The 1971–72 ABA season was the fifth season of the Denver Rockets. It would also be the final season where the team was owned by J. William Ringsby and his son Donald W. Ringsby, who both decided to help rebrand the Rockets franchise in order to separate themselves from the local Ringsby Rocket Truck Lines business association (which was starting to struggle financially by this point in time) by replacing the original team logo (which was a modification of the Ringsby Rocket Truck Lines logo) with that of a cartoony-looking rocket and changing their team colors entirely. The team finished the season with a 34–50 record, but still managed to qualify for the fourth and final playoff spot in the five-team Western Division by eight games over the Memphis Pros in what later became their final season under that team name. Denver would go the distance with the Pacers before ultimately falling short against them, with the Pacers going on to be the eventual ABA champions for the second time in three seasons. After the season ended, the father-son Ringsby duo would end up selling the Denver Rockets franchise to San Diego businessmen Frank Goldberg (who would only own the team for a few seasons following a further transformation from the original Denver Rockets team name to the modern-day Denver Nuggets namesake before leaving to purchase the San Diego Conquistadors in 1975 to have them briefly become the San Diego Sails) and Bud Fischer to help further distance the team from the original association with the Ringsby Rocket Truck Lines business in mind.
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 4 Cliff Meely PF United States Colorado 1 5 Ken Durrett PF United States La Salle College 2 14 Marv Roberts PF/C United States Utah State 3 26 Mike Newlin SG United States Utah 4 34 Al Smith PG United States Bradley 5 45 Dave Robisch PF/C United States Kansas 6 56 William Graham F United States Kentucky State College 7 67 Ken Gardner SF United States Utah 8 78 Tyrone Marioneaux C United States Loyola University (New Orleans) 9 89 Mike Childress C United States Colorado State 10 100 George Faerber F United States Purdue 11 111 John Ribock F United States South Carolina 12 121 Gary Brell F United States Marquette 13 131 Glen Richgels C United States Wisconsin 14 140 Jerry Hyder G United States Eastern New Mexico 15 149 David Hall PF/C United States Kansas State 16 158 Richard Dixon G United States Loyola University of Los Angeles 17 166 David Walls Jr. PF/C United States Jackson State College 18 173 Paul Botts G United States Central Michigan 19 180 Ron Smith C United States Wichita State 20 186 Bobby Jones G United States Drake The Denver Rockets would join the Memphis Pros as one of only two ABA teams to use 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 Denver's case, they would have two first round picks). The Rockets would originally have had three first round draft picks in a row going from picks 4-6 due to them previously having trades with The Floridians and the Virginia Squires respectively to go with their own first round pick at #4, but their own first round pick was considered forfeited for the second straight year in a row due to them acquiring another college underclassman after an ABA draft period concluded (in this case, acquiring Ralph Simpson from Michigan State University after previously acquiring Spencer Haywood from the University of Detroit), leaving them with only picks #4 & #5 (with pick #4 being from "The Floridians" franchise and pick #5 belonging to the New York Nets by the Virginia Squires respectively) in the first round instead.
ABA Special Circumstances Draft Before the regular season began for the ABA, they would host a unique little draft held in Memphis, Tennessee (home of the Memphis Pros) called the "Special Circumstances Draft" that was done in response to the NBA implementing a new mini-draft of theirs for college undergraduate players called the "Hardship Draft" during the 1971 NBA draft period. Similar to the "Hardship Draft" in the NBA, only a select few teams would actually end up participating in this specific draft (in this case, the Denver Rockets, Carolina Cougars, and New York Nets). Unlike the "Hardship Draft" for the NBA (which saw five players get selected in that specific draft), however, the "Special Circumstances Draft" that the ABA held on September 10, 1971 (the same day as the NBA's own "Hardship Draft") had only three total players (all junior players while in college) get selected in this draft, with two players get selected in the second round and one player selected in the fourth round (meaning no first round or third round draft picks were made in that draft and the second round actually held the #1 pick in this particular draft). Because of the unusual formatting done there, the Denver Rockets would technically get the #1 pick in this specific draft, with this pick below being their only selection there. Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College 2 1 Mickey Davis SG/SF United States Duquesne Mickey Davis would be the #1 pick of the "Special Circumstances Draft" in the unusual sense that he was the very first selection from that draft, but wasn't selected in the first round of this particular draft. That being said, despite Davis being selected by the Rockets and Davis accepting his selection in the "Special Circumstances Draft" while denying his entry into the NBA's "Hardship Draft", he would actually end up playing for the Pittsburgh Condors during what ended up becoming their final season of play as a franchise before later playing for the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA for the rest of his career instead.
