1973–74 Virginia Squires season

The 1973–74 Virginia Squires season was the fourth season of the Squires in the American Basketball Association and the seventh season in the franchise's history when including the seasons played as the Oakland Oaks and Washington Caps. The team finished 6th in points scored at 106.3 points per game and 9th in points allowed at 111.3 points per game. The team was 15–27 midway through the season, but then went 13–29 in the second half of the season. Their biggest losing streak was 6 games, with their highest winning streak being 3 games, done twice. Despite these problems, they clinched the fourth and final playoff spot over the Memphis Tams by 7 games. The Squires lost to Julius Erving and the eventual champion New York Nets in the Semifinals in 5 games. The money troubles that had troubled the franchise throughout most of the franchise's existence (specifically ever since the period after the Oakland Oaks won the 1969 ABA Finals championship saw them move to Washington, D.C. in the first place) meant that the Squires were forced to trade away pivotal players of the franchise in order to provide short-term stability through monetary means. The franchise's biggest star player, Julius Erving, was traded along with Willie Sojourner to the New York Nets for one-time former ABA All-Star George Carter and cash before the season started.^[1] Then during the season, rookie center Swen Nater was traded on November 21, 1973 to the San Antonio Spurs for $300,000 in cash. On the night of the 1974 ABA All-Star Game, it was announced that the Squires sold George Gervin to the San Antonio Spurs for $225,000 (though the agreement was planned a month or so after the deal involving Swen Nater in order to get people attending the ABA All-Star Game in Virginia that year). Gervin's last game with the team was on February 1, but a court battle delayed his play with the Spurs, though it was all settled in favor of the Spurs by March 3.^[2] This was the last season the Squires made it to the playoffs, as they went into a tailspin for the next two seasons, winning only 15 games and losing over 60 games in each season afterward.^[3]

Interestingly, this year's ABA draft would involve four different types of drafts throughout the early 1973 year: a "Special Circumstances Draft" on January 15, a "Senior Draft" on April 25, an "Undergraduate Draft" also on April 25, and a "Supplemental Draft" on May 18. As such, the following selections were made in these respective drafts by the Squires.

Both of the Squires' selections they made in January's "Special Circumstances Draft" are considered interesting selections for different reasons. For George Gervin's selection, not only was he one of only two players drafted in the 1973 ABA draft system to not come directly out of college due to Gervin playing for the Pontiac Chaparrals in the original Continental Basketball Association after previously being suspended from Eastern Michigan University early in his sophomore year (which likely prompted the ABA to implement the return of their "Special Circumstances Draft" in a new and improved manner for the month of January 1973 after previously having it be a dud of sorts back in late 1971), but he was also the only player from the "Special Circumstances Draft" to actually play for the team he was first drafted from before the 1972–73 ABA season ended due to Gervin's unique status as a semi-professional player being drafted by the ABA at the time of that specific draft, meaning Gervin wouldn't be considered a rookie player for the Squires during this specific season of play. As for Barry Parkhill, he was actually previously drafted by the Squires back in the 1971 ABA draft, but Parkhill alongside Tom Riker and Jim Chones were three players drafted by the Squires from that specific draft to later be considered invalid picks by the ABA due to unwritten stipulations where ABA teams couldn't draft anymore college underclassmen back when the ABA-NBA merger was first projected to occur in the early 1970's instead of by 1976 (when it actually, officially happened following a lawsuit the NBA had involving Oscar Robertson), which led to the Squires walking those selections back while the three players returned to college that year. However, unlike the other two players, Parkhill was the only player out of the three original 1971 draft choices to get selected by the Squires once again by 1973, with Parkhill also deciding to play for the Squires, just like Gervin did a season earlier, for good measure.

The "Senior Draft" done in April is often considered the official, main draft period of the 1973 ABA draft by basketball historians. Not only that, but this "Senior Draft" made by the Squires is notable for a few interesting reasons as well. First, their "Senior Draft" contains the only ABA player to have ever made it to the ABA All-Star Game that was selected in that particular draft in Caldwell Jones. Second, two of the players that the Squires selected in Aron Stewart and Walt McGrary would return to their respective colleges for one more year, meaning they would technically be considered ineligible selections if it weren't for the fact that they could already be considered redshirt senior students also. Third, and arguably most notably, the Squires would select Phil Chenier directly from the NBA's Baltimore Bullets (who would soon afterward become the Capital Bullets and then the Washington Bullets before eventually becoming the Washington Wizards by the late 1990s since then) after the ABA already previously had a team select him in their "Special Circumstances Draft" in 1971 and he decided not to play for the ABA that time, even though he wouldn't be considered a "senior" properly due to him playing professional basketball in the rivaling NBA instead of at the University of California like he was supposed to have been at the time. Not only did this mark the second time this year that the Squires would draft a player that was no longer in college and was instead playing professional basketball (in this case, for the rivaling NBA instead of a semi-professional league like the CBA was for George Gervin), but the selection of Phil Chenier by the Squires would likely get the ABA to utilize the unique opportunity to draft NBA players in the following year's draft with the "1974 ABA Draft of NBA Players."

The "Undergraduate Draft" is considered a continuation of the "Senior Draft" that was done earlier that same day, hence the numbering of the rounds and draft picks here.

None of the eight players selected in the "Supplemental Draft" would ever play for the Squires or anyone else in the ABA once this draft concluded in May.

Eastern Division Semifinals^[4]

Squires lose series, 4–1

1974 ABA All-Star Game selections (game played on January 30, 1974) at Norfolk Scope in Norfolk, Virginia

• George Gervin
• Jim Eakins

• Squires on Basketball Reference

• RememberTheABA.com 1973-74 regular season and playoff results
• RememberTheABA.com Virginia Squires page