| 1947 BAA draft | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Sport | Basketball |
| Date | June 2, 1947[1] |
| Location | The Leland Hotel (Detroit,Michigan)[1] |
| Overview | |
| 80 total selections in10 rounds | |
| League | BAA |
| First selection | Clifton McNeely,Pittsburgh Ironmen |
| Hall of Famers | |
1948 → | |
The1947 BAA draft was the first everdraft of theBasketball Association of America (BAA), which later merged with theNational Basketball League (NBL) to become theNational Basketball Association (NBA). The fledgling BAA held this draft as a joint draft with the established NBL. The BAA first discussed the idea of creating a draft system similar to theNFL draft (which was first implemented back in1936) back on January 1947 during league meetings held inNew York, with each team being giventerritorial pick rights to one player each year from schools in a 50 mile radius. However, both leagues wanted to control salaries by stamping out competitive bidding between the two leagues from college players that may or may not have been returning home fromWorld War II by assigning exclusive rights to the team selecting a player.[1] Before the BAA's draft began, the NBL had already signed eleven players that had already graduated from college, all of whom the NBL did not feel like they should be exposed to the BAA's draft system on display. The players included college starsJack Smiley,Ralph Hamilton,Harry Boykoff,John Hargis,Frank Brian, andCharlie Black. As a trade-off, the BAA teams were allowed to select players early on before the NBL did. Including the NBL's draft side of things (which saw at least ten teams of their own participate in the event themselves), the overall draft program would have included 100 players (mainly college seniors) drafted between the two leagues.[2]
The draft was held on June 2, 1947, months before the1947–48 season began. During this draft, the nine remaining BAA teams (both theCleveland Rebels andDetroit Falcons decided to decline their entries into the draft while still remaining as existing franchises at the time) along with theBaltimore Bullets, who joined the BAA from theAmerican Basketball League after a dispute they had during the ABL playoffs with that league, took turns selecting amateur U.S.college basketball players. In the first round of the draft, the teams selected in reverse order of their win–loss record in theprevious season, while the Bullets were assigned the tenth pick, the last pick of the first round, due in part to their overwhelming 31–3 record they had in the ABL beating out even the 49–11 record held by theWashington Capitols. Both thePittsburgh Ironmen andToronto Huskies participated in this draft, but they folded before the season opened alongside the Cleveland Rebels and Detroit Falcons.
Thefirst selection of the draft,Clifton McNeely fromTexas Wesleyan University, did not play in the BAA. Instead, McNeely opted for a high school coaching career in Texas.[3] The fourth pick,Walt Dropo, also did not play in the BAA and opted for a professionalbaseball career instead, eventually playing 13 seasons in theMajor League Baseball (MLB).[4][5] The 7th and 10th picks,Jack Underman andLarry Killick, also never played in the BAA. Three players from this draft,Harry Gallatin,Andy Phillip andJim Pollard, have been inducted to theBasketball Hall of Fame.[6]
Wataru Misaka, selected by theNew York Knicks,[7] made the team's final roster and became the first person of color to play in modern professional basketball, just months after theMajor League Baseballcolor line had been broken by theBrooklyn Dodgers'Jackie Robinson.[8] Misaka was cut after playing only three games with the team.[9]
| Pos. | G | F | C |
| Position | Guard | Forward | Center |
| ^ | Denotes player who has been inducted to theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame |
| * | Denotes player who has been selected for at least oneAll-Star Game andAll-NBA Team |
| + | Denotes player who has been selected for at least oneAll-Star Game |
| # | Denotes player who has never appeared in an NBA regular-season or playoff game |
| Rnd. | Pick | Player | Pos. | Nationality[n 1] | Team | School / club team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Clifton McNeely# | F |  United States | Pittsburgh Ironmen | Texas Wesleyan |
| 1 | 2 | Glen Selbo | G/F | United States | Toronto Huskies | Wisconsin |
| 1 | 3 | Bulbs Ehlers | G/F | United States | Boston Celtics | Purdue |
| 1 | 4 | Walt Dropo# | – | United States | Providence Steamrollers | Connecticut |
| 1 | 5 | Dick Holub | C | United States | New York Knicks | Long Island |
| 1 | 6 | Chink Crossin | G | United States | Philadelphia Warriors | Pennsylvania |
| 1 | 7 | Jack Underman# | – | United States | St. Louis Bombers | Ohio State |
| 1 | 8 | Paul Huston | F | United States | Chicago Stags | Ohio State |
| 1 | 9 | Dick O'Keefe | G/F | United States | Washington Capitols | Santa Clara |
| 1 | 10 | Larry Killick# | – | United States | Baltimore Bullets | Vermont |
The following list includes other draft picks who have appeared in at least one BAA/NBA game.[10][11]
These players were not selected in the 1947 draft, but played at least one game in the BAA/NBA.
