Association for $6.2 million.[1] As part of an agreement with the Braves' former owner, Paul Snyder, Brown would give Snyder money received in player deals to reduce the purchase price.[1] The sell-off began shortly after the season, as the Braves sold newly acquired Moses Malone. Malone was acquired in a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers after the ABA dispersal draft. Malone was now off to the Houston Rockets. The selling of players continued into the season as Bob McAdoo was sold to the New York Knicks.[1] While the deals helped Brown pay virtually nothing for the franchise, it turned a promising franchise into a rebuilding one. Attendance fell off as the Braves finished in 4th place with a 30–52 record. The only spotlight was rookie Adrian Dantley, who captured Rookie of the Year honors with 20.3 points per game. However Dantley himself was traded following the season to the Indiana Pacers for Billy Knight.[1]

Quick Facts Buffalo Braves season, Head coach ...

Offseason

Coach Ramsay had been hired in 1972 to a three-year contract. He served the 1975–76 season on a one-year extension. His contract was not renewed. Ramsay had guided the Braves to the playoffs three years in a row after enduring a 21–61 season, accumulating a 158–170 overall record. Local reports noted a personality conflict with owner Snyder.[2][3] The Braves promoted assistant coach Tates Locke and signed him to a two-year contract.[4][5][6]

Snyder threatened to sell the Braves if they did not sell 5,000 season tickets by June 12, 1976. However the season ticket drive by the Chamber of Commerce and other civic groups only resulted in 2,552 sales by the deadline date.[7] In June 1976, Diplomat Hotel owner Irving Cowan obtained an option to purchase the Braves for $6.1 million, and planned to bring them to South Florida and the Hollywood Sportatorium.[8] Pledges of more than 8,000 season tickets were received in Florida.[9] On June 15, Snyder announced the planned sale.[10][11] The Wall Street Journal estimated the sale price to be in the $7–8 million range.[12] However, the next day the city of Buffalo sued the Braves for breach of contract and sought a restraining order preventing the move. The suit was filed in New York Supreme Court for seeking $10 million from the Braves and the NBA for breaking a promise to sign a new 15-year lease. Another suit was filed as an anti-trust case in United States district court against the rest of the NBA seeking $48 million in damages in the event of a move. The anti-trust case alleged that the move was an attempt to eliminate competition against a future Toronto NBA franchise and to discourage expansion of the American Basketball Association to southern Florida. The damages arose as treble damages related to a March 1 promise to sign a lease.[10] Although Cowan claimed the move would still take place, the effort collapsed under the weight of the lawsuit and the Braves ended up signing a new lease with the city of Buffalo.[13][14] In July, the Braves signed a new lease with the city for the Memorial Auditorium with the understanding that there was an ongoing effort to sell the team to local interests.[15] The signing of the lease settled the lawsuits.[16]

NBA draft

Main article: 1976 NBA draft
More information Round, Pick ...

ABA Dispersal Draft

The American Basketball Association joined the NBA with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976. Of the teams remaining in the ABA, four joined the NBA. The remaining two ABA teams that did not join the NBA, the Kentucky Colonels and the Spirits of St. Louis, had their players assigned to a dispersal draft for draft purposes.

More information Pick, Player ...

Roster

More information Buffalo Braves 1976–77 roster, Players ...

Roster Notes

Regular season

Season standings

More information W, L ...
More information #, Team ...

Record vs. opponents

More information Team, ATL ...

Season Schedule

source

Player stats

More information GP, MPG ...
Player GP MPG FG FGA FG% FT FTA FT% ORPG DRPG RPG APG SPG BPG PFPG PPG
Bob McAdoo2038.49.120.00.4555.57.90.6963.39.913.23.30.81.73.723.7
Randy Smith8237.78.618.30.4673.64.70.7621.63.95.65.42.10.13.220.7
Adrian Dantley7736.67.113.60.5206.27.60.8183.34.47.61.91.20.22.820.3
John Shumate7435.15.510.90.5024.16.10.6712.27.39.52.11.21.12.715.1
Ernie DiGregorio8128.04.510.80.4171.71.80.9450.61.62.34.70.70.01.910.7
George Johnson3927.13.27.20.4481.21.70.6873.07.310.32.00.62.73.67.6
John Gianelli5722.53.07.00.4311.01.40.7141.63.65.21.00.41.22.17.0
Don Adams7722.22.86.80.4111.72.20.7461.73.14.81.91.00.22.67.3
Jim Price2016.72.25.20.4230.91.00.8500.31.51.71.91.30.32.65.3
Bird Averitt7515.13.18.30.3781.62.30.7160.30.81.01.80.40.11.77.9
Gus Gerard4114.42.46.00.4101.01.50.6561.21.62.91.00.60.82.25.9
Tom McMillen2013.52.34.60.4891.31.80.7221.52.23.60.80.10.11.55.8
Chuck Williams4412.61.02.70.3680.91.10.7920.41.11.52.00.50.10.82.8
Johnny Neumann412.33.88.50.4411.31.50.8331.31.02.31.00.80.51.88.8
Fred Foster5911.71.74.20.4010.50.70.6820.60.71.30.80.30.01.63.9
Claude Terry339.21.53.20.4710.50.70.7830.10.70.81.00.30.00.83.5
Zaid Abdul-Aziz228.91.13.40.3381.52.00.7671.92.24.10.30.10.41.03.8
Clyde Mayes23.50.01.5.0001.01.50.6670.01.51.50.00.00.01.01.0
Moses Malone23.00.00.00.00.00.00.50.50.00.00.00.50.0

