The 1948–49 BAA season was the Steamrollers' third and final season in the NBA/BAA.1948-49 Providence Steam Rollers The team would fold after finishing last in the league for a second consecutive season, at 12–48.

Draft

Round Pick Player Position Nationality College 1 1 Andy Tonkovich G Marshall – – Al Bennett – Oklahoma State – – Jack Coleman F/C Louisville – – Ed Faber – Trinity – – Verl Heap – Arizona State – – Otto Snellbacher – Kansas – – Brady Walker F/C BYU

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Game log # Date Opponent Score High points Record 1 November 4 Washington 95–99 (3OT) Pugh, Sailors (17) 0–1 2 November 6 Philadelphia 56–69 Carl Meinhold (10) 0–2 3 November 9 @ Philadelphia 84–92 Ken Sailors (16) 0–3 4 November 11 Fort Wayne 90–87 Ken Sailors (26) 1–3 5 November 13 Minneapolis 67–90 Ken Sailors (25) 1–4 6 November 18 Rochester 74–103 Howie Shannon (11) 1–5 7 November 20 Indianapolis 107–110 Ken Sailors (24) 1–6 8 November 24 @ Minneapolis 89–117 Ken Sailors (17) 1–7 9 November 25 @ St. Louis 82–84 Howie Shannon (19) 1–8 10 November 27 Baltimore 71–91 Howie Shannon (17) 1–9 11 November 30 New York 61–88 Ernie Calverley (14) 1–10 12 December 1 @ Washington 63–75 Ezersky, Nostrand (13) 1–11 13 December 2 Washington 61–66 Ken Sailors (24) 1–12 14 December 4 Boston 63–70 Howie Shannon (18) 1–13 15 December 7 @ Rochester 90–89 Ken Sailors (20) 2–13 16 December 8 @ New York 74–83 (OT) Howie Shannon (21) 2–14 17 December 9 New York 63–74 Howie Shannon (15) 2–15 18 December 16 Fort Wayne 61–76 Calverley, Sailors, H. Shannon (14) 2–16 19 December 18 Philadelphia 90–94 Brady Walker (20) 2–17 20 December 22 @ Washington 77–102 Brady Walker (17) 2–18 21 December 23 St. Louis 99–109 Ken Sailors (27) 2–19 22 December 25 Baltimore 83–88 Howie Shannon (16) 2–20 23 December 29 @ Baltimore 98–88 Otto Schnellbacher (18) 3–20 24 December 30 Chicago 89–101 Brady Walker (16) 3–21 25 December 31 @ Boston 67–69 Ken Sailors (19) 3–22 26 January 1 Indianapolis 77–78 Howie Shannon (15) 3–23 27 January 4 Chicago 104–115 Ken Sailors (27) 3–24 28 January 6 Chicago 78–89 Howie Shannon (25) 3–25 29 January 8 Boston 87–69 Brady Walker (19) 4–25 30 January 11 @ Indianapolis 67–90 Carl Meinhold (13) 4–26 31 January 12 @ Minneapolis 64–98 Carl Meinhold (11) 4–27 32 January 15 @ St. Louis 76–79 George Nostrand (16) 4–28 33 January 16 @ Fort Wayne 56–76 Ken Sailors (10) 4–29 34 January 18 @ Philadelphia 74–86 Chick Halbert (19) 4–30 35 January 20 Washington 81–88 Chick Halbert (22) 4–31 36 January 22 Baltimore 89–86 Ken Sailors (24) 5–31 37 January 25 @ Boston 69–54 Howie Shannon (14) 6–31 38 January 26 @ New York 77–89 Ken Sailors (26) 6–32 39 January 27 @ Baltimore 95–89 Chick Halbert (24) 7–32 40 January 29 Boston 91–85 (OT) Ernie Calverley (21) 8–32 41 February 1 @ Philadelphia 86–93 Ken Sailors (23) 8–33 42 February 3 Rochester 88–80 Ernie Calverley (22) 9–33 43 February 5 Chicago 75–91 Ken Sailors (25) 9–34 44 February 8 @ Rochester 65–97 Mel Riebe (15) 9–35 45 February 11 @ Boston 77–94 Ken Sailors (25) 9–36 46 February 12 Indianapolis 91–78 Howie Shannon (27) 10–36 47 February 17 @ Baltimore 102–100 Ken Sailors (37) 11–36 48 February 19 Minneapolis 80–94 Ken Sailors (20) 11–37 49 February 23 @ Washington 88–100 Ken Sailors (24) 11–38 50 February 24 New York 89–84 Les Pugh (22) 12–38 51 February 26 St. Louis 90–93 Halbert, Pugh (19) 12–39 52 March 3 @ New York 65–86 Ken Sailors (16) 12–40 53 March 5 @ Rochester 64–81 Chick Halbert (19) 12–41 54 March 6 @ Minneapolis 59–68 Brady Walker (16) 12–42 55 March 8 @ Chicago 82–110 Les Pugh (16) 12–43 56 March 9 @ Fort Wayne 80–84 Ken Sailors (17) 12–44 57 March 12 Philadelphia 70–92 Les Pugh (23) 12–45 58 March 15 @ Indianapolis 84–90 Les Pugh (20) 12–46 59 March 16 @ St. Louis 59–81 Les Pugh (12) 12–47 60 March 17 vs Fort Wayne 72–74 Ernie Calverley (17) 12–48

Awards and records Ken Sailors, All-NBA Second Team

Dispersal Draft Originally, the Providence Steamrollers planned on continuing to play for another season like every other Basketball Association of America team had done at the time, as noted by the 1949 BAA draft showcasing the Steamrollers participating in the event, with them notably selecting Howie Shannon from Kansas State University as the official #1 pick of the final BAA draft ever done before it officially got rebranded as the NBA draft (even though he already played for them during this final season the Steamrollers would ever play in, the Steamrollers joined the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks as teams that would give up a draft pick in the 1949 BAA draft in order to get rookies to play during this final BAA season of play, pg. 10), as well as acquiring Carl Shaeffer from the University of Alabama, Ed Leede from Dartmouth College, Warren Perkins from Tulane University, Ray Corley from Georgetown University, Paul Courty from the University of Oklahoma, Bill Tanzler from the University of Florida, Bob Royer from Indiana State University, and Jack Theolan from DePaul University as the last selections they'd ever have in the third and final BAA draft that they would ever participate in. However, after the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and National Basketball League (NBL) officially merged together to become the National Basketball Association (NBA) on August 3, 1949, the newly formed NBA would purchase up the players from both of the BAA's defunct teams (the Indianapolis Jets and Providence Steamrollers) as a means of buying out both of the BAA's teams that didn't make it to the new merger into the NBA. For the Steamrollers' case, seven of their players would be bought out and sign up for the Boston Celtics in what would officially be considered the first ever NBA season, with Ernie Calverley, Ken Goodwin, Chick Halbert, Ed Leede, Les Pugh, Howie Shannon, and Brady Walker all being received by the Boston Celtics nine days later on August 12, 1949. Not only that, but Warren Perkins was slated to have been traded to the Tri-Cities Blackhawks and Bob Royer was slated to have been traded to the original Denver Nuggets NBL turned NBA team before the start of what can be considered the first proper NBA season.

References