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53-497: The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a professional basketball league that operated from the 1967–68 season until it ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976. The ABA presented a variety of annual awards and honors to recognize its players and executives. There were six awards presented by the ABA. Three Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards were presented annually in

106-552: A collegiate All-American at Providence College , where his 30.4 points per game led all major college players. Walker was also the first pick in the 1967 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons and ended up playing his entire career in the NBA. Among its picks, New Orleans selected pole vaulter Bob Seagren "because he is a great athlete and we think he can play pro basketball", despite the fact that he had never played basketball at

159-474: A means of unique halftime entertainment that displayed the style and excitement that the ABA players brought to the game. The dunk contest was held at halftime of the All-Star game and the contestants were Artis Gilmore , George Gervin , David Thompson , Larry Kenon , and Julius Erving . The winner of the contest received $ 1,000 and a stereo system. Julius Erving went on to win the competition by completing

212-462: A more wide-open, flashy style of offensive play, as well as differences in rules — a 30-second shot clock (as opposed to the NBA's 24-second clock, though the ABA did switch to the 24 second shot clock for the 1975–76 season) and use of a three-point field goal arc , pioneered in the earlier ABL. Also, the ABA used a colorful red, white and blue ball, instead of the NBA's traditional orange ball. The ABA also had several "regional" franchises, such as

265-615: The 1968 ABA Playoffs , and was retired as part of the ABA–NBA merger . The inaugural award winner was Pittsburgh Pipers ' player Connie Hawkins . On all occasions, the player who wins the Playoffs MVP award was from the team that won the ABA championship . Julius Erving , who led the New York Nets to two ABA championships in 1974 and 1976 , is the only player to win the award twice. The All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (MVP)

318-550: The 1969–70 season as well as Joe Mullaney and Babe McCarthy in the 1973–74 season . Hannum, Sharman and Brown are the only recipients to have been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame . Every head coach won the award without a losing record. The Playoffs Most Valuable Player Award was an annual award given in the ABA Playoffs. The award was first awarded in

371-600: The 1971–72 season . Two Rookie of the Year winners have been elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame : 1970–71 Rookie of the Year Dan Issel and 1975–76 Rookie of the Year David Thompson . Issel and Charlie Scott were joint winners in the 1970–71 season . The Coach of the Year was an annual award first awarded in the 1967–68 season , to the best head coach(es) of

424-410: The 1974–75 season . Seven of the award winners were capable of playing forward , while six were capable of playing center . Two rookies have won the award: Spencer Haywood in the 1969–70 season and Artis Gilmore in the 1971–72 season . With the announcement of McGinnis as a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2017, every ABA MVP has been inducted into

477-592: The American Basketball League (ABL) shut down). According to one of the owners of the Indiana Pacers , its goal was to force a merger with the more established league. Potential investors were told that they could get an ABA team for half of what it cost to get an NBA expansion team at the time. When the merger occurred, ABA officials said their investment would more than double. The ABA distinguished itself from its older counterpart with

530-663: The Anaheim Amigos by a score of 134–129 in the league's inaugural game in front of 4,828 fans at the Oakland Arena on October 13, 1967. Oakland's Andy Anderson was high scorer with 33 points and Les Selvage hit four three-point field goals . The league's first all-star game was played in Indianapolis on January 9, 1968, at Hinkle Fieldhouse . Coach Jim Pollard of the Minnesota Muskies led

583-573: The Denver Larks/Rockets/Nuggets , a team that had been planned for Kansas City, Missouri , moved to Denver without playing a game in Kansas City due to the lack of a suitable arena. In addition to the four surviving ABA teams, eight current NBA markets have ABA heritage: Utah , Dallas , Houston , Miami , New Orleans , Memphis , Minnesota , and Charlotte all had an ABA team before their current NBA teams. With

