Lex Nihil Novi - Red Auerbach and the 1956 Draft

Red Auerbach and the 1956 Draft








1997

Forty-one years ago, a man who served his team as coach/general manager/marketing director/traveling secretary/business manager pulled off the finest draft in the history of professional sports. And the local media gave it far less play than your average New England Revolution-Dallas Burn game of 1997.

On Monday, April 30, 1956, Boston Celtic czar Red Auerbach in one day acquired Bill Russell, Tommy Heinsohn, and K.C. Jones. All three would go on to have Hall of Fame careers and become head coach of the Celtics. Among them, they compiled 32 championship rings as Celtics over three decades.

Think about that. One draft, three Hall of Famers, 32 rings with the same team. Let's see Jerrys Reinsdorf and Krause top that. Auerbach's '56 draft has been recounted in many videos and books, but it's stunning to comb microfilm and see what the Globe was writing about Red's genius in 1956. In those days, the NBA didn't really count around here. The league was just 10 years old and Boston hadn't won any titles. Spring Celtic stories were placed next to the local college baseball roundup.

The NBA of 1956 held its annual meeting in New York, and on Sunday, April 29, the Globe's Jack Barry (writing from Boston and getting information via telephone) wrote a short NBA notes column, leading with the news that the 1957 NBA All-Star Game would be held at Boston Garden. Deeper into the mini-column, Barry mentioned, "The meetings will conclude tomorrow with the annual draft of college players." That's it. That was the extent of the Globe's predraft coverage in 1956.

In the next day's paper, the inimitable Clif Keane reported that the Celtics had a chance to get Russell's rights from St. Louis (drafting second) in exchange for Celtic star Ed Macauley. Keane reported that the only potential glitch would be if Rochester (which had the No. 1 pick) selected Russell. In Keane's story, Celtic official Bill Mokray said that Rochester owner Les Harrison would not take Russell as his choice: "If Harrison sticks with that statement, the Hawks will then take Russell and turn him over to us."

In the May 1 Globe, Herb Ralby reported that Russell was acquired by the Celtics, but that Boston might lose him to Abe Saperstein of the Harlem Globetrotters. In the small type it is mentioned, "In addition to Russell, the Celtics took K.C. Jones, Russell's play-making teammate at San Francisco who is credited with setting up the big center. Tom Heinsohn of Holy Cross, the Celtics' territorial choice, was also drafted. No other team in either loop of the NBA took advantage of its territorial choice."

At the conclusion of Ralby's story, Auerbach said of Russell, "He's the greatest defensive center I've ever seen. Sure he has weaknesses, but they'll be remedied. He gives me a big man for the future." There's a prophetic statement for you. One thing about the draft hasn't changed. There's always wheeling and dealing going on right up until the bell rings. Just ask Rick Pitino how many calls he's gotten, and made, concerning his No. 3 and No. 6 picks. Everybody wants to know what everybody else is going to do. It makes the planning easier.

Which brings us back to May 30, 1956. Heinsohn was a territorial pick (these no longer exist) and Auerbach jumped at the chance to take a local kid who'd ranked fourth in the nation in scoring and eighth in rebounding (despite Russell's impact on the game, Heinsohn would be the 1956-57 NBA Rookie of the Year). K.C. (picked in the second round) couldn't shoot and had a service commitment, but that didn't worry Red. Auerbach already had a pair of All-Star guards in Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman. He could wait. He'd also scouted San Francisco more than anyone in the NBA and he knew Jones's defense would make him a force.

But what about Russell? How did Red know Harrison wouldn't mess up the Russell-Macauley deal by selecting the San Francisco center with the top pick? Versions vary. In later years, Harrison claimed that Russell sandbagged him, playing poorly when Rochester scouts watched him in an all-star game. But there were other reasons to pass on Russell: Rochester already had a good big man in Maurice Stokes (Rookie of the Year). Russell's price tag was going to be hefty. The threat of the Globetrotters loomed, and everyone knew that Russell's Olympic commitment would tie him up until mid December. Rochester eventually took Duquesne's Si Green.

But never underestimate the Ice Capades. In 1956, NBA owners cared most about filling their big barns for winter shows. Boston boss Walter Brown owned the Ice Capades. Auerbach says, "What happened was this: Walter got Harrison the Ice Capades, he felt indebted to Walter. He said, `Look, you gave me the Ice Capades, I'll give you my word that we won't take Russell.' "



bob



.

Red also has a pretty good draft in 1953, when he selected three Kentucky players: Frank Ramsey, Cliff Hagan, and Lou Tsioroupolis.  With those three as a nucleus, Kentucky had become a national power, winning the national title in 1951.

Rams, of course, became a Celtics stalwart and very well might win my award as the most over-achieving Celtic of all-time.  But his route to the NBA wasn't quite normal.  He played for the Celtics in 1953-54, averaging 11.2 and 6.3.  Then he had to take two years off while in the Army. He then resumed play for the Celtics as they won their first championship in 1956-57, as Tsioropoulos also joined the Green. Frank was limited to 35 games because military reserve obligations.   (Rams was discharged from the Army a couple of days after they won the championship.)

After nine years with the Celts, Rams was age 33 (because of the Army delay).  He had averaged 13.4 and 5.5 with a career high of 16.5 and 7.3 in 1957-58.  He was a jack-of-all-trades, much like Havlicek would become a few years later.  He retired from basketball, coached the ABA Kentucky Colonels for a while, and became a bank president.  (I assume that, since he's now 83, he has been retired for a while.

Frank's value went far beyond his stats.  He got up and under a lot of opponents on defense, and he was the first guy off the bench to cover Elgin Baylor when Tom Sanders fouled out while doing the same job.  Frank was wily and, whether or not one likes it now, he was creative enough to invent the offensive foul flop.  He was also the conscience of the Celtics, reminding them at playoff time that they were playing with his money.  He was also at the wheel of a car containing several Celtics who were traveling to an exhibition game in Maine.  All of them reported that Frank was crazy, at one point driving up onto a sidewalk to evade a traffic jam.

Tsioropoulos would play only three years in the bigs—all with the Celtics—so he won two rings.  He was no slouch as a small forward, averaging a career best 7.7 and 6.2 in 26.0 during 1957-58.  His biggest claim to fame was that he once beat Sam Jones in a staged foot race.  Sam demanded a rematch, but Lou knew when to quit when he was ahead.

Cliff Hagan, who would become an NBA hall-of-fame forward, was a major part of the deal for Bill Russell.  Cliff played 13 seasons (all with the Hawks), averaging 17.7, 6.6 and 3.2 and winning one ring in 1957-58 (over the Celtics).  He was a six-time all-star and finished as high as 7th in MVP balloting.

So that wasn't a bad haul for Red back in those days when all it took to succeed in player procurement was to be smarter than the other guy.

Sam

I assume that the big, brawny looking guy standing behind the others in the photo is Jungle Jim Lostocoff.

Interesting that the Celtics won their first title with two rookies--Russell and Heinshon--as starters and Lostocoff, a second year guy, starting opposite Heinshon.

I can't think of any NBA team since that won a title starting such young guys. Today veteran teams win and this will probably continue since increasingly fewer rookies make any meaningful contribution at all because they come out so early.

So, rest easy Tommy. Your record of most point and rebounds by a rookie in a seventh game final--37 and 24, respectively--will probably stand for as long as the NBA lasts or the sun continues to shine before it super novas.