Passed away Friday at 78 years of age. A very tough competitor.
https://www.si.com/nba/2020/05/22/j...ource=LI&li_medium=m2m-rcw-sports-illustrated
https://www.si.com/nba/2020/05/22/j...ource=LI&li_medium=m2m-rcw-sports-illustrated
Jerry Sloan
- Thread starter Gladeskat
- Start date
Saw Sloan and the Purple Aces beat NU at Robert's Stadium in their pre conference schedule of 1964-65. Jerry Sloan may well have been the best NCAA D2 player in the history of the game. FIERCE is an understatement. One hell of a player, coach, and man!!! RIP.
I remember the Bulls team that was expected to play for the championship in the early 70's, and was upset by a fast rising Golden State Warriors team with an unstoppable Sam Lacey.
Sloan and Van Lier were brutal, toughest guard tandem ever. Not gifted offensively, but they took away whatever the other guards had.
Sloan and Van Lier were brutal, toughest guard tandem ever. Not gifted offensively, but they took away whatever the other guards had.
Right you are, Medill, although if I'm not mistaken, one freakish night Van Lier dropped 42 on Seattle, or some such thing. But defense was their calling card, and as people have said, if there was ever a better defensive backcourt, I haven't seen it.
What they needed was a great defensive center to neutralize Kareem Jabbar. Unfortunately, they're hard to come by.
My memory could be failing me, Glades, but in my mind's eye I'm remembering Cliff Ray as more of a defensive center than a scorer. Not great or anything, but probably the best they had against a Jabbar. Am I close?
Ray played center at times because he was tough, but more of a 4 (IMO). Jabbar had 6-8 inches on Ray.
(GarPax) traded Clifford Ray to Golden State for Nate Thurmond....who was 10 or so years older and a lesser player than Ray at the time they were traded. All of us old time Bulls fans remember how memorable Thurmond's Bulls career was.
The ABA collapsed into the NBA and the Bulls got Artis Gilmore...IIRC, for the 75-76 season, by which time Sloan had retired. The 76 - 77 team started bad but was a top 4 NBA team second half of the season (winning something like 30 or their last 32 games). Portland (Bill Walton) just squeaked by the Bulls and went on to beat Philly (Dr. J., Darryl Dawkins, Doug Collins, Henry Bibby) for the championship.
Sloan was on the Bulls original roster in 1966. They played their games at the International Amphitheater and had guys like Bob Boozer and Guy Rodgers. Van Liar had not made it into the NBA yet, I guess. They also had Dave Schellhase from Purdue, who worked the door at with me at "The Store", after he flamed out.
Don't forget Tom Boerwinkle!
Here are the big three - Sloan, Van Lier, Love - back in the day:
