1992–93 NBA season
The 1992–93 NBA season was the 47th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Chicago Bulls winning their third-straight NBA Championship, beating the Phoenix Suns 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals; the 1993 NBA All-Star Game was played at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, with the West defeating the East 135–132 in overtime. Much to delight of the local fans, Karl Malone and John Stockton of the Utah Jazz were named co-MVPs of the game; the Phoenix Suns played their first season at America West Arena. The San Antonio Spurs played their final season in the HemisFair Arena; the Charlotte Hornets became the first of the four late-1980s expansion franchises to win a playoff series on Alonzo Mourning's 20-foot jumper at the buzzer in Game 4 of their first round playoff series against the Boston Celtics. Michael Jordan scored his 20,000th career point and tied Wilt Chamberlain's record of seven scoring titles. In Game 3 of the NBA Finals, the Suns defeated the Bulls in triple overtime, 129–121.
This marked the second time a Finals game lasted three overtimes, along with Game 5 of the 1976 Finals, which involved the Suns. Coincidentally, in the 1976 game, Paul Westphal played for the Suns, in the 1993 game, he coached the Suns. Michael Jordan scored 40 or more points in 4 consecutive games of the NBA Finals, setting a record, averaged an NBA Finals record 41.0 points per game for the series. The Chicago Bulls defeated the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals to become the first team in 30 years to win three consecutive championships. New Jersey Nets guard Dražen Petrović was killed in an automobile accident in Munich, Germany on June 7. Two months on July 27, Boston Celtics guard Reggie Lewis died of a heart attack during practice. Both were honored by their respective teams by retiring their numbers, Petrovic would be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame; the Dallas Mavericks became the third team to lose 70 games in a season, after the 1972–73 Philadelphia 76ers and the 1986–87 Los Angeles Clippers, they finished 11–71.
They would be joined by the 1997–98 Denver Nuggets, the 2009–10 New Jersey Nets and the 2015-16 Philadelphia 76ers. During the regular season, three backboards were broken. Two were done by Orlando's Shaquille O'Neal, once against Phoenix where he dunked the ball so hard the entire goal collapsed and once against New Jersey when he pulled the entire backboard off of the goal; the other was by New Jersey's Chris Morris, who dunked with such force during a game against Chicago that the backboard glass shattered. This led the league to provide stronger shