A fan’s perspective

Monday, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday

It’s that time

Last night it began again, the Toronto Raptors served as host to the Miami Heat. Although it was a preseason game it represented the unofficial start of the 2026-27 NBA season. Utah is at Denver today along with Golden State facing the Clippers. On Monday there are five games scheduled throughout the association. Additional preseason games will be played until the official start on Tuesday, October 20. I am excited to see basketball action once again, excited to discover which of the rookies will be standouts. So we are here, ready or not NBA action is upon us once again, begun, sit back and enjoy.

Deep history dive

If you know, you know—but this may be new information for some readers. The Knicks, Celtics, and several other teams are often described as foundational franchises dating to 1946. Most of the others folded before or soon after the merger. These clubs belonged to the Basketball Association of America (BAA). In 1949, the Knicks and Celtics along with several others entered the newly merged league that became today’s NBA.

The other league in the merger was the National Basketball League (NBL), founded in 1937. Although 38 teams played in the NBL during its existence, only a small number ultimately joined the BAA. Four moved to the BAA in 1948, a year before the merger: the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (now Detroit), Indianapolis Jets (folded in 1949), Minneapolis Lakers (now Los Angeles), and Rochester Royals (now Sacramento). In 1949, seven more NBL teams joined to form the NBA: the Anderson Packers (folded in 1951), Denver Nuggets (folded in 1950), Indianapolis Olympians (folded in 1953), Sheboygan Redskins (folded in 1951), Syracuse Nationals, Tri-Cities Blackhawks, and Waterloo Hawks (folded in 1951).

Even after the two leagues merged, stability remained elusive, and several teams folded. It took years for the National Basketball Association to become firmly established as a major professional league. To give you an idea among U.S. fans at the time, baseball ranked first in popularity, followed by college football, college basketball, the NFL, and then the NBA. It’s my view the arrival of Bill Russell in 1956 and Wilt Chamberlain three years later in 1960 the league began improving its popularity and relevance for fans.

Meanwhile….

Several of you reading this might remember an earlier account regarding 7-foot 5 Cherif Millogo. Although he attends a high school in California there might be a question on that, I decided to conduct further investigation on the youngster. It turns out Millogo is originally from Burkina Faso a nation located on the western portion of the African continent. According to information I was able to uncover Millogo arrived on these shores prior to the 2024-25 basketball season. He did not play at CATS Academy in Boston due to an injury, the following year he relocated to California and St. Francis High School in La Canada Flintridge.

I’ve not written much recently on the Mavs Cooper Flagg, Rookie of the Year and the clear leader of the team. Understand this, I claim no insight of whether a player “makes it or not.” There are issues for me living in Kansas City I cannot begin to see or even contemplate. We do have a belief and that’s what I claim in this instance, I saw all but three or four games Flagg’s one season at Duke. He appeared to always be prepared to play even games he didn’t shoot particularly well, I was confident the next game would be different. Was part of his maturation due to coach Scheyer, I’m sure that certainly helped him. Cooper has spunk, for me that’s confidence in one’s ability at all times, it didn’t matter if it was doesn’t the Duke Blue Devils or the Dallas Mavericks at present. Prior to publishing this came from Cooper, his rookie year he was 6-foot 9. Over the summer he grew and now measures 6-foot 10 barefooted, he’s nearly 6-foot 11 in shoes.

Are you curious as I was, I questioned which university/college has produced the most NBA players all-time? In all likelihood the top five are probably not a surprise they become affirmation, as for the balance that might be a bit of a revelation. Would you have expected Michigan or Notre Dame to be a Top 10 producer of NBA talent? We are acquainted with the schools we just didn’t know the number, the player would have played in the NBA briefly or had a long-term career. With that said check out the following from AI Overview:

University of Kentucky 140

Duke University 107

UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) 106

University of North Carolina (UNC) 102

University of Kansas 89

Indiana University 71

University of Arizona 71

University of Michigan 70

University of Illinois 64

Notre Dame University 64