Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 9

4" LEON DOUGLAS PICKED AFTER UCLA STAR BOWS OUT DETROIT FREE PRESS Wednesday, June 9, '76 1-D Pistons Grab orward in Draft Bama 43-- Of -m think he had some second thoughts about leaving school, too." According to a wire service report out of Los Angeles, however, Johnson returned for his senior season at UCLA because the Pistons' offer wasn't enough to make him quit school a year early and Denver of the ABA withdrew 4 A i 3 BY CURT SYLVESTER Frtt Press Sporli Writer Having been rejected by their first choice Marques Johnson of UCLA and failing to come up with a trade offer that met their fancy, the Detroit Pistons made Leon Douglas of Alabama their No. 1 choice in the National Basketball Association draft Tuesday. Douglas, who is listed as 6-feet-10, will be used primarily as a forward, according to coach Herb Brown, although he conceivably could swing to center as a relief man for Bob Lanier. think it's hard for a rookie to try to play two positions," explained Brown. "We're looking at him primarly as a power forward.

I think he may be a Jim Brewer or a Paul Silas." ALTHOUGH THE PISTONS obviously were more than satisfied to get the highly sought Douglas, he would not have been their first choice if Johnson had not abruptly withdrawn his name from the so-called "hardship" list Tuesday morning. "I spoke with him (Johnson) yesterday (Monday), and he seemed agreeable to playing here," said Brown. "But I think he feels he may be the second or third player to go in the draft next year. "I let him know he was our man in no uncertain terms. But I its offer of "somewhere near $1 million" for five years.

Still in the market for a forward to take the spot that was kicked around by A 1 Eberhard, Howard Porter and George Trapp last season, the Pistons were open to offers of a trade for the prestigious No. 4 selection. There were a couple of possibilities but none panned out. They had hoped for a three-cornered deal between themselves, Chicago and Washington which would have landed the Bulls' Mickey Johnson and the Bullets' Truck Robinson. There was also the possibility of John Lucas No- 1, Rockets Terry Furlow No- 1, 76ers Phil Sellers Robert Parrish getting Johnson and the Bulls' first choice in the second round but the Pistons mixed that one themselves.

So they gladly helped themselves to Douglas, who averaged better than 20 points a game during his junior and senior seasons at Alabama, earning Southeast Conference player of the year honors both seasons. Douglas and Centenary's Robert Parrish were considered the two best big men available and the Pistons passed up Parrish, who is strictly a center. They went on to select Rutgers' Phil Sellers in the third round, along with a list of lesser knowns in the succeeding rounds. The Pistons had given up their second-round choice in a trade for Earl Williams a year ago. Sellers, a 6-4 forward who dazzled Rutgers fans for four seasons but failed to live up to his reputation in the NCAA tournament this spring, averaged 19 points a game during the Please turn to Page 4D, Column 1 Scott May No.

1, Bulls No. 1, Warriors JB TFjofs an Mi Bruit Without Comic Reliei? Six-foot center-forward Douglas, who got a handshake from Indiana coach Bobby Knight after the Hoosiers beat Alabama in the NCAA regicnals, is the Piston's No. 1 draft choice. 3 PREPS PICKED BY 4th ROUND 4 Area Baseba 11 Players Drafted No. 1 Draft Picks 1 Guard John Lucas (Maryland, by Houston.

2 Forward Scott May (Indiana), by Chicago. 3 Forward Richard Washington (UCLA), by Kansas City. 4 Forward-center Leon Douglas (Alabama), by DETROIT. 5 Forward Wally Walker (Virginia), by Portland. 6 Forward Adrian Dantley (Notre Dame), by Buffalo.

7 Guard Quinn Buckner (Indiana), by Milwaukee. 8 Center Robert Parish (Centenary), by Golden State. 9 Guard Armond Hill (Princeton), by Atlanta. 10 Guard Ron Lee (Oregon), by Phoenix. 11 Guard Bob Wilkerson (Indiana), by Seattle.

