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Since 1966 (when the territorial pick ended) -

ATL - 1975 (David Thompson)
BOS - None
BRK - 1990 (Derrick Coleman), 2000 (Kenyon Martin)
CHA - None
CHI - 1999 (Elton Brand), 2008 (Derrick Rose)
CLE - 1971 (Austin Carr), 1986 (Brad Daugherty), 2003 (LeBron James), 2011 (Kyrie Irving), 2013 (Anthony Bennett)
DAL - 1981 (Mark Aguirre)
DEN - None
DET - 1967 (Jimmy Walker), 1970 (Bob Lanier)
GSW - 1980 (Joe Barry Carroll), 1995 (Joe Smith)
HOU - 1968 (Elvin Hayes), 1976 (John Lucas), 1983 (Ralph Sampson), 1984 (Akeem Olajuwon), 2002 (Yao Ming)
IND - None
LAC - 1988 (Danny Manning), 1998 (Michael Olowokandi), 2009 (Blake Griffin)
LAL - 1979 (Magic Johnson), 1982 (James Worthy)
MEM - None
MIA - None
MIL - 1969 (Lew Alcindor), 1977 (Kent Benson), 1994 (Glenn Robinson), 2005 (Andrew Bogut)
MIN - None
NOP - 1991 (Larry Johnson), 2012 (Anthony Davis)
NYK - 1966 (Cazzie Russell), 1985 (Patrick Ewing)
OKC - None
ORL - 1992 (Shaquille O'Neal), 1993 (Chris Webber), 2004 (Dwight Howard)
PHI - 1973 (Doug Collins), 1996 (Allen Iverson)
PHO - None
POR - 1972 (LaRue Martin), 1974 (Bill Walton), 1978 (Mychal Thompson), 2007 (Greg Oden)
SAC - 1989 (Pervis Ellison)
SAS - 1987 (David Robinson), 1997 (Tim Duncan)
TOR - 2006 (Andrea Bargnani)
UTH - None
WAS - 2001 (Kwame Brown), 2010 (John Wall)

Frigging Spurs really nailed it with their #1 picks!

Especially 1997 - one year of suckage, and then bam, best PF ever (arguably at least).

Great stuff, Bobster. Thanks!

The Bobster wrote:Since 1966 (when the territorial pick ended)

What does that mean?

So, oldest franchises in order without an overall number one pick:

BOS - None (1946)
OKC - None (1967)
PHO - None (1968)
UTH - None (1974)
DEN - None (1976)
IND - None (1976)
MIA - None (1988)
MIN - None (1989)
MEM - None (1995)
CHA - None (2004)

Well, since my last book was on the history of the college draft I figured I'd better come through on this one!

FYI - prior to 1966 teams could use a "territorial pick" to select a local player and then forfieted their #1 pick. This is how the Royals got Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas, the Celtics got Tommy Heinsohn, the Warriors got Wilt Chamberlain, the Knicks got Bill Bradley, the Pistons got Dave DeBusschere and the Lakers got Walt Hazzard and Gail Goodrich (for example).

It was mostly done to keep hometown players on the local teams and help build up a following, but the league outgrew the practice. Otherwise you might have seen Julius Erving in Boston; David Robinson, Ralph Sampson, Patrick Ewing and Allen Iverson in Washington; Kobe Bryant in Philadelphia; John Stockton in Seattle; Kevin Garnett in Chicago; Magic Johnson in Detroit and Larry Bird with Indiana.

This info deserved it's own thread!

Interesting about the territorial picks. I did not know that.

Seems like I remember reading the Celtics pulling some chicanery (it was probably allowed then anyway) where they drafted Larry Bird after his junior year - and still retained his rights even though he returned for his senior season at Indiana State.

Superbone wrote:Great stuff, Bobster. Thanks!

The Bobster wrote:Since 1966 (when the territorial pick ended)

What does that mean?

So, oldest franchises in order without an overall number one pick:

BOS - None (1946)
OKC - None (1967)
PHO - None (1968)
UTH - None (1974)
DEN - None (1976)
IND - None (1976)
MIA - None (1988)
MIN - None (1989)
MEM - None (1995)
CHA - None (2004)

On behalf of Sonics fans / Seattle residents, it is blasphemy to list OKC as not having received a #1 pick since 1967. OKC didn't exist in 1967. The Seattle Supersonics did. One day they will exist again, and then you should list THEM as not having received a #1 pick since 1967.

Charlie Smithy! wrote:Seems like I remember reading the Celtics pulling some chicanery (it was probably allowed then anyway) where they drafted Larry Bird after his junior year - and still retained his rights even though he returned for his senior season at Indiana State.

Bird had sat out a year as a redshirt when he transferred from Indiana to Indiana State so he was eligible to be drafted in 1978, and Boston used their second first-round pick to select him. Indiana had the first pick but sent it to Portland when Bird announced that he was going to remain in school. Portland then picked Mychal Thompson with that pick and were planning on selecting Bird with the 7th pick, but Boston, who had the 6th and 8th picks, used the 6th pick to take Bird before Portland could.

Drafting "junior eligibles" was commonplace at the time, that's how the Suns ended up with All-American Kyle Macy in 1980 (after drafting him in 1979 because he had sat out a redshirt year when he transferred from Purdue to Kentucky).