What were the weirdest historical NBA seasons?
Part two of Over and Back’s look at the weirdest NBA seasons ever takes us to some more historical years including the formation of the NBA, odd playoff structures, mergers with other leagues and more!
Listen to Part 1 (Weirdest Modern NBA Seasons)
Jason and Rich continue their series looking at the weirdest seasons in NBA history with a trip down memory lane to the weirdest historical seasons ever.
Weird NBA seasons covered on Part 2 include:
The inaugural NBA season in 1950, a wild year full of teams that clearly do not belong in the top professional basketball league, insanely convoluted scheduling and playoff structure, five overtime games, horrible shooting nights and all of the offensive team names/mascots you could ask for!
The tumultuous 1971 NBA season featuring the expansion of three new teams, Spencer Haywood being deemed an illegal player, fallout from the Oscar Robertson lawsuit, teams shifting conferences, a wonky playoff format featuring division second-place teams in the playoffs, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leading the fledgling Milwaukee Bucks to an NBA Championship, mounting pressure from the ABA and more.
The wild 1954-55 season featuring the introduction of the shot clock. You want points?! You got points. We’ll talk about how the league scoring exploded, how shots actually went in more often much to the surprise of pundits and how the NBA game was forever altered with this decision. The weirdness continues with the Baltimore Bullets dropping out of the NBA and having their season rendered void, a re-scheduled NBA season, the DuMont Network televising basketball and more.
The famous 1976-77 ABA/NBA merger season. If there’s a merger you know there’s going to be craziness and this was no exception, four new teams join, the ABA dominates league honors, Julius Erving is traded and emerges as an NBA superstar, playoffs are expanded and Bill Walton helps the Portland Trail Blazers make history. Additional oddities include twins Dick Van Arsdale and Tom Van Arsdale of Phoenix play their first NBA game as teammates, Buffalo traded Bob McAdoo, Ted Turner buying a majority of the Atlanta Hawks and much more.
Last but not least, a listener suggested weird season: 1986-87. Nothing in particular, it’s just weird! Moses Malone is traded, the Cleveland Cavaliers actually do something right and draft three great players (Brad Daugherty, Ron Harper & Mark Price), Len Bias dies after the NBA draft, Chris Washburn enters drug treatment, the Lakers start a game against Sacramento on a 29-0 run, the Phoenix Suns drug scandal (lots of drugs!), the Bad Boys Detroit Pistons emerge, Michael Jordan becomes the second player to ever score 3,000 points and the legendary Bill Russell takes over as head coach of the Kings.
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