Historically, the National Basketball Association has been dominated by dynasties led by legends of the game. Starting with the Lakers of the 50's (four titles), the Celtics in the 60's (nine titles), the Lakers in the 80's (five titles), the Bulls of the 90's (six titles), and the recent run of Lakers (five titles in the 2000's), each decade has one or two teams that rise a step above the rest of the league. The 1970's are the lone exception, as eight different teams won championships. For one fleeting month, and three defiant exhibition games, the Hawks had Atlanta fans dreaming of filling that void.
All of the aforementioned dynasties have one thing in common: star power. They were George Mikan's Lakers, Cousy and Russell's Celtics, Jordan and Pippen's Bulls, and the list goes on. On September 12, 1972, a Georgia Superior Court ruling allowed Julius Erving to join the Hawks training camp, and the dream that "Dr. J and Pistol Pete's Hawks" might join that list of dynasties appeared to be coming true.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
What follows is a condensed version of a complicated story that could only have taken place in the 70's, when the existence of the rival American Basketball Association (ABA), had caused players to jump from one league to the other for more lucrative offers
It's an interesting read. I remember his brief stint with the Hawks coming up as a trivia question in Microsoft Complete Basketball '95, but had never read the full story until now.
I'm not sure they could've necessarily dethroned teams like the Celtics with Havlicek and Cowens, the Knicks with Reed, Frazier and Pearl or the Lakers with Wilt and West, but the 70s was one of the more wide open decades as far as different teams winning championships, so who knows? A Dr J/Pistol Pete combo would've at least provided a lot of highlights of the era.
