NBA territorial pick

Wilt Chamberlain was selected as the Philadelphia Warriors' territorial pick in 1959.

A territorial pick was a type of special draft choice used in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) draft in 1949 and in the National Basketball Association (NBA) draft after the 1950 season, the year in which the BAA was renamed the NBA. In the draft, NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players. Territorial picks were eliminated when the draft system was revamped in 1966.^[1][2]

In the first 20 years of the BAA/NBA, the league was still trying to gain the support of fans who lived in or near the team's home market. To achieve this, the league introduced the territorial pick rule to help teams acquire popular players from colleges in their area who would presumably have strong local support.^[1] Before the draft, a team could forfeit its first-round draft pick and then select any player from within a 50-mile radius of its home arena.^[2][3] Although the territorial picks were selected before the draft, these picks were not factored into the overall selection count of the draft; therefore, the first non-territorial pick of the draft was considered the first overall pick.^[4]

Of the 23 territorial picks, 11 players have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Tom Heinsohn, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas are the only four territorial picks who won the Rookie of the Year Award.^[5] Chamberlain also won the Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season. He went on to win the Most Valuable Player Award three more times in his career. Oscar Robertson is the only other territorial pick who has won the Most Valuable Player Award; he won it in the 1963–64 season.^[6] The Philadelphia Warriors had the most territorial picks, having selected six who attended a total of five colleges. The University of Cincinnati had the most players taken as a territorial pick; three Cincinnati players were selected using this method by the Cincinnati Royals. The 1965 NBA draft, the last draft in which the rule remained in effect, had the most territorial picks in a single draft with three. The 1953 draft also had three territorial picks. No territorial pick was selected in the 1954, 1957 and 1961 drafts.

Key

Pos.	G	F	C
Position	Guard	Forward	Center

^	Denotes player who has been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
*	Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game and All-NBA Team
^+	Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game

List of territorial picks

Tom Heinsohn was selected as the Boston Celtics' territorial pick in 1956.

Guy Rodgers was selected as the Philadelphia Warriors' territorial pick in 1958.

Bill Bradley (top) was selected as the New York Knicks' territorial pick in 1965.

draft	Player	Pos.	Nationality	Team	College (city)	Ref.
1949	Macauley, EdEd Macauley^	F/C	United States	St. Louis Bombers	Saint Louis University (St. Louis, Missouri)	[7]
1949	Mikkelsen, VernVern Mikkelsen^	F/C	United States	Minneapolis Lakers	Hamline University (Saint Paul, Minnesota)	[7]
1950	Arizin, PaulPaul Arizin^	G/F	United States	Philadelphia Warriors	Villanova University (Philadelphia)	[8]
1951	Skoog, MyerMyer Skoog	G	United States	Minneapolis Lakers	University of Minnesota (Minneapolis)	[9]
1952	Mlkvy, BillBill Mlkvy	F	United States	Philadelphia Warriors	Temple University (Philadelphia)	[10]
1953	Beck, ErnieErnie Beck	G/F	United States	Philadelphia Warriors	University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)	[11]
1953	Dukes, WalterWalter Dukes^+	C	United States	New York Knicks	Seton Hall University (South Orange, New Jersey)	[11]
1953	Hennessy, LarryLarry Hennessy	G	United States	Philadelphia Warriors	Villanova University (Philadelphia)	[12]
1955	Garmaker, DickDick Garmaker*	G/F	United States	Minneapolis Lakers	University of Minnesota (Minneapolis)	[13]
1955	Gola, TomTom Gola^	G/F	United States	Philadelphia Warriors	La Salle University (Philadelphia)	[13]
1956	Heinsohn, TomTom Heinsohn^	F/C	United States	Boston Celtics	College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, Massachusetts)	[14]
1958	Rodgers, GuyGuy Rodgers^	G	United States	Philadelphia Warriors	Temple University (Philadelphia)	[15]
1959	Chamberlain, WiltWilt Chamberlain^	C	United States	Philadelphia Warriors^[a]	University of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas)	[16]
1959	Bob Ferry	F/C	United States	St. Louis Hawks	Saint Louis University (St. Louis, Missouri)	[16]
1960	Robertson, OscarOscar Robertson^^[b]	G/F	United States	Cincinnati Royals	University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati)	[17]
1962	DeBusschere, DaveDave DeBusschere^	G/F	United States	Detroit Pistons	University of Detroit (Detroit)	[18]
1962	Lucas, JerryJerry Lucas^	F/C	United States	Cincinnati Royals^[c]	Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio)	[18]
1963	Thacker, TomTom Thacker	G/F	United States	Cincinnati Royals	University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati)	[19]
1964	Hazzard, WaltWalt Hazzard^+^[d]	G	United States	Los Angeles Lakers	UCLA (Los Angeles)	[20]
1964	Wilson, GeorgeGeorge Wilson	C	United States	Cincinnati Royals	University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati)	[20]
1965	Bradley, BillBill Bradley^	G/F	United States	New York Knicks	Princeton University (Princeton, New Jersey)	[21]
1965	Buntin, BillBill Buntin	F/C	United States	Detroit Pistons	University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan)	[21]
1965	Goodrich, GailGail Goodrich^	G	United States	Los Angeles Lakers	UCLA (Los Angeles)	[21]

