After doing some research on the organizations that started in the NBA here are the 1949β50 season teams:
*Syracuse Nationals
*New York Knicks
*Washington Capitols
*Philadelphia Warriors
*Baltimore Bullets
*Boston Celtics
*Minneapolis Lakers
*Rochester Royals
*Fort Wayne Pistons
*Chicago Stags
*St. Louis Bombers
*Indianapolis Olympians
*Anderson Packers
*Tri-Cities Blackhawks
*Sheboygan Red Skins
*Waterloo Hawks
*Denver Nuggets
Never seen this anywhere online before so I'll make the list. Partially just so I have a resource and don't have to go digging through as many books and articles I've already read. This is majority owners only, elected team presidents in the cases where the team was community-funded.
Anderson Packers: Ike Duffey (1906-1967) from Lagro IN. He was the owner of the meat packing company "Chief Anderson Packing Co." He sold much of the team to the community on 01/04/1950 but remained team president.
Baltimore Bullets: Jake Embry (1909-2002) from Belzoni MS. He was a radio broadcasting executive with WITH-AM.
Boston Celtics: Walter A. Brown (1905-1964) from Hopkinton MA was president via presidency of the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation. He was the manager of the Boston Garden and president of the Boston Athletic Association.
Chicago Stags: James D. Norris (1906-1966) from Chicago IL. He was a partner in the brokerage firm "Norris and Kenly" and vice president of the Detroit Red Wings.
Denver Nuggets: Bud Robineau (1900-1967) from Syracuse NY was president via an election (community-owned team). He was the owner of the oil refinery "Frontier Refining Co."
Fort Wayne Pistons: Fred Zollner (1901-1982) from Little Falls MN. He was the owner of the automobile engine manufacturer "Zollner Machine Works."
Indianapolis Olympians: Babe Kimbrough (1905-1985) from West Paducah KY was president via appointment by the majority player-owners. He was a writer for the newspaper Lexington Herald.
Minneapolis Lakers: Ben Berger (1896-1988) from Ostrowiec ΕwiΔtokrzyski Poland. He was the owner of the movie theatre chain "Berger Amusement Co."
New York Knicks: Ned Irish (1905-1982) from Lake George NY was president via presidency of the Madison Square Garden Corporation. He was the interim manager of the Madison Square Garden.
Philadelphia Warriors: Peter A. Tyrrell (1896-1973) from Philadelphia PA. He was the manager of the Philadelphia Arena.
Rochester Royals: Les Harrison (1904-1997) from Rochester NY. He had owned, coached, and played for semi-professional basketball teams since 1923.
Sheboygan Red Skins: Magnus Brinkman (1909-1990) from Sheboygan WI was president via an election (community-owned team). He was the owner of the dairy company "DeLand Cheese Co."
St. Louis Bombers: Emory Jones (1897-1977) from Decatur GA. He was the co-owner and manager of the St. Louis Arena.
Syracuse Nationals: Danny Biason
... keep reading on reddit β‘With all of the LeBron/Lakers talk I thought I'd point out this little fact about the Lakers. Some of the older NBA fans may know this already.
Also worth noting that the BAA (Basketball Association of America) and the NBL (National Basketball League) merged during the end of the 1948-49 season to create the NBA, the league we all know and love today.
Is KAT currently the 2nd best offensive big in the league behind Jokic?
His 7 seasons in chronological order are as follows:
18/11 on 54/34%
25/12 on 54/37%
21/12 on 55/42% *
24/12 on 52/40% *
27/11 on 51/41% *
25/11 on 49/39%
24/9 on 51/42% *
He has 4 seasons averaging 20 on 50/40% βΒ every other center in history has no more than 1.
Source - Statmuse
Pretty unreal season from him so far. I know the traditional suspects in the MVP race arenβt going anywhere, but DeMar deserves to be in the discussion as well. Heβs been an absolute monster and arguably the clutchest player in the league. Really cool to see.
Source: https://nba.com/stats/players/traditional/
https://twitter.com/WolvesRadio/status/1479179935075950592
The wolves have had a really good team when those 5 are on the court.
Even without Ant and Vanderbilt, KAT/Dlo/Patbev have a net rating of +24.3 (https://twitter.com/FlyByKnite/status/1478927524491001858).
The depth is a pretty big issue. Especially with Malik Beasley still having incurred the wrath of Clanky the basketball demon. Beasley is shooting at a 34%(!) stroke from 3 on 9(!!) attempts per game.
The rest of the bench is pretty inconsistent as well despite the emergence of Jaylen Nowell.
Where do you think he ends up after his career is said and done?
he's currently at 18422. say he plays 50 more games at 25 ppg, that would put him at 19672 in 50th behind John Stockton.
I personally think he can break top 30 by the end of his career.
sources: https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/derozde01.html
https://www.nba.com/stats/alltime-leaders/
[StatMuse]
Chris Paul in the clutch this season:
63.6 FG%
50.0 3P%
94.1 FT%
12 AST
2 TOV
The Suns have outscored opponents by 46 points with CP on the court in the clutch, the best +/- in the NBA.
