There was plenty of talent at the very top of the NBA draft in 1974. For the first time since 1970, the Braves couldn't get any of it.
Buffalo's winning record had put it right in the middle of the first round, picking ninth out of 18 teams. It had no chance at such players as Bill Walton, Marvin Barnes, Tom Burleson and Bobby Jones.
Rumors surrounded the Braves at draft time that the team would select Tom McMillen with its first-round pick. The reason was an odd one: McMillen shared a hometown tie of Mansfield, Pa., with Buffalo owner Paul Snyder. The reasoning may have been faulty but the pick came out as advertised. McMillen was a 6-11 star from Maryland who could offer some depth at forward. The catch -- the Braves would have to wait a year for McMillen to fulfill an Oxford scholarship. Buffalo passed up some good talent for McMillen, including Keith Wilkes, Brian Winters, Truck Robinson and John Drew.
A little help up front was needed, because the Braves had lost a member of their bench in the 1974 expansion draft. Bob Kauffman, the last original Brave, was taken by the New Orleans Jazz and dealt to Atlanta, where he played the last year of his career. Kauffman had an odd-looking career -- three seasons in the NBA all-star game, four seasons as a reserve -- but he'd be always remembered fondly in Buffalo for his efforts in those early years of the franchise.
General manager Eddie Donovan completed one good-sized transaction in the offseason. Buffalo sent Matt Goukas and two second-round draft choices to the Chicago Bulls for Bob Weiss. It was a deal involving two future NBA coaches. Weiss was a third guard behind Norm Van Lier and Jerry Sloan on some very good Chicago teams of the early 1970's. Buffalo also purchased Dale Schlueter from Atlanta, a center who could take up space and give McAdoo a breather.
Was it enough to keep the building process going? Milt Northrop of the Buffalo Evening News didn't think so.
"I think where the improvement stopped was that they stopping building the backup strength on the roster," he said. "After they make the playoffs in '74, they had a decent pick, the ninth pick, and they drafted Tom McMillen. ... They weren't in a position where they could bank a player. They needed rebounding help off the bench."
But the starting lineup was the same, and for more than a month it looked as if that nucleus was going to blow down the NBA.
Buffalo opened the season on Oct. 18 with a win in Boston, its first ever. On Oct. 29, DiGregorio tore the cartilage in his knee badly enough to miss more than half the season. Even so, the Braves lost a game in Portland on Nov. 1, and then won 11 straight games to moe to a 15-3 record. Buffalo looked like the sports capital of the nation at that point, what with the Sabres headed for their best-ever season and the Bills on their way to the playoffs. All three teams were in first place that November.
