Chicago Bulls Land Jack Marin In Trade with Buffalo
On November 27th, 1975, the Buffalo Braves traded forward Jack Marin to the Chicago Bulls for a 1977 first round draft pick (Tate Armstrong).
Jack Marin became a member of the Buffalo Braves after he was acquired in a four-player, trade deadline deal with the Houston Rockets in 1974. Marin finished out the rest of the 1973-74 season with Buffalo and amassed 13.4 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.7 APG, 0.9 SPG and 0.7 BPG in 27 contests and 25.2 MPG.
Buffalo was 26-29 when they made the move to acquire Marin. The Braves went 16-11 after to finish fourth in the Eastern Conference with a 42-40 record. Buffalo qualified for the fourth seed and battled the top-seeded Boston Celtics in Conference Semifinals.
The series opener saw the Braves build a 12-point advantage after three quarters. Boston rebounded in the fourth quarter as they outscored Buffalo 38-16 — Dave Cowens had 20 points in the final period — and took a 1-0 lead with a 107-97 win. Bob McAdoo had 23 points and 20 rebounds in Game Two as Buffalo evened the series with a 115-105 victory.
In the third game, Celtics star John Havlicek dominated with 43 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists in a 120-107 Celtics win. Braves forward Jim McMillan tipped in a a missed McAdoo jumper to help Buffalo win 104-102 in the fourth game.
Game Five was tight but Boston prevailed 100-97 thanks to 25 points from Havlicek and a strong defensive performance from Dave Cowens (19 points and 12 rebounds) who held Braves star McAdoo to 5-for-20 shooting and 16 points.
Boston closed out the series 106-104 in Game Six after guard Jo Jo White nailed two free-throws after a foul was called on McAdoo as time expired. In the 4-2 series defeat, Marin averaged 8.5 PPG on 46.8% from the field, as well as 3.2 RPG and 1.3 APG in 20.2 MPG.
During the 1974-75 season, the Braves had a strong start, winning 15 of their first 18 games. They continued to be one of the better teams in the NBA, as they finished 49-33. A big reason for that was Bob McAdoo. The centerpiece of the team, McAdoo won ‘74-‘75 NBA MVP with 34.5 PPG, 14.1 RPG and 2.1 BPG. Marin appeared in 81 games and posted 11.8 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 1.6 APG and 0.6 SPG in 26.5 MPG.
In the 1975 Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Braves dueled with the 60-22 Washington Bullets. Game One went to the Braves, as McAdoo had 35 points and 14 rebounds in a 113-102 score. The second game featured Washington’s duo of Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld. The Bullets teammates had more rebounds (41) than the entire Braves roster (36) in a Game Two 120-106 victory.
Hayes and Phil Chenier combined for 58 points in the third game as Washington took a 2-1 series lead with a 111-96 win. Game Four saw the Braves outscore Washington 61-46 in the second half as they won 108-102 with Bob McAdoo leading the way with 50 points.
Washington’s star Hayes responded in the fifth game with an impressive 46 points and 12 rebounds as Washington won a tight 97-93 game. McAdoo had 37 points and 10 rebounds in a 102-96 Braves victory that knotted the series at three games apiece.
In the seventh and final game Washington pulled away early, building an 18-point lead at halftime. The Bullets held on for a 115-96 win with Chenier starring with 43 points on 13-of 18 shooting. Marin managed 5.3 PPG and 2.4 RPG in 15.4 MPG during the seven-game matchup.
Marin played in 12 games (9.1 PPG, 3.3 RPG and 1.9 APG in 23.2 MPG) with the Braves during the 1975-76 season before being traded to the Chicago Bulls. Buffalo was 9-7 when they dealt Marin. He ended his tenure in Buffalo with 11.9 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 1.7 APG and 0.7 SPG in 120 career games. Marin shot 47% on FGs and 87% from the charity stripe.
Marin went to a Bulls team in flux. The team had also dealt an unhappy Nate Thurmond to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a separate trade on the same day. Marin joined Chicago for the rest of the 1975-76 season and shared minutes at the two forward positions with Mickey Johnson and Bob Love. Chicago was 3-11 before the trade, and continued to struggle. The Bulls finished with the worst record in franchise history at the time with a 24-58 record. Marin competed in 67 contests with the Bulls after the trade and produced 11.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG 1.8 APG and 0.6 SPG in 24.3 MPG.
After the disappointing season, Bulls coach Dick Motta quit the team — with two years left on his contract — and signed with the Washington Bullets. The Bulls replaced him with Ed Badger.
Marin had a rough go of it for the 1976-77 season. He missed nearly a month of action with mononucleosis and also announced plans to retire midway through the ‘76-‘77 season. He finished out his final season in the NBA with career-lows across the board of 16.1 MPG, 6.8 PPG and 1.7 RPG. He also managed 1.1 APG in 54 games.
Chicago experienced a very rough start during the ‘76-‘77 campaign. They dropped 14 of their first 16 games. The Bulls improved their play, but still found themselves with the second worst record in the Western Conference through 58 games (24-34).
Things would turn around, as Chicago won 20 of their final 24 games to finish the year 44-38 and in the playoffs. The Bulls faced the 49-33 Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the postseason. Blazers forward Maurice Lucas had 29 points and 7 rebounds as the Blazers took the series opener 96-83.
The Bulls evened the series at one game apiece wth a 107-104 win that saw 82 of the team’s 107 points come from Artis Gilmore, Wilbur Holland and Mickey Johnson. In the final game of the series, Bobby Gross led the Blazers with 26 points as Portland hung on for an eight-point victory. In Chicago’s first round exit, Marin produced 5.3 PPG on 61.5% from the field in 17.7 MPG. 12 of his 16 total points in the playoffs came in the finale.
After Marin’s retirement, he finished his Bulls run with 9.1 PPG, 2.5 RPG and 1.5 APG in 121 games. The 6′7″ forward shot 43% on field goal attempts and 85% from the charity stripe.
The Braves traded the first round pick acquired from Chicago to the Milwaukee Bucks for Jim Price nearly a year later. On June 7, 1977, Milwaukee dealt the pick back to the Braves with center Swen Nater for a first round pick.
Three days later on draft day, the Braves traded the pick back to its original home of Chicago, where the Bulls selected guard Tate Armstrong with the 13th overall pick. Armstrong went on to play two seasons with the Bulls.
Jack Marin on getting adjusted to Chicago (via Chicago Tribune):
“[First opponent after trade] The Bucks probably know the Chicago offense better than I do now. I can start if that’s what the coach wants, and I prefer it. The guards initiate a lot of things here and Tom [Boerwinkle] can make life easy for you.
“It’s disciplined movement, not helter-skelter like the one-man show [Bob McAdoo] at Buffalo. That’s not healthy for a team because if limits the other players. I'm sure [coach] Dick [Motta] will take advantage of my skills here because he’s a people coach not an X-and-O man. What I don't get on the break will develop from the picks they set for me.
“The Bulls play rough defense with a lot of action around the basket and I’ll get into that. The Braves told me a week and a half ago I’d be staying there and I've been digging on defense, trying to get more playing time.”
Bulls head coach Dick Motta on how the forward minutes would work out among Mickey Johnson, Bob Love and new addition Marin (via Chicago Tribune):
“It's Mickey’s [Johnson] job now and Marin will have to take it from him if he can. I’ll rest Bob Love more now and the three of them should split the 96 minutes of forward time every game.”
