The Lost MVPs From 1947-55

The first mvp was awarded in 1956, so I decided to go back and retroactively give mvps to players in the NBA's first 9 seasons.
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#nba #mvp #playoffs

[@freespace9315]

People love to hate on these guys but I tell ya… I would be screaming if I were in the bleachers watchin Bob Cousy do that little clean wrap around thing

[@devondawkins5492]

I had one of those old school guys join a pickup game about a decade ago and I can vouch that those 50's moves work 😂

[@stevenmichienzi5046]

in fact Mikan and the Lakers beat any team of that era, played 7 times in 4 years against the Globetrotters and won 5 of those games, they won the world professional basketball tournament in '48 beating the New York Rens in the final. Mikan won two NBL titles, the first with the Chicago American Gears, and the following year the Lakers. In fact, if you think about his career, he won 7 titles in 8 years, and the only season he didn't win a title was in '51 when he fractured his leg before the Western Division Finals. If we think back to that era, the only real player who put Mikan in trouble was Bob Kurland, 7 feet center from Oklahoma A&M, 2 times NCAA champion and College Basketball Player of the Year in '46. Unfortunately this rivalry was never seen in the pros as Kurland decided to play in the AAU league, winning 3 titles in 6 years, and this allowed him to remain an amateur player and also play 2 Olympics, winning both with Team USA of course. Probably the greatest rivalry we've never seen in the NBA.

[@sirbradfordofhousejones]

My grandpa always raved about two players- Arizin and Jerry West. So cool seeing more analysis about Arizin. That Clyde Drexler style foot kick jump shot was deadly!

[@gerryschultz7352]

Good clip. Glad someone finally did this. Mikan is often completely forgotten in modern conversations.

[@problyzuited9828]

handles dont lead to points. there have always been great elusive ball handlers..the league isn't all that different. 20 reb games have always been impressive. passing and getting to the basket have always been a thing. Mikan was scary. but the new awards they named recently are extremely suspect. all they gave wilt was the rookie of the year. in my mind they could have named most improved after wilt considering he changed his style multiple times thrououht his career. but they gave him rookie of the year oh well.. he did go off his rookie season lol...but thats all I got to say I really appreciate this video honoring the old days if you will.. I hate when people say the older eras aren't credible .///they are more credible and people sound so stupid when they talk about the 60's as if it wasn't the most skilled and determined era..talk about grit and physicality not to mention smarts what player today can be head coach at the same time?? lmao wilt chamberlain in my eyes has an incredibly strong case for goat... he did things to bill tussles Celtics that nobody else could. shoutout nate the great also bc he out rebounded bill russle head to head which is iconic./ but I have got a bit carried away..

[@awc6007]

Really great video. It’s so common for people to needlessly hate the early era of the NBA and not give some respect to the OG players.

[@AHMAD-2324]

George Mikan the NBA's first SUPERSTAR was a BEAST !!!

[@uberneanderthal]

Mikan may have played in a 'weak era', but he dominated that era like no other athlete has dominated any team sport, including Babe Ruth. He had **double** the win-shares of the next best player in '49 and he has the third highest win-shares in a season behind just Kareem and Wilt, despite the season only being 68 games vs 82. and his physique is impressive even by modern standards. at 6'10" he had the long arms of Kevin McHale, combined with the wide torso of Wes Unseld, and weighed 245lbs without ever touching a barbell. on a modern weightlifting program, he could easily get up to 280lbs+ and would rival Wilt and Shaq in strength.

[@AHMAD-2324]

Weak Era my ass he competed against HOF player's in is Era PERIOD...

[@loydkline]

George mikan played against harlem globetrotters; Neil Johnston great hook shot basketball 🏀 player like father / pioneer of hook shot George mikan

[@stevenmichienzi9833]

Mikan would probably look like Jokic if he played in this era, coincidentally his father was Croatian and Jokic is Serbian, two countries of the former Yugoslavia. One reason that in my opinion diminishes Mikan's consideration is ignoring the two years he played in the NBL, when he won the title with Chicago in '47, and with Minneapolis in '48, also winning the last edition of the World Professional Basketball Tournament, beating the New York Rens in the final, so we are talking about a player who won 7 titles in 8 years as a pro, plus the most important pro basketball tournament in the USA, which in fact before the merger between NBL and BAA, allowed all the pro teams to compete to decide the best in the country. Perhaps the only player who could limit Mikan was Bob Kurland, but except for the few games they played in college we never saw this challenge because the latter decided to play in AAU.

[@choward5430]

George Mikan would be a very good player today because of his left hand. No center in today's NBA has a better left hand than Mikan. Matter of fact Mikan's left hand is the best of any center in NBA history! Bob Petitt would be a legit all-star today and a very rich man.

[@loydkline]

My hero too George mikan

[@swede4444]

Thanks for this video. Well done.

[@stevenmichienzi5046]

thanks mate, this was the video i was waiting for, if we had had the MVP title from the first NBA season, today the perception of Mikan and other players would be different, very interesting to know your point of view

[@stevenmichienzi5046]

a video about the World Professional Basketball Tournament would be very interesting, for ten seasons, from '39 to '48, before the NBL (1937-1949) merged with the BAA (1946-1949), to create the NBA, was the most competitive pro basketball event by far, and also the first to include black players, in fact the first two teams to win the tournament were the New York Rens and the Harlem Globetrotters, both inducted into the hall of fame.

[@aaronsherman91]

Uncle Hays did you reference Pro Hoops History's substack series on this subject when making this video? I'm surprised Bob Davies didn't get mentioned but Arnie Risen did. Bob was the 1947 NBL MVP, and the Captain and best player on the 1952 Royals Championship team and the co-best player on the 1946 Royals Championship team. In a 7 year stretch he made 5 1st team appearances and 2 2nd team appearances while Risen only made a single 2nd team appearances. Mikan also didn't win his first MVP in 1949. He won the 1948 NBL MVP and won an NBL championship that year with the Lakers as well. I also expected at least a mention of Max Zaslofsky who made 1st team all league for 4 years in 1947-1950 leading the Stags to the finals in 1947.

[@seagull2175]

Time to watch Bob Feerick highlights

[@stevenmichienzi5046]

next video The Lost Finals MVPs from 1947-68

[@Noob_Guy2k]

Just started watching the channel and I can tell he’s a laker fan

[@Noob_Guy2k]

Not giving Cousy 1 is crazy

[@joshuas135]

He got one in real life so it’s not a big deal

[@master-kq3nw]

mikan first superstar nba

[@Noob_Guy2k]

30% shooting mvp

[@Noob_Guy2k]

25% omfg I’d be a superstar in the 40s also wym 35% FG then 78% FG right next to it ?

[@Noob_Guy2k]

Folks was nice

[@Noob_Guy2k]

You took one away from Cousy basically when people who watched him said he was amazing then you give one to a dude who missed the playoffs instead of Cousy bad bad bad look

[@Noob_Guy2k]

He didn’t even touch that awful hook shot

[@Noob_Guy2k]

Johnston deserved it

[@Noob_Guy2k]

You hate the Celtics don’t you

[@Noob_Guy2k]

Funny how Mikan retired when bigs entered the league bum

[@pawelgorniak8550]

fun facts: 1. Dolphs son Danny played in the NBA for 16 years 2. Bob Cousy is STILL alive, 95 years old