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Jack M Silverstein Profile picture
@readjack
Jul 7, 2021 • 21 tweets • 13 min read • Read on X
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A shared executive. A shared Finals. Even a shared players intro song.

The Phoenix Suns are in the #NBAFinals and they’ve got a long shared history with our Chicago Bulls. Here are 18 facts (and one bonus) that bind our two franchises.

A thread. ImageImage
Between 1966 and 1970, the NBA added eight expansion teams, going from nine teams to 17. Two of those teams were the Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns.

As we’ll see in this thread, they shared a helluva lot, starting with their first employee.

Chicago Heights’ Jerry Colangelo. Image
Bulls-Suns history #1, March 1966: Expansion Bulls hire Jerry Colangelo as the team's first employee.

Bulls founder Dick Klein scoops up Chicago Heights native and @IlliniMBB captain Colangelo to serve as head scout and head of marketing.

historicalleague.org/historymakers/… ImageImage
Bulls-Suns history #2, Feb. 1968: Expansion Suns hire Colangelo as GM.

Bulls employee #1 becomes Suns employee #1 two years later. Colangelo, age 28, would become the first GM of the new Suns. Nineteen years later he would lead a group that would buy the franchise. ImageImage
Bulls-Suns history #3, Apr. 1968: Colangelo hires recently fired Bulls coach Red Kerr as coach of the Suns.

The first head coach of the Chicago Bulls?

Johnny "Red" Kerr.

The first head coach of the Phoenix Suns?

Johnny "Red" Kerr. Image
Bulls-Suns history #4, Jun. 1971: Colangelo hires recently fired Bulls scout Jerry Krause.

Two months after the 1971 NBA Draft (pictured here), the Bulls fired Jerry Krause. His old scouting peer Colangelo scooped him up the next month.

readjack.substack.com/p/3rd-times-th… ImageImage
Bulls-Suns history #5, May 1975: Jerry Krause leads Suns scouting effort to draft Alvan Adams #4 overall.

Adams would win 1976 NBA Rookie of the Year and finish 2nd on the Suns in scoring, 3rd in rebounds and 1st in blocks. Image
Bulls-Suns history #6, May 1976: Suns reach their first-ever #NBAFinals.

With Adams and other Krause-scouted players, 42-win Suns upset the defending-champ Warriors to reach the Finals. Krause was no longer there; they fired him in Sep. '75. He had his player run-ins for sure. ImageImage
Bulls-Suns history #7, Jun. 1988: Jerry Krause fails to convince Central Michigan guard Dan Majerle to tank his draft prospects so that the Bulls can get him in the 2nd round. In the 1993 Finals, Jordan takes out some of his anger with Krause on Majerle.

From David Halberstam: ImageImage
Bulls-Suns history #8, Dec. 1988: Suns trade Craig Hodges to Bulls in a deal that includes Ed Nealy.

Hodges would become a 3x three-point shootout champ and 2x NBA champion. As for Nealy...

ImageImage
Bulls-Suns history #9, 1989 to 1993: Ed Nealy ping-pongs between the Suns and Bulls.

Phoenix trades him to Chicago in ’89, he signs as a FA with the Suns in 1990, and the Bulls trade for him from the Warriors in 1993. On IR, he gets a ring with the Bulls in his final NBA game. ImageImage
This Bulls thread is brought to you by...

My newsletter!

Sign up now for the low price of Pip a year or Pax a month. Next letter for paid subs is coming this week: interview with Bulls sound engineer @irwin65. (Far right.)

It's all driving to my book: readjack.substack.com Image
Jerry Krause is one of my favorite figures in Chicago sports history. Just a fascinating man with a great story. Want to learn more about his not one, not two, but THREE stints with the Bulls?

Read this: readjack.substack.com/p/3rd-times-th…

(Also, can you spot Krause?)
That's halftime on this thread. I'll be back for Game 2 of the #NBAFinals with Bulls-Suns history items 10 to 18, plus one bonus.

For now, check out my guest spot with @BiggerttGamePod, discussing my favorite Bulls game ever: Bulls-Suns Game 6. Later!

PS I know that Krause story is for subscribers only. Here is my ode to The Sleuth from after his death in 2017. We would not be six-time champs without his moves. Simple as that.

blogabull.com/2017/3/24/1504…
A fake trade. A real trade. Draft day surprises. And of course, one legendary #NBAFinals.

Here is part two of the shared history between the Phoenix Suns and your Chicago Bulls.

A thread, continued.

ImageImage
Bulls-Suns history #10, early 1990s: The Suns steal Sirius.

That's right, the Phoenix Suns took our famed player intro! Steal from the best, right? Here we are doing it in Nov. 1986, Jordan's third season. The song was discovered by P.A. announcer Tommy Edwards.
By at least the 1989-90 season, the Suns — then owned by Chicagoan Jerry Colangelo — started using Sirius for their player intros. Here it is during the 1990 Western Conference Finals.

And here is @jakemalooley's must-read oral history on the intro:

theringer.com/nba/2018/11/13…
As the Bulls rose, the intro exploded. @AndNowPA replaced Edwards in 1990-91, and once we won a title the intro was complete:

"Your WORLD CHAMPION... Chicago Bulls!"

Game 1, 1992 #NBAFinals. When the lights cut out at the old barn, all was subsumed. @irwin65
Obviously the Suns were watching. In 1992-93, they got a new superstar, a new coach, a new arena, new uniforms...

...and a new player intro. Same song, but now they had 3D jumbotron graphics of entering the stadium. This is from Game 6. Look familiar, Bulls fans?
Two seasons later, the Bulls upped the ante again, matching the Suns with the 3D computer intro, though this time moving through downtown to reach the UC.

Here is the player intro on March 24, 1995, Michael Jordan's first home game since his return from baseball.

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More from @readjack

Jack M Silverstein Profile picture
Feb 20, 2023
I don’t want to sound old but they really did used to play defense in the All-Star Game. 4th quarter is amazing now but we haven’t recovered from 192-182 in 2017.
Incidentally, 2017 was the first All-Star Game after Kobe retired. He kept the competition level high, no Elam Ending required.
The TNT crew is complicit. Stop cheering on this non-competition.
Read 20 tweets
Jack M Silverstein Profile picture
Feb 19, 2023
The last time the #NBAAllStar Game was in Utah, the three-time defending 3-point shootout champion was nearly left out of the competition. He eventually competed despite not being on a roster.

This is the story of how in 1993, Craig Hodges became a man without a team.

A thread.
The NBA began its All-Star three-point contest (the “Long Distance Shootout”) in 1986. And six of the first seven contests split between two three-peat winners: Larry Bird and Craig Hodges.
Coming into the 1993 contest, Hodges had won the past three shootouts, including finals knockouts of Reggie Miller in 1990 and Terry Porter in 1991. His ‘91 performance is perhaps the greatest in the contest’s history, setting records that stand today: 21 shots made, 19 in a row.
Read 32 tweets
Jack M Silverstein Profile picture
Oct 13, 2022
Got your Bears - Washington @NFLonPrime drinking game here, Bears fans! Get lit and get a W.

🍺 🥃 🍾

@WCGridiron @bearsoverbeers @79thAndHalas @itsthebigs @TheJeffSchlegel
Pay Roquan ✅
Rivera “quarterback” quote ✅
Al Michaels: “The Bears are wearing orange helmets for the first time in their history.” ✖️✖️✖️

@WCGridiron
Read 13 tweets
Jack M Silverstein Profile picture
Sep 20, 2022
My full thoughts on the modern-era nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2023 are to come, but one immediate reaction is that two players whose cases deserve discussion just lost their modern-era eligibility:

* Greg Lloyd
* Reggie Roby

profootballhof.me/Nominees

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Given that anyone can nominate players for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and that there are few automatic triggers to ensure that a player is on the list of nominees, there has to be a way to ensure that worthy candidates aren't left off, especially in their final five years.
Greg Lloyd was a 3x first-team All Pro and key defender on the '95 Steelers team that went to the Super Bowl. Injuries derailed him.

Reggie Roby was a 3x All Pro, 2x 1st team, who had one of the prettiest kicks I've ever seen. He should have been in this discussion.
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Read 40 tweets
Jack M Silverstein Profile picture
Mar 18, 2022
When opinion writers want to write about so-called "cancel culture," and claim that Americans are being "shamed or shunned" for "free speech," editors should demand that they address these five questions.

A thread.
1. Provide the specific example of the "canceled," or would-be "canceled," speech — what the person said or wrote, word for word — and share where you, the opinion writer, stand on the substance of the statement.
2. If you claim that "people are trying to get x-person canceled," provide the specifics of:

* what people
* what power they hold over x-person
* how they are using their power
* how x-person would be affected
Read 10 tweets
Jack M Silverstein Profile picture
Dec 12, 2021
On Oct. 25, 1992, we beat the Packers to extend our all-time rivalry lead to a record 24 games.

Since then, we are 14-45 vs. the Packers. We now trail the series by 7 games.

Here are our 14 wins — 14 in 29 seasons. I hope George and Ted see this.

A thread.
Now you may be thinking, “Jack, with all due respect, WTF?”

Well, our now three-decade-long failure against our biggest rival distresses me to the core of my being. I’m not alone. We all feel that way, except perhaps the very people who can change it.

As a prologue, here is the win that gave us a record 24-game lead.

* 1992, Week 8, Lambeau Field
* Winning streak: 🐻 +4
* Rivalry record: 🐻 +23
* Bears coach: Mike Ditka
* Bears QB: Jim Harbaugh
* Bears heroes: McMichael, Gardocki/Green
* Bears 30, Packers 10
Read 24 tweets

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