Bulls Basketball

Mike Rugby asked:


It is very common for a city to have a great sporting culture. It is so in the case of Chicago also. The city has a tradition, culture and affinity for the sports. Being one of the largest cities in the country, it will be apt only if the city has a tradition and a quest to excel in sports. The city doesn’t disappoint you in this regard as it has a rich tradition of being one of the hot spots of the country when it comes to sports. The city, in fact has teams for all the four major American sports, namely Football, Baseball, Basketball and Hockey. The teams from the city feature in all of these leagues which are namely Bears in National Football League (NFL), White sox and Clubs in Major League Baseball (MLB), Bulls in National Basketball Association (NBA), and the Blackhawks in National Hockey League (NHL). With this, it satisfies the criteria for being one of the major sports hot spots in the country. The teams from the city also feature in the women’s sports as well. It has women team in all the major sports. Each team has its own venue, called the home ground, in the city.
The city also features excellent infrastructure for the sports and also has a great fanfare following their sporting icons. The city has produced many sporting icons who have been acclaimed all over the world, as one of the best sportsman to have ever played the game. The major stadiums that one can see for sporting action include U.S. Cellular Field, which is the home stadium for the Chicago White Sox, Wrigley Field, the home ground of Chicago Clubs Baseball team, United Center for Basketball team and so on. Chicago has given the bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. The city was chosen to represent United States in the bid. The city has also once hosted the Pan American Games. It was in the year 1959, that the city hosted the games. The city has also many university teams participating in several games. All the teams have their own home stadiums in the city, providing excellent infrastructure and a good platform for training and excelling in the sports. The city has teams in almost all the professional sports that give this city, a tradition in sports arena. The teams have been performing well all throughout the years and have won the respective league titles several times. The city also hosts a marathon event each year, and that is one of the five major marathon events in all over the world.

To know more about the tradition and culture of sports in Chicago, do visit Chicago Sports. You will be getting all the information that you need regarding the sporting culture in Chicago city.



HARRIS

Billy Bonds asked:


The Cavaliers first began play in the NBA in 1970 as an expansion team. Under the direction of coach Bill Fitch, they compiled a league-worst 15-67 record. However, the team began to build around the 1971 draft pick, Austin Carr.

In the 1975-76 season, with Carr, Bingo Smith, Jim Chones, **** Snyder, and newly acquired Nate Thurmond, Fitch led the Cavs, as the team is commonly nicknamed, to a 49-33 record, which was the best record in the Central Division. He received the league’s Coach of the Year award as the Cavs made their first-ever playoff appearance.

The Cavs won the series against the Washington Bullets, 4-3. Because of the many heroics and last-second shots, the series became known locally as the “Miracle of Richfield.” However, hampered by injuries, particularly to Jim Chones, the Cavs proceeded to lose to the Boston Celtics in Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA playoffs.

In the 1980s, new owner Ted Stepien quickly hired and fired a succession of coaches, made a number of poor trades and poor free agent signing decisions. Stepien’s poor trades cost the team several first round draft picks, and led to a rule change in the NBA prohibiting teams from trading away first round draft picks in consecutive years. The rule is known as the “Ted Stepien Rule.” Stepien threatened to move the franchise to Toronto, but brothers George Gund and Gordon Gund purchased the franchise in the mid 1980s and decided to keep the team in Cleveland. In 1993, Toronto would, in fact, get an expansion franchise, the Toronto Raptors.

In 1986, under the Gund brothers as owners, the team acquired, either through trades or the draft, Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, Ron Harper and Larry Nance. These players (minus Harper, who was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for the rights to Danny Ferry) formed the core of the team that led the Cavs to eight playoff seasons in the next nine years, including three 50-wins plus seasons. However, in 1989, the Cavs were paired against the Chicago Bulls in the playoffs. It was a best-of-five-series. Cleveland managed to beat the Bulls in overtime, 108-105 and tied the series 2-2. Home court advantage went to Cleveland.

The game was evenly matched, until Cleveland managed to score on a drive and raise the lead by 1, with 3 seconds left. Chicago called time. The ball was inbounded to Michael Jordan, who went for a jump shot. Cleveland’s Craig Ehlo jumped in front to block it, but Jordan seemed to stay in the air until Ehlo landed. “The Shot” went in as time ran out, with Chicago winning the series 3-2. The buzzer-beater is considered one of Jordan’s greatest clutch moments, and the game itself one of the greatest. But the pinnacle of the Cavs’ success came in the 1991-92 season, when they compiled a 57-25 record and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, losing again to the Chicago Bulls 4-2. Cleveland had no success in the playoffs during this period.

