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Where Birth Happened: Six Decades of NBA Origins

Jason posted 12/6/2007 from ballhype.com

Fun things to do with Google Maps #3: plot the birthplace and high school location of every NBA player from the 1946-47, 1956-57, 1966-67, 1976-77, 1986-87, 1996-97, and 2006-07 seasons.

As with the last version, use the controls on the left to zoom, and drag 'n drop to pan. This time, multiple players from the same city are grouped into a single marker, with the number indicating how many players are represented. Click markers to see the list of players. And change the season to see how origins have evolved over time. A larger version is available here.

The most obvious trend is the league's internationalization, beginning in the 80's and exploding in the last decade. There also seems to be a fair amount of rural-urban migration between birth and high school, apparently as early as 1946-47.

Thanks to Basketball-Reference.com (and last week's commenters) for the birth and high school data.