National Basketball League awards and honors |
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Championship |
Individual awards |
Honors |
The National Basketball League Rookie of the Year Award was an annual National Basketball League (NBL) award given to the top rookie(s) of the regular season in each of the twelve years the league existed. The Rookie of the Year was selected by sports writers, broadcasters, coaches, and managers. [1] [2] Despite the dozens of teams that played in the NBL through its history, three of them collectively dominated the award's recipients. The Indianapolis Kautskys and Sheboygan Red Skins had three winners each, while the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots had two, for a combined eight of the twelve awards bestowed (66.7%). [3]
Among the winners were two future Basketball Hall of Famers, Red Holzman (1986) and Dolph Schayes (1973). [4] [5]
* | Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame |
Team (X) | Denotes the number of times a player from this team had won at that time |
Adolph Schayes was an American professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A top scorer and rebounder, he was a 12-time NBA All-Star and a 12-time All-NBA selection. Schayes won an NBA championship with the Syracuse Nationals in 1955. He was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History and one of the 76 players named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1973.
The National Basketball Association's Rookie of the Year Award is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given to the top rookie(s) of the regular season. Initiated following the 1952–53 NBA season, it confers the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy, named after the former Philadelphia Warriors head coach. Starting with the 2022–23 NBA season, winners receive the Wilt Chamberlain Trophy, named after the former Rookie of the Year winner.
The National Basketball Association's Coach of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1962–63 NBA season. The winner receives the Red Auerbach Trophy, which is named in honor of the head coach who led the Boston Celtics to nine NBA championships from 1956 to 1966. The winner is selected at the end of the regular season by a panel of sportswriters from the United States and Canada, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points; each second-place vote is worth three points; and each third-place vote is worth one point. The person with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.
William "Red" Holzman was an American professional basketball player and coach. He is best known as the head coach of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1967 to 1977, and again from 1978 to 1982. Holzman helped lead the Knicks to two NBA championships in 1970 and 1973, and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1986.
The 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, also referred to as NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team, were chosen in 1996 to honor the 50th anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was the third anniversary team in the league. Fifty players were selected through a vote by a panel of media members, former players and coaches, and current and former general managers. In addition, the top ten head coaches and top ten single-season teams in NBA history were selected by media members as part of the celebration. The 50 players had to have played at least a portion of their careers in the NBA and were selected irrespective of position played.
John Albert Kundla was an American college and professional basketball coach. He was the first head coach for the Minneapolis Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and its predecessors, the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball League (NBL), serving 12 seasons, from 1947 to 1959. His teams won six league championships, one in the NBL, one in the BAA, and four in the NBA. Kundla was the head basketball coach at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul for one season in 1946–47, and at the University of Minnesota for ten seasons, from 1959 to 1968. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995 and the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Alexander Murray Hannum was a professional basketball player and coach. Hannum coached two National Basketball Association (NBA) teams and one American Basketball Association (ABA) team to league championships. He had a combined NBA-ABA record of 649–564 (.535) in the regular season and 61–46 (.570) in the playoffs over 16 seasons. In 1998, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach.
Alfred Nicholas Cervi was an American professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball League (NBL) and National Basketball Association (NBA). One of the strongest backcourt players of the 1940s and 1950s, he was always assigned to defend against the opposing team's best scoring threat. He earned the nickname "Digger" because of his hard-nosed style of defense.
John Graham "Red" Kerr was an American basketball player, coach, and color commentator. He played in the NBA from 1954 to 1966, mainly as a member of the Syracuse Nationals. He later held several coaching and administrative positions before embarking on a thirty-three-year career as a television color commentator for the Chicago Bulls.
Marko John "Mike" Todorovich was an American basketball player and coach of Serbian descent born in St. Louis, Missouri. He played college basketball at the University of Wyoming. He also played college football at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Notre Dame.
Lester J. Harrison was an American professional basketball player, coach, and team owner and is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Leo F. Ferris was an American sports executive and businessman from Elmira, New York best known for helping invent the 24-second shot clock in the National Basketball Association.
Ben Kerner was an American professional basketball owner. He was the co-founder and owner of the St. Louis Hawks of the National Basketball Association, the present-day Atlanta Hawks. In 1946, Kerner co–founded with Leo Ferris a professional team in Buffalo, New York. The team then moved to become the Tri-Cities Blackhawks after a few games. Kerner moved the franchise from Moline, Illinois to Milwaukee in 1951 and to St. Louis in 1955. His 1958 St. Louis Hawks won the NBA Championship.
The All-National Basketball League Team was an annual National Basketball League (NBL) honor bestowed upon the best players in the United States league following the NBL season. The team was selected every season of the league's existence, from 1937–38 through 1948–49.
The National Basketball League Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) was an annual National Basketball League (NBL) award given to the best performing player of the regular season in each of the twelve years the league existed. The MVP was selected by sports writers, broadcasters, coaches, and managers.
The National Basketball League Coach of the Year Award was an annual National Basketball League (NBL) award given to the top head coach of the regular season in each of the twelve years the league existed. The Coach of the Year was selected by sports writers, broadcasters, coaches, and managers.
The NBA 75th Anniversary Team, also referred to as the NBA 75, was chosen in 2021 to honor the 75th anniversary of the founding of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was the fourth and most recent anniversary team in the league. Similar to the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History named in 1996, a panel of reporters, current and former players, coaches, general managers, and team executives selected the greatest players in league history. Tasked with compiling a list of 75 players, the committee named an additional 76th member due to a tie in voting. It was built as part of the league's anniversary celebration during the 2021–22 NBA season. Forty-five of the seventy-six players were later assembled in Cleveland, during the halftime ceremony of the 2022 All-Star Game.