1967–68 Chicago Bulls season

1967–68 Chicago Bulls season
Head coach Johnny "Red" Kerr
Arena Chicago Stadium
Results
Record 2953 (.354)
Place Division: 4th (Western)
Playoff finish West Division Semifinals
(Eliminated 1–4)

Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com

Local media
Television WGN-TV
Radio WGN Radio

The 1967–68 Chicago Bulls season was the second season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Draft picks

Main article: 1967 NBA Draft

Note: This is not an extensive list; it only covers the first and second rounds, and any other players drafted by the franchise that played at least one NBA game.

Round Pick Player Position Nationality School/Club Team
1 3 Clem Haskins G  United States Western Kentucky
2 15 Byron Beck F/C  United States Denver
4 34 Jim Burns G  United States Northwestern

Roster

2012–13 Chicago Bulls roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From
F/C 14 United States Barnes, Jim 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) University of Texas at El Paso
F 19 United States Boozer, Bob 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Kansas State
G 6 United States Burns, Jim 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Northwestern
F 16 United States Clemens, Barry 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Ohio Wesleyan
G/F 15 United States Erickson, Keith 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) UCLA
C 17 United States Harding, Reggie 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 249 lb (113 kg) Detroit Eastern HS
G 11 United States Haskins, Clem 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Western Kentucky
F/C 18 United States McLemore, McCoy 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Drake
F/C 14 United States Mueller, Erwin 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 230 lb (104 kg) San Francisco
G 5 United States Robinson, Flynn 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Wyoming
G 5 United States Rodgers, Guy 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Temple
G 8 United States Schellhase, Dave 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Purdue
G/F 4 United States Sloan, Jerry 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Evansville
C 17 United States Spitzer, Craig 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Tulane
F/C 7 United States Washington, Jim 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Villanova
F 6, 9 United States Wilburn, Ken 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Central State
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

None


Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Unsigned draft pick
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured

Regular season

After that promising beginning the Bulls fell apart. During the 1967-68 NBA season the club traded Guy Rodgers, the steadiest player on the squad, to the Cincinnati Royals for Flynn Robinson and two future draft choices. Chicago lost its first nine games, slumping to 1–15 before climbing back to respectability. The Bulls went 28–38 the rest of the way but still finished 29–53.

Even that record was better than those of the new expansion teams in Seattle and San Diego, so the Bulls still snuck into the playoffs, where they were drubbed by the Lakers in the division semifinals. Bob Boozer, a 6–8 forward who had the most productive seasons of his 11-year career while playing for Chicago, led the team in scoring with 21.5 points per game, and Jim Washington topped the club in rebounding with 10.1 boards per contest.

When Jerry Colangelo left the Bulls' front office to run the Phoenix Suns expansion franchise, he took Kerr along as coach. Kerr's replacement for the 1968–69 season was Dick Motta, who had won three Big Sky Conference championships at Weber State. Motta was an unlikely choice, but he proved to be a fortuitous one. In the early 1970s he molded Chicago into a tough, defensive-minded squad that was always ready to challenge the opposition, even if it couldn't match up in talent.

Chicago owned the fourth overall pick in the 1968 NBA Draft and selected 7-foot, 265-pound center Tom Boerwinkle of Tennessee. Boerwinkle would spend his entire 10-year career with Chicago and wind up as the Bulls' all-time leading rebounder with 5,745 career boards.

Season standings

Western Division W L PCT GB Home Road Neutral Div
x-St. Louis Hawks 56 26 .683 25–7 22–13 9–6 31–9
x-Los Angeles Lakers 52 30 .634 4 30–11 18–19 4–0 28–12
x-San Francisco Warriors 43 39 .524 13 27–14 16–23 0–2 24–16
x-Chicago Bulls 29 53 .354 27 11–22 12–24 6–7 11–29
Seattle SuperSonics 23 59 .280 33 10–21 7–24 6–14 15–25
San Diego Rockets 15 67 .183 41 8–33 4–26 3–8 11–29

Playoffs

West Division Semifinals

(2) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (4) Chicago Bulls: Lakers win series 4-1

Awards and records

Bob Boozer, NBA All-Star Game

References

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