Common Denominator: Sam Bowie And Adrian Dantley

One sits proudly in the Hall Of Fame, a teammate of Kareem and Isiah. The other is supposedly the biggest draft bust in NBA history. And they both could have been a teammate of Micheal Jordan for the first (or maybe all three) of three in a row. Different years, of course.

Adrian Dantley came to the NBA, was healthy, and a teammate of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for two seasons. Just as they were about to win, he was no longer a Laker. Worse still, he missed out on playing with Magic Johnson as Los Angeles traded him for Spencer Haywood. One Hall-Of-Famer for another.

Dantley went on to twice lead the league in PPG in the 1980s, but never won a ring. In seven seasons with the Utah Jazz, Adrian averaged 29.6 PPG. But then, he was on the Detroit Pistons, for 1987/88, getting all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. Guess who they beat on the way?

Why, the Chicago Bulls!

Then, the next year, they fell to Kareem's Lakers in seven games in the NBA Finals. Just as the Bad Boys were about to embark on a little dynasty, he found himself on the Dallas Mavericks, and watched as Detroit swept Los Angeles in the NBA Finals in 1989, then beat Portlant in five the next season. The Pistons had continued to have Micheal Jordan's number in the playoffs, going 3-0 against them in the postseason from 1988-1990.

So Micheal and company were determined to find away around the Pistons. They sought out Dantley's services in 1990/91 (Having been waived the previous spring), bringing it up to veteran centre Bill Cartwright. The Bulls even talked to one of Dantley's old coaches, Frank Layden. Ultimately, they took a pass. Dantley signed with Milwaukee in April, finishing up his career with them that season.

A little later on that season in Chicago (After sweeping Detroit sans Dantley in the Eastern Conference Finals)...It was "Yes Bull," after years of, "No Bull" in the NBA Finals.

Chicago, of course, went on to win in not only in 1991, but also in 1992, and 1993. How about 1995/96? Well, they were a new team at this point, and many of the old guard was gone. Their centre was Luc Longley, who was not very good. Worse still, the guy couldn't even give you 30 minutes a night! Who could be his backup?

The Bulls had signed James Edwards, the old pro from Detroit, back in the fall of 1995, but he was clearly past his prime. They'd gotten Dennis Rodman, another former Piston in a trade. But he wasn't a centre. Jack Haley had been signed in the fall like Edwards and could play centre. He ended up playing one game all season long.

So the Bulls went after Sam Bowie. Of course, the name Bowie and Jordan are tied forever in the 1984 draft, when Portland picked Bowie second and Chicago of course took Jordan third.

Bowie has seemed like a good pick at the time, in a league dominated by big men. Sam had it toug at the collegiate level, facing some stiff competition some nights. Didn't seem to fair too badly.

Bowie had injury problems, but by the 1990s, they had more or less subsided. And at a very good time, too. Gone (Or on the decline) were Jabbar and Mosses Malone. Replacing them as the dominating big men where Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing. There was a guy named Shaq on the horizon. Hakeem got the better of Patrick in 1994 and then Shaquille O'Neal the next year for two rings.

So, add Bowie? Why not? Sam had retired from the Lakers just before the start of what would be an historic, record-setting season for Chicago in 1995/96. But still...The guy could bring it. From 1989/90 until 1994/95, he'd played 372 out of 492 games, really only missing significant time in 1993/94. Jordan didn't play a single game that year, sitting it out playing some baseball as his interest in basketball appeared to wane.

Jackson liked the idea of Bowie. So did MJ. Bowie attended a Bulls / Knicks game, went to some practices, and heard out Jordan himself. MJ wanted the big guy badly, thinking the NBA Championship would come easier with a centre like Bowie. Certainly it made all the sense in the world.

But Bowie gave it a pass. His interest was now his family, and later, horse racing. Basically, he'd found his calling. That 1984 draft was ancient history. Still, were I in Sam's shoes, I'd have signed right on the spot with MJ. Would have made my life a whole lot easier.


