1974–75 Milwaukee Bucks season

The 1974–75 NBA season was the Bucks' seventh season in the NBA. For the first time since 1970, Oscar Robertson was not on the opening day roster. This would be Kareem Abdul Jabbar's last season in Milwaukee before being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers following the season.

Just before the start of the regular season, Kareem had privately requested a trade on October 3, 1974, at a dinner meeting in Downtown Milwaukee. His preferred trade destinations were the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Lakers. General manager Wayne Embry later stated in 1987, "We asked Kareem if there was dissatisfaction with us and he said, 'no'. He just wanted to be traded from Milwaukee. He said his life style and the life style in Milwaukee were not compatible." With the Knicks failing to trade for Kareem in the 1975 offseason, the Lakers then traded for Kareem on June 16, 1975, in a trade that also sent Walt Wesley to the Lakers and Junior Bridgeman, Dave Meyers, Elmore Smith, and Brian Winters to the Bucks.

Draft picks

Main article: 1974 NBA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	18	Gary Brokaw	SG	United States	Notre Dame
3	54	Greg McDougald		United States	Oral Roberts
4	72	Lionel Billingy	F/C	United States	Duquesne
5	90	John Johnson	SF	United States	Denver
6	108	Larry Williams		United States	Kansas State
7	126	Bob Hornstein		United States	West Virginia
8	144	Ralph Palamar		United States	Cameron
9	161	Mike Deane		United States	SUNY Potsdam
10	178	Bruce Featherston		United States	Texas State

Roster

Milwaukee Bucks roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	No.	Name	Height	Weight	DOB	From
C	33	Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem	7 ft 2 in (2.18 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	1947–04–16	UCLA
G	25	Brokaw, Gary	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	178 lb (81 kg)	1954–01–11	Notre Dame
F	10	Dandridge, Bob	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1947–11–15	Norfolk State
G	20	Davis, Mickey	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1950–06–16	Duquesne
F	11	Kuberski, Steve	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	215 lb (98 kg)	1947–11–06	Bradley
G	14	McGlocklin, Jon	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	1943–06–10	Indiana
G	15	Price, Jim	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1949–11–27	Louisville
F	18	Restani, Kevin	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	1951–12–23	San Francisco
G	24	Thompson, George	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	1947–11–29	Marquette
C	35	Warner, Cornell	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	1948–08–12	Jackson State
C	21	Wesley, Walt	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	1945–01–25	Kansas
G	12	Williams, Ron	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	188 lb (85 kg)	1944–09–24	West Virginia

Head coach

Larry Costello

Assistant coach(es)

Jack McKinney

Legend

(DP) Unsigned draft pick
(FA) Free agent
(S) Suspended
Injured

Regular season

With the retirement of Oscar Robertson, the Bucks started the season 1–13 before slowly coming back and after 48 games they were 24-24 and were poised for their 6th straight trip to the postseason, but the Bucks faded down the stretch and missed the playoffs for the first time since their inaugural season in 1968–69.

Season standings

Midwest Division v t e	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Road	Div
y-Chicago Bulls	47	35	.573	–	29–12	18–23	11–15
x-Kansas City–Omaha Kings	44	38	.537	3	29–12	15–26	17–9
x-Detroit Pistons	40	42	.488	7	26–15	14–27	10–16
Milwaukee Bucks	38	44	.463	9	25–16	13–28	14–12

#	Western Conference v t e
#	Team	W	L	PCT	GB
1	z-Golden State Warriors	48	34	.585	–
2	y-Chicago Bulls	47	35	.573	1
3	x-Kansas City–Omaha Kings	44	38	.537	4
4	x-Seattle SuperSonics	43	39	.524	5
5	x-Detroit Pistons	40	42	.488	8

6	Portland Trail Blazers	38	44	.463	10
6	Milwaukee Bucks	38	44	.463	10
8	Phoenix Suns	32	50	.390	16
9	Los Angeles Lakers	30	52	.366	18

