McAdoo Asks for Trade

February 11, 1980

Guess who wants to be traded? Guess who is begging to get out of Detroit? Surprise . . . it's Bob McAdoo.

The news surfaced yesterday, almost a year to the day after the infamous trade between the Celtics and the Knicks - the deal that brought a reluctant McAdoo to Boston for three first-round draft choices and a player to be named later (Tom Barker) on Feb. 12, 1979. McAdoo, the Pistons' leading scorer (21.5 points a game) and rebounder (8.6) this season, was benched for the game by Detroit coach Richie Adubato.

McAdoo had played only 15 minutes in a 114-107 loss to the Knicks on Saturday night - all of them in the first half, in which he had eight points and six rebounds. Adubato said he benched McAdoo then because "he said he didn't want to play for the Pistons anymore and wanted to be traded. If a player feels that way, then I'm not going to play him at all.

"We've got a young team and we're going to play the people who show me they want to play. I don't know what McAdoo's problem is. Maybe he is unhappy that Bob Lanier got traded away to a contender (Milwaukee), and he had to stay here. Maybe he is just frustrated because he's playing with a team that makes so many mistakes. I know that is hard on a veteran player, but we're trying to build something here, and it takes time."

McAdoo confirmed that he had indeed demanded to be traded and said he is tired of being the fall guy for all that has happened this year in Detroit.The Pistons' 14-43 record is the worst in the league, and the Celtics could wind up with the No. 1 choice in this year's draft because they own the pick belonging to Detroit. That pick was acquired in a compensation deal for the Celtics' signing of M.L. Carr. As part of that transaction, McAdoo was sent to Detroit."A person like me should not be playing 15 minutes a game," said McAdoo. "I may be calm, but I'm boiling inside. I made four of nine shots, had eight points and six rebounds (Saturday). Is that a bad first half? Judge for yourself."

Detroit seems to be an improved club with the departure of Lanier and Jim McElroy and the addition of Kent Benson and former  Lexington star Ron Lee. Benson (25 points) said playing for the Pistons was like a new lease on life, because he had been longing to get out of Milwaukee and now has a shooting role. "He'll be more of a shooter here," confirmed Adubato . . . Lee has turned into a well-traveled pro at the tender age of 27. It's refreshing to see that he still seems to have a hankering for wooden floors. He certainly could have gotten a medal rewarding his go-for-broke dives on the hard wood for a team that wasn't going to be able to catch up.. . . The Larry Bird-Greg Kelser duel, which began last year when the two were collegians at Indiana State and Michigan State, respectively, flourished for a half yesterday. But Kelser jammed his toe just before halftime after scoring 10 of his 12 points, and he was unable to drive in the second half. Bird broke loose for 16 of his 24 points after halftime . . . Gerald Henderson, sidelined with a hairline fracture of the jaw, is still waiting for a mask to be made so that he can resume playing, perhaps, by Wednesday in Phoenix . . . In the what-a- difference-a-day-makes department, Don Chaney said: "The teams are psyched out when they play us. They know that, no matter what the score is, we always come back. I think we've only been blown out one time this year. And they know we are playing with confidence."