Roster
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Season standings Eastern Division + Team W L % GB Kentucky Colonels 68 16 .810 - Virginia Squires 45 39 .536 23 New York Nets 44 40 .524 24 The Floridians 36 48 .429 32 Carolina Cougars 35 49 .417 33 Pittsburgh Condors 25 59 .298 43
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
ABA Playoffs ABA Western Division Semifinals Game Date Location Score Record Attendance 1 March 31 Indiana 95-102 0-1 6,103 2 April 1 Indiana 106-105 1-1 6,521 3 April 4 Denver 120-122 (OT) 1-2 5,304 4 April 6 Denver 112-96 2-2 6,109 5 April 8 Indiana 79-91 2-3 9,428 6 April 9 Denver 106-99 3-3 5,815 7 April 13 Indiana 89-91 3-4 8,643 Rockets lose series, 4–3
Game log 1971-72 Denver Rockets Schedule and Results | Basketball-Reference.com
Statistics RkPlayerAgeGMPFGFGAFG%3P3PA3P%2P2PA2P%FTFTAFT%ORBDRBTRBASTTOVPFPTS1Ralph Simpson228435.811.023.8.4600.00.3.13610.923.5.4645.46.8.8052.02.74.73.1 3.22.927.42Julius Keye2584 30.42.35.7.4030.00.0.0002.35.6.4051.32.1.6213.87.911.71.8 1.74.15.93Dave Robisch2284 28.86.013.5.4440.00.1.0006.013.5.4463.55.0.7023.46.29.62.4 1.33.015.54Byron Beck2766 27.55.110.1.5040.00.0.0005.110.1.5062.12.5.8432.65.48.02.1 1.53.212.35Larry Brown3176 26.53.27.3.4370.10.3.2003.17.0.4482.63.2.8110.71.52.27.2 2.92.79.16Arthur Becker3084 26.15.211.4.4560.00.0.0005.211.3.4572.02.3.8462.03.65.61.3 1.63.212.37Al Smith2583 21.33.58.1.4330.41.3.2993.16.8.4581.82.5.7251.01.72.73.0 2.02.99.38Frank Card2773 19.83.16.8.4550.00.0.0003.16.8.4551.52.4.6511.92.64.51.1 1.62.87.79Chuck Williams2584 18.83.16.9.4510.00.0.0003.16.9.4542.43.3.7450.71.11.91.9 1.21.78.710Julian Hammond2825 16.42.65.6.4710.00.02.65.6.4711.22.0.6201.92.74.61.2 1.21.96.511Marv Roberts2268 15.43.27.8 .4070.00.1.2503.27.8.4081.31.8.7171.82.54.30.9 1.12.27.712Dwight Waller262 5.01.02.0.5000.00.01.02.0.5000.00.00.52.02.50.5 0.51.52.013Steve Mix241 4.01.01.01.0000.00.01.01.01.0000.00.01.00.01.00.0 0.01.02.014Stephen Wilson239 4.00.62.6.2170.00.2.0000.62.3.2380.40.8.5710.30.10.40.7 0.31.01.61971-72 Denver Rockets Roster and Stats | Basketball-Reference.com
Awards and honors All-ABA 2nd Team: Ralph Simpson ABA All-Stars: Ralph Simpson, Arthur Becker1971-72 ABA Season Summary | Basketball-Reference.com
References