12 Forward Terry Furlow (Michigan by Philadelphia. 13 Forward-center Mitch Kupchak (North Carolina), by Washington. 14 Guard Larry Wright (Grambling), by Washington. 13 Guard Chuckie Williams (Kansas State), by Cleveland. 16 Forward Norm Cook (Kansas), by Boston.

17 Forward Sonny Parker (Texas by Golden State. New York was penalized its first-round choice for signing George McGiraiis. BY MICK McCABE Free Press Sports Writer The metropolitan Detroit area had four players chosen in the first four rounds of Tuesday's major league baseball draft, and the common denominator in al of the local draftees was the element of suprise. Pitcher Bob Owchinko of Eastern Michigan University; pitcher Jim Parke of Sterling Heights Ford; catcher Eddie Williams of Detrot Northwst-ern Hgh, and catcher Tom Close' of Plymouth Canton High all knew they wou be chosen but the suprise was when, and by whom, they were drafted. Owchinko, who is praparing for his Friday night assignment against Maine University in the first game of the College World Series at Omaha, was the fifth player chosen on the first round by the San Diego Padres.

He has a 12-3 record and has struck out 109 batters in his 116 innings this year. "It was a big thrill for me I'm glad to go in the first round, especially the fifth pick in the country," said Ow chinko. "I couldn't believe I was picked by San Diego. I never heard from them, ever. It's kind of weird; I thought I would be passed over by San Diego and picked later on by someone else." The 21-year-old lefthander from Detroit Cody High expressed some disappointment at not being chosen by the Detroit Tigers, who had the second pick in the draft.

"Detroit and I have talked a lot and we knew each other's feelings on the signing situation. They knew I was going go high in the draft, but we couldn't come to terms. They couldn't give me a certain few things I wanted, so I'll just stick to my guns and hope things work out in San Diego." Owchinko has racked up 27 career wins at Eastern, has pitched them to two consecutive Mideast Regional titles, and was the winningest pitcher last summer, on the U.S. Pan-American team. He also is a finalist in the Lefty Gomez Plate Award, signifying college baseball's out-Please turn to Page 3D, Col.

4 Let me tell you, these NBA drafts just aren't what they used to be. Not that I claim to be an expert on big-league drafts as such, since I have never been privvy to the inner workings of the major league baseball, hockey or football drafts. But I have had the experience for the last several years, at least of sitting in on the NBA player draft. And, in the good old days, you just couldn't beat it for pure comic relief. You had to approach the affair with the proper frame of mind, of course.

You couldn't be worrying so much about whether your team's fourth-round choice turned out to be a 6-3 'j guard or a 6-7 forward. As any honest NBA man will tell you, once the draft gets past the first and second round, you'll find maybe one in 40 or 50 draft choices that makes the grade. So for the first 10 or 12 picks, you'd play the guessing game of will-Chicago-go-for-Scott May and is-Portland-really-serious-about-Wally Walker, if you so chose. But you'd never let it interfere with the main attraction the entertainment value of the whole affair. Before going any farther, however, I must confess to you that this new regime commissioner Larry O'Brien and his righthand man, Simon Gourdine didn't make it half the show it used to be.

Give me J. Walter Kennedy any time. For instance, with Gourdine guiding the operation from league headquarters in New York, Tuesday's draft got underway a measly 10 minutes late. I recall a time when there was nearly a half day's delay while Walter quibbled with the telephone operators as they struggled to complete ttie conference call between every city in the NBA. At the least, you could count on a half-hour or 45-minute delay to finish off a sandwich and a Coke before they started staking claims to the top players in the country.

