Bulls could add 2 to Pro Basketball Hall of Fame

Two former Bulls – both members of the Jordan-era Championship squads – Dennis Rodman and Tex Winter are among 12 finalists for the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Rodman was a stud – and had plenty of them pierced throughout his body. His flamboyant nature was at sometimes annoying and distracting, but you can’t argue with his effectiveness at getting under the skin of his opponents, while periodically losing his own cool. Though the positives outweighed the negatives in Chicago, where Rodman earned 3 rings.

Winter – the architect of the Triangle Offense the Bulls ran in the 90’s and the currently run by the Lakers – spent 57 years in the game. Kobe Bryant chimed in on Winter’s HOF candidacy:

"I don't know how he's not in the Hall of Fame. That's just disgraceful. He should have been in the Hall of Fame a long time ago."

I was doing some research and found that Winter’s resume is shockingly good:

• Head Coach at Marquette in 1952 – the youngest coach in major college basketball at the time.
• Head Coach at Kansas State for 15 years compiling a 261-118 record with 8 league titles and 2 trips to the Final Four.
• UPI Coach of the Year in 1958 after knocking off Oscar Robertson’s Cincinnati club in 2-OT to reach the Final Four.
• Head Coach at University of Washington, Northwestern University and Long Beach State, as well.
• Head Coach of the Houston Rockets for 2 years.
• And of course – Assistant with the Bulls and Lakers under Phil Jackson, where he’s collected 9 Championship rings alongside Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

I think Kobe’s right – Tex to the Hall should be a lock!

Joining Rodman and Winter as finalists are Jamaal Wilkes, Chris Mullin, Maurice Cheeks, Ralph Sampson, 5-time Olympian Teresa Edwards, Stanford women’s coach Tara VaDerveer, former NBA coach Dick Motta, Philadelphia University coach Herb Magee, college referee Hank Nichols, and Al Attles, current VP and Assistant GM of the Warriors.

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The Bulls currently have 5 players, 2 coaches and 1 contributor who played a part in their franchise in the Hall of Fame:

Nate Thurmond ’74-‘76

George Gervin ‘85’-86

Robert Parish ’96-‘97

Michael Jordan ’84-’93 and ’94-‘98

Scottie Pippen ’87-’98 and ’03-‘04

Phil Jackson ’87-’98 (Assistant and Head Coach)

Jerry Sloan ’79-‘82

Jerry Colangelo ’66-‘68

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