The NBA Team That Prepared for the Draft by Studying Basketball Cards
$20 worth of basketball cards went a long way in helping the Cleveland Cavaliers build their first roster
With each passing year, the business of scouting basketball talent evolves because of enhanced technology and the ability to project physical tools and on-court results. It will forever be an inexact science, but teams are forever being able to feel increasingly confident with the personnel decisions that they make. Things have come along way since 1970, when the Cleveland Cavaliers helped prepare for that year’s expansion draft by studying the stats on the back of basketball cards.
After years of trying to get the NBA in Cleveland, the Cavaliers joined the league as an expansion team in time for the 1970–71 season. Joining them were the Buffalo Braves (now the Los Angeles Clippers) and the Portland Trailblazers. To ensure they had some semblance of talent on their rosters, an expansion draft was held for the fifth time in league history. The other 14 teams were able to initially protect seven players each and could then pull back another player as each round progressed. Needless to say, the new teams had a lot of information to process to make their choices.
Tasked with building his team, Cleveland coach Bill Fitch was in his first NBA season after coming from the…
