1970 ABA draft
The 1970 ABA draft was the fourth draft done by the American Basketball Association, a rivaling professional basketball league to the National Basketball Association that they would eventually merge with as a part of the NBA later in the decade. This draft would begin at the earliest time the ABA would ever begin a draft yet on January 22, 1970 out in Indianapolis for the first eight rounds, with the league concluding its final rounds afterward on March 15 that year out in their new headquarters in New York. This draft also marked the first time that the ABA would successfully steal away some highly talented collegiate players from the NBA by having Dan Issel from the University of Kentucky, Charlie Scott from the University of North Carolina, and Rick Mount from Purdue University sign up with the ABA early through the Kentucky Colonels, Virginia Squires, and Indiana Pacers respectively over their respective late NBA draft choices by the Detroit Pistons, Boston Celtics, and Los Angeles Lakers. While Mount would disappoint in his professional career by comparison to his high school and collegiate careers, both Issel and Scott would become Hall of Famers that gained their professional starts in the ABA before later playing in the NBA. The Denver Rockets would also gain another successful sophomore underclassman after this year's draft concluded after previously being successful last year with Spencer Haywood by signing Ralph Simpson to their team on the month of June 1970, marking the second year in a row where the ABA would acquire another successful underclassman from outside of the draft systems of both the ABA and NBA. Despite the new successes at hand, the ABA would see a high number of teams either relocate and/or otherwise rebrand themselves following the draft's conclusion, with some teams trying to prepare themselves for an anticipated ABA-NBA merger in advance by this point in time. As such, it became the final draft years that the Los Angeles Stars, Miami Floridians, New Orleans Buccaneers, and Pittsburgh Pipers would participate in the ABA draft entirely, as well as the only draft year that the Washington Caps would participate in while working under that team name.
Draftee career notes
By technicality, Bob Lanier would be considered a Territorial Pick for the New York Nets due to the Nets forfeiting their initial slot in the first round in order to use a Territorial Pick selection on him since he resided in the state of New York and played at St. Bonaventure University out in Olean, New York at the time of the draft. As such, he wouldn't be considered a normal #1 selection for the ABA draft like most other prospects were for the ABA's draft history. However, if he were to count as such, he would not only be the fourth player in a row that the ABA would select at #1 alongside the NBA in the same draft year, but he would also be the third #1 pick in a row to become a Hall of Famer despite never playing in the ABA. The latter notion would also apply for the player that would be considered the actual #1 pick instead if Lanier's Territorial Pick wouldn't count as the #1 selection, Pete Maravich from Louisiana State University by the Carolina Cougars, due to the fact that he was actually drafted as the third pick by the NBA in the 1970 NBA draft. While Pete Maravich would have the more celebrated career between the two players, both players would still be celebrated for multiple teams that they each played for while out in the NBA, with each of them having multiple jersey numbers retired for different NBA teams due to their production at hand for each team in question that they were retired under. In addition to them, this draft also saw players like Dave Cowens, Rudy Tomjanovich, Calvin Murphy, and Nate Archibald all become Hall of Famers as well despite them never playing a single minute in the ABA for teams like the Los Angeles Stars, Miami Floridians, Pittsburgh Pipers, or Dallas Chaparrals respectively. Despite that noise, the ABA would have two players that played for their league that ultimately became members of the Basketball Hall of Fame themselves for their professional careers with Dan Issel from the Kentucky Colonels and Charlie Scott of the Washington Caps, both of whom shared the ABA's Rookie of the Year Award that year.Out of 92 overall ABA All-Stars, there were only five players eligible to be selected from this year's draft that would make it to multiple ABA All-Star Games. Dan Issel of the Kentucky Colonels would have the most ABA All-Star Game appearances out of everyone from this year's draft with six total appearances, including winning that game's MVP honors in 1972, as well as tied Mel Daniels and two other players that were considered draft eligible for the 1971 ABA draft period for the most All-ABA Team appearances with five total appearances and lead the league in scoring during his rookie season before becoming a champion in his final season with Kentucky and then being an All-Star in the NBA while with the since-rebranded Denver Nuggets. Following Issel in terms of All-Star appearances in the ABA would be Ralph Simpson, who left Michigan State University after two years of play to join the Denver Rockets, where he would not only become the franchise's all-time leader in points scored with 9,953 total made alongside other various factions led while in the ABA, but he would also become a five-time All-Star for them following his rookie season and have three All-ABA team appearances to boot, though he would cost them another first round pick the following year as well as not match the same success he had in the ABA once he entered the NBA. After Simpson, late early round selections Billy Paultz from the Washington Caps would be an ABA All-Time Team member alongside Issel by taking part in four ABA All-Star Games alongside being a champion player in 1974 for the New York Nets and leading the league in blocks during the league's final season of existence in 1976 while in San Antonio. Another player drafted by that same team that was taken earlier than Paultz, Charlie Scott, would also make it to the ABA All-Time Team by playing in the ABA All-Star Game for both seasons he played for the league while with the Virginia Squires, as well as tying the league's Rookie of the Year Award with Dan Issel and making it to the All-ABA First Team in his rookie season and the All-ABA Second Team in his second season before leaving the Squires to join the Phoenix Suns in the NBA and later winning the NBA Finals with the team that first drafted him there, the Boston Celtics, while going against the Suns, funnily enough. Finally, Wendell Ladner from the New Orleans Buccaneers was the only other rookie from this year's draft that not only made it to the ABA's All-Rookie Team that year, but also made it to multiple ABA All-Star Games in his first two years while in Memphis. However, Ladner's career would end in tragedy after he won the ABA Finals in 1974 with the Nets, as a year after that, on June 24, 1975, at 26 years old, he would be one of the 113 fatalities involved from the Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 crash, with Ladner notably being identified by his ABA championship ring ; the Nets would later dedicate their final season of ABA play to Ladner, ultimate winning the final championship of the ABA's existence in May 1976 over the Denver Nuggets that year following the ABA-NBA merger a month later in June 1976. Outside of the draft's historic All-Star and Hall of Fame selections, this draft was also notable for having the Washington Caps draft someone outside of the United States of America for the first time ever due to Greg Howard leaving the University of New Mexico to play for the Brill Cagliari out in Italy under a professional basis at the time of his selection; his selection would help encourage the ABA to draft other players that wouldn't quite fit the American mold that was under the ABA's namesake and try to have them play for their league instead, with varying degrees of success afterward.