And every few minutes (sometimes seconds) you could hear on the desk-top speaker the esteemed commissioner's plaintive Inquiry: "Are you there, Boston? Is Boston on the line? Operator, operator The time would slip by and all up and down the line, the general managers would pipe up with a smart-aleck remark or two all except the Pistons Ed Coil, who remained bemused but proper about it all and, at last, there would be one last ring on the far end of the line and you'd hear Red Auerbach's voice booming: "Hello, is that you, Waltah?" Loser Steady si ID eMJuuuuuuis Jce Coleman Dealt to Cubs 76 Draft a Prelly Dull Affair BY JIM HAWKINS Free Press Sports Writer KANSAS CITY For two years, the Tigers have waited for Joe Coleman to regain the form that once made him their ace righthander. Tuesday, they ran out of patience. They sold Coleman to the Chicago Cubs for $100,000 and a player to be named at the end of the season. It wasn't much to get in return for a two-time 20-game winner who is still only 29 years old. But under the circumstances, it was the best the Tigers could do.

They had offered Coleman in trade to a number of teams most recently to the Texas Rangers for second baseman Lenny Randle but found no takers. "We think we made a pretty good deal," said Tigers manager Ralph Houk. "We figured this was the best deal we could make. "I think Joe can still pitch. The change should help him.

The people were on him pretty good and he was all mixed up. He was frustrated. He's sound. There's nothing wrong with his Joe Coleman arm. He just couldn't find himself.

"I've never seen a pitcher, at his age, who had never had any arm trouble, have as much trouble as Joe has had for the last two years," admitted Houk. "I just don't know what the answer is. But I hope he does well becase he's a damn good fella. He has done everything possible to get himself straight-end out." Coleman had suspected for some time that the Tigers might be trying to trade him. Nevertheless, that kind of news always Please turn to Page 5D, Column 1 Poor Walter.

For the next two or three hours, he'd try to keep them in line 16 or 17 guys from Boston to LA, from Seattle to Atlanta. Forever, somebody would exceed the time limit before mentioning an obscure 6-foot-ll, 197-pounder whose name would never be heard again. Forever, there were the irreverent (generally anonymous) comments. And forever, there was J. Walter begging "gentlemen, gentle-men We're trying to conduct the draft as expeditiously as possible.

Would you ple-e-e-e-ase keep that in mind." Finally, it would end and one by one the receivers would click down around the country and everybody would go home feeling they had been well entertained, if nothing else. By comparison, Tuesday had little, if any, entertainment value. There were a few feeble attempts as the 2 p.m. starting time rolled around: "You looking for Cleveland, operator?" "I wish I had a tape recorder," said a voice from out of the table-top speaker in the Pistons offices. "That's what Richard Nixon said," came the anonymous reply.

Just when it seemed as if everything was ready to roll only five or six minutes late New York faded out and Auerbach sought help from Seattle general manager-coach Bill Russell: "Come on, Russell, do something you work for the phone company." But in a matter of minutes, everything was ready to proceed and it did, in such an orderly fashion that Mr. Kennedy would have found it a pleasure to sit in. Houston took a guard, John Lucas, as the No. 1 pick, which someone questioned. But after that, it went pretty much according to form although again, some wondered about Portland going for Walker, who is known to be somewhat erratic; about Quinn Buckner going so high as No.

7 in the first round; and Philadelphia plucking off Michigan State sharpshooter Terry Furlow no later than No. 12 in the first round. Piston's 2d Choice Is a Biff It seems the Pistons did the best they could do for themselves after losing Marques Johnson back to UCLA and failing to negotiate a trade by taking Leon Douglas, who conceivably can become a force at a forward position. They are bound to be questioned about making Phil Sellers as their second (albeit third-round) choice. The Thrill made quite a name for himself at Rutgers during the regular season, but showed little during the NCAA tournament and used to have somewhat of a reputation for being a groaner.

Will Robinson, the Pistons' director of scouting services, watched and talked to Sellers during the regular season and believes he can make the adjustment from college forward to professional guard. Will also believes Sellers can finish shedding his bad-guy image and fit in with the Pistons r- which may sound a little odd, considering all the bickering and such that went on last season. "I think he's mentally capable of adapting and fitting in," said Robinson. "If he wants a career he surely should be intelligent enough to make the adjustments. It will be a year or two before the 1976 draft can be accurately judged, in terms of who made the wise choices and which longshots paid off.

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