The 1948–49 BAA season was the first season for the Fort Wayne Pistons in the NBA/BAA and eighth season as a franchise.1948–49 Fort Wayne Pistons It was also the first season where the Pistons would not utilize the Zollner name as a part of their franchise due to the Basketball Association of America forbidding companies from utilizing their own organizations as a part of their team name, which Fred Zollner's Zollner Corporation was a part of at the time, meaning the Pistons were forced to remove the Zollner part of their team name officially in order to compete in the BAA/NBA (though they were still referred to as the Zollner Pistons and Zollners unofficially while representing Fort Wayne at the time).
Despite their NBL success, which included four championship series berths and two titles, the team wasn't able to translate that success to the new league and missed the playoffs for the first time in team history. The team was led by center John Mahnken (9.5 ppg) and forward Blackie Towery (7.5 ppg).
BAA Draft
Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 8 Ward Williams F Indiana 2 20 Bobby Cook G Wisconsin 3 32 Kenny Rollins G Kentucky 4 44 Link Richmond – Arizona 5 56 Murray Wier G Iowa Originally, the Pistons (formerly known as the Zollner Pistons, which were named after Fred Zollner and his Zollner Corporation) were one of four teams to participate in what was planned to be a joint draft procedure between the BAA and the rivaling National Basketball League. However, on the very day before the joint draft was set to commence, plans for it were scrapped when the Fort Wayne squad that would since remove the Zollner part of the team name and three other NBL teams (including the defending NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers and runner-up Rochester Royals) decided to leave the NBL for the BAA, meaning they would participate in the 1948 BAA draft this time around instead or either a joint league draft akin to what the National Football League would later do with the future rivaling American Football League during the late 1960s or the 1948 NBL draft that they were originally meant to be a part of., pg. 6 Fort Wayne would end up having the least amount of draft picks for this BAA draft this time around with only five total draft selections at hand. Not only that, but only Ward Williams would end up joining the Fort Wayne Pistons, as both Bobby Cook and Murray Wier would end up going to the rivaling NBL's teams in the Sheboygan Red Skins and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks respectively, while Kenny Rollins would end up getting traded to the Chicago Stags before the season began and Link Richmond never played for the BAA/NBA at all whatsoever.
Roster
Regular season
Season standings
Game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 November 3 New York 76–80 Jake Pelkington (15) 0–1 2 November 6 @ St. Louis 55–65 Dick Triptow (12) 0–2 3 November 7 Baltimore 77–78 Leo Klier (16) 0–3 4 November 11 @ Providence 87–90 Leo Klier (16) 0–4 5 November 12 @ Boston 75–84 Jack Smiley (21) 0–5 6 November 13 @ Washington 71–80 Carlisle Towery (15) 0–6 7 November 14 Indianapolis 79–73 Walt Kirk (18) 1–6 8 November 17 Philadelphia 80–72 Carlisle Towery (20) 2–6 9 November 21 Chicago 69–70 Bob Tough (14) 2–7 10 November 23 @ Philadelphia 90–80 Pelkington, Tough (16) 3–7 11 November 25 @ Baltimore 64–69 Tough, Towery (14) 3–8 12 November 27 @ New York 70–80 Pelkington, Smiley (12) 3–9 13 November 28 Boston 80–74 Richie Niemiera (19) 4–9 14 November 30 @ Indianapolis 77–62 Dick Triptow (13) 5–9 15 December 1 Minneapolis 84–74 Bob Tough (18) 6–9 16 December 4 @ St. Louis 62–76 Bob Kinney (12) 6–10 17 December 5 Chicago 79–88 Leo Klier (20) 6–11 18 December 8 St. Louis 70–60 Leo Klier (25) 7–11 19 December 10 @ Chicago 70–78 Leo Klier (18) 7–12 20 December 12 New York 78–89 Leo Mogus (22) 7–13 21 December 16 @ Providence 76–61 Klier, Mogus (15) 8–13 22 December 18 @ Rochester 64–84 Leo Mogus (15) 8–14 23 December 19 Rochester 78–83 (OT) Dick Triptow (13) 8–15 24 December 23 @ Indianapolis 60–71 Curly Armstrong (11) 8–16 25 December 25 @ Washington 74–88 John Mahnken (20) 8–17 26 December 26 Washington 91–73 John Mahnken (16) 9–17 27 January 1 @ Minneapolis 72–92 Klier, Mahnken (16) 9–18 28 January 2 Boston 69–90 Bob Tough (17) 9–19 29 January 8 @ Philadelphia 73–67 John Mahnken (20) 10–19 30 January 9 Indianapolis 80–78 Curly Armstrong (20) 11–19 31 January 15 @ Rochester 62–73 John Mahnken (12) 11–20 32 January 16 Providence 76–56 Bruce Hale (15) 12–20 33 January 19 @ Chicago 104–96 (2OT) John Mahnken (14) 13–20 34 January 20 @ Minneapolis 65–83 Curly Armstrong (10) 13–21 35 January 23 Rochester 80–81 (OT) John Mahnken (17) 13–22 36 January 26 Philadelphia 88–80 Leo Mogus (22) 14–22 37 January 28 @ Indianapolis 63–77 Jack Smiley (16) 14–23 38 January 29 @ St. Louis 73–86 Bruce Hale (20) 14–24 39 January 30 Baltimore 78–93 Bruce Hale (26) 14–25 40 February 2 Minneapolis 79–82 (OT) Curly Armstrong (26) 14–26 41 February 5 @ Rochester 61–80 Hale, Mahnken (11) 14–27 42 February 6 Washington 82–72 Bruce Hale (15) 15–27 43 February 8 vs Philadelphia 89–87 Bill Henry (20) 16–27 44 February 9 Indianapolis 67–70 Bill Henry (17) 16–28 45 February 12 @ New York 58–85 Bruce Hale (12) 16–29 46 February 13 New York 82–73 Richie Niemiera (16) 17–29 47 February 15 @ Chicago 69–83 Curly Armstrong (13) 17–30 48 February 16 Baltimore 84–68 Bill Henry (20) 18–30 49 February 20 St. Louis 64–70 Bruce Hale (18) 18–31 50 February 24 @ Minneapolis 73–77 John Mahnken (21) 18–32 51 February 27 Minneapolis 74–50 Dick Triptow (17) 19–32 52 March 4 @ Boston 70–76 Black, Triptow (12) 19–33 53 March 6 Rochester 66–78 Bill Henry (16) 19–34 54 March 8 vs Boston 60–63 Dick Triptow (11) 19–35 55 March 9 Providence 84–80 Bruce Hale (18) 20–35 56 March 12 @ Washington 60–87 Bruce Hale (10) 20–36 57 March 13 Chicago 81–78 Bruce Hale (16) 21–36 58 March 17 vs Providence 74–72 Bruce Hale (12) 22–36 59 March 19 @ Baltimore 79–99 Bill Henry (17) 22–37 60 March 20 St. Louis 82–87 Bill Henry (16) 22–38
References