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636-466: The Virginia Squires and Carolina Cougars , that played "home" games in several cities. In the 1973–74 season, the ABA also adopted the no-disqualification foul rule: instead of fouling out after six infractions, when a player is charged with his seventh or succeeding fouls, the opposing team retains possession and the offended team attempts any free throw. The ABA also went after four of

689-523: The ABA Finals. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) was an annual award first awarded in the 1967–68 season . Every player who has won the award has played for a team with at least 45 regular-season wins. The inaugural award winner was Hall of Famer Connie Hawkins . Hall of Famer Julius Erving won the award three times, all with the New York Nets . Mel Daniels won it twice with the Indiana Pacers . Erving and George McGinnis were joint winners in

742-400: The ABA cut down to seven teams by the middle of its final season, the league abandoned divisional play. In 1999, a new league calling itself the ABA 2000 was established. The new league uses a similar red, white and blue basketball as the old ABA, but unlike the original ABA, it does not feature players of similar caliber to the NBA, nor does it play games in major arenas or on television as

795-584: The ABA to professional basketball was to tap into markets in the southeast that had been collegiate basketball hotbeds (including North Carolina , Virginia , and Kentucky). The NBA was focused on the urban areas of the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast. At the time, it showed no interest in placing a team south of Washington, D.C., other than the Atlanta metropolitan area where the NBA's Hawks franchise relocated from St. Louis in 1968. NBA great George Mikan

848-439: The ABA would avoid raiding the players from the NBA as the upstart league as it wanted to avoid legal issues relating to the reserve clause and hoped to avoid creating a bidding war for talent that would make player salaries unaffordable. Despite that, The New York Times reported that tentative offers had been made to Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain , who was offered a contract that would pay him $ 50,000 (half of what he

901-720: The All-Star Game, the regular season, and the playoffs. In sports , the player judged to be the most important to the team is the Most Valuable Player (MVP). Other annual awards include the Executive of the Year, the Coach of the Year, and the Rookie of the Year. Honors were also presented to players who excelled in the respective categories of: best players, best defensive players, and best rookies. The Executive of

954-797: The East to a 126–120 win over the West team coached by Babe McCarthy of the New Orleans Buccaneers . Larry Brown of the Buccaneers was chosen as the game's Most Valuable Player. The nationally televised game was played in front of 10,872 fans, the largest attendance for any ABA game in Indianapolis as of that date. At the end of the regular season, the New Jersey Americans and the Kentucky Colonels finished

1007-627: The Eastern Division Pittsburgh Pipers and the New Orleans Buccaneers of the Western Division, and each won their respective division titles and won both divisional playoff rounds to advance to the league championship. In the seventh and deciding game, the Pipers defeated the Buccaneers by a score of 122–113 to take the first league championship , with Charlie Williams scoring a game high 35 points to lead

1060-565: The Hall of Fame. The Rookie of the Year Award was an annual award first awarded in the 1967–68 season , to the top rookie (s) of the regular season. The inaugural award winner was Mel Daniels , who also won two MVP awards during his ABA career. Two of the Rookie of the Year winners have won the MVP award in the same season: Spencer Haywood in the 1969–70 season and Artis Gilmore in

1113-685: The Knicks declined. The Nets had to settle for an arena in Piscataway, New Jersey , and, to meet expenses, were forced to sell the contract of Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers . Two other clubs, the Kentucky Colonels and the Spirits of St. Louis , were disbanded upon the merger, with each getting a buyout: the Colonels received a one-time buyout that owner John Y. Brown, Jr. used to purchase

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1166-470: The NBA's Buffalo Braves , while the Spirits owners negotiated a cut of the other ABA teams' television revenues in perpetuity. This deal netted the ownership group of the Spirits over $ 300M over nearly four decades due to a large increase in television revenues. In 2014, the NBA and the Spirits ownership agreed to phase out future payments in exchange for a one-time payment of $ 500M, making the total value for

