How did the Celtics get the 1st pick in the 1980 Draft?

[manl_lui]

Red Auerbach laid the groundwork for this deal in September of 1979, when he sent power forward Bob McAdoo and got back M.L. Carr and the Pistons’ first-round pick in return.

http://boston.sportsthenandnow.com/2012/01/29/the-celtics-draft-day-trade-of-1980-a-train-robbery-revisited/

How did such a trade come about? The Celtics had the first overall pick in the draft—it wasn’t of their own doing. Red Auerbach laid the groundwork for this deal in September of 1979, when he sent power forward Bob McAdoo and got back M.L. Carr and the Pistons’ first-round pick in return. Given how things unfolded, Boston fans should all send special thanks to ESPN analyst Dick Vitale, who was the Pistons’ coach and general manager at the time.


A younger, but still bald Dick Vitale, made the trade possible with a deal the prior September.
In fairness to Vitale, this wasn’t a bad trade and he’s obviously not responsible for what Auerbach did with the pick. McAdoo was a post man with a soft touch on the turnaround shot and dealing him away for a role-playing veteran guard and unknown rookie was a move fraught with risk for Auerbach. The risk was drastically minimized when the Pistons started slowly, fired Vitale and won only 16 games in the 1979-80 season. They, and the Utah Jazz were the candidates for the #1 pick. Prior to the institution of the draft lottery in 1985, the worst teams in each conference settled it with a coin flip. When Detroit won the flip, it gave the Celtics the first pick.

Good stuff. TP

this sounds kinda familiar