A Boozer You Can Believe In
Bob Boozer was a part of the 1960 US Olympic team that is in the Hall Of Fame for their dominance on their way to a gold medal. Following a stellar college basketball career that put him in the National Collegiate Hall of Fame, he made sure he could be a part of the Olympic experience by taking a gap year and playing AAU basketball. This was despite being the №1 pick in the 1959 NBA Draft by the Cincinnati Royals. After putting up solid numbers on big market teams like the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers, he was selected by the Bulls in the 1966 NBA Expansion draft.
Boozer is a part of what I consider to be the Chicago Bulls original “Three Alphas”. In the inaugural season of Bulls basketball in 1966–67, Boozer joined a team that already featured all-star Guy Rodgers and young stud Jerry Sloan, who became an all-star that year. Boozer proceeded the aforementioned players in becoming the third all-star in Chicago’s brief (at the time) NBA history.
That second season with Chicago was the only all-star selection Boozer received in his career. That season he put up 21.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game as helped lead the Bulls to back-to-back playoff appearances in their first two seasons of existence.
The big thing to keep in mind is that Boozer was putting up numbers like this (mostly) during a time when the NBA was only 10 teams deep. That resulted in the talent being spread out less, so Boozer was going against future Hall of Famers almost every night.
Ultimately, the Bulls started to struggle more and more on the offensive end. In 1969, despite a 31-year old Boozer putting up a career-high 21.7 points per game, Chicago finished last in the league in points per game. This lead to Boozer being traded to the Seattle Supersonics as the Bulls looked to add depth. After his lone season with Seattle, Boozer ended his NBA career by winning his first and only NBA Championship with the 1971 Milwaukee Bucks.
Bob Boozer has had multiple peaks in his career, which is especially difficult in the always changing NBA. And though he may be remembered more for his 1960 Gold medal, or his title with the Bucks, Boozer’s professionalism and effectiveness in the paint, helped set the tone for the franchise. The Chicago Bulls are known worldwide for their winnings ways under “His Airness”. But though Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and company made the Chicago Bulls winning culture well-known, Bob Boozer gets a spot on our Top 25 list for being one of the leaders that helped create it.
Sign-up for our Newsletter! Bulls Confidential in your inbox every Friday!!
