1967–68 Chicago Bulls season

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

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

2012–13 Chicago Bulls roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From 5.5 !F/C 14 USA ! Barnes, Jim 7000203200000000000♠6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) University of Texas at El Paso 4.0 !F 19 USA ! Boozer, Bob 7000203200000000000♠6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Kansas State 1.5 !G 6 USA ! Burns, Jim 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Northwestern 4.0 !F 16 USA ! Clemens, Barry 7000198120000000000♠6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Ohio Wesleyan 2.5 !G/F 15 USA ! Erickson, Keith 7000195580000000000♠6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) UCLA 6.0 !C 17 USA ! Harding, Reggie 7000213360000000000♠7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 249 lb (113 kg) Detroit Eastern HS 1.5 !G 11 USA ! Haskins, Clem 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Western Kentucky 5.5 !F/C 18 USA ! McLemore, McCoy 7000200659999999999♠6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Drake 5.5 !F/C 14 USA ! Mueller, Erwin 7000203200000000000♠6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 230 lb (104 kg) San Francisco 1.5 !G 5 USA ! Robinson, Flynn 7000185420000000000♠6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Wyoming 1.5 !G 5 USA ! Rodgers, Guy 7000182880000000000♠6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Temple 1.5 !G 8 USA ! Schellhase, Dave 7000190500000000000♠6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Purdue 2.5 !G/F 4 USA ! Sloan, Jerry 7000195580000000000♠6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Evansville 6.0 !C 17 USA ! Spitzer, Craig 7000213360000000000♠7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Tulane 5.5 !F/C 7 USA ! Washington, Jim 7000198120000000000♠6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Villanova 4.0 !F 6, 9 USA ! Wilburn, Ken 7000198120000000000♠6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Central State	Head coach Johnny Kerr (St. John's) 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

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