After then, an era of decline came for Cavs. With retirements and departures of Nance,Daugherty and Price, team lost its power and no longer was able even to fight for playoffs, where once they used to be the greatest trouble against the Bulls.

For several years under leadership of point guard Terrell Brandon, Cavs became the most defensive team of NBA, setting its tactics all on defense,being the NBA’s least point conceding team. But offensive inproductivity caused Cavs to have no success in this era.

Later on, players like Ricky Davis and Zydrunas Ilgauskas were added to the team, increasing the quality, but without any success.

However, after the Cavs’ glory days came several losing seasons. Those seasons saw the Cavs drop to the bottom of the league, becoming a perennial lottery draft team. After another disappointing season in 2002-03, the Cavs landed the number one draft pick in the NBA Lottery. The Cavs selected high school phenom LeBron James.

James’ status as both a local star (having played his high school basketball at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in nearby Akron) and one of the most highly touted prospects in NBA history led many to view his selection as a turning point in the franchise’s history. The 2003-04 season offered great hope for the future, as James rose to become a dominating player, winning the NBA Rookie of the Year Award.

Hope was even greater for the 2004-05 season. James blossomed into a superstar, increasing his points average, shooting percentage, assists average, and rebounds average. Despite the loss of Carlos Boozer under very dubious circumstances, James teamed with Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas to form the core of the Cavs team. After a promising start when the team seemed to be locked firmly into the Eastern Conference’s 5th playoff spot, the Cavs began a downward spiral that eventually led to the firing of coach Paul Silas and general manager Jim Paxson. The Cavs failed to make the playoffs that year, tied with the resurgent New Jersey Nets for the eighth (and final) playoff spot (the Nets owned the tiebreaker over the Cavs).

The 2005 offseason was one of many changes for the Cavaliers. The team hired a new coach, Mike Brown, and a new general manager, former Cavaliers forward Danny Ferry. The team also signed free agents Larry Hughes, Donyell Marshall, and Damon Jones (four-year, $16 million for Damon) to multi-year contracts. Along with new owner Dan Gilbert, the Cavaliers’ front office consists of individuals new to their respective positions. Despite the relative inexperience of many of these newcomers, the franchise sees great hope in rising star LeBron James, whom many have compared to all-time great Michael Jordan.

In March, the Cavaliers clinched their first playoff appearance since the 1997-98 season. They wound up receiving the #4 seed in the Eastern Conference and faced the Washington Wizards in the first round. After the two teams split the first two games in Cleveland, LeBron James scored a game-winning basket with 5.7 seconds remaining in game 3. The Wizards then won game 4 to tie the series. With the series back in Cleveland, the Cavs emerged victorious in the fifth game, 121-120 in an exciting overtime contest that saw LeBron James hit the game winning shot with 0.9 seconds left on the clock. Game 6 also went to overtime, on a Gilbert Arenas three-point shot at the end of regulation to tie the score. In the extra session, however, Damon Jones nailed a long jumper in the final seconds to clinch the game for the Cavs - advancing them into the second round for the first time in 13 years.

In the second round, the Cavs lost the first two games to the Detroit Pistons, but then won the next three, including one at the Palace of Auburn Hills (producing the Pistons’ only three game losing streak of the season). However, they lost a close Game 6 at home and then fell to Detroit, 79-61, in game 7. This game produced two records of futility for the Cleveland organization. First, they earned the record for least points scored in a Game 7, and secondly, they tied the record for least points scored in a half with 23.

The two playoff rounds were a showcase for the emergence of LeBron James, which he has achieved many “youngest ever to…” records considering his age (21 in the 2005-06 season). More importantly, it marks the rebirth of a once stagnant basketball franchise.



ROBERTO

Pamela Walker asked:


The Chicago Bulls is a professional National Basketball Association team located in Illinois. It is one of the eight teams included in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference of NBA and the third ever in Chicago. They play in Chicago wearing black and white colored uniforms. To date they have bagged six NBA championships, six Conference titles and seven Division titles.

The Bulls played their first season in 1966-67 and made it to the playoffs. They remained mediocre during mid seventies to mid eighties and posted just two winning marks and one playoff qualification. They acquired the right to the make a third pick in the 1984 NBA draft which they used to acquire Michael Jordan which proved a beneficial move for the team. He was an instant success and bagged the NBA rookie of the year title. Other distinguished players were Pippen and Rodman.