1219-561: The University of Detroit as a sophomore and signed with the Denver Rockets. The ABA believed that in extenuating circumstances, such as a financial situation or familial needs, players should be able to leave for professional leagues early. While the NBA and NCAA initially contested the rule, after the courts ruled in favor of Haywood playing in the ABA, the NBA followed suit and relaxed the four year rule to allow players to enter

1272-525: The Western Division, against the New York Nets and won their final ABA championship against the Kentucky Colonels in 1973. The New York Nets won their first championship in 1974 against the Utah Stars , and their second against the Denver Nuggets in 1976. The last ABA Finals were in 1976, after which the ABA–NBA merger took place;all four teams that continued into the NBA made it to or won

1325-548: The Western division would be made up of Anaheim, California , Dallas , Denver , Houston , New Orleans and Oakland . Each team owner made a commitment that they would have the resources to run for at least three years on annual budgets of $ 500,000 and would be able to absorb any financial losses during that period. With the first pick in the league's inaugural draft in April 1967, Indianapolis chose Jimmy Walker , who had been

1378-507: The Year Award and the All-Defensive Team started in the 1972–73 season , while the rest started in the first season. Julius Erving has won the most ABA awards with five MVP awards—three in the regular season and two in the playoffs. Artis Gilmore has won the most ABA honors with nine. A total of 80 ABA players and executives have received at least one award or honor. The American Basketball Association (ABA) Finals were

1431-473: The advent of the now popular NBA slam dunk contest at the final ABA All-Star Game in 1976. The game was held in Denver, and the owners of the ABA teams wanted to ensure that the event would be entertaining for the sellout crowd of 15,021 people. The ABA and NBA had begun to discuss a possible merger, and the ABA owners wanted to establish the viability and success of their league. The Dunk Contest operated as

1484-597: The award: Brown, Spencer Haywood in the 1970 All-Star Game and David Thompson in the 1976 All-Star Game . From 1968 to 1975 , the game has matched the best players in the Eastern Division with the best players in the Western Division. The West has won five All-Star Game MVP awards, while the East won three. In the 1976 All-Star Game , the teams were the Denver Nuggets and the All-Stars. Denver won that All-Star Game, with Thompson as MVP. The All-ABA Team

1537-615: The best referees in the NBA: Earl Strom , John Vanak , Norm Drucker and Joe Gushue , getting them to "jump" leagues by offering them far more in money and benefits. In Earl Strom's memoir Calling the Shots , Strom conveys both the heady sense of being courted by a rival league with money to burn — and also the depression that set in the next year when he began refereeing in the ABA, with less prominent players performing in inadequate arenas, in front of very small crowds. Nevertheless,

1590-854: The center position for the All-ABA Second Team. Mel Daniels , Issel, Artis Gilmore and Julius Erving all tie for the record for the most total selections with five. Rick Barry , Donnie Freeman , Mack Calvin and Louie Dampier each have four total selections, while Larry Jones , Roger Brown , George McGinnis and Ralph Simpson follow with three total selections. Gilmore has the most All-ABA first team selections with five, while Daniels, Barry and Erving are all tied for second-most with four. A total of nine players were selected during their respective rookie years: Daniels, Spencer Haywood , Scott, Issel, Erving, Gilmore, Swen Nater , Marvin Barnes , and David Thompson . The All-Defensive Team

1643-571: The championship series of the ABA, a professional basketball league, in which two teams played each other for the title. The ABA was formed in the fall of 1967, and the first ABA Finals were played at the end of the league's first season in the spring of 1968. The league ceased operations in 1976 with the ABA–NBA merger and four teams from the ABA continued play in the National Basketball Association . All ABA Finals were in best-of-seven format and were contested between

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1696-552: The college level. The 11 teams selected a total of 130 players. In June 1967, NBA leading scorer Rick Barry left the San Francisco Warriors to sign with Oakland, making him the seventh player and the first superstar to defect to the upstart league. The landmark three-year contract offer from singer and team owner Pat Boone was estimated to be worth $ 500,000 and would make him one of basketball's highest-paid players. The agreement included 15 percent ownership in

