1971–72 Portland Trail Blazers season
Head coachRolland Todd (12–44)
Stu Inman (6–20)
General managerHarry Glickman
Owners
ArenaMemorial Coliseum
Results
Record18–64 (.220)
PlaceDivision: 5th (Pacific)
Conference: 9th (Western)
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
TelevisionKPTV
RadioKOIN

The 1971–72 season was the Trail Blazers second season in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Geoff Petrie missed 22 games due to injury. Petrie who averaged 24.8 points per game in his rookie season would drop nearly 6 points per game as the Blazers finished with an NBA worst record of 18–64.[1] One of the highlights of the season was Sidney Wicks. He would win the Rookie of the Year with a team best 24.5 points per game.[1]

Before the start of the season, Blazers guard Rick Adelman was named captain, making him the first in franchise history.[2]

Portland head coach Rolland Todd was fired on February 2, 1972 and replaced by Stu Inman, the Blazers director of player personnel.[3] Todd's dismissal came in the wake of a 129–117 loss to the Phoenix Suns the day before. Portland players were allegedly upset with team management for placing guard Willie McCarter on waivers. Sidney Wicks was accused by Todd and Inman of playing lackadaisical defense, allowing his opponent Paul Silas to take 30 shots against him. Charlie Yelverton sat on the bench during th U.S. national anthem and did not participate in pre-game warmups.[4][5]

Roster

Portland Trail Blazers roster
Players Coaches
Pos.No.NameHeightWeightDOBFrom
PG 12 Adelman, Rick (C) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1946-06-16 Loyola Marymount
SF 44 Gregor, Gary 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1945-08-13 South Carolina
C 30−35 Imhoff, Darrall 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1938-10-11 California
SF 38 Knight, Ron 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1947-08-04 Cal State LA
SF 41 Marsh, Jim 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) 1946-04-26 USC
SG 17 McCarter, Willie 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1946-07-26 Drake
SF 40 McKenzie, Stan 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1944-10-06 NYU
SG 45 Petrie, Geoff 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1948-04-17 Princeton
C 54 Schlueter, Dale 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1945-11-12 Colorado State
C 43 Smith, William 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 220 lb (100 kg) 1949-02-14 Syracuse
SG 15 Steele, Larry 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1949-05-05 Kentucky
PF 21 Wicks, Sidney 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1949-09-19 UCLA
SG 11 Yelverton, Charlie 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1948-12-05 Fordham
Head coach
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured Injured

Roster
Last transaction: February 3, 1972

Regular season

The Trail Blazers played their home games at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Season Standings

Pacific Division
 W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
y-Los Angeles Lakers 6913.841–36–531–72–121–3
x-Golden State Warriors 5131.6221827–821–203–314–10
Seattle SuperSonics 4735.5732228–1218–221–112–12
Houston Rockets 3448.4153515–2014–235–59–15
Portland Trail Blazers 1864.2205114–264–350–34–20
#
Western Conference
Team W L PCT
1 z-Los Angeles Lakers6913.841
2 y-Milwaukee Bucks6319.768
3 x-Chicago Bulls5725.695
4 x-Golden State Warriors5131.622
5 Phoenix Suns4933.598
6 Seattle SuperSonics4735.573
7 Houston Rockets3448.415
8 Detroit Pistons2656.317
9 Portland Trail Blazers1864.220

