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Lucky 7s? A history of the Detroit Pistons with the 7th pick

By Stuart London

DETROIT, MI - APRIL 12: Greg Monroe #10 of the Detroit Pistons shoots against the Charlotte Hornets during the game on April 12, 2015 at The Palace of Auburn in Detroit, Michigan. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2015 NBAE (Photo by B. Sevald/Einstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI - APRIL 12: Greg Monroe #10 of the Detroit Pistons shoots against the Charlotte Hornets during the game on April 12, 2015 at The Palace of Auburn in Detroit, Michigan. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2015 NBAE (Photo by B. Sevald/Einstein/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Detroit Pistons 2,000 point man: George Yardley

The first star player for the Detroit Pistons was George Yardley.

In 1957 the Pistons moved from Fort Wayne, Indiana to Detroit. The Motor City had four previous professional basketball franchises fail,  but owner Fred Zollner, who owned a pistons factory in Fort Wayne, decided to give it a try.

In the Pistons inaugural season there, Yardley led the NBA in scoring with a 27.8 points average. He finished with 2,001 points, the first player in NBA history to score over 2,000 points in a season.

Related Story. Would you be a fan of the Zollner Pistons?. light

Yardley had led the Pistons to what would turn out to be their only NBA finals appearances in 1955 and ’56 until the ‘Bad Boys’ of the late 80s. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996.

Despite being one of the greatest NBA players of the 1950s, Yardley took quite a non-traditional route to the Pistons. At first, it appeared Zollner had made a huge mistake in drafting Yardley.

Yardley had been a two-time All-America at Stanford University so he was certainly on the radar of NBA teams when he graduated in 1950. A 6-foot-5 shooter like him back in that era was quite rare.

The Pistons taking Yardley with the seventh pick in the NBA Draft was certainly not a reach. However, there turned out to be one slight problem in selecting him.

A native Californian, Yardley had absolutely no desire to play for them.

Bypassing the NBA, Yardley opted instead to play for a San Francisco AAU team. To show what they were missing, Yardley’s team won the national AAU title, no small accomplishment back then, and he was named MVP.

With an engineering degree from Stanford, Yardley could make just as much money, and maybe more, than playing in the NBA, which was just four years old at the time.

In 1951, Yardley enlisted in the Navy and served two years.

So three years after being the No. 7 pick in the NBA Draft, the Pistons had not gotten a single minute of play out of their draftee.

There was no salary cap back then, and Zollner decided the only way to lure Yardley to the Pistons was offer him a massive contract.

Thanks to Zollner throwing what was considered an insane amount of money to an unproven player, Yardley signed with the Pistons: for the incredible sum of $11,000.

Two years later, Yardley and the Pistons were in the NBA finals, so the No. 7 pick, after a long delay, did pan out for the Pistons.