The ledger
Birth in New Orleans (1974–1979)1978–79 New Orleans Jazz
The fifth season in franchise history and the last in New Orleans. Elgin Baylor, who had coached exactly one game for the club as an interim in the 1974–75 expansion year, was now the head coach for all 82, and he took a team that had gone 39–43 the previous season down to 26–56 and sixth place in the Central Division .
21 in, 3 out. Every move the record shows for this season, with the reason where a source gives one. Where no reason is documented, the entry says nothing rather than guess.
In
21 ARRIVED1978 NBA draft first round pick (#11 overall)
- New Orleans took him 11th overall in 1978 with the pick Golden State had sent as compensation for EC Coleman. Utah waived him in December 1980 and signed him back the following August.
- Was the Jazz's first-round pick in 1978, taken twelfth overall.
- Background: REMOVED: December 1, 1980. Along with him the Jazz also release Brett Vroman. The next day, December 2, 1980, the club signs Rickey Green and Jeff Wilkins — the two freed spots go exactly to them. Hardy had played 23 of the season's first 24 games (missing only November 12, 1980), 22.1 min per game, zero starts. Basketball-Reference OMITS both the release and the re-signing, which is why it looks as though he played without interruption. source
- HOW HE CAME: 11th overall in the 1978 draft. The pick is compensation — Basketball-Reference: "Received a 1978 1st round draft pick (James Hardy was later selected) as compensation for the Golden State Warriors signing E.C. Coleman as a veteran free agent." So the text on the site is CORRECT. Debut October 13, 1978. source
1978 NBA draft second round pick (#35 overall)
- The pick came to New Orleans in the Slick Watts trade, and the Jazz used it on the Louisiana product, 35th overall in 1978. He was waived in October 1979.
- Came out of Southern University, a historically Black college in Louisiana.
1978 NBA draft fourth round pick (#75 overall)
Jeff Covington never played a minute for the club
1978 NBA draft fourth round pick (#74 overall)
Mel Davis never played a minute for the club
1978 NBA draft fifth round pick (#96 overall)
- New Orleans drafted him 96th overall in 1978. He did not make the roster that year and debuted on October 12, 1979, by which point the franchise had moved to Salt Lake City.
- Played at Notre Dame with a group that famously ended UCLA's 88-game winning streak era teams.
- Background: Full name Donald Edgar 'Duck' Williams, born 2 August 1956 in Demopolis, Alabama. Guard, 1.88 m, out of Notre Dame. source
1978 NBA draft sixth round pick (#118 overall)
John Douglas never played a minute for the club
1978 NBA draft seventh round pick (#139 overall)
Willie Howard never played a minute for the club
1978 NBA draft eighth round pick (#158 overall)
- New Orleans drafted him 158th overall in the eighth round of 1978, and he signed with the club again in September 1979 — by then it had moved to Salt Lake City.
- The archive holds a signed index card from his Jazz season — one of very few traces of him that exist anywhere.
1978 NBA draft ninth round pick (#175 overall)
Chad Nelson never played a minute for the club
1978 NBA draft tenth round pick (#190 overall)
- New Orleans drafted him 190th overall in 1978 and traded his rights to Chicago a year later. He came back as a free agent in September 1982 and was waived the following October.
- His entire NBA career was played for this franchise.
signed second round pick
signed first round pick to a multi-year contract
- HOW HE CAME: 11th overall in the 1978 draft. The pick is compensation — Basketball-Reference: "Received a 1978 1st round draft pick (James Hardy was later selected) as compensation for the Golden State Warriors signing E.C. Coleman as a veteran free agent." So the text on the site is CORRECT. Debut October 13, 1978. source
signed free agent
Charles Counts never played a minute for the club
signed free agent
Ron Davis never played a minute for the club
signed free agent
John Service never played a minute for the club
re-signed to a multi-year contract extension
signed free agent
- He signed with New Orleans as a free agent on October 30, 1978 and was waived in mid-January, in the franchise's final Louisiana season.
- Was the 12th overall pick in 1976, one year before joining the New Orleans Jazz.
trade with Knicks
- Thirty-four games into 1978-79 the Knicks traded him to New Orleans for Joe Meriweather. The club moved to Utah that summer and sent him on to the Lakers for Adrian Dantley.
- His 1971 Supreme Court case ended the NBA rule barring players who had not been out of high school four years, opening the door for every early entrant since.
- the club gave up: Joe C. Meriweather
trade with Suns
- He came from Phoenix on January 12, 1979 in the trade that sent Truck Robinson away, and the Jazz waived him that October.
- Played his college basketball at Syracuse, in his home city.
- He came from Phoenix in the January 1979 trade for Truck Robinson, and the Jazz sent him to Atlanta for two second-round picks that October.
- His jersey is retired at Oregon, where his all-out style made him a legend.
- the club gave up: Truck Robinson
signed free agent to a 10-day contract
- The Jazz signed him as a free agent out of the CBA on February 29, 1980. He was gone by summer — a Detroit contract in July, cut in October, and then the expansion Mavericks, where he spent the rest of his career.
- His No. 15 was the first number ever retired by the Dallas Mavericks.
re-signed to a second 10-day contract
Out
3 LEFTtrade with Spurs (trade later voided when Davis failed to sign with Spurs)
Mel Davis never played a minute for the club
trade with Bucks
Mel Davis never played a minute for the club
trade with Rockets