1966 Expansion Draft

Lore & Background

Before the 1966 expansion draft, the Bulls' general manager, Dick Klein, asked that each team reduce the number of protected players from eight to seven. In exchange, he agreed to pick last in each round of that year's college draft. He also promised Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics that he would not draft Boston's K. C. Jones, as long as Auerbach met with him to share his opinions of other players throughout the NBA. The Bulls selected eighteen unprotected players, two from each of the nine other NBA teams. On the first day of the draft, they selected players from the Eastern Division teams; on the second day, they picked from the Western Division teams. The Bulls' selections included former first overall pick Bob Boozer, three-time All-Star Johnny Kerr and one-time All-Star Len Chappell. Kerr retired from playing prior to the start of the season, and was later named the franchise's first head coach. Another expansion draft pick, Al Bianchi, also retired as a player and was later named the team's assistant coach. Dick Klein had been planning to hire Kerr and Bianchi as coaches before the draft even took place, but because they were still under playing contracts with other teams, Klein needed to draft them instead of hiring them outright. Ten players from the expansion draft joined the Bulls for their inaugural season, but only six played more than one season for the team. Guy Rodgers—whom the Bulls acquired in exchange for Jim King and Jeff Mullins—and Jerry Sloan were named to the 1967 All-Star Game, becoming the franchise's first All-Stars.

In Their Own Story

The air inside the hotel conference room hung heavy with cigar smoke and the electric tension of a city waiting to be born again. At the head of the table, Pat Williams stared down the list of exposed players, his pen hovering over the paper like a weapon. "They think we're just an expansion tax," he murmured, more to himself than the scouts around him. "But they don't know what Chicago is capable of when it has something to fight for."

Across the room, voices hushed as names were whispered: Sloan, Walker, Love. They weren't household gods yet in this town; they were hard-nosed veterans looking for a second chance. Williams watched the clock tick down, knowing that every selection was a gamble on character over fame. When the final whistle blew on the draft, he hadn't just built a team of journeymen; he had assembled a squad of men willing to bleed for a city that hadn't seen an NBA jersey in sixteen years. The dream of bringing basketball back to Chicago wasn't just written anymore—it was inked in sweat and grit.

Reader's Guide

Sloan played ten seasons with the Bulls and became the Bulls' franchise leader in games played when he retired in 1976, a record which has since been broken by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. He then coached the Bulls from 1979 to 1982, and in 1988, embarked upon a coaching career with the Utah Jazz that lasted 23 years. Sloan has since been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach, as has fellow draftee John Thompson. The latter never worked for the Bulls in any capacity, but found success as a coach at Georgetown University.

Did You Know?

• The Bulls were the only expansion team in 1966; the Seattle SuperSonics joined in 1967.
• The Bulls' first head coach was Johnny Kerr, not Dick Motta.
• Chet Walker was not selected in the 1966 Expansion Draft; he was acquired via trade in 1969.
• Bob Love was not acquired via the 1966 Expansion Draft; he was acquired via trade in 1968.
• The initial roster size from the 1966 Expansion Draft was 11 players, not approximately 20.