1749-402: The deal over $ 800M. The seventh remaining team, the Virginia Squires , received nothing, as they had ceased operations shortly before the merger. The players from the Colonels, Spirits, and Squires were made available to NBA teams through a dispersal draft; the four teams absorbed by the NBA were allowed to choose players from this draft. One of the more significant long-term contributions of

1802-411: The emergence of the ABA boosted the salaries of referees just as it did the salaries of players. However ABA Teams like Nets, Colonels, Pacers, Spurs, Nuggets and Stars, especially in latest seasons, registered higher attendance on average than most of NBA teams at that time (excluding Lakers, Knicks, Celtics, SuperSonics and Bucks). The freewheeling style of the ABA eventually caught on with fans, but

1855-508: The first season of the league, with each team playing a 78-game schedule. The American Basketball Association (ABA) was founded in 1967 by Dennis Murphy, former mayor of Buena Park, California, and Gary Davidson , an attorney from Orange County, California. George Mikan , a former National Basketball Association star best known for his career with the Minneapolis Lakers , was named as the league's first commissioner, saying that

1908-748: The franchise, which led Barry to remark, "The offer Oakland made me was one I simply couldn't turn down." In August, however, a superior court judge upheld the reserve clause in Barry's contract and ruled that he was obligated to play for the Warriors or sit out for the entire season. Barry ultimately chose to sit out for the year, rather than play for San Francisco. Mikan unveiled the league's distinctive red, white and blue official ball in August, calling it "a patriotic ball" and saying that it would be more appealing visually on television. The Oakland Oaks defeated

1961-589: The game to the Long Island Arena in Commack, New York , but when the teams arrived, the playing surface was in such poor condition that the Colonels refused to play. Mikan ruled that the Americans had failed to provide acceptable playing facilities and forfeited the game to the Colonels, with Kentucky advancing to the divisional semifinals. The top seeds in each division during the regular season were

2014-535: The lack of a national television contract and protracted financial losses would spell doom for the ABA as an independent circuit. In 1976, its last year of existence, the ABA pioneered the now-popular slam dunk contest at its all-star game in Denver . The league succeeded in forcing a merger with the NBA in the 1976 offseason. Four ABA teams were absorbed into the older league: the New York Nets , Denver Nuggets , Indiana Pacers , and San Antonio Spurs . As part of

2067-493: The league if they qualified as a hardship on the basis of “financial condition…family, [or] academic record.” Haywood paved the way for other players to enter the ABA before they had completed their collegiate careers such as George McGinnis and Julius Erving. Today, the "one-and-done" rule in the NBA can be traced back to the ABA's decision to allow players to leave college early and pursue a professional career before they had completed their collegiate careers. The ABA pioneered

2120-562: The merger agreement, the four teams were not permitted to participate in the 1976 NBA draft . The merger was particularly hard on the Nets; the New York Knicks were firmly established in their arena, Madison Square Garden , and would not permit the Nets to share dates there. For drawing audience away from the Knicks, the Nets were forced to pay $ 4.3M to the Knicks organization. The Nets offered league superstar Julius Erving instead but

2173-599: The mid-1970s when numerous upstart leagues were challenging, with varying degrees of success, the established major professional sports leagues in the United States. Basketball was seen as particularly vulnerable to a challenge; its major league, the National Basketball Association , was the youngest of the Big Four major leagues, having only played 21 seasons to that point, and was still fending off contemporary challenging leagues (it had been less than five years since

List of American Basketball Association awards and honors - Misplaced Pages Continue

2226-484: The now famous free throw line dunk. The Slam Dunk Contest would make its way to the NBA in 1976–77 as a season-long competition for that season only, and on a permanent basis as a standalone event as part of the NBA All-Star Weekend in 1984. Of the original 11 teams, only the Kentucky Colonels and Indiana Pacers remained for all nine seasons without relocating, changing team names, or folding. However,

