1967–68 Chicago Bulls season

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

1967–68 Chicago Bulls season
Head coachJohnny "Red" Kerr
ArenaChicago Stadium
Results
Record29–53 (.354)
PlaceDivision: 4th (Western)
Playoff finishWest Division Semifinals
(Lost to Lakers 1–4)
Stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
Local media
TelevisionWGN-TV
(Jack Brickhouse, Vince Lloyd)
RadioWGN
(Lou Boudreau, Vince Lloyd)

Draft picks

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
Roster listing
1967–68 Chicago Bulls roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.No.NameHeightWeightDOB (YYYY-MM-DD)From
F/C 14 Barnes, Jim 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) University of Texas at El Paso
F 19 Boozer, Bob 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Kansas State
G 6 Burns, Jim 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Northwestern
F 16 Clemens, Barry 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Ohio Wesleyan
G/F 15 Erickson, Keith 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) UCLA
C 17 Harding, Reggie 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 249 lb (113 kg) Detroit Eastern HS
G 11 Haskins, Clem 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Western Kentucky
F/C 18 McLemore, McCoy 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Drake
F/C 14 Mueller, Erwin 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 230 lb (104 kg) San Francisco
G 5 Robinson, Flynn 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Wyoming
G 5 Rodgers, Guy 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Temple
G 8 Schellhase, Dave 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Purdue
G/F 4 Sloan, Jerry 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Evansville
C 17 Spitzer, Craig 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Tulane
F/C 7 Washington, Jim 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Villanova
F 6, 9 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 5626.683–25–722–139–631–9
x-Los Angeles Lakers 5230.634430–1118–194–028–12
x-San Francisco Warriors 4339.5241327–1416–230–224–16
x-Chicago Bulls 2953.3542711–2212–246–711–29
Seattle SuperSonics 2359.2803310–217–246–1415–25
San Diego Rockets 1567.183418–334–263–811–29

Record vs. opponents
1967-68 NBA Records
Team BAL BOS CHI CIN DET LAL NYK PHI SDR SFW SEA STL
Baltimore —3–52–55–34–43–43–50–87–02–55–22–5
Boston 5–3—5–23–56–24–36–24–47–04–36–14–3
Chicago 5–22–5—5–23–41–72–51–64–42–63–51–7
Cincinnati 3–55–32–5—4–41–63–53–57–04–36–11–6
Detroit 4–42–64–34–4—2–54–41–75–24–36–14–3
Los Angeles 4–33–47–16–15–2—4–32–57–14–44–46–2
New York 5–32–65–25–34–43–4—3–56–15–24–31–6
Philadelphia 8–04–46–15–37–15–25–3—6–14–37–05–2
San Diego 0–70–74–40–72–51–71–61–6—2–63–51–7
San Francisco 5–23–46–23–43–44–42–53–46–2—7–11–7
Seattle 2–51–65–31–61–64–43–40–75–31–7—0–8
St. Louis 5–23–47–16–13–42–66–12–57–17–18–0—

Playoffs

West Division Semifinals

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

  • Game 1 @ Los Angeles: Los Angeles 109, Chicago 101
  • Game 2 @ Los Angeles: Los Angeles 113, Chicago 106
  • Game 3 @ Chicago: Chicago 104, Los Angeles 98
  • Game 4 @ Chicago: Los Angeles 93, Chicago 87
  • Game 5 @ Los Angeles: Los Angeles 122, Chicago 99

Awards and records

Bob Boozer, NBA All-Star Game

References
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