Pippen Ain't Easy
Fansided

Chicago Bulls: Top 15 draft picks in franchise history

By Jason Patt

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - JUNE 11: Michael Jordan #23 hugs teammate Scottie Pippen #33 of the Chicago Bulls following Game Five of the 1997 NBA Finals played against the Utah Jazz on June 11, 1997 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Chicago Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz 90-88. Ahmad Rashad tries to get an interview for NBC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1997 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - JUNE 11: Michael Jordan #23 hugs teammate Scottie Pippen #33 of the Chicago Bulls following Game Five of the 1997 NBA Finals played against the Utah Jazz on June 11, 1997 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Chicago Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz 90-88. Ahmad Rashad tries to get an interview for NBC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1997 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Artis Gilmore, Chicago Bulls
(Photo by Dick Raphael/NBAE via Getty Images) /

5. player. . C . Jacksonville. . Artis Gilmore . 24

The Bulls initially selected Artis Gilmore with the 117th pick in the 1971 NBA Draft, but Gilmore was also selected in the first round of that year’s ABA Draft, and he opted to go the ABA route after getting a record contract offer. Gilmore dominated the ABA for five seasons before the league disbanded in 1976.

Four ABA teams joined the NBA, but Gilmore went into a special dispersal draft because his Kentucky Colonels folded. In that draft, the Bulls selected Gilmore with the No. 1 pick.

Gilmore wasn’t quite the supremely dominant force that he was in the ABA, but he was still a major force to be reckoned with in Chicago. He led the Bulls to the playoffs in his first season in the NBA and went toe-to-toe with Bill Walton and the Portland Trail Blazers before coming up just short against the champions.

Gilmore then went to All-Star Games in four of his last five seasons with the Bulls, including in 1979 during a season in which he recorded an NBA career-best 23.7 points per game to go along with 12.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.9 blocks per game.

The Bulls traded Gilmore to the San Antonio Spurs in 1982, though the 7-foot-2 big man did return for one final stint in Chicago in the 1987-88 season before retiring from the NBA and playing in Italy for a season.

In his six-plus seasons with the Bulls, Gilmore averaged 19.3 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.1 blocks in 34.8 minutes per game. He’s first in team history with a 58.7 percent shooting mark, and his 1,029 blocks are also first in franchise history. He’s sixth in rebounds and seventh in points. He entered the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.

Gilmore’s incredible raw production and Hall of Fame status give him an argument to be even higher on this list, but his unconventional draft status hurts him a bit, as do a lack of accolades outside of his All-Star appearances plus only three playoff wins in a Bulls uniform.

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