"All he said to me was, 'You should've been a Celtic.' He didn't say, 'You've got a great game' or anything, nothing complimentary. It was just, 'You should've been a Celtic.' Because they had regional draft privileges in the '60s. You had first take on the ones in your area, coming out of college in your area."
"That's a fact, man. And you know what was so funny when I first met him. I went to UMass and I was right down the road - I was 90 miles down the road where I went to college. I had two good varsity seasons and a freshman season that was pretty good."
During an appearance on the 'All That Smoke' podcast, Hall of Famer Julius Erving discussed his relationship with the Boston Celtics and Red Auerbach. Erving confirmed that Auerbach genuinely disliked the ABA, the rival league where Erving played for five years before joining the Philadelphia 76ers. When Erving first met Auerbach, despite attending UMass just 90 miles from Boston, Auerbach's only comment was 'You should've been a Celtic'—a remark reflecting frustration over the territorial draft system that gave NBA teams first rights to college players in their regions during the 1960s.
Read at Boston.com
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