See also

• KHL territorial pick

Notes

• ^a Although Wilt Chamberlain was playing at the University of Kansas, outside the territory of any NBA team, he was selected as the Philadelphia Warriors' territorial pick. The Warriors argued that because Chamberlain had grown up in Philadelphia and played high school basketball at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia, they held his territorial rights. The NBA agreed with the argument, hence making him the first and only territorial pick based solely on his pre-college roots.^[22]
• ^b Although Oscar Robertson was drafted as a territorial pick, he was also recognized as the first pick in the first round of the draft as the Cincinnati Royals also held the first overall draft pick.^[23][24]
• ^c Although Jerry Lucas was playing at Ohio State University, outside the territory of the Cincinnati Royals, the Royals were the only NBA team in Ohio, so the NBA granted them the rights to pick Lucas as their territorial pick. Lucas also qualified under the same criterion as Chamberlain, as he grew up in Middletown, Ohio and played high school basketball at Middletown High School, which was within Cincinnati's territorial radius.^[25]
• ^d Walt Hazzard changed his name into Mahdi Abdul-Rahman in 1972.^[26]

References

1. "Evolution of the Draft and Lottery". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
2. "How the NBA Draft became a lottery". The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times Company. May 21, 2007. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
3. "Lakers Select Baylor In NBA Draft Meeting". The Daily Collegian. Pennsylvania State University. April 23, 1958. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
4. "All-time top 30 draft picks by slot". Sports Illustrated. June 24, 2009. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
5. "Rookie of the Year". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved October 2, 2009.
6. "Most Valuable Player". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved March 16, 2009.
7. "1949 BAA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
8. "1950 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
9. "1951 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
10. "1952 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
11. "1953 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
12. Bradley, Robert D. (2013). The basketball draft fact book: A history of professional basketball's college drafts (E-book ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press (Rowman & Littlefield). p. 30. ISBN 978-0-8108-9069-5.
13. "1955 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
14. "1956 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
15. "1958 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
16. "1959 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
17. "1960 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
18. "1962 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
19. "1963 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
20. "1964 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
21. "1965 NBA Draft". basketball-reference.com. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
22. "Wilt Chamberlain Bio". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
23. "Oscar Robertson Bio". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
24. Wise, Mike (June 29, 2000). "Clippers Go to High School to Get Miles". The New York Times Company. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
25. Pluto, Terry (2000). Tall Tales: The Glory Years of the NBA. University of Nebraska Press. p. 215. ISBN 0-8032-8766-6. Retrieved September 29, 2009.
26. McCallum, Jack (April 16, 1984). "The March Of The Wooden Soldiers". Sports Illustrated. Time Warner Company. Retrieved January 29, 2010.

External links

• NBA.com: NBA Draft History