Record vs. opponents

1971–72 NBA Records
Team ATL BAL BOS BUF CHI CIN CLE DET GSW HOU LAL MIL NYK PHI PHO POR SEA
Atlanta —2–40–44–20–53–34–23–23–21–40–52–33–13–33–24–01–4
Baltimore 4–2—2–23–31–44–21–53–21–43–21–40–52–44–04–13–12–3
Boston 4–02–2—6–03–24–25–15–02–35–01–42–33–36–02–34–02–3
Buffalo 2–43–30–6—1–33–34–22–41–30–40–40–41–53–30–42–40–4
Chicago 5–04–12–33–1—3–14–05–13–35–11–32–43–24–15–16–02–3
Cincinnati 3–32–42–43–31–3—6–22–32–30–41–40–52–22–22–32–20–5
Cleveland 2–45–11–52–40–42–6—1–30–42–21–30–41–52–40–44–20–4
Detroit 2–32–30–54–21–53–23–1—0–53–31–41–51–41–42–42–20–4
Golden State 2–34–13–23–13–33–24–05–0—5–11–52–22–34–12–34–24–2
Houston 4–12–30–54–01–54–02–23–31–5—1–50–50–54–11–34–23–3
Los Angeles 5–04–14–14–03–14–13–14–15–15–1—4–14–15–04–26–05–1
Milwaukee 3–25–03–24–04–25–04–05–12–25–01–4—2–34–14–26–06–0
New York 1–34–23–35–12–32–25–14–13–25–01–43–2—3–31–43–13–2
Philadelphia 3–30–40–63–31–42–24–24–11–41–40–51–43–3—1–42–24–1
Phoenix 2–31–43–24–01–53–24–04–23–23–12–42–44–14–1—6–03–2
Portland 0–41–30–44–20–62–22–42–22–42–40–60–61–32–20–6—0–6
Seattle 4–13–23–24–03–25–04–04–02–43–31–50–62–31–42–36–0—

Game log

1971–72 Game log
#DateOpponentScoreHigh pointsRecord
1October 15Seattle119–88Stan McKenzie (22)0–1
2October 17Milwaukee127–94Sidney Wicks (23)0–2
3October 19Detroit101–99Stan McKenzie (25)0–3
4October 23Cincinnati100–104Sidney Wicks (34)1–3
5October 26Chicago123–111Sidney Wicks (24)1–4
6October 29Buffalo120–119Sidney Wicks (28)1–5
7November 4@ Houston112–110Sidney Wicks (31)2–5
8November 6@ Boston109–124Sidney Wicks (25)2–6
9November 7@ Cleveland99–120Willie McCarter (13)2–7
10November 9@ Buffalo100–109Sidney Wicks (34)2–8
11November 10@ Detroit122–139Sidney Wicks (31)2–9
12November 12Cleveland106–104Dale Schlueter (18)2–10
13November 13Los Angeles130–108Sidney Wicks (33)2–11
14November 16Milwaukee125–105Sidney Wicks (20)2–12
15November 18@ Golden State105–115Sidney Wicks (29)2–13
16November 19Cleveland105–118Stan McKenzie (31)3–13
17November 20Seattle104–100Sidney Wicks (27)3–14
18November 23@ Chicago94–130Sidney Wicks (27)3–15
19November 24@ Cincinnati112–114Stan McKenzie (29)3–16
20November 26@ Milwaukee105–120Sidney Wicks (30)3–17
21November 27@ Philadelphia93–116Sidney Wicks (22)3–18
22November 30Phoenix121–111 (OT)Sidney Wicks (23)3–19
23December 1@ Phoenix103–139Sidney Wicks (27)3–20
24December 3Golden State107–115Geoff Petrie (35)4–20
25December 5@ Los Angeles107–123Gary Gregor (20)4–21
26December 7@ Detroit131–130 (OT)Geoff Petrie (36)5–21
27December 8@ Baltimore97–115Sidney Wicks (24)5–22
28December 10@ Buffalo101–100 (OT)Geoff Petrie (28)6–22
29December 11@ New York102–134Willie McCarter (16)6–23
30December 14Los Angeles129–114Sidney Wicks (31)6–24
31December 17Philadelphia126–127Gary Gregor (28)7–24
32December 18@ Seattle105–107Sidney Wicks (28)7–25
33December 19Detroit113–114Sidney Wicks (26)8–25
34December 21Houston132–119McKenzie, Wicks (24)8–26
35December 23New York120–117Stan McKenzie (27)8–27
36December 25Chicago109–88Sidney Wicks (24)8–28
37December 27@ Atlanta121–135Geoff Petrie (23)8–29
38December 28@ Cleveland111–112Geoff Petrie (26)8–30
39December 29@ Milwaukee84–123Dale Schlueter (18)8–31
40December 30@ Chicago92–117Sidney Wicks (23)8–32
41January 2Buffalo90–108Sidney Wicks (30)9–32
42January 4Atlanta103–91Sidney Wicks (22)9–33
43January 6@ Golden State115–119Sidney Wicks (29)9–34
44January 7Boston120–114Geoff Petrie (24)9–35
45January 8Cleveland102–125Geoff Petrie (22)10–35
46January 11Baltimore106–114Gary Gregor (25)11–35
47January 14@ Buffalo102–100Sidney Wicks (28)12–35
48January 15@ Chicago100–120Geoff Petrie (21)12–36
49January 16@ Milwaukee97–126Sidney Wicks (25)12–37
50January 21N Philadelphia122–136Sidney Wicks (30)12–38
51January 22N Baltimore99–116Sidney Wicks (19)12–39
52January 23@ Boston105–115Sidney Wicks (25)12–40
53January 25@ Houston104–118Sidney Wicks (30)12–41
54January 28Golden State105–102Sidney Wicks (25)12–42
55January 30@ Los Angeles131–153Stan McKenzie (22)12–43
56February 1Phoenix129–117Geoff Petrie (25)12–44
57February 4Houston113–114Sidney Wicks (30)13–44
58February 5Phoenix118–117 (OT)Sidney Wicks (32)13–45
59February 6@ Phoenix94–107Geoff Petrie (33)13–46
60February 8Cincinnati100–104Geoff Petrie (30)14–46
61February 11Philadelphia106–110Sidney Wicks (28)15–46
62February 12@ Seattle97–125Sidney Wicks (21)15–47
63February 13Seattle127–117 (OT)Sidney Wicks (32)15–48
64February 15Boston111–104Sidney Wicks (30)15–49
65February 18@ Los Angeles114–125Rick Adelman (24)15–50
66February 19Los Angeles115–94Sidney Wicks (23)15–51
67February 20@ Seattle105–109Sidney Wicks (24)15–52
68February 22@ New York105–122Petrie, Wicks (21)15–53
69February 23@ Cincinnati106–110Sidney Wicks (30)15–54
70February 25@ Cleveland104–113Geoff Petrie (29)15–55
71February 27@ Atlanta110–113Sidney Wicks (32)15–56
72February 29Chicago116–92Petrie, Wicks (20)15–57
73March 3Baltimore90–80Sidney Wicks (28)15–58
74March 4Atlanta120–101Sidney Wicks (24)15–59
75March 7Buffalo94–98Sidney Wicks (24)16–59
76March 9N Houston111–114Sidney Wicks (30)16–60
77March 14Milwaukee109–98Sidney Wicks (28)16–61
78March 16@ Golden State94–107Sidney Wicks (28)16–62
79March 17Golden State109–114Geoff Petrie (39)17–62
80March 18New York86–133Sidney Wicks (30)18–62
81March 21@ Phoenix128–160Sidney Wicks (31)18–63
82March 26@ Houston109–131Geoff Petrie (26)18–64

Awards and honors

References

  1. 1 2 Portland Trail Blazers (1970–Present)
  2. ↑ "Blazers tab Adelman as captain". Albany Democrat-Herald. Albany, Oregon. Associated Press. July 29, 1971. p. 21. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Blazers fire Rolland Todd; Inman: Better defense". Albany Democrat-Herald. Albany, Oregon. Associated Press. February 3, 1972. p. 21. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
  4. ↑ Brandon, Steve (November 4, 1994). "The Blazers; The early years dissension, turmoil marked Blazers early years". The Oregonian. Portland, Oregon. p. N07.
  5. ↑ "Trail Blazers Protest McCarter's Cut". Corvallis Gazette-Times. Corvallis, Oregon. February 2, 1972. p. 19. Retrieved February 7, 2021.
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