References


Brown, Clifton. "Despite New Faces, Rivalry Is The Sam." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. The New York Times Company, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2016. Online Version Of Original Print, 07 Dec. 1995. <http://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/07/sports/on-pro-basketball-despite-new-faces-rivalry-is-the-same.html>

Friend, Tom. “ESPN Films Examines Sam Bowie's Legacy.” ESPN: The WorldWide Leader In Sports, ESPN, 20 Dec. 2012, Web. 22 Oct. 2016. Web. 22 Oct. 2016. <http://www.espn.com/espn/ espnfilms/story/_/id/8748334/espn-films-documentary-examines-sam-bowie-legacy>

Smith, Sam. The Jordan Rules. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992. Print. pp. 192, 207-208.

Sports Reference LLC. Basketball-Reference.com - Basketball Statistics and History. http://www.basketball-reference.com/. 22 Oct. 2016.

Youtube. Web. 22 Oct. 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/>

Sure Could Have Fooled Me!

Steve Kerr had the top field goal percentage of any Chicago Bull in the 1995/96 season. The Bulls won a then-record 72 games that year. Year later, Kerr the Golden State Warriors' coach, won 73 games in the 2015/16 season. But we are getting off topic.

Kerr, who was also a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1991/92 (Starting a career high 20 games), arrived in Chicago for the 1993/94 season and averaged 8.6 points per game. Steve took 577 shots from the field. Both marks were a career high.

But the Bulls only made it to the second round in 1994. The next season, Orlando beat them. It was time, in 1995/96, to get back to winning. As in winning it all.

But the Bulls might not have been so dominant without Steve. He did no start any game, but was fifth on the team in minutes played, 1919. That meant he played 23.4 minutes per game. While Chicago had Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman (Not to mention such forgotten contributors as Ron Harper, Luc Longley, and Toni Kukoc), they needed some of their reserves to step it up should foul trouble or other should some unforeseeable event arise.

I actually saw one of Kerr's best games. 1995/96 was also the year the NBA expanded north of the border. The Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzles came to play ball on the hardwood floor that year. Toronto had an interesting first year, winning 21 games. And one of them was against Chicago.

The Raps edged the Bulls 109-108 on March 24th of that season. Rodman did not play. Kerr, however, played a huge role. In 21 minutes (So below his normal time), all he did was go seven for ten from the field, three of those from three-point land. In fact, Kerr did not miss from two point range in the entire game. Oh, MJ? Well, he was pretty good, too. He shot 14-22. But despite hit 36 and Kukoc's 23, it was not enough.

Kerr got a season-high 19 points on February 23rd. He had also scored 17 again on January 30th and February 15th. When the season was over, however, Kerr had shot .506 from the field. What did MJ shoot, you ask? Why .495. Pippen shot only .463 and Kukoc .490. No one else besides Kerr shot better than .483 coming off the bench. As a team, the Bulls shot .478. That was still well above the league average, which was only .462. Chicago, as a team, finished seventh in the league.

But Kerr watched as Jordan and co. got it all going in the playoffs. Kerr played a little less and didn't contribute as much as I'm sure he would have liked. But he had his moments. Against Orlando in the conference finals, he went off for 14 points, including an amazing 4-5 performance from downtown. That was in game one, and sent the message of superiority to the Magic. In the fourth and final game, Chicago complete the sweep and Kerr had 9 points.

In the finals against Seattle, Kerr needed a bit of time to get untracked. He failed to score a point in twelve minutes of game one. In the second contest, Steve Kerr managed only three points. He finally had a good game in the third contest, scoring 8 points in 25 minutes (Equaling the total him he'd played in games one and two combined). The Bulls routed the Supersonics at home to go up 3-0. But was Kerr needed?

Seattle snapped 'em back to reality with back-to-back wins at home to sent the finals back to where it all began. Kerr scored only five in the fourth game. He missed six of his seven attempts from three-point range in game six, one of the reasons Chicago lost 89-78. They'd lost game four pretty badly, 107-86.

Back at the United Centre for the sixth game, Kerr helped. The Bulls didn't shoot well. Jordan, 5-19. Pippen, 7-17. Rodman, 4-9. Harper, 3-11. Only Longley salvaged some pride among the starters as he shot 5-6. But Kerr, limited to just 17 minutes, came to play, hitting 3 of his four attempts from the field, including a three-pointer. Steve had no intentions of letting an upstart team like Seattle ruin a strong, record-setting year (And probably ditto for this season!). The Bulls went on to win 87-75 despite shooting just .397 from the field.


References

Sports Reference LLC.  Basketball-Reference.com - Basketball Statistics and History. http://www.basketball-reference.com/. 25 Apr. 2016.