Published December 16, 2022
The NBA Time Machine:
1960

Dippy
Change In Philadelphia
Dating back to 1955, the NBA allowed a “territorial draft” rule – teams could exchange a first-round pick for the ability to claim a local college player from their area. The Philadelphia Warriors had their eyes on rising basketball phenomenon Wilt Chamberlain – while he went to the University of Kansas, Philadelphia argued he should be eligible due to playing there in high school. Since there was no team that could directly tie itself to Kansas, the league obliged and let the wilting Warriors have their way.
Under the guidance of former franchise star Neil Johnston – who retired the year prior due to injuries – the Warriors improved by seventeen games and were the best team in the East behind the defending champion Boston Celtics. Chamberlain’s impact was immediate – although the team ranked amongst the worst offenses, they still won games off of his unstoppable prowess on both ends. Not much was needed from the team scoring-wise besides big games from him, Paul Arizin, and Tom Gola.
Offense Wins Games
With the turn of the decade, the NBA‘s playing habits saw a major overhaul. Scoring never held more importance – the league-wide field goal percentage was above 40% for the first time, per game scoring went up by seven points, and assists numbers rose again after a few down years.
Speaking of Games…
The NBA schedule was slightly expanded, going from seventy-two games to seventy-five.
Coaching Habits
Something peculiar about the league in this period was that coaching personnel were almost always deeply tied to the team already. Seven of the eight coaches by the end of the season were either player-coaches or former players for their franchise – this included Neil Johnston, Paul Seymour, Carl Braun, Ed Macauley, Dick McGuire, Jim Pollard, and Tom Marshall. Marshall was the only non-former All-Star of the bunch.
The Plane Emergency
Mere days before the All-Star Game, the Minneapolis Lakers were headed home from a loss against the St. Louis Hawks. On the way, the plane lost nearly all functionality and it was reported that only the generator worked. The pilots, who had to open windows to manually remove snow, had no clue where they were going and suffered from frostbite.
The Lakers players had mixed reactions to the emergency, but all of them surely felt relief when the plane managed to land safely in an Iowa field. The belief was that had they landed any several yards further, the plane would have went into a gorge and exploded – thankfully, the world did not have to mourn the loss of so many lives.
Standout Players
Around the League
Team Standings
Notes
An asterisk (*) indicates that the team qualified for the playoffs.