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Oklahoma basketball: Sooners’ Top-Eight NBA Draft picks

By Chip Rouse

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 04: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks to the media prior to the start of the NBA 2K League Draft at Madison Square Garden on April 4, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 04: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks to the media prior to the start of the NBA 2K League Draft at Madison Square Garden on April 4, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /
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ANAHEIM, CA – MARCH 26: The Oklahoma Sooners bench cheers late in the second half while taking on the Oregon Ducks in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament West Regional Final at Honda Center on March 26, 2016 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CA – MARCH 26: The Oklahoma Sooners bench cheers late in the second half while taking on the Oregon Ducks in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament West Regional Final at Honda Center on March 26, 2016 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

No. 5 – Garfield Heard, Forward, 1967-70

Garfield Heard played three seasons at Oklahoma on teams that were not very good. In his three seasons at OU, the Sooners had a combined record of 28-49. Nevertheless, Heard averaged 21.8 points a game his senior season, and the 6-foot, 6-inch forward was selected by the then Seattle Supersonics in the third round of the 1970 NBA Draft with the 40th overall pick.

Heard played 11 seasons in the NBA with four different teams. In 787 career NBA games, he averaged 8.7 points and 7.5 rebounds. His best season was in 1973-74, when he averaged 15.3 points and 11 rebounds a game for the Buffalo Braves.

The former Oklahoma star played in 59 NBA playoff games for three different teams. The most memorable of those games was in 1975-76, when the Phoenix Suns played the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, The Celtics won the series four games to two and were crowned NBA champions. Heard averaged 13.9 points for Phoenix in the playoffs that season and 10.4 rebounds.

Heard’s final season in the NBA was in 1980-81 with the San Diego Clippers (the transplanted Buffalo Braves).

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