1974–75 Utah Stars season

The 1974–75 Utah Stars season was the fifth season of the franchise in Utah (and eighth overall season when including their few seasons out in nearby California as the Anaheim Amigos and Los Angeles Stars) in the American Basketball Association (ABA). Despite declining from the previous season for the 3rd straight year, the Stars went into the playoffs once again, finishing seven games over San Diego for 4th place. In the Semifinals, they lost to the Denver Nuggets in 6 games. As it turned out, this was their final playoff appearance, as the team folded midway through the next season.^[1] Unbeknownst to fans of the Stars at the time, part of the reason as to why the hit franchise would suddenly fold with little to no warning to fans near the end of the 1975 year would relate to Stars owner Bill Daniels focusing primarily on becoming the governor of nearby Colorado during the 1974 year, losing his spot for the Republican National Committee to Governor John Vanderhoof, who in turn would lose his following election to Democrat candidate Richard Lamm.^[2][3] While Daniels would try to help save the Stars by selling the franchise to multiple different incumbent owners, to the point of even attempting a merger with the Spirits of St. Louis as a last resort measure to save the Utah franchise specifically since the Spirits were also dealing with serious financial troubles near the end of 1975 and would have likely folded operations had the merger gone through as the Stars had planned for their ends, every attempt would ultimately go in vain for Daniels and the franchise by December 1975.

1974–75 Utah Stars season
Head coach	Bucky Buckwalter (24-32) Tom Nissalke (14-14)
Arena	Salt Palace
Results
Record	38–46 (.452)
Place	Division: 4th (ABA)
Playoff finish	Lost in ABA Semifinals
Radio	KALL
< 1973–74 1975–76 >

Before the season officially began, the Stars drafted a 19-year old Moses Malone straight out of Petersburg High School in Petersburg, Virginia as the 22nd pick from the third round of the 1974 ABA draft (with them acquiring the pick by a trade with the Virginia Squires through a 1973 deal involving Cincy Powell^[4]) and later signing him to a four-year contract worth $565,000 (with additional bonuses in mind) after dealing with months-long disputes regarding his professional/collegiate status at the time since he was initially slated to go to the University of Maryland at the time. However, the ABA allowed the Stars to select Malone in spite of initial concerns due to the league noticing his poor home life at the time and expressing genuine concern for his status as a player since he only barely was considered eligible for attending the University of Maryland at the time and his family had received envelopes involving hundreds of dollars for universities to persuade Malone to attend their college or university specifically (which would have raised concerns within the NCAA had Malone stayed in the collegiate system). Malone would later end up becoming the second-leading scorer in ABA/NBA history when combining overall scoring totals in both leagues played behind only Julius Erving and earn his spot in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, as well as result in both the ABA and the NBA allowing high school seniors to enter the following year's respective drafts not long afterward.

ABA Draft

Main article: 1974 ABA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position(s)	Nationality	School
1	10	Joe C. Meriweather	PF/C	United States	Southern Illinois
2	20	Len Kosmalski	C	United States	Tennessee
3	22	Moses Malone	C	United States	Petersburg High School (Petersburg, Virginia)
3	25	Aaron Jones	PF	United States	Duquesne
3	27	Tom Barker	PF/C	United States	College of Southern Idaho
4	38	Sam McCants	G	United States	Oral Roberts
5	48	Steve Brooks	C	United States	Arkansas State
7	68	Ron Lee	PG	United States	Oregon
8	78	Ed Palubinskas	G	Australia	LSU
9	88	Glenn Hansen	SG	United States	LSU
10	98	Mike Westra	F	United States	USC

Moses Malone would become the first basketball player to not only be selected directly out of high school since Reggie Harding back in 1962 for the NBA, but he'd also become the first high school senior to play directly into a professional basketball league in a modern era of play after the NBA previously forbade the idea back when they were called the Basketball Association of America. This draft listing does not include selections made from the "ABA Draft of NBA Players" done immediately afterward.

ABA Draft of NBA Players

Round	Pick	Player	Position(s)	Nationality	College	NBA Team
1	8	Bob Christian	C	United States	Grambling College	Phoenix Suns
2	18	Geoff Petrie	PG/SG	United States	Princeton	Portland Trail Blazers
3	28	Howard Porter	PF/C	United States	Villanova	Chicago Bulls
4	38	Rudy Tomjanovich	PF	United States	Michigan	Houston Rockets
5	48	Bob McAdoo	C	United States	North Carolina	Buffalo Braves

The "ABA Draft of NBA Players" that was done on April 17, 1974 happened immediately after the actual ABA Draft done for this season was concluded on that day. None of the five players drafted by the Stars would report to the team this season, with Bob Christian (who previously played in a couple of games for the Dallas Chaparrals and New York Nets (now San Antonio Spurs and Brooklyn Nets respectively) earlier in his career while first being in the ABA) notably retiring from playing professional basketball altogether this season. Following this draft's conclusion, Rudy Tomjanovich and Bob McAdoo would both end up becoming future members of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, though Tomjanovich would primarily enter more for his work as a head coach with the Houston Rockets in particular.

Roster

1974–75 Utah Stars roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From SG 24 Ron Boone 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 200 lb (91 kg) September 6, 1946 Idaho State SF 35 Roger Brown 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) May 22, 1942 George W. Wingate High School C 32 Randy Denton 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 240 lb (109 kg) February 18, 1949 Duke SG 34 Clyde Dickey 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 185 lb (84 kg) December 14, 1951 Boise State PF 33 Jim Eakins 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 215 lb (98 kg) May 24, 1946 BYU C 25 Gerald Govan 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) January 2, 1942 Saint Mary of the Plains College SG 11 Wali Jones 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) February 14, 1942 Villanova C 22 Moses Malone 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 260 lb (118 kg) March 23, 1955 Petersburg High SG 30 Roy McPipe 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 205 lb (93 kg) May 5, 1950 Montana State Billings SG 44 Larry Miller 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) April 4, 1946 North Carolina PG 15 John Roche 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1949-09-26 South Carolina SF 10 Bruce Seals 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) June 18, 1953 Xavier (LA) PG 20 Al Smith 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) January 15, 1947 Bradley SF 44 Hank Williams 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) April 28, 1952 Jacksonville

Head coach Joe Mullaney Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured Roster

Final standings

Western Division

Team	W	L	PCT.	GB
Denver Nuggets*	65	19	.774	-
San Antonio Spurs*	51	33	.607	14
Indiana Pacers*	45	39	.536	20
Utah Stars*	38	46	.452	27
San Diego Conquistadors	31	53	.369	34

Asterisk denotes playoff berth

Playoffs

Western Division Semifinals

Game	Date	Location	Score	Record	Attendance
1	April 6	Denver	107–122	0–1	7,200
2	April 7	Denver	120–126	0–2	7,298
3	April 9	Utah	122–108	1–2	5,694
4	April 11	Utah	132–110	2–2	9,106
5	April 12	Denver	119–130	2–3	7,498
6	April 14	Utah	113–115	2–4	8,448

Stars lose series, 4–2

This would end up becoming the final ABA Playoff series that the Stars would end up playing in.