Michael Jordan went on and redefined not only the game but also rewrote its record books that gave him the status of the best NBA player of all times. In the start of 90’s the Bulls posted a record 61 wins and won the conference finals against opponents the Lakers on 12th of June,1991 . Michael Jordan was awarded the MVP and the Finals MVP title which was is fifth title in a row. This was also a first of three consecutive titles for the Chicago. Jordan took an early retirement owing to his father’s demise but made a comeback in 1995 and steered the team to three more championships. In the 2004 0ff-season an additional pick was made in return for a pick in 2005 to the Phoenix Suns. The pick was utilized to acquire Ben Gordon and Chris Duhon in the first and the second rounds respectively. Several of their players performed very well and they gave steady performances in the 2004-05 season. In fact the Bulls had the third best record at the end of the season in the East Conference and they managed to grasp a playoff which was their first ever since 1998.  They won against opponents The Toronto Raptors at a score 110-97.

They participated in NBA’s St. Patrick’s Day uniform program which was held for the first time in 2006 wearing special green colored uniforms. Though they changed their red colored road uniforms to green but maintained their traditional logo on their shorts and on the back of their jerseys and wore it in a match against the Miami Heat. In the year that followed the Bulls made a hearty participation again in the St. Patrick’s Day uniform program. Again their original red colored road jerseys were exchanged for the uniform they wore the previous year.

They wore the specially designed uniform on two occasions, one on the 13th of March and the second time on the seventeenth of March whereas in 2007-2008 season the special uniforms were worn against the New Jersey at New Orleans.

 For more information you can visit: Chicago Bulls Tickets



REYNALDO

Billy Bonds asked:


The Orlando Magic officially entered the NBA as an expansion franchise in 1989. Led by a local businessman, Jimmy Hewitt and former Philadelphia 76ers general manager Pat Williams, the Magic hired Matt Guokas as the team’s first coach. The inaugural team compiled a record of 18-64 with players including Reggie Theus, Scott Skiles (now current coach of the Chicago Bulls), Terry Catledge, Sam Vincent, Otis Smith (now current general manager of the Magic), and Jerry Reynolds. In the club’s first draft in 1989, the Magic chose Nick Anderson with the 11th pick in the first round.

The club’s first game was on November 4, 1989, at the Orlando Arena (O-Rena). Despite playing a hard-fought game, the visiting New Jersey Nets won 111- 106. The Magic’s first victory came 2 days later, as the Magic defeated the New York Knicks 118-110.

In the 1990 NBA Draft, the Orlando Magic selected Dennis Scott with the fourth overall pick. Scott, known as a sharpshooter, helped the Magic compile a 31-51 record. Combined with the fast-paced energy style of Skiles, who was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player at the end of the season, the Magic heralded the NBA’s most improved record that season. 1992 was a disappointing season for the Magic, who struggled through a 17-game losing streak.

The club’s history was changed dramatically with the 1992 NBA Draft. With the first overall pick, the Magic selected big-man Shaquille O’Neal from Louisiana State University. O’Neal, a 7-1 center, made an immediate impact on the Magic, leading the club to a 41-41 record. The Magic again were the NBA’s most improved franchise, and O’Neal garnered All-Star starter status and the Rookie of the Year award. However, the Magic missed that year’s playoffs, because they were tied with the Indiana Pacers for the 8th (and final) playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and because the Pacers owned the tiebreaker.

Missing out on the playoffs had a silver lining: despite having the NBA’s best non-playoff record (and thereby the least chance of gaining the top draft pick with only one ball in the lottery machine), the Magic once again won the NBA draft lottery. In the draft, the Magic selected Chris Webber, but traded him to the Golden State Warriors for the number three pick, guard Anfernee Hardaway (known as “Penny” Hardaway) and three future first-round draft picks. Prior to the draft, Guokas stepped down as head coach, and Brian Hill was promoted to become the Magic’s second coach. Also, General Manager Pat Williams was replaced by John Gabriel.

With the lethal combination of O’Neal and Hardaway, the Magic became a dominant team in the NBA, compiling the first 50 win season in franchise history with a 50-32 record. The Magic were in the playoffs for the first time, ranked the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. However, the underdog Pacers team swept the Magic 3-0 in the first round, thus ending the Magic’s season.

However, in the 1994-95 season, the Magic’s sixth season, after acquiring rebounder Horace Grant as a free agent from the Chicago Bulls, Orlando compiled a 57-25 record, best in the East and winning the Atlantic Division title. In the playoffs, the Magic defeated the Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, and the Indiana Pacers, advancing to the NBA Finals. The Houston Rockets, though, ended Orlando’s dream of a championship by sweeping Orlando 4-0 in the Finals to take the crown.

In the 1995-96 season, the Magic again dominated the Eastern Conference and the Atlantic Division with a 60-22 record, led by O’Neal and Hardaway. However, the Magic were seeded number two, behind the amazing 72-10 record the Chicago Bulls accumulated under Michael Jordan. In the playoffs, after the Magic defeated the Detroit Pistons and the Atlanta Hawks, Orlando met the Bulls in the Eastern Conference finals. The combination of Jordan, Scottie Pippen and rebounder Dennis Rodman as well as Toni Kukoc was too much for the Magic, and Orlando was swept 4-0 in the Eastern Conference finals.

