San Diego Sails

The San Diego Conquistadors (nicknamed The Q's ) were a basketball franchise from San Diego, California, who played from 1972 to 1975 in the American Basketball Association ( ABA). The Conquistadors were the only expansion team in the history of the ABA. Her successor was the San Diego Sails.

History

The franchise was founded by Leonard Bloom. But a dispute between Bloom and Peter Graham, the shareholders of owned by the city of San Diego Sports Arena, which has 14,400 seats, meant that the newborn team was excluded for two years from the building. The conflict was settled in the fall of 1974, but it was too late for a weakened franchise, which was forced to play in temporary quarters such as the Peterson Gym (3200 seats) and the Golden Hall, a pure ballroom.

Once they reached the playoffs in their debut season in 1973, landed the Q's apparently a coup by the Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain $ 600,000 paid to in 1973/74 to work as player-coach. But the Los Angeles Lakers prevented by a lawsuit that her former star for his new team played; condemned to supporting role was Chamberlain a listless, 2.16 m wide side attraction that once exposed a game to take part in an autograph session for his autobiography recently published. His spare time and on other occasions was Stan Albeck, who later became the Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs and New Jersey Nets coached in the NBA. Nevertheless, the team again reached the playoffs in 1974 and retired for the second time in a row in the first round.

Prior to her third and final season 1974/75 lost the Conquistadors Chamberlain and finally got their place in the San Diego Sports Arena. But without Chamberlain as a spectator magnet the team of the residents of San Diego was ignored and ended up in last place in the Western Division, which meant missing the playoffs.

Sale

Bloom sold the team during the summer of 1975, Frank Goldberg, a former co-owner of the successful Denver Nuggets. Goldberg began in San Diego 1975/76 from the front with a team called the San Diego Sails. Goldberg committed the former coach of the University of Minnesota Bill Musselman and tried to repeat with a completely different squad, new colors, jerseys and everything else to change Denver's 1974 /75 of mediocrity to a championship contender here.