The 1954–55 Baltimore Bullets season was the Bullets' 8th season in the NBA and eleventh and final overall season of existence.1954-55 Baltimore Bullets After losing their November 19 game in a 103–92 defeat to the Fort Wayne Pistons for a 2–9 start to the season, the Bullets fired head coach Clair Bee, replacing him with assistant coach, former University of Baltimore head coach, Albert Barthelme for what became the team's final three games of their franchise history. The franchise ceased operations on November 27, 1954, after tallying a 3–11 record. The NBA does not officially recognize the 1954–55 Bullets' games and statistics, including the games coached by both Clair Bee and replacement coach Albert Barthelme during this season."1954-55 NBA Season Summary" For the upcoming 1955–56 NBA season, one ownership group in Baltimore, Maryland and another in Washington, D.C. bid money in hopes of resurrecting a Baltimore Bullets franchise that would absorb the previous team's history, but the NBA rejected the groups' offers on April 13, 1955, the same day of the 1955 NBA draft., p. 52 The D.C. group - the Washington Professional Basketball Corporation - threatened to file an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA worth $1 million, claiming the league conspired in preventing them from buying the bankrupt team a month afterward. The two groups later reached a settlement on January 24, 1956., p. 89

Baltimore went without an NBA team until 1963, when the Chicago Zephyrs moved to Baltimore and became the second incarnation of the Baltimore Bullets. Following their move from Chicago, the new Baltimore did not claim the old Bullets' history as part of their own.

Draft picks

Round Pick Player Position(s) Nationality College 1 1 Frank Selvy SG/SF Furman 2 7 Bobby Leonard PG Indiana 3 16 Werner Killen PF/C Lawrence Institute of Technology 4 25 Burt Spice F Toledo 5 34 Lou Scott C Indiana 6 43 Bob Heim SG Xavier 7 52 Joe Pehanick C Seattle 8 61 Harry Brooks PG Seton Hall 9 70 Ron Goerrs C Concordia Seminary 10 78 Gary Shivers PF/C Houston 11 87 Elliot Karver SG George Washington Baltimore were only active in the 1954 draft's first 11 rounds before opting out from the 12th and 13th rounds. The Bullets had the first overall pick in the draft, with whom they selected Frank Selvy. This was the third and final time in Bullets franchise history – and second consecutive instance of such, having picked Ray Felix in the 1953 draft – that they were granted the first overall pick.

Roster

Regular season Game log Source: 1954–55 Game log # Date Opponent Score Record 1 October 30 Syracuse L 67–69 0–1 2 October 31 vs. Philadelphia L 97–102 0–2 3 November 3 Minneapolis W 93–92 1–2 4 November 6 @ Rochester L 80–128 1–3 5 November 7 Boston L 99–101 1–4 6 November 11 vs. Minneapolis L 87–97 1–5 7 November 12 vs. Minneapolis L 88–126 1–6 8 November 13 @ Boston L 113–118 1–7 9 November 14 New York L 93–95 1–8 10 November 16 @ New York W 110–107 2–8 11 November 19 Fort Wayne L 92–103 2–9 12 November 20 Milwaukee W 99–92 3–9 13 November 21 @ Minneapolis L 85–116 3–10 14 November 25 @ Fort Wayne L 89–92 3–11 All of these games were retroactively erased from NBA history following the team's folding, with each team's schedule rewritten to have 72 games without these games included.

Dispersal Draft After the original Baltimore Bullets franchise folded operations on November 27, 1954, the NBA conducted a dispersal draft on the team's players later that day. This stands as the last dispersal draft held by the NBA for one of their own teams folding. However, the NBA would later host the 1976 ABA dispersal draft in August after the NBA-ABA merger two months earlier, but this dispersal draft involved teams from NBA rival league American Basketball Association and therefore no NBA teams.

The following teams acquired these players from the original Bullets franchise during the dispersal draft period:

Boston Celtics: Bob Houbregs & Eddie Miller Fort Wayne Pistons: Al Roges Milwaukee Hawks: Frank Selvy Minneapolis Lakers: Bobby Leonard New York Knicks: Herm Hedderick & Paul Hoffman Philadelphia Warriors: Ken Murray Rochester Royals: Don Henriksen Syracuse Nationals: Connie Simmons

References