1967–68 Oakland Oaks season

The 1967–68 Oakland Oaks season was the first and season of the franchise in the American Basketball Association (ABA). The Oaks played in the first ever game of the ABA on October 13, 1967, beating the Anaheim Amigos 134–129. Rick Barry attempted to defect over to the Oaks, due to being angered by San Francisco Warriors management's failure to pay him certain incentive awards he felt he was due. However the team sued to stop him from playing, which meant that he would sit out the season rather than play for the Warriors, subsequently doing radio broadcasts for the Oaks. The next season, Barry was allowed to play for the Oaks. The team struggled, finishing dead last in the West by 3 games, with the worst record in the ABA. The Oaks averaged 110.8 points a game (which was 4th best in the league), but gave up an average of 117.4 points, the worst in the league. According to the Elo rating system, the Oaks had the second-worst performance of any professional basketball team ever in a major league, of 1485 such team-seasons, with only the 1946–47 Pittsburgh Ironmen having a worse year.^[1][2]

Roster

• 14 Andrew Anderson – Point guard
• 44 Wesley Bialosuknia – Shooting guard
• 30 Gary Bradds – Power forward
• 55 Mike Dabich – Center
• 11 Ron Franz – Small forward
• 42/55 Jim Hadnot – Center
• 33 Ira Harge – Center
• 31 Steve Jones – Shooting guard
• 32 David Lee – Small forward
• 12 Barry Leibowitz – Point guard
• 32 Wayne Molis – Center
• 40 Mel Peterson – Small forward
• 33 Willie Porter – Power forward
• 15 Al Salvadori – Forward
• 34 Levern Tart – Shooting guard
• 30 Gene Wiley – Center

Final standings

Western Division

Awards and honors

1968 ABA All-Star Game selections (game played on January 9, 1968)

• Levern Tart

References

External links

• http://www.remembertheaba.com/Oakland-Oaks.html Oakland Oaks