Soutce
Highest-scoring efforts in the NBA this season:
Kevin Durant β 51 PTS
JAYLEN BROWN β 50 PTS
Steph Curry β 50 PTS
#JaylenBrown #NBAAllStar
https://twitter.com/taylorcsnow/status/1477820618615758853?t=3_3g7e3yL9ihjO7rGV_7HA&s=19
Iβm a new NFL fan thatβs just starting to get into the sport. Iβve followed the NBA for years now and itβs the consensus that a 50 win season for the most part is a successful winning season. How many wins would be considered a successful season for an NFL team?
RALPH SIMPSON (born August 10, 1949) was a SG/SF who played in 5 straight ABA All-Star Games with Denver ('72-76) and was 1st-team All-ABA in the league's final season ('76). In HS he was teammates with Spencer Haywood, and he was the only HS player to receive an invitation to try out for the '68 Olympic team (HOF wings Paul Westphal and Dr. J were also seniors in HS that year but did NOT get invites). Simpson displayed good athleticism as a player, but he was one of the ABA's stars who did not translate well to the NBA after the merger, despite being in the relative prime of his career -- I'm not sure why, but he was considered a streaky shooter and had a rather poor assist/turnover rate, so his style might have been too undisciplined outside of the ABA -- again, I don't know. Here are Simpson's career stats, plus here is his ABA profile.
DON BUSE (born August 10, 1950) was a PG/SG who played his first 4 seasons with the ABA's Pacers dynasty, and then another 9 years in the NBA after the '76 merger. Buse was noted as a dependable and smart guard (great assist/turnover rates, good shooting without taking a ton of shots) and a very tight defender. He made the All-Defense Team for 6 straight years (2 in the ABA, 4 in the ABA), and was a 2x All-Star (ABA in '76, NBA in '77). There were several players in both leagues whose careers looked very different before & after the merger (like Simpson above), but not Buse. In '76, he lead the ABA with 8.2 apg and 4.1 spg. In '77, he lead the NBA with 8.5 apg and 3.5 spg. He also shot 44% in both leagues over his career, and 33% from 3 in both leagues for his career. He was a starter on the '79 Suns that went to the WCF, where they barely lost 4-games-to-3 to the Sonics who went on to win the title. Here are Buse's career stats.
JOHN STARKS (born August 10, 1965) was a SG for the Knicks through most of the 90's. Starks' back-story is very interesting since he attended 4 different colleges in Oklahoma (Oklahoma State being the only one of note), went undrafted in '88, spent parts of 2 seasons in the CBA and WBL (two leagues that have since folded), and then only made the Knicks because he got injured in a pre-season practice in '90 while trying to dunk on Ewing, and NY wasn't allowed to cut him if he wasn
... keep reading on reddit β‘i think it would be interesting to resim the nfl from 1920 to 2021 the early games will be in black and white
I heard you now canβt get the opposing teamβs broadcast because of market restrictions. True or false?
My wife is making me turn the sound off to watch the game now and asked if I could figure out how to get the audio from the opposing team broadcast.
CONTEXT FOR THIS POST: As this sub has become more aware of the incorrect myth regarding the NBA's beginnings as being the same as the BAA's beginnings in the 1946-47 season, it's made my birthday posts about the early stars more difficult, especially since these posts are mostly just cut/pasted from 1-2 years ago with some light editing. Long story short, Zaslofsky starred for the BAA during its only 3 seasons ('47-49) and then in the NBA's first season ('50). I want to honor his accomplishments during these 4 seasons appropriately while not discrediting what was happening in the NBL at the same time. It's gonna be tough, but I welcome all corrections and points of nuance in the comments.
1) He was a great HS player in NYC in the early-40's, then served in WW2 for 2 years, then played 1 year at St. John's before turning pro in 1946 in the new BAA's first season ('47), which is considered by the NBA to be the NBA's first season (it wasn't, but most of you understand what I'm saying). He was an instant star, earning 1st-team All-BAA/NBA honors in the league's first 4 seasons (really the BAA's 3 seasons and the NBA's 1st season), the only player to do so. This made him the league's best guard in the late-40's, before Bob Davies and Bob Cousy fought for the title in the early-50's. Here is some info about Max Zaslofsky from Peach Basket Society, a great source for early basketball info.
2) Here are Zaslofsky's career stats. In his first season ('47), he was 1st-Team All-BAA at 21 years old. He remained the youngest player ever to accomplish this honor until 60 seasons later when LeBron James also did it at 21, but James was 3 weeks younger than Zaslofksy.
3) In his 2nd season ('48), Zaslofsky lead the league in scoring at 22 years old. He remained the youngest player ever to accomplish this until 61 seasons later when Kevin Durant did it at 21.
