1975–76 San Antonio Spurs season

The 1975–76 San Antonio Spurs season was the third season for the franchise while in San Antonio, their ninth overall season when including the seasons they played as the Dallas Chaparrals in Dallas and the one season they went as the Texas Chaparrals representing the entire state of Texas as a regional franchise (specifically playing in both Lubbock and Fort Worth alongside Dallas), and their final season they played as a franchise while out in the ABA. Despite being one of three teams to lose to the short-lived San Diego Sails rebranded franchise alongside the Utah Stars and Virginia Squires (both of whom would later fold operations themselves during this season), the Spurs would it into the 1976 ABA Playoffs as the third-best team in the entire league behind only the New York Nets and Denver Nuggets, though the Spurs would lose 4–3 to the eventual champion New York Nets (led by the future-named ABA All-Time MVP Julius Erving) in the ABA Semifinals. Despite never winning a playoff series out in San Antonio as the Spurs and only winning one total playoff series in their entire history while in the ABA (that being during their inaugural season against the Houston Mavericks), the Spurs would be admitted to the National Basketball Association (NBA) along with what were considered the other three strongest teams in the ABA in the Denver Nuggets, the Indiana Pacers, and the most recent (and final) ABA champion New York Nets (now Brooklyn Nets) following the conclusion of the ABA-NBA merger talks in June 1976 due to the Spurs quickly being the highest-growing attending team in the ABA despite only having three seasons spent in San Antonio and having the second-smallest venue of the ABA teams that survived the regular season ahead of only the Virginia Squires' multiple smaller venues, as well as the smallest venue of every ABA team around once the merger occurred. The team's fortunes would only grow for the better in later seasons once they spent more time within the NBA, to the point of having the best success of all previous ABA teams post-merger with five NBA Finals championships to their name (having more championships going forward in the NBA than even the Indiana Pacers during their time in the ABA).

1975–76 San Antonio Spurs season
Head coach	Bob Bass
General manager	John Begzos
Owners	Angelo Drossos John Schaefer Red McCombs
Arena	HemisFair Arena
Results
Record	50–34 (.595)
Place	Division: 2nd (Western) Conference: 3rd
Playoff finish	ABA Semifinals (lost to Nets 3–4)
Stats at Basketball Reference
Local media
Television	KMOL 4
Radio	WOAI
< 1974–75 1976–77 >

ABA Draft

Main article: 1975 ABA draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position(s)	Nationality	College
1	8	Mark Olberding	SF/PF	United States	Minnesota
2	21	Rick Suttle	C	United States	Kansas
3	28	Bill Taylor	SF	United States	La Salle College
4	38	Ken Smith	SG	United States	Tulsa
5	48	Robert Parish	C	United States	Centenary College of Louisiana
6	58	Bayard Forrest	C	United States	Grand Canyon
7	68	Henry Ward	SG	United States	Jackson State
8	78	Gary Tomaszewski	SF/PF	United States	St. Mary's University of Texas

Roster

1975–76 San Antonio Spurs roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. No. Player Height Weight DOB From SF 30 Allan Bristow 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) August 23, 1951 Virginia Tech C 25 Coby Dietrick 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) July 23, 1948 San José State PF 23 Will Franklin 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 220 lb (100 kg) October 19, 1949 Purdue SG 12 Mike Gale 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) July 18, 1950 Elizabeth City State SF 44 George Gervin 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 180 lb (82 kg) April 27, 1952 Eastern Michigan PF 23 Stew Johnson 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) August 19, 1944 Murray State PG 22 George Karl 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) May 12, 1951 North Carolina PF 35 Larry Kenon 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 205 lb (93 kg) December 13, 1952 Memphis PF 53 Mark Olberding 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) April 21, 1956 u Minnesota C 42 Tom Owens 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 215 lb (98 kg) June 28, 1949 South Carolina C 5 Billy Paultz 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 235 lb (107 kg) July 30, 1948 St. John's PG 13 James Silas 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) February 11, 1949 Stephen F. Austin SF 52 Ken Smith 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 185 lb (84 kg) July 12, 1953 Tulsa PF 30 Dennis Van Zant 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 210 lb (95 kg) June 1, 1952 Azusa Pacific SG 15 Henry Ward 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 195 lb (88 kg) January 30, 1952 Jackson State PG 10 Skip Wise 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 170 lb (77 kg) July 25, 1955 Clemson

Head coach Bob Bass Legend (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Regular season

Schedule

Game	Date	Opponent	Result	Spurs	Opponents	Record
1
2

^[1]

Season standings

Team	W	L	PCT.	GB
Denver Nuggets *	60	24	.714	—
New York Nets *	55	29	.655	5
San Antonio Spurs *	50	34	.595	10
Kentucky Colonels *	46	38	.548	14
Indiana Pacers *	39	45	.464	21
Spirits of St. Louis	35	49	.417	25
Virginia Squires †	15	68	.181	44
San Diego Sails †	3	8	.273	—
Utah Stars †	4	12	.250	—
Baltimore Claws †	0	0	.000	—

Asterisk (*) denotes playoff team
† did not survive the end of the season.
Bold – ABA champions^[2]

ABA Playoffs

1976 playoff game log
Quarterfinals: 3–4 (home: 2–1; road: 1–3) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Series 1 April 9 @ New York L 101–116 George Gervin (30 Billy Paultz / Mike Gale (7) George Karl (4) Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum 8,221 0–1 2 April 11 @ New York W 105–79 Larry Kenon (30) Billy Paultz (18) Mike Gale (13) Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum 5,769 1–1 3 April 14 New York W 111–103 Larry Kenon (28) Larry Kenon (16) Mike Gale (11) HemisFair Arena 10,009 2–1 4 April 18 New York L 108–110 Billy Paultz / George Gervin (28) Billy Paultz (12) Billy Paultz (5) HemisFair Arena 9,277 2–2 5 April 19 @ New York L 108–110 Larry Kenon (27) Larry Kenon (12) Mike Gale (8) Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum 11,321 2–3 6 April 21 New York W 106–105 George Gervin (37) Larry Kenon (18) Mike Gale / Billy Paultz (5) HemisFair Arena 10,484 3–3 7 April 24 @ New York L 114–121 George Gervin (31) Larry Kenon (11) Mike Gale (6) Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum 15,934 3–4
1976 schedule

Spurs lose series, 4–3