1947 BAA draft

1947 BAA draft
General information
Date(s)	July 1, 1947
Location	Detroit, Michigan
First selection	Clifton McNeely, Pittsburgh Ironmen
BAA draft
	1948 >

The 1947 BAA draft was the inaugural draft of the Basketball Association of America (BAA), which later became the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on July 1, 1947 before the 1947–48 season. In this draft, nine remaining BAA teams along with the Baltimore Bullets who joined the BAA from the American Basketball League, took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players. In the first round of the draft, the teams select in reverse order of their win–loss record in the previous season, while the Bullets were assigned the tenth pick, the last pick of the first round. The Pittsburgh Ironmen and Toronto Huskies participated in this draft, but they folded before the season opened.

Draft selections and draftee career notes

The first selection of the draft, Clifton McNeely from Texas Wesleyan University, did not play in the BAA. Instead, McNeely opted for a high school coaching career in Texas.^[1] The fourth pick, Walt Dropo, also did not play in the BAA and opted for a professional baseball career instead, eventually playing 13 seasons in the Major League Baseball (MLB).^[2]^[3] The 7th and 10th pick, Jack Underman and Larry Killick, were also never played in the BAA. Three players from this draft, Harry Gallatin, Andy Phillip and Jim Pollard, have been inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame.^[4]

Pos.	G	F	C
Position	Guard	Forward	Center

^	Denotes player who has been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
⁺	Denotes player who has been selected for at least one All-Star Game
^#	Denotes player who has never appeared in an NBA regular season or playoff game

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Team	College
1	1	Clifton McNeely^#	–	Pittsburgh Ironmen	Texas Wesleyan^[5]
1	2	Glen Selbo	G/F	Toronto Huskies	Wisconsin
1	3	Bulbs Ehlers	G/F	Boston Celtics	Purdue
1	4	Walt Dropo^#	–	Providence Steamrollers	Connecticut
1	5	Dick Holub	C	New York Knicks	Long Island
1	6	Chink Crossin	G	Philadelphia Warriors	Pennsylvania
1	7	Jack Underman^#	–	St. Louis Bombers	Ohio State
1	8	Paul Huston	F	Chicago Stags	Ohio State
1	9	Dick O'Keefe	G/F	Washington Capitols	Santa Clara
1	10	Larry Killick^#	–	Baltimore Bullets	Vermont

The following list includes other draft picks who have appeared in at least one BAA/NBA game.

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Team	College
–	–	Hank Biasatti	G	Boston Celtics	Long Island
–	–	Paul Cloyd	G/F	Washington Capitols	Wisconsin
–	–	Jimmy Darden	G	Chicago Stags	Denver
–	–	Andy Duncan	F/C	New York Knicks	William & Mary
–	–	Johnny Ezersky	G/F	Boston Celtics	Rhode Island State
–	–	Elmer Gainer	F/C	Baltimore Bullets	DePaul
–	–	Harry Gallatin^	F/C	Baltimore Bullets	Northeast Missouri
–	–	Jack Hewson	F/C	Boston Celtics	Temple
–	–	Paul Hoffman	G/F	Toronto Huskies	Purdue
–	–	Bob Hubbard	F/C	Providence Steamrollers	Springfield
–	–	John Mandic	F/C	Washington Capitols	Oregon State
–	–	Saul Mariaschin	G	Washington Capitols	Harvard
–	–	Wataru Misaka	G	New York Knicks	Utah
–	–	Fritz Nagy	G/F	Pittsburgh Ironmen	Akron
–	–	Paul Napolitano	G/F	St. Louis Bombers	San Francisco
–	–	Andy Phillip^	G/F	Chicago Stags	Illinois
–	–	Jim Pollard^	F/C	Chicago Stags	Stanford
–	–	Jim Pollard^	F/C	Philadelphia Warriors	Stanford
–	–	Jim Pollard^	F/C	St. Louis Bombers	Stanford
–	–	Chick Reiser	G/F	Baltimore Bullets	NYU
–	–	Red Rocha⁺	F/C	Toronto Huskies	Oregon State
–	–	Irv Rothenberg	C	Washington Capitols	Long Island
–	–	Ben Schadler	F	Chicago Stags	Northwestern
–	–	Don Smith	G/F	Chicago Stags	Minnesota
–	–	Gene Stump	G/F	Boston Celtics	DePaul
–	–	Jack Tingle	F	Washington Capitols	Kentucky
–	–	Gene Vance	G/F	Chicago Stags	Illinois
–	–	Matt Zunic	G/F	Washington Capitols	George Washington

These players were not selected in the 1947 draft but played at least one game in the NBA.

Player	Position	College
Don Barksdale^	F/C	UCLA (Sr.)