1975 Regular Season Wrap Up
March 28th, 1975 | Donald Henderson
The Boston Celtics are going nowhere and remain the team to beat in the NBA. They once again finish with the best record in the association and will be looking to win back-to-back Championships this season
We'll be getting a round one rematch come playoffs as the Buffalo Braves and Washington Bullets will go toe-to-toe once again. They've flipped flopped seeds compared to last year but expect both teams to give each other a run. McAdoo is now a back to back MVP but some playoff results will need to be seen. Will the big three of Hayes, Maravich and Chenier be enough to take down the big man?
The Knicks and Rockets will battle to see who will lose to the Boston Celtics. All jokes aside, both these teams missed the playoffs last year and will look to try and make some noise this postseason. I have the Knicks coming out in top in this series. Houston just doesn't have the type of talent to match up with Frazier and Monroe
I gained a massive amount of respect for the New Orleans Jazz as they were the best team in the East to not make the playoffs this year. That's exciting to hear after just your first season in existence. Former Celtics Steve Kuberski really took the bull by the horns on this team, leading in points per game with 15.4 . Will New Orleans choose to get value for him while its high or keep him around for the benefit of the team.
The Cavaliers decided to finally pull the trigger on an Austin Carr trade and they were rewarded with Portland's 1st round pick this season. They now have a nice core three of Bing Smith, rookie Jamaal Wilkes and former Hawk Steve Bracey. They won't be competitive anytime soon but they're putting the building blocks in place for the future
There was a few bright spots for Phialdelphia but this team really needs that big star if they want to have a chance at making the postseason. Van Arsdale and Carter are a nice little duo, along with Steve Mix, who was named to the All-Defensive first team, and you have pieces to work with. Getting that big star is what would really push this team into that next phase as a team. How exactly they're going to do that however is very unclear.
The Hawks have decided the duo of Hudson and Maravich just wasn't going to be enough and Pistol Pete was the first domino to fall. Expect the sharpshooting Hudson to be in a different uniform by the start of next season. After seeing how bad they were this season, it's hard to imagine they will be even worse the following year.
Wow. What a second half from the Phoenix Suns. They go from 42 wins and missing the playoffs last season to 54 wins and first in the West this season. With the added scoring of George Gervin and the rest of the team really gelling together, the Suns were blessed with a lot of success. Will it translate come the playoffs though?
Milwaukee was only six games above .500 at January 1st but Defensive Player of the Year Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has willed this team to the second seed and tied for the best record in the conference. Per reports, it sounds like the only thing that will make their star center rescind his trade request is a Championship. Do the Bucks have the roster to do that?
Jerry West will have what looks like one last playoff appearance as the Lakers are back in the playoffs. He may no longer be the player he once was but the NBA legend will still provide big minutes for LA. They'll need Goodrich and Hawkins to turn it up a notch and for Elmore Smith to continue his defensive dominance if they want a chance at upsetting the Bucks. It's not out of the realm of possibility however, we saw what happened last year to Milwaukee
The Bulls secure the 4th seed and take the tiebreaker over the surprise Seattle SuperSonics. They'll hope that home court advantage will be beneficial for them in their best of three series versus Spencer Haywood and company. Let's also just take a moment and give praise to the SuperSonics for securing their spot in the playoffs after being last in the East 33 games into the season. Spencer Haywood was a MVP Finalist and for good reason.
After seeing them take down the big dog Bucks in round one and going all the way to the finals, expectations were high for Kansas City entering the 74-75 season. The Kings got knocked down a peg this season when they let their playoff chances slip away and lost the final 5th seed to Seattle in the last week of the season. It's just so disappointing for a team that really should be a playoff team
Big question marks await the Blazers, Warriors and Pistons. All three are in somewhat similar situations. They have the stars (Wicks, Barry, Bing, Lanier) but the depth around those players aren't enough to be competitive. Will they decide to try and build around these guys or will they blow it up and rebuild? Only time will tell
Somehow, Bob McAdoo actually outdid his MVP season from last year. The 23 year old big man is your back-to-back winner of the award and, in my opinion, should have won his first DPOY this season as well. I think he was much better defensively than Kareem through the year but alas, the voters opinions were different. Will anybody be able to stop this man from continuing his regular season dominance?
06-01-2023, 03:45 AM
