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Basketball Association of America

Sport	Basketball
Founded	1946
No. of teams	16
Country(ies)	United States  Canada
Ceased	1949
Last champion(s)	Minneapolis Lakers
Related competitions	National Basketball Association

The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. The league merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1949, forming the National Basketball Association (NBA). ^[1] The BAA played three seasons with a total of 16 teams participating. The Philadelphia Warriors won the inaugural BAA championship in 1947, followed by the Baltimore Bullets and the Minneapolis Lakers in 1948 and 1949 respectively.^[2] Six teams from the BAA are still active in the NBA as of the 2009–10 season.

The BAA also had plenty of problems. These included low-scoring games; poor attendance; scheduling conflicts becuase many teams shared arena with hockey temas.

History

The Maple Leaf Gardens hosted the first game of the BAA.

Walter Brown, owner of the Boston Garden, wondered what could happen if the ice hockey arenas, which were often empty, hosted basketball games when there were no ice hockey games played.^[3] For this reason the BAA was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946. Later that day, Maurice Podoloff, who was already serving as president of the American Hockey League, was appointed president of the BAA, becoming the first person to simultaneously lead two professional leagues.^[4] The owners of the BAA were inexperienced at owning basketball teams. However, they were experienced businessmen.^[5]

The league started with 11 professional basketball teams, which played in a 60-game regular season. This was followed by the playoffs and the final series to determine the league winner.^[4] Similar to Major League Baseball, knowbody ever thought of singing or drafting back players. ^[6]

Although there had been earlier attempts at professional basketball leagues, including the American Basketball League (ABL) and the NBL, the BAA was the first league to attempt to play primarily in large arenas in major cities, such as Madison Square Garden and Boston Garden.^[7] During its early years, the quality of play in the BAA was not significantly better than in competing leagues or among leading independent clubs such as the Harlem Globetrotters. For instance, both the 1948 and 1949 titles were won by teams that had played in the other leagues during the previous year, the Baltimore Bullets in 1948 and the Minneapolis Lakers in 1949 respectively.^[8][9]

1946–47 season

The league started with 11 teams, which were divided into two divisions, the Eastern Division and the Western Division. Each team played 60 or 61 regular season games. The best three teams from each division advanced to the playoffs. The two division winners received first round byes and qualified directly to the semifinals while the two second-placed teams and two third-placed teams contest a best-of-3 quarterfinal and semifinal. The Eastern Division winner, the Washington Capitols, who had the best record with 49 wins, were defeated in the best-of-7 semifinal by the Western Division winner, the Chicago Stags. The Stags advanced to the finals along with the Philadelphia Warriors who defeated the New York Knickerbockers in the other semifinal. The final series were also played in a best-of-7 format. The Warriors won the inaugural BAA championship by winning the series 4–1.^[10][7][11]

On November 1, 1946, at the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, the Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers, which the NBA now regards as the league's first official game.^[12] In the opening game of the BAA, Ossie Schectman scored the opening basket for the Knickerbockers.^[13]

The first year had some problems. Due to its hockey influence arena owners simply put the wooden floor over the ice. This caused some games to be rained out due the puddles on the floor. In addition, the owners would not turn on the heat, thus enables fans to bring blankest to the games and players to wear gloves. To make matters worse, attendance was at 3,000 per game. Basketball players would also dribble the ball for long periods once their team ahead by a lot. The owners discussed trying a 60-minuet game and even doing "innings" where each team would have the ball for a certain period of time. ^[14]

1947–48 season

Before the season started, the Cleveland Rebels, Detroit Falcons, Pittsburgh Ironmen and the Toronto Huskies folded, leaving the BAA with only seven teams. The Baltimore Bullets joined the league from the ABL. The Bullets were assigned to the Western Division, while the Washington Capitols were reassigned to the Western Division to even the divisions. Prior to the start of the season, the league held their inaugural draft on July 1, 1947.^[15] Each team played 48 regular season games. The East Division was won by the 27-win Phildephia Warriors. The West was won by the St. Louis Bombers, who won 29 games finished one game ahead of the remainder of the team in that division.^[8]

The 1948 Playoffs followed the same format as the previous year. Eastern Division winner, the Philadelphia Warriors defeated the Western Division winner, St. Louis Bombers. In the finals, the Warriors were defeated by the Bullets 4–2.^[16][8][17]

1948–49 season

Prior to the start of the season, four teams from the NBL, the Fort Wayne Pistons, Indianapolis Jets, Minneapolis Lakers and the Rochester Royals, joined the BAA. The league was realigned into a two six-team divisions. Each team played 60 regular season games. The Eastern Division was won by the Washington Capitols who had 38 wins, while the Western Division was dominated by the two new teams, the Royals and the Lakers who had 45 and 44 wins respectively.

The 1949 Playoffs were expanded to include eight teams. The four best teams from each division contested in divisional semifinals and divisional finals to find each division winners. The two division winners then advanced to the finals. The divisional semifinals and finals were played in a best-of-3 format while the final series were played in the best-of-7 format. The Lakers defeated the Royals to became the inaugural Western Division winner. In the other divisional final, the Capitols defeated the New York Knicks to became the inaugural Eastern Division winner. The Lakers then won the finals by defeating the Capitols 4–2.^[18][9][19]

The end of the BAA

On August 3, 1949, the BAA agreed to merge with the NBL, creating the National Basketball Association (NBA). The six remaining NBL teams were absorbed into the BAA, which then had ten teams after the Indianapolis Jets and the Providence Steamrollers folded prior to the merge. The Indianapolis Olympians, a planned expansion team for the NBL, also joined the newly-formed league. In total, the new league had 17 teams located in a mix of large and small cities, as well as large arenas, smaller gymnasiums, and armories.^[20][4] Prior to the merge, the league held the 1949 Draft on March 21, which was the last event held under the name BAA.^[15]

League champions

Teams

Year-by-Year standings

1946-47 Seasons

Eastern Division

Western Division

^[7]

1947-48 Season

Eastern Division

Western Division

1948-49 NBA Season

Eastern Division

^[8]

Western Division

^[9]

Awards

The All-BAA Team was an annual BAA honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every season. The All-BAA Team was composed of two five-man lineups—a first and second team, comprising a total of 10 roster spots. The players were selected regardless to position.^[37]

References

External Links

• BAA Board minutes, 1946-49