The surprisingly lengthy career of the former Bulls 6-foot-8 and 255 pound towering power forward Jason Caffey was defined by clutch moments and one NBA Championship. Caffey got his sole crown with the second Bulls three-peat, during the 1996-97 season. That was the first of two straight NBA Finals series wins over the Utah Jazz.
Caffey was originally the first round pick, 20th overall, of former general manager Jerry Krause and the Bulls in the 1995 NBA Draft. He’s a Mobile, AL, native and a product of the Alabama Crimson Tide basketball program. Out of the gates, Caffey didn’t contribute all that much on a per game basis for the Bulls. He averaged just 3.2 points per game, 1.9 rebounds, and 0.4 assists, during his rookie season.
The three seasons that Caffey played in total with the Bulls also didn’t see the advanced metrics give him much of any favor. He registered a -3.1 box plus/minus rating, -0.8 value over replacement player rating, 13.0 player efficiency rating, and less than seven total win shares. Caffey also managed a 54.6 true shooting percentage.
Although more than half of the shots that Caffey took during his three seasons with the Bulls came from no further than three-feet from the rim, he shot just 47.7 percent from the field during that span. Once he got further than three feet from the rim, Caffey hit well under 35 percent of his looks from the field.
In the playoffs, Caffey wasn’t much better. Two stints in his NBA career in the playoffs resulted in a -3.3 box plus/minus rating, -0.2 value over replacement player rating, and a rather poor 47.1 true shooting percentage.