z – clinched division title

y – clinched division title

x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

1974–75 NBA Records
Team	ATL	BOS	BUF	CHI	CLE	DET	GSW	HOU	KCO	LAL	MIL	NOJ	NYK	PHI	PHO	POR	SEA	WAS
Atlanta	—	0–4	1–3	0–4	3–4	2–2	1–3	2–5	2–2	2–2	2–2	3–5	0–4	2–2	4–0	1–3	3–1	3–5
Boston	4–0	—	5–4	3–1	3–1	3–1	1–3	4–0	2–2	4–0	4–0	4–0	7–2	5–3	3–1	4–0	2–2	2–2
Buffalo	3–1	4–5	—	1–3	3–1	2–2	3–1	2–2	1–3	4–0	1–3	4–0	5–3	6–3	3–1	2–2	3–1	2–2
Chicago	4–0	1–3	3–1	—	2–2	4–5	3–1	2–2	4–5	3–1	3–5	4–0	3–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	4–0	1–3
Cleveland	4–3	1–3	1–3	2–2	—	2–2	2–2	4–4	2–2	2–2	1–3	6–1	1–3	3–1	2–2	2–2	2–2	3–5
Detroit	2–2	1–3	2–2	5–4	2–2	—	1–3	2–2	2–6	3–1	3–6	4–0	2–2	3–1	2–2	3–1	2–2	1–3
Golden State	3–1	3–1	1–3	1–3	2–2	3–1	—	2–2	2–2	5–2	3–1	2–2	3–1	3–1	5–3	5–3	4–3	1–3
Houston	5–2	0–4	2–2	2–2	4–4	2–2	2–2	—	4–0	2–2	3–1	5–3	1–3	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–3	2–5
Kansas City-Omaha	2–2	2–2	3–1	5–4	2–2	6–2	2–2	0–4	—	3–1	6–3	2–2	2–2	1–3	3–1	3–1	1–3	1–3
Los Angeles	2–2	0–4	0–4	1–3	2–2	1–3	2–5	2–2	1–3	—	4–0	3–1	0–4	3–1	4–4	2–5	2–6	1–3
Milwaukee	2–2	0–4	3–1	5–3	3–1	6–3	1–3	1–3	3–6	0–4	—	3–1	3–1	3–1	2–2	2–2	1–3	0–4
New Orleans	5–3	0–4	0–4	0–4	1–6	0–4	2–2	3–5	2–2	1–3	1–3	—	2–2	2–2	1–3	2–2	1–3	0–7
New York	4–0	2–7	3–5	1–3	3–1	2–2	1–3	3–1	2–2	4–0	1–3	2–2	—	4–5	3–1	2–2	2–2	1–3
Philadelphia	2–2	3–5	3–6	2–2	1–3	1–3	1–3	2–2	3–1	1–3	1–3	2–2	5–4	—	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–3
Phoenix	0–4	1–3	1–3	2–2	2–2	2–2	3–5	2–2	1–3	4–4	2–2	3–1	1–3	2–2	—	1–6	4–3	1–3
Portland	3–1	0–4	2–2	2–2	2–2	1–3	3–5	2–2	1–3	5–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	6–1	—	2–6	1–3
Seattle	1–3	2–2	1–3	0–4	2–2	2–2	3–4	3–1	3–1	6–2	3–1	3–1	2–2	2–2	3–4	6–2	—	1–3
Washington	5–3	2–2	2–2	3–1	5–3	3–1	3–1	5–2	3–1	3–1	4–0	7–0	3–1	3–1	3–1	3–1	3–1	—

Game log

1974–75 game log
Total: 38–44 (Home: 1–1; Road: 0–0)

October: 0–2 (home: 0–2; road: 0–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
1	October 18, 1974	Houston	L 101–106				MECCA Arena	0–1
4	October 22, 1974	Washington	L 96–111				MECCA Arena	1–3

November: 0–0 (home: 0–0; road: 0–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record

December: 1–0 (home: 1–0; road: 0–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record
30	December 22, 1974	New Orleans	W 96–76				MECCA Arena	12–18

January: 0–0 (home: 0–0; road: 0–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record

February: 0–0 (home: 0–0; road: 0–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record

March: 0–0 (home: 0–0; road: 0–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record

April: 0–0 (home: 0–0; road: 0–0)

Game	Date	Team	Score	High points	High rebounds	High assists	Location Attendance	Record

1974–75 schedule

Player statistics

Legend
GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game

Player Statistics
Player	GP	MPG	FG%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar	65	42.3	51.3	76.3	14.0	4.1	1.0	3.3	30.0
Bob Dandridge	80	37.9	47.3	80.5	6.9	3.0	1.5	0.6	19.9
Lucius Allen	10	34.2	41.5	83.8	3.1	5.3	1.4	0.1	16.7
Jim Price	41	37.3	44.0	85.9	3.8	5.4	2.2	0.5	14.9
George Thompson	73	27.2	44.3	78.5	2.5	3.1	0.9	0.1	10.7
Jon McGlocklin	79	23.5	49.6	87.5	1.5	3.2	0.6	0.1	9.0
Gary Brokaw	73	22.5	45.5	68.5	2.0	3.0	0.4	0.2	8.1
Cornell Warner	79	31.9	45.8	68.4	10.3	1.6	0.6	0.7	7.6
Mickey Davis	75	14.4	47.9	88.6	3.2	1.1	0.4	0.1	5.7
Kevin Restani	76	23.1	44.0	71.4	5.3	1.6	0.5	0.3	5.4
Ron Williams	46	11.4	37.6	82.8	0.9	1.5	0.5	0.0	3.2
Steve Kuberski	59	8.8	39.0	78.6	2.1	0.6	0.2	0.1	2.8
Walt Wesley	41	5.2	44.0	60.9	1.3	0.3	0.2	0.1	2.1
Terry Driscoll	11	4.7	23.1	50.0	1.5	0.3	0.1	0.0	0.6
Bob Rule	1	11.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Dick Cunningham	2	4.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0

Awards and records

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, NBA All-Defensive First Team

Transactions

Trades

October 8, 1974	To Milwaukee Bucks---- Steve Kuberski	To New Orleans Jazz---- Russ Lee
November 8, 1974	To Milwaukee Bucks---- Jim Price	To Los Angeles Lakers---- Lucius Allen