Philly Front Office

On April 30th, 1956, the NBA was having its 10th annual Draft. Back then there were only 8 teams and there was something called a territorial pick. The territorial pick allowed a team to forfeit its first rounder in order to select an amateur within 50 miles of the team’s home arena. The Philadelphia Warriors made Wilt Chamberlain their territorial pick in 1959 for example. In 1956 though, the Boston Celtics forfeited their #1 pick in order to make their territorial choice of Tommy Heinsohn. Considering he was the Rookie of the Year, became an 8 time champ, and was inducted to the Hall of Fame, I’d say it was the right choice. We are not here to talk about Tommy Heinsohn.

Atlanta Hawks

at

Philadelphia 76ers

February 19th at 7pm – Philadelphia, PA

The Rochester Royals had the #1 pick and selected a guy name Si Green, a guard out of Duquesne. Green played 10 years in the league on 4 different teams but is not someone anybody remembers other than being the answer to a trivia question. As much as it is easy to make fun of the eventual Kings for this pick, that’s not why we are here either.

The St. Louis Hawks had the 2nd pick that year. With it, they made a very wise selection, taking Bill Russell out of the University of San Francisco. The future Hall of Famer and 5x MVP is recognized as one of the greatest players of all time and perhaps the greatest winner in NBA history. Of course, he very obviously did not play for the Hawks.

The Boston Celtics wanted Russell but knew he would not be available with the 6th selection (hence the territorial pick). After making sure the Royals wouldn’t be selecting him (a faux agreement that was rumored to be greased with tickets to the Ice Capades) the Celtics made a call to St. Louis. Well, the Celtics happened to have a local St. Louisan on their team in 6x All-Star Ed Macauley who actually wanted to go home (remember, the Celtics were not the Celtics yet). The Celtics agreed to send Macauley and a guy who had spent the last 3 years in the military named Cliff Hagan to the Hawks in exchange for the #2 pick, Bill Russell.

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Here’s the craziest part about this deal, the Hawks made a good trade!!! Macauley was only 27 when the trade was made and still at the top of his game, while Hagan would be a 25-year-old rookie. Hagan became a 5x All-Star and regularly received MVP votes. The duo would lead the Hawks to a Finals appearance in that first year and a championship in year two. In 1960, they went back to the Finals with Macauley as coach. Both were eventually inducted into the Hall of Fame. If you were to tell someone that a trade would net them two Hall of Famers, they would take that every single time. Unfortunately, for them, not this time.

Of those three Finals appearances mentioned, Bill Russell and the Celtics were the opponents each time. After winning two of three against the Hawks, Russell would go on to win nine more as a player, the centerpiece of a Boston dynasty. No matter how good Maccauley was or Hagan became, Bill Russell was a league changing force and in a completely different tier.

Side Note: Boston would select KC Jones later that night. That’s three Hall of Famers from the 1956 draft alone.