Behind the Bucks Pass
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Milwaukee Bucks: 49 years in 49 days – 1976-77 NBA season

By Ti Windisch

BOSTON - 1981: Head coach Don Nelson of the Milwaukee Bucks looks on during a game against the Boston Celtics played in 1981 at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. 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 1981 NBAE (Photo by Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images)
BOSTON - 1981: Head coach Don Nelson of the Milwaukee Bucks looks on during a game against the Boston Celtics played in 1981 at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. 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 1981 NBAE (Photo by Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Milwaukee Bucks’ 1976-77 season may have been stormy, but luckily the clouds hovering above Milwaukee had some silver linings.

The season: 1976-77

The record: 30-52

The postseason: N/A

The story:

In a lot of ways, the biggest parts of the Milwaukee Bucks 1976-77 NBA season have little to do with the 1976-77 season itself. Players and even a head coach inserted in this season would go on to do great things in the Association.

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It would just take a while. The ’76-77 Bucks were not very good, as evidenced by their 30-52 record on the season. There was more competition than ever before, as the NBA-ABA merger happened just before the year began.

That increased the Midwest Division, which went from strong in ’74-75 to weak in ’75-76 to strong again that season. Milwaukee was last in the division and was tied for the second-worst record in the NBA with those 30 wins, which shows how balanced the records were that season league-wide.

Bob Dandridge again led Milwaukee in scoring, although Brian Winters gave him a real run for his money. The Greyhound averaged 20.8 points per game, while Winters put up 19.3 points per contest in his third NBA season.

Three noteworthy additions really tell the story of 1976-77 for Milwaukee. First, the Bucks added a player they initially drafted back in 1973, Swen Nater. Nater initially went to the ABA, but as part of the merger he ended up signing with the Bucks three years after the team drafted him.

He became the Bucks starter after an injury to Elmore Smith, and averaged 13 points and 12 rebounds per game on the season. Nater was joined by two fellow newbies in his first Bucks season: rookies Alex English and Quinn Buckner.

English would go on to be a future Hall of Famer, but his rookie season was quiet. In roughly 10 minutes per game, English barely managed five points. His eventual great success is a poignant reason not to write off a rookie after one quiet season.

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Buckner had a larger role in his first season spent in Milwaukee. He put up 8.6 points, 4.7 assists, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.4 steals per game. Buckner would be that kind of player for most of his career–instead of being a score-first point guard, he managed to add to his team in multiple facets.

In addition to some new players, the 1976-77 Milwaukee Bucks made an important long-term coaching decision as well. After a very disappointing 3-15 start to their season, Milwaukee fired Larry Costello and hired Don Nelson as their coach for the rest of the season.

Nellie’s Bucks went 27-37 the rest of the year, in what would be easily his worst season as Milwaukee’s head coach. Still, the team could only go up from there.

Next: 49 years in 49 days: 1975-76 season

Thanks to a massive 1977 NBA draft, the Milwaukee Bucks rebirth would be well underway by the very next season, eventually leading to the best decade of Bucks history.

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