alternatehistory.com

So, this is "created" using Fast Break Pro Basketball 2013, which is a management game ala Football Manager, so I have no control over the butterflies that happen, aside from the way I run my own team within the game. I'm already up to 1987, so I can write this using some bit of looking back.

Presenting this history book style, with various cut ins from newspapers, books, articles, and TV when it comes online. Enjoy.

From The History of the National Basketball Association, 1996

The National Basketball Association was formed originally as a league in the summer of 1946, as various owners of barnstorming professional teams in cities in the Northeast and Midwestern portions of America met in New York City to create the first full-time professional basketball league in the United States.

These 'Original Eleven' formed the core of the NBA and many of them, such as the New York Knickerbockers, Philadelphia Warriors, and Pittsburgh Ironmen are still celebrated and major parts of the NBA, while teams such as the Toronto Huskies have gone into the mists of history. But, even today, after over thirty years of history, the names of great players of Connie Simmons and Joe Fulks will live forever in the annals of history, even if new fans don't know their names.

The first game in NBA history was a nail biter, with the New York Knicks, led by Marion Cluggish narrowly defeating the Joe Fulks-led Philadelphia Warriors by only a point, 69 to 68. There have been thousands of NBA games since then....


Ironborn : Pittsburgh's Basketball Legacy, 1986

When Polish-born Jesse Ewiak was selected as the Ironmen's first General Manager, there was some consternation throughout the city. Ewiak was most widely known as a local sports columnist during the late part of the 30's before getting involved in promoting professional wrestling and boxing during World War II.

Beyond the basics, Ewiak has no institutional knowledge of basketball beyond the basics, but he said in various interview that, “it doesn't take a genius to tell a guy who can hit a consistent jump shot from a guy who can barely tie his shoelaces.” However, the Ironmen roster was bloated and as a result, Ewiak released SG Joe Fabel and SF Nat Frankel before the season started, with both men signing with other teams before the start of the season. In addition, Ewiak traded PF Roger Jorgensen to the Cleveland Rebels for PG Frankie Baumholtz.

Aside from that, Ewiak let coach Brad Schumann handle minutes and staffing decisions, with no respect given to salaries or the egos of the athletes. Of course, the egos of basketball players in 1946 pale to present day, but at any time, telling a competitive athlete he's not as good as another athlete is not an easy pill for that athlete to swallow.

The first game in the history of the Ironmen didn't go so well...

Basketball Abstract : Season-by-Season Statistics, 1993

All-Star Break

1946 NBA Standings as of the All-Star Break

--------------------------------------------------------------------
EASTERN W L PCT HOME DIV CONF
--------------------------------------------------------------------
New York 22 10 .688 13-3 19-9 19-9
Philadelphia 18 14 .563 12-6 17-12 17-12
Boston 18 15 .545 11-3 16-14 16-14
Toronto 15 15 .500 11-3 11-12 11-12
Providence 12 21 .364 10-9 11-20 11-20
Washington 11 22 .333 8-9 11-18 11-18

----------------------------------------------------
WESTERN W L PCT HOME DIV CONF
----------------------------------------------------
Detroit 22 8 .733 12-1 19-5 19-5
Cleveland 20 14 .588 13-3 16-12 16-12
Pittsburgh 15 15 .500 12-5 12-11 12-11
St. Louis 11 20 .355 7-9 10-19 10-19
Chicago 11 21 .344 8-7 10-20 10-20

Halfway through the inaugural NBA season, there was already a clear seperation between teams throughout the league. In the Eastern Division, the Knicks (22-10) were led by Marion Cluggish (10.1 pts, 8.2 rebs) even though almost every consistent player on the team averaged over twenty minutes. The Philadelphia Warriors, mostly behind Joe Fulks league leading 15.3 ppg and Boston Celtics behind Connie Simmons trailed close behind.

In the Western Division, the Cleveland Rebels balanced offensive attack were behind the Detroit Falcons, who led the league with a 22-8 record, largely behind All-Star PF Stan Miasek even though some of their bench players played more minutes per game than Falcon starters.

Statistical Leaders –

Points Per Game​
1 Joe Fulks PF PHI 32 27.0 15.3
2 Connie Simmons C BOS 33 25.0 13.3
3 Ralph Siewert C STB 29 33.1 11.7
4 Stan Miasek PF DTF 30 25.2 11.3
5 Freddie Scolari PG WSC 33 20.8 11.0
6 Irv Rothenberg C CLR 34 30.3 10.4
7 Tony Kappen PG PIT 30 28.2 10.3
8 George Pearcy SG DTF 30 32.6 10.3
9 Al Lujack SF WSC 22 28.0 10.2
10 Noble Jorgensen C PIT 25 28.0 10.1

Rebounds Per Game​
1 Ralph Siewert C STB 29 33.1 13.1
2 Chuck Halbert C CHS 32 29.2 10.9
3 Al Lujack SF WSC 22 28.0 10.5
4 Art Hillhouse C PHI 25 24.0 9.1
5 Lee Knorek C NYK 32 26.0 9.1

Points Per Shot​
1 Noble Jorgensen C PIT 1.14
2 Connie Simmons C BOS 1.12
3 Art Hillhouse C PHI 1.11
4 Joe Fulks PF PHI 1.10
5 Ralph Siewert C STB 1.09