Awards and honors

  • Ernie DiGregorio, Led NBA, Free Throw Percentage, .945

Transactions

The Braves sent Ken Charles and Dick Gibbs and cash to the Atlanta Hawks for Tom Van Arsdale.[17][18] Van Arsdale never played for the Braves who traded him in August to the Phoenix Suns for a 1977 NBA draft 2nd round pick.[19]

The Braves were involved in the following transactions during the 1976–77 season.

Coaching Change

More information Offseason, Outgoing Coach ...

Trades

June 16, 1976 To Buffalo Braves
 To Atlanta Hawks
August 5, 1976 To Buffalo Braves
 To Milwaukee Bucks
  • 1977 2nd round draft pick
August 25, 1976 To Buffalo Braves
  • 1977 2nd round draft pick
 To Phoenix Suns
October 18, 1976 To Buffalo Braves
 To Portland Trail Blazers
  • 1978 1st round draft pick
October 24, 1976 To Buffalo Braves
  • 1977 & 1978 1st round draft picks
 To Houston Rockets
November 22, 1976 To Buffalo Braves
 To Milwaukee Bucks
  • 1977 1st round draft pick
December 9, 1976 To Buffalo Braves
 To New York Knickerbockers
December 15, 1976 To Buffalo Braves
 To Denver Nuggets
January 8, 1977 To Buffalo Braves
 To Golden State Warriors
  • 1977 1st round draft pick

Free agents

References

  1. [1]
    Buffalo Braves (1970-1978)
  2. [2]
    "Buffalo Braves Won't Rehire Ramsay as Coach". The Palm Beach Post. May 4, 1976. p. D4. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  3. [3]
    "People in Sports; Jack Ramsay Is Out, Janet Guthrie Is In". The New York Times. May 4, 1976. p. 52. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  4. [4]
    "Tates Locke New Coach Of Braves". The New York Times. May 7, 1976. p. 25. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  5. [5]
    "Assistant Is Coach of Braves". The Milwaukee Journal. May 7, 1976. p. 13, part 2. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  6. [6]
    "Tates Locke takes new job as Buffalo Braves coach". The Dispatch. May 7, 1976. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  7. [7]
    "Snyder Criticized on Proposed Move of Buffalo Braves". Palm Beach Post. June 12, 1976. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  8. [8]
    Goldpaper, Sam (June 15, 1976). "Braves of N.B.A. Sold; Seek a Shift to Florida". The New York Times. p. 47.
  9. [9]
    Aronson, Peter (September 29, 1985). "Aging Sportatorium Keeps on Rocking". Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on March 15, 2012. Retrieved May 10, 2010.
  10. [10]
    "Buffalo files suit to halt Braves move". Anchorage Daily News. June 16, 1976. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  11. [11]
    Goldaper, Sam (June 15, 1976). "Braves of N.B.A. Sold; Seek a Shift to Florida; Braves Sold; Would Shift To Florida". The New York Times. p. 59. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  12. [12]
    "NBA's Buffalo Braves Bought by Florida Man". The Wall Street Journal. June 15, 1976. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  13. [13]
    Altaner, David (September 23, 1988). "Sportatorium Is Scheduled To Be Closed". Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. Archived from the original on July 25, 2011. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  14. [14]
    Seiden, Henry (June 17, 1976). "Cowan: Nothing's blocking shift now". The Miami News. p. 1C. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  15. [15]
    "Braves Nix Hollywood, Sign New Lease In Buffalo". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. July 7, 1976. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  16. [16]
    "Braves remain in Buffalo". Star-News. July 6, 1976. Retrieved August 7, 2010.
  17. [17]
    "Ken Charles". Basketball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 18, 2010.
  18. [18]
    "Dick Gibbs". Basketball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 6, 2010. Retrieved June 18, 2010.
  19. [19]
    "Tom Van Arsdale". Basketball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
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