The 1948–49 BAA season was the Bombers' 3rd season in the NBA/BAA.1948-49 St. Louis Bombers This would also become the team's first season without head coach Ken Loeffler leading the way for the Bombers, with them now being led by new player-coach Grady Lewis (who previously played for the Bombers the previous season before being a part of the recent BAA champion Baltimore Bullets) for the rest of the franchise's existence. Under a combination of a coaching philosophy change from Ken Loeffler to Grady Lewis and a divisional shift in the Basketball Association of America (BAA) following the additions of four of the teams from the rivaling National Basketball League (NBL) in the former NBL champion Minneapolis Lakers, Rochester Royals, Fort Wayne Pistons, and Indianapolis Jets led to the Bombers finishing with a below-average 29–31, though they still qualified for the 1949 BAA playoffs, where they were swept by the Rochester Royals in the Western Division Semifinals. Following the conclusion of this season, the Bombers were one of ten BAA teams (removing only the former NBL turned BAA Indianapolis Jets and the Providence Steamrollers teams) to join up with six of the surviving nine NBL teams (with an expansion team in the Indianapolis Olympians also being added) to create the present-day National Basketball Association.

Draft

Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 7 Bob Gale C Cornell 2 19 Jack Burmaster G Illinois 3 31 Easy Parham G/F Texas Wesleyan 4 43 D. C. Wilcutt G Saint Louis 5 55 Gordon Flick – Drake 6 67 John Hoppin – Dickinson 7 78 Dan London – Washington State 8 88 Daniel Miller – Saint Louis

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 November 1 @ Indianapolis 80–84 Logan, Parham (18) 0–1 2 November 6 Fort Wayne 65–55 Easy Parham (15) 1–1 3 November 9 New York 60–56 Ariel Maughan (13) 2–1 4 November 13 Philadelphia 76–75 Red Rocha (18) 3–1 5 November 16 Boston 79–74 (OT) Maughan, Rocha (15) 4–1 6 November 19 vs Baltimore 82–72 Ariel Maughan (18) 5–1 7 November 20 Baltimore 64–85 Red Rocha (14) 5–2 8 November 25 Providence 84–82 Red Rocha (22) 6–2 9 November 27 Minneapolis 71–87 Belus Smawley (20) 6–3 10 December 1 Chicago 72–61 Belus Smawley (17) 7–3 11 December 4 Fort Wayne 76–62 Johnny Logan (21) 8–3 12 December 5 @ Minneapolis 68–78 Buddy O'Grady (18) 8–4 13 December 8 @ Fort Wayne 60–70 Johnny Logan (16) 8–5 14 December 10 vs Washington 88–83 (OT) Belus Smawley (24) 9–5 15 December 11 @ Washington 63–87 Johnny Logan (15) 9–6 16 December 13 @ Boston 79–83 (OT) Belus Smawley (22) 9–7 17 December 14 @ Philadelphia 61–74 Ariel Maughan (15) 9–8 18 December 16 @ Baltimore 85–82 (OT) Johnny Logan (28) 10–8 19 December 18 @ New York 79–88 Logan, Maughan (18) 10–9 20 December 23 @ Providence 109–99 Belus Smawley (30) 11–9 21 December 25 @ Rochester 82–90 Johnny Logan (16) 11–10 22 December 26 Indianapolis 75–65 Belus Smawley (28) 12–10 23 December 30 Washington 68–81 Johnny Logan (17) 12–11 24 January 1 @ Rochester 83–106 Maughan, Smawley (17) 12–12 25 January 2 Rochester 64–89 Belus Smawley (15) 12–13 26 January 5 @ Minneapolis 76–101 Ariel Maughan (18) 12–14 27 January 8 Minneapolis 64–59 Maughan, Rocha (17) 13–14 28 January 9 @ Minneapolis 58–74 Belus Smawley (16) 13–15 29 January 12 Chicago 66–75 Ariel Maughan (16) 13–16 30 January 15 Providence 79–76 Ariel Maughan (22) 14–16 31 January 17 @ New York 79–71 Belus Smawley (26) 15–16 32 January 18 @ Boston 89–83 Belus Smawley (25) 16–16 33 January 20 Rochester 74–84 Red Rocha (16) 16–17 34 January 23 Indianapolis 73–91 Belus Smawley (19) 16–18 35 January 25 @ Indianapolis 53–65 Easy Parham (13) 16–19 36 January 28 @ Chicago 65–83 Johnny Logan (17) 16–20 37 January 29 Fort Wayne 86–73 Ariel Maughan (21) 17–20 38 February 3 Washington 65–74 Ariel Maughan (16) 17–21 39 February 6 Philadelphia 74–77 (OT) Belus Smawley (28) 17–22 40 February 8 @ Chicago 75–73 Belus Smawley (22) 18–22 41 February 9 New York 83–95 Belus Smawley (18) 18–23 42 February 12 Baltimore 74–73 Belus Smawley (19) 19–23 43 February 15 vs New York 75–79 (OT) Red Rocha (20) 19–24 44 February 17 Rochester 63–68 Belus Smawley (21) 19–25 45 February 19 Chicago 63–59 Belus Smawley (18) 20–25 46 February 20 @ Fort Wayne 70–64 Red Rocha (20) 21–25 47 February 23 Boston 77–83 Johnny Logan (19) 21–26 48 February 25 @ Boston 83–102 Belus Smawley (27) 21–27 49 February 26 @ Providence 93–90 Ariel Maughan (19) 22–27 50 March 1 @ Philadelphia 83–89 Logan, Smawley (18) 22–28 51 March 2 @ Washington 82–75 Rocha, Smawley (18) 23–28 52 March 3 @ Baltimore 66–94 Belus Smawley (22) 23–29 53 March 9 @ Indianapolis 81–80 Belus Smawley (21) 24–29 54 March 10 Minneapolis 88–71 Belus Smawley (25) 25–29 55 March 12 @ Rochester 74–104 Johnny Logan (15) 25–30 56 March 13 Indianapolis 87–86 Belus Smawley (23) 26–30 57 March 16 Providence 81–59 Belus Smawley (18) 27–30 58 March 17 @ Chicago 79–85 Johnny Logan (18) 27–31 59 March 19 Philadelphia 109–100 Bill Roberts (30) 28–31 60 March 20 @ Fort Wayne 87–82 Bill Roberts (22) 29–31

BAA Playoffs BAA West Division Semifinals (1) Rochester Royals vs. (4) St. Louis Bombers: Royals win series 2-0 Game 1 @ Rochester: Rochester 93, St. Louis 64 Game 2 @ St. Louis: Rochester 66, St. Louis 64

Last Playoff Meeting: This is the first and only meeting between the Royals and Bombers.

Awards and records Johnny Logan, All-NBA Second Team

References