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An Interesting NBA Record


Lowest Pick to Win Rookie of the Year: Charlie Scott/Woody Sauldsberry

Charlie Scott may also be the one of the most underrated players of all time as he averaged 35 5 and 5 in his prime in the ABA while being a 5x All-Star (2 ABA, 3 NBA) 2x All-ABA and winning a championship with the Celtics in 1976. However, what we’re talking about here is how he is the lowest draft pick to win ROY, kinda. See Scott was selected with the 106th pick in the 1970 NBA draft. The reason NBA is in italics is because he won his ROY award in the ABA, after deciding to sign a contract with Virginia Cavaliers instead of being an afterthought on a Celtics team that was one of the best in the league. This gives us an interesting situation as though Charlie Scott is the lowest draft pick to win ROY, does it count if you win the award in another league? You could also argue that Scott is the only undrafted player to win ROY as that is also technically true seeing as the Cavaliers didn’t draft him rather signed him.

The other man who can lay claim to this record is Woody Sauldsberry who was drafted wayyy back in 1957 by the Philadelphia Warriors. Scouting wasn’t at a very high level back then as the NBA had been formed just 7 years prior so Sauldsberry slipped all the way to the 60th pick of the draft (5th pick of the 8th round). The league also consisted of just 8 teams so that means that every team passed up on him 7 times, and you thought the Wolves picking Jonny Flynn and Ricky Rubio ahead of Curry was bad. Sauldsberry averaged a double-double (13&10) in his rookie year as a 6’7 PF. If you’re thinking those aren’t great numbers, you would be right. The 57’ draft class was one of the worst ones of all-time with just 3 all-stars and one player who averaged over 20ppg in a season. Woody deservedly won the award nonetheless as he was the best rookie of that year. He went on to have a solid career earning his only all-star appearance in his second season and coming out of retirement at age 31 to win a chip with the Celtics.

Let me know who you think should have the record and tell me your thoughts on this in the comments as this is the first time I’ve made a post like this, would you like to see more similar to it? As always a like and flame would be appreciated and thanks for reading!

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