In the offseason, in a huge blow to the Magic franchise, O’Neal left as a free agent to the Los Angeles Lakers. However, the Magic still managed to compile a 45-37 record, led by Hardaway, Darrell Armstrong, the team’s emotional leader, and newly-acquired free agent Rony Seikaly. In the playoffs, the Magic came close to stunning the heavily favored Miami Heat in the first round, extending the series to a classic game five, even after losing the first two games. In the middle of the season, though, urged by player discontent, management fired coach Brian Hill and named Richie Adubato as interim coach for the rest of the season.

The Magic then hired Chuck Daly to be head coach for the 1997-98 season. In addition, Hall of Famer Julius Erving joined the Magic’s front office, giving Orlando immense hope for a successful season. However, the season was hampered by injuries, as Hardaway sat out the majority of the season . Anderson, combined with newly acquired free agent Bo Outlaw, led the team to a respectable 41-41 record, just out of reach of the NBA playoffs. In addition, Rony Seikaly was traded during the season to the New Jersey Nets for three role players and a future draft pick.

In 1998-99, with the acquisition of Matt Harpring and Michael Doleac and a healthy Hardaway and Anderson, the Magic tied for the Eastern Conference’s best record in the lockout-shortened season, 33-17. Armstrong again led the team emotionally, winning the NBA’s Sixth-Man and Most Improved Player awards. In addition, Orlando also acquired NBA great Dominique Wilkins, along with brother Gerald, who were past their primes but were both still very good. In the playoffs, though, the Magic were seeded number 3 because of tiebreakers and faced the Philadelphia 76ers. The 76ers, led by Allen Iverson, upset the Magic 3-1 in the first round.

In 1999, the Magic, under General Manager John Gabriel, who was later named Executive of the Year, hired rookie-coach Doc Rivers. Gabriel dismantled the previous team trading their only remaining superstar Anfernee Hardaway to the Phoenix Suns for Danny Manning (who never donned a Magic uniform), Pat Garrity and two future draft picks. The Magic were then a team virtually comprised of all no name players and little experience which included team captain Armstrong, Bo Outlaw and a young Ben Wallace, along with Coach Rivers led the Magic to a 41-41 record, barely missing out on the playoffs. At the end of the season Rivers was named Coach of the Year by the NBA. This year was characterized by the slogan “Heart and Hustle”, as the team was known for its hard-working style.



CHAD

Jake Truman asked:


Just how good are the Chicago Bulls? After two straight playoff appearances, the Bulls look to take the next step after a couple of key additions in the offseason. To do so, however, they have to prove that they are the best, or even second-best, team in their own division.

The biggest addition for the Chicago Bulls was defensive stalwart Ben Wallace. Wallace is a four-time defensive player of the year who will bring toughness and a team-mentality to the Bulls. He is also a veteran presence on a fairly young team. The main problem with Ben, however, is that he is no offensive threat, which is the main area the Bulls lacked in last season.

The main scorers for the Chicago Bulls are the young backcourt players in Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon. Hinrich is an excellent point guard who can shoot from any spot on the floor. The Bulls expect him to get better as he has over the past few seasons. Much in the same way, Gordon is expected to continue as the leading scorer of the Chicago Bulls. It would come as no surprise if the third-year man out of Connecticut reaches the 20 points per game plateau.

Luol Deng is yet another talented young scorer at the small-forward position. Deng seems to be more comfortable coming off the bench, however, as he averaged almost three points more a game in that position then as a starter. The starter, therefore, is Andres Nocioni who can provide energy and double-digit points night in and night out.

The Bulls pride themselves on playing tough defense and having one of the deepest rosters in the league, and that should continue through the 2006/07 season. Some of their key bench players that haven’t been mentioned so far may include first-round draft pick Tyrus Thomas. Tyrus is a very young player who has a lot of talent but is relatively unpolished. Ben Wallace should help in his development as an elite NBA player. Another key bench player that coach Scott Skiles has relied on is backup point guard Chris Duhon. Duhon is a relatively unspectacular player who can manage the offense when Hinrich needs a break.

The Bulls certainly have a lot of talent entering the 2006 season, but most of that talent is also very young. This may end up being their downfall once again, as in the past two seasons. One thing is for sure, Chicago is on the right path to success.



TYSON

Brian R in AZ asked:


Now that the draft is over, and the Heat got Beasley, Udonis Haslem is expendable… How about Kirk Heinrich for Haslem straight up?

CALEB