4) Zaslofsky was a phenomenal shooter. He lead the league in FT% in '50 with a .843, and he was 2nd the prior 2 seasons. Also, his FG% was great for a guard, finishing top-5 in the league twice in FG% which has always been extraordinarily difficult for a guard to do. Zaslofsky is the only guard EVER to lead the league in scoring AND be top-5 in FG%, which he did in '48 when he lead the league in total points (1007) but was actually 2nd in points/ga
... keep reading on reddit β‘He is also the only player to get a 50-piece in all three situations over an entire career, since no one else has scored 50 in a play-in game.
Making things more impressive, Tatum accomplished this feat in less than a monthβs span: he scored 60 points on April 30, 50 points on May 18, and 50 tonight (May 28).
Here are Alex Groza's career stats. Groza was a college mega-star at Kentucky, leading the famous "Fabulous Five" to two straight national titles in 1948 and 1949 while being named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player both years. He was also the leading scorer on the 1948 US Olympic team that won gold.
He entered the NBA in its inaugural season (1949-50) by way of the NBL (it's sorta complicated, but the signing of Groza and 4 of his fellow UK alum to a new NBL franchise was a big deal that helped pressure the BAA into the 1949 merger that formed the NBA). He was an agile, skilled center who easily won the Rookie of the Year award with the Indianapolis Olympians by averaging 23.4 ppg (2nd in the NBA) and a league-best .478 FG%. He was named 1st-team NBA. The entire list of rookies to be named 1st-team NBA: Duncan, Bird, Unseld, Barry, Oscar, Wilt, Baylor, Pettit, and Groza.
As a second-year player, he continued his tear, averaging 21.7 ppg (2nd again), .470 FG% (1st again), and 10.7 rpg (5th) in the first year rebounds were officially recorded. He was top-5 in free throws shot and made both seasons, and he lead the league in TS% both seasons. He was again 1st-team NBA in his second season, which was also the first year of the All Star Game. He was the West's leading scorer and rebounder in the inaugural ASG contest, scoring 17 points and grabbing 13 boards; Mikan was "supposed" to be the star of the first ASG, but as Groza's Western teammate he had only 12 points and 11 rebounds (box score).
In the summer of 1951 after his second season, Groza was one of several players connected to the huge college point shaving scandal from his time at Kentucky, and he received a lifetime ban from the NBA. Unfortunately fans never got to see how great he could have been, only the greatness he showed at 23 and 24. Here is a page focusing on his UK days that includes over 70 action photos.
I wonder if the NBA will go back to the 1996 list and add 25 new names or if some of the players from the first list of 50 will be replaced.
Here is the list of the 50 greatest players in 1996:
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Nate Archibald
- Paul Arizin
- Charles Barkley
- Rick Barry
- Elgin Baylor
- Dave Bing
- Larry Bird
- Wilt Chamberlain
- Bob Cousy
- Dave Cowens
- Billy Cunningham
- Dave DeBusschere
- Clyde Drexler
- Julius Erving
- Patrick Ewing
- Walt Frazier
- George Gervin
- Hal Greer
- John Havlicek
- Elvin Hayes
- Magic Johnson
- Sam Jones
- Michael Jordan
- Jerry Lucas
- Karl Malone
- Moses Malone
- Pete Maravich
- Kevin McHale
- George Mikan
- Earl Monroe
- Hakeem Olajuwon
- Shaquille OβNeal
- Robert Parish
- Bob Pettit
- Scottie Pippen
- Willis Reed
- Oscar Robertson
- David Robinson
- Bill Russell
- Dolph Schayes
- Bill Sharman
- John Stockton
- Isiah Thomas
- Nate Thurmond
- Wes Unseld
- Bill Walton
- Jerry West
- Lenny Wilkens
- James Worthy
Source: https://www.nba.com/history/nba-at-50/top-50-players
If we assume that the NBA will add 25 new players to the original list, I already see 14 that are mandatory:
Ray Allen, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Tim Duncan, Kevin Durant, Allen Iverson, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Garnett, Jason Kidd.
For the remaining 11 spots, I was thinking of choosing from:
- Walt Bellamy. He had been ignored from the first listing but it has its place I think.
- Artis Gilmore.
- Dan Issel.
- James Harden.
- Dennis Johnson.
- Kawhi Leonard.
- Reggie Miller.
- Steve Nash.
- Paul Pierce.
- Russell Westbrook.
- Dominique Wilkins. On the 1996 list of 50, he had to be 51st at worst. Adding him would be a fair reward for his career.
What do you think? Who would you add to this list?
I was sick of the lack of easy-to-get, machine-friendly historical sports data. So I wrote my own. My hope is that people can do something cool with this data that I sourced from the sports reference websites
Every year the nfl does a top 100 list of the best players in the league voted on by the players the nba should do something similar. 50 instead of 100 cause there's a lot less players in the league it would be interesting to see who the players have respect for versus the media and fans.
