Joe Axelson

Joe Axelson (December 25, 1927 – May 31, 2008) was an American sports executive who won the first NBA Executive of the Year Award in 1973 while serving as general manager of the Kansas City–Omaha Kings.[1] He was partly responsible for the shifting of the original Cincinnati Royals franchise to Kansas City–Omaha, and then on to Sacramento, California.[2]

He died on May 31, 2008 at his home in Coronado, California, aged 80.[2]

Axelson was a native of Clinton, Illinois. He played baseball and basketball for school teams. He served in the armed forces in Georgia for several years. Not much is available about Axelson's business activities in the 1960s, but he became involved to some degree with sports event and related promotions in the Cincinnati area. The Jacobs family, then-owners of the NBA's Cincinnati Royals, as well as a slew of other enterprises were looking for someone to be the team's general manager. When Max Jacobs became the Royals' chairman, replacing his deceased father Louis Jacobs in 1968, he named Axelson to the position. However, Axelson had little experience with the sport, let alone the league, making his appointment as general manager quizzical at best.

NBA legend Oscar Robertson, who was the Cincinnati Royals' best player, roundly criticized Axelson in his autobiography. "Axelson didn't know a basketball from a pumpkin" wrote Robertson, a statement made in light of Axelson's poor trading record with the team.

Notable trades while general manager

Axelson traded Jerry Lucas, a three-time First Team All-NBA player, for two San Francisco Warriors players, Bill Turner and James King. Turner played with the Royals for just one season, then was dealt to the Warriors to join Lucas in 1970. King, who missed games with a broken leg, played just 31 games with the Royals and was then released. Lucas was a starting 1971 NBA West All-Star, then starred for two more seasons for the New York Knickerbockers, helping them reach two NBA Finals.

However, Axelson was more notorious for trading Oscar Robertson, who was the franchise's most valuable player. Robertson, at the time the only player in NBA history to average a triple-double for an entire season, had led the Cincinnati Royals throughout the '60s and won the NBA's Most Valuable Player award in 1964. Throughout the 1960s, Robertson had kept the Royals in title contention along with Lucas; however, playing in the Eastern Division along with the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers meant that the Royals never got the opportunity to play for a title, let alone win one. Robertson's patience with the front office's failure to improve the Royals led him to request a trade.

This led Axelson to arrange a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks. In exchange for Robertson, the Cincinnati Royals received Charlie Paulk and Flynn Robinson in return. Paulk had not played at all in 1969–70; he was serving in the military in Georgia that season. He played one year with the Royals, then was traded to Chicago the following season. His entire NBA career was 120 games. Robinson, a very good guard, played just one year with Cincinnati, then was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers by Axelson for a draft pick.

Robertson played four more years in the NBA, twice helping the Milwaukee Bucks to the NBA Finals. The Bucks won the title in 1970 against the Baltimore Bullets, setting a then-record for wins with 66, and lost against the Boston Celtics in seven games in 1974.

Robertson and Lucas were Axelson's best trade opportunities to help the Cincinnati team. Both trades were roundly criticized.

Part-ownership and franchise relocations

Axelson was listed as one of the owners when the Cincinnati Royals moved to Kansas City in 1972. In order to forestall confusion with the city's new baseball team, also named the Royals, Axelson renamed the team to the Kings, the name they've kept since. That relocation was poorly planned; the team was supposed to play its home games in Kemper Arena, but it was not initially available for the team's use. That forced the Kings to play "home" games in both Omaha, Nebraska and Kansas City, Missouri -- cities that are 165 miles apart.

Incredibly, despite all that, and a mediocre 36-46 record in their first season in Kansas City, Axelson was named NBA Executive of the Year.

Axelson's teams in Kansas City recorded four winning NBA seasons in thirteen years. Amazingly, the Kings reached the NBA Western Conference Finals in 1981, losing to the Houston Rockets in five games. This was the only time in NBA history that two teams with losing records made the conference finals; both the Kings and Rockets had identical 40-42 records. The Rockets went on to become the second team in league history to make the NBA Finals with a losing record, but lost to the Boston Celtics in six games. The Kings' playoff series victories over the Blazers and Suns were their last in Kansas City.

Axelson, however, was not part of that success since he took a two year leave to work for the league office as director of operations before resuming his position as general manager of the Kings.

The Kansas City Kings' mediocre performance on the court meant they struggled to draw fans, especially when compared to the baseball Royals - who routinely made the postseason, and played in the World Series in 1980. Moreover, they also faced competition in their home arena from the Kansas City Comets indoor soccer team, who moved there from San Francisco in 1981, and made the playoffs the last three years the Kings played in Kansas City. With attendance lagging, and with the Kings now owned by Sacramento-based business interests, Axelson was asked to help relocate the franchise a third time. On the Kings' final home game in Kansas City, played on April 14, 1985, thousands of fans showed their dislike for Axelson by wearing "Joe Axelson masks" and booing throughout. Axelson was later also burned in effigy.

The new Sacramento Kings had a decent first season with a 37-45 record, then failed to win 30 games in any season for the next eight years with Axelson again as General Manager.

Notes
  1. Association for Professional Basketball Research FAQ. Retrieved 9 September 2007.
  2. Former Royals, Kings executive Axelson dies at age 80
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