Estimated Wins Added​
1 Joe Fulks PF PHI 32 27.0 7.5
2 Connie Simmons C BOS 33 25.0 6.9
3 Ralph Siewert C STB 29 33.1 5.4
4 John Palmer PF NYK 32 22.5 4.7
5 Stan Miasek PF DTF 30 25.2 4.6
6 Art Hillhouse C PHI 25 24.0 4.2
7 Horace McKinney C WSC 33 23.5 4.2
8 Tom Callahan SG PRO 33 22.5 3.9
9 Irv Rothenberg C CLR 34 30.3 3.6
10 Belus Smawley PG STB 31 23.8 3.6

Team Stats​
# Team Pts Orb Drb Reb Ast Stl Blk To Pf
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 New York 80.3 17.8 36.2 53.9 13.3 7.8 5.6 18.7 17.4
2 Providence 77.8 12.2 33.8 46.0 14.2 8.7 3.9 17.8 16.5
3 Boston 75.7 15.2 36.7 52.0 13.2 7.7 6.2 20.4 16.6
4 Detroit 75.0 16.9 34.7 51.7 12.1 7.1 3.6 17.7 15.3
5 Cleveland 74.7 15.4 35.2 50.6 13.0 5.7 4.4 19.4 14.4
6 Washington 74.1 15.2 36.5 51.7 13.6 8.5 4.4 20.4 16.8
7 Philadelphia 73.9 15.1 34.2 49.3 11.6 7.7 4.1 19.4 15.2
8 St. Louis 72.2 14.4 33.4 47.7 10.7 9.1 4.7 19.5 17.2
9 Pittsburgh 72.2 10.5 33.6 44.2 12.9 6.8 4.1 17.2 16.7
10 Toronto 70.0 13.2 32.2 45.5 11.9 8.7 5.0 17.0 15.8
11 Chicago 69.4 13.5 31.5 45.0 12.1 7.3 3.8 17.5 15.5

Defensive Stats​
# Team Pts Orb Drb Reb Ast Stl Blk To Pf
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Detroit 68.8 15.7 32.8 48.5 10.7 7.7 4.6 19.0 17.4
2 Cleveland 71.5 13.8 32.3 46.1 12.2 8.1 4.5 17.0 15.6
3 Toronto 71.8 16.4 36.0 52.3 11.4 7.4 4.2 19.5 14.4
4 Pittsburgh 73.6 12.8 34.7 47.5 12.4 7.2 4.2 17.3 14.3
5 New York 73.8 13.3 32.7 46.0 12.8 7.9 5.0 18.2 15.8
6 Philadelphia 74.3 13.5 33.0 46.5 14.2 7.8 4.9 18.6 17.4
7 St. Louis 74.8 14.4 34.3 48.7 13.1 7.1 4.3 19.3 16.2
8 Chicago 74.9 14.0 34.3 48.3 13.0 6.7 3.9 18.2 16.6
9 Boston 75.0 15.0 33.4 48.4 13.4 9.1 4.5 18.0 17.3
10 Washington 77.9 14.9 36.6 51.5 12.2 8.3 4.8 19.5 16.3
11 Providence 79.0 16.0 38.3 54.3 13.3 7.6 5.2 20.8 15.8

Inaugural NBA All Star Teams​

Western Conference Starters:
C Ralph Siewert (St. Louis)
PF Stan Miasek (Detroit)
SF Hank Zeller (Pittsburgh)
SG Pete Lalich (Cleveland)
PG Belus Smawley (St. Louis)

Western Conference Bench:
C Grady Lewis (Detroit)
PF Chuck Gilmour (Chicago)
SF Deb Smith (St. Louis)
SG George Pearcy (Detroit)
PG Tony Kappen (Pittsburgh)
C Irv Rothenberg (Cleveland)
C Gorham Getchell (Pittsburgh)

Eastern Conference Starters:
C Connie Simmons (Boston)
PF Joe Fulks (Philadelphia)
SF Wilfred Goodwin (Providence)
SG Tom Callahan (Providence)
PG Ernie Calverley (Providence)

Eastern Conference Bench:
C Art Hillhouse (Philadelphia)
PF John Palmer (New York)
SF Al Lujack (Washington)
SG Marty Passaglia (Washington)
PG Adolph Hoefer (Toronto)
C Chuck Connors (Boston)
C Horace McKinney (Washington)​

The Inaugural NBA All-Star game was a bit of a laugher, as the West All-Star team easily won, 84 to 63. Stan Miasek of the Detroit Falcons and Pete Lalich of the Cleveland Rebels led things for the West team, scoring 20 and 16 points respectively. The East team largely underachieved, with only John Palmer of the Knicks scoring 10 points, while the team itself shot under forty percent total. In addition, Ralph Siewert of the Hawks grabbed 11 rebounds for the West team.


Ironborn : Pittsburgh's Basketball Legacy, 1986

...though the first half of the Ironmen's first season, the only true star of the team was Noble Jorgensen, who was by far the most talented player on the team. However, due to the strength of the frontcourt in the Eastern Conference, Jorgensen wasn't one of the three players named to the All-Star team for the Pirates.

In addition, too many, the Ironmen under performed through the first half of the season. By most metrics, the Ironmen were a decent defensive team, but a relatively bad offensive team. Despite the fact that Hank Zeller, Gordham Getchell, and Tony Kappen all making the All-Star team for the Ironmen, the rest of the team were bottom of the barrel players who wouldn't last too much longer in organized basketball.

Already, various newspapers and columnists in Pittsburgh (aside from Ewiak's previous hometown paper) were calling for his the GM's head, but thankfully, ownership decided to stay with Ewiak, largely because the team was an investment for them...
Top