2279-502: The original ABA did. 1967%E2%80%9368 ABA season The 1967–68 ABA season was the first season for the American Basketball Association . The ABA was challenging the National Basketball Association . The ABA introduced a red, white and blue basketball. They used a 30-second shot clock as opposed to the NBA's 24 second shot clock, and also used the three-point shot . There were 11 teams playing in

2332-652: The primary contributions of the ABA to modern NBA was the introduction of the Spencer Haywood Hardship Rule , which would later become the framework for the current NBA draft eligibility system that allows players to declare for the NBA after being one year removed from their high school graduation. The origin of the Hardship Rule was a result of the NBA prohibiting players from joining the league until they had completed their four years of college eligibility. In 1969, Spencer Haywood left

2385-479: The regular season. The inaugural award winner was Vince Cazzetta , who coached the Pittsburgh Pipers to an ABA championship. Oakland Oaks coach Alex Hannum won the award the season after, and also coached his team to an ABA championship. Larry Brown won the award three times, and is the only coach to have won the award multiple times. Two seasons had joint winners— Joe Belmont and Bill Sharman in

2438-547: The season tied for the fourth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Division, with identical 36–42 records. The teams were supposed to play a one-game playoff to determine who would advance to the postseason, which was supposed to be played at the Teaneck Armory in Teaneck, New Jersey , home court of the Americans, but could not be played there as the circus was in town and had the space booked. The team tried to relocate

2491-549: The winners of the Eastern Division and the Western Division finals. The only teams to win the championship more than once were the Indiana Pacers and the New York Nets . The Indiana Pacers initially played in the ABA Finals in 1969, which they lost to the Oakland Oaks , but they won the championship the next year against the Los Angeles Stars . They won in the ABA Finals again in 1972, their first after moving to

2544-469: Was an annual award given to the best player of the annual All-Star Game. The award was established in the 1968 All-Star Game , and was retired as part of the ABA—NBA merger. The first recipient of the award was Larry Brown , who scored 17 points in a losing cause. Brown and 1971 winner Mel Daniels are the only players to win the award while being on the losing team in the All-Star Game. Three rookies have won

2597-459: Was an annual honor bestowed on the best defensive players in the league from the 1972–73 season to the season when the league merged with the NBA. The All-Defensive Team was composed of a five-man lineup without regard to position . Artis Gilmore holds the record for the most selections with four, while Mike Gale , Julius Keye , Fatty Taylor , Willie Wise , Don Buse , Bobby Jones and Brian Taylor follow with two selections. Bobby Jones

2650-522: Was an annual honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every ABA season. The team was selected in every season of the league's existence, dating back to its inaugural season in 1967–68 . The All-ABA Team was composed of two five-man lineups—a first and second team, each typically consisting of two forwards , one center , and two guards . A tie has occurred only once in the 1970–71 season when Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famers Zelmo Beaty and Dan Issel both were selected to

2703-402: Was making with the Philadelphia 76ers ) along with a 20% share of the team that started play as the New Jersey Americans . By April 1967, the league announced that they would begin play for the 1967–68 season with 11 teams in two divisions. The Eastern Division would include teams representing Indianapolis, Indiana , Louisville, Kentucky , New York City, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh , while

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2756-489: Was the first commissioner of the ABA, where he introduced both the 3-point line and the league's trademark red, white, and blue basketball. Mikan resigned in 1969. Dave DeBusschere , one of the stars of the New York Knicks championship teams, moved from his job as vice president and GM of the ABA's New York Nets in 1975 to become the last commissioner of the ABA and facilitate the ABA–NBA merger in 1976. One of

2809-427: Was the only player to be selected during his rookie year. The All-Rookie Team was an annual honor given to the top rookies during the regular season. The team was selected in every season of the league's existence, dating back to its inaugural season in 1967–68. The All-Rookie Team was composed of a five-man lineup. American Basketball Association The ABA was conceived at a time stretching from 1960 through

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