The 1947–48 BAA season was the Bombers' second season in the BAA (which later became the NBA). Entering this season, St. Louis would continue to utilize the coaching system that made head coach Ken Loeffler successful under his first season with the Bombers, which involved a retrogressive philosophy of speedy play on both ends of the court that would make players feel like they wanted to hate their head coach at times., p. 142 However, this season would be seen as even better for them than their first season was due to them being the only team in the BAA to finish with a record under 20 losses in a season that only had 48 total games played this season with a 29–19 record, which was the best record in the entire BAA and barely earned them the best record in a Western Division that involved tiebreaker rounds throughout the rest of that division otherwise. Despite their success, however, they would be upset in the BAA Semifinals 4–3 by the defending champion Philadelphia Warriors, who themselves were later upset by the eventual champion Baltimore Bullets (who originally defected from the American Basketball League to the BAA starting this season). Following this season's conclusion, Loeffler would resign from his position as head coach on May 28, 1948 due to a dispute with the team's management involving a $1,000 bonus for the work he did in the two seasons he did as the head coach for the team,, p. 149 with his position being replaced by Grady Lewis for the rest of their existence going forward and Loeffler later being a head coach for the Providence Steamrollers in the BAA before eventually finding his best work with La Salle College (now La Salle University).
Draft
Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 7 Jack Underman C Ohio State 2 17 Jack Knopf G Louisville 3 27 Herb Wilkinson G/F Iowa 4 37 Bob Kurland C Oklahoma A&M 5 46 Bill Strannigan – Wyoming 6 54 Paul Napolitano G/F San Francisco 7 60 Jim Pollard F/C Stanford St. Louis would also later acquire future Hall of Famer Red Rocha from the Toronto Huskies months after the inaugural BAA/NBA draft concluded.
Roster
Regular season
Season standings
Game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 November 13 @ Chicago 70–80 Red Rocha (17) 0–1 2 November 15 @ New York 67–73 Red Rocha (26) 0–2 3 November 18 @ Boston 65–50 Logan, Smawley (14) 1–2 4 November 20 Providence 73–67 Red Rocha (16) 2–2 5 November 22 Washington 70–62 Belus Smawley (17) 3–2 6 November 26 @ Washington 64–83 Johnny Logan (16) 3–3 7 November 29 Baltimore 67–71 Red Rocha (24) 3–4 8 December 2 @ Providence 86–66 Don Putman (18) 4–4 9 December 4 @ Baltimore 65–51 Red Rocha (21) 5–4 10 December 8 @ New York 56–71 Red Rocha (14) 5–5 11 December 11 @ Philadelphia 74–69 Belus Smawley (21) 6–5 12 December 12 @ Chicago 85–75 Bob Doll (18) 7–5 13 December 18 @ Baltimore 67–74 Johnny Logan (16) 7–6 14 December 19 @ Boston 70–78 Grady Lewis (13) 7–7 15 December 20 @ Washington 55–52 Belus Smawley (14) 8–7 16 December 25 Washington 56–73 Bob Doll (17) 8–8 17 December 28 Baltimore 67–63 Bob Doll (23) 9–8 18 January 1 Boston 58–48 Johnny Logan (15) 10–8 19 January 4 Philadelphia 80–66 Red Rocha (15) 11–8 20 January 8 Washington 76–73 Don Putman (17) 12–8 21 January 11 Baltimore 69–54 Red Rocha (14) 13–8 22 January 15 New York 55–59 Red Rocha (11) 13–9 23 January 18 Providence 70–61 Johnny Logan (18) 14–9 24 January 20 @ Philadelphia 59–82 Don Putman (10) 14–10 25 January 21 @ Washington 74–81 Johnny Logan (19) 14–11 26 January 22 @ Baltimore 71–68 Doll, Logan, Smawley (11) 15–11 27 January 25 Boston 72–54 Johnny Logan (15) 16–11 28 January 27 @ Providence 94–61 Red Rocha (20) 17–11 29 January 29 Chicago 62–60 Johnny Logan (17) 18–11 30 January 31 Philadelphia 60–66 Bob Doll (17) 18–12 31 February 5 Chicago 71–77 Doll, Smawley (13) 18–13 32 February 7 Philadelphia 67–54 Don Putman (14) 19–13 33 February 11 @ Chicago 80–78 Irv Rothenberg (23) 20–13 34 February 12 Chicago 74–80 Irv Rothenberg (24) 20–14 35 February 15 Baltimore 69–63 Johnny Logan (22) 21–14 36 February 19 Providence 78–69 Red Rocha (20) 22–14 37 February 22 New York 80–71 Red Rocha (19) 23–14 38 February 26 Boston 94–92 (2OT) Belus Smawley (23) 24–14 39 February 28 Washington 82–61 Logan, Rocha (18) 25–14 40 March 4 @ Baltimore 75–84 Belus Smawley (17) 25–15 41 March 5 @ Boston 68–71 Doll, Logan (14) 25–16 42 March 9 @ Providence 75–69 Red Rocha (19) 26–16 43 March 10 @ New York 82–73 Belus Smawley (20) 27–16 44 March 11 @ Philadelphia 74–92 Ariel Maughan (13) 27–17 45 March 13 @ Washington 69–86 Logan, Rocha, Smawley (13) 27–18 46 March 18 New York 80–91 Belus Smawley (20) 27–19 47 March 20 Chicago 75–63 Logan, Smawley (20) 28–19 48 March 21 @ Chicago 82–70 Red Rocha (19) 29–19
BAA Playoffs BAA Semifinals (W1) St. Louis Bombers vs. (E1) Philadelphia Warriors: Warriors win series 4-3 Game 1 @ St. Louis (March 23): St. Louis 60, Philadelphia 58 Game 2 @ St. Louis (March 25): Philadelphia 65, St. Louis 64 Game 3 @ Philadelphia (March 27): Philadelphia 84, St. Louis 56 Game 4 @ Philadelphia (March 30): St. Louis 56, Philadelphia 51 Game 5 @ St. Louis (April 1): St. Louis 69, Philadelphia 62 Game 6 @ Philadelphia (April 3): Philadelphia 84, St. Louis 61 Game 7 @ St. Louis (April 6): Philadelphia 85, St. Louis 46
References