Phoenix holds the No. 4 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, a position that should resonate with long-time fans. Alvan Adams — whose career included the Rookie of the Year award, an All-Star selection and a place in the Suns Ring of Honor — was selected fourth overall in 1975. He was one of the key figures in the 1975-76 team’s run to the NBA Finals, the first-ever appearance in franchise’s history.
Adams recounted his draft-night experience with Suns.com’s Jessica Wright, illustrating just how different the NBA Draft used to be.
A: Absolutely not. I didn’t know much about the NBA back in the 70s. The only games on were the playoff games, so I didn’t grow up watching the NBA in any great frequency. I only really saw the playoffs, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew the coach here, I thought I would like the city and that was it. I didn’t know what position I would play. They said probably forward, but I still didn’t know what to expect. So I just came to training camp and played and then the center got hurt in the very first preseason game, so they said, ‘Hey, you’re going to guard Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar],’ and I go, ‘Okay.’ So no, I didn’t know what to expect. I signed a five-year contract, so I thought I would play five years.
A: Well, it’s part of a big business that pro sports is in, and the NBA is the best league in the world. When I was drafted there was no going to New York, bringing in the top 10 or 15 potential picks. It was, ‘Hey, we’re going to fly you out to Phoenix,’ and we went to a hotel in downtown and they said to wait in the wings until we announce your name. So the hype today… it’s a big business and everything related to the NBA is big news or a big story and the draft is just one of those things. Even the whole thing about coming to try out for a team, I didn’t come out and try out ahead of time. But now we bring in 50, 60, 70 players over six or eight weeks.
A: I’m not going to say I wish it had been more publicized; it would have been neat to be a part of the big show that it is. How fun would that be to go with your girlfriend, your parents, your grandma, whoever it is the players take to the draft in New York City? I hadn’t been to New York City at that point. The biggest city I’d ever been to was Pittsburgh.
A: Well, I’d thought it was the big time because I remember – it was me and my dad that came to town – we stayed at the Park Central Inn up on Central, north of the Indian School intersection. I thought this was the big time because this was a two-story hotel with rooms in a rectangle and a swimming pool in the middle and a sliding door that opened out to the swimming pool. And I go, ‘This is the NBA! This is really great!’
A: Well a lot of the top picks, a lot of us, know exactly when we’re going. And I was the fourth pick, and when the Suns said they would pick me, we go, ‘Well what if one of the other three teams pick me?’… That would’ve been real awkward. So Jerry [Colangelo] knew what was going to happen, they all knew [Dave] Myers and [David] Thompson and [Marvin] Webster were going to go before me and it played out exactly like that, so there was no real surprise there.
A: I’m sure it was probably my dad, myself, John — McCleod who was my college coach for my first year — and maybe Jerry Colangelo. We would’ve gone to eat somewhere, where would that have been? It may have been the famous Durants? It could’ve been a place like that, I know I would’ve ordered steak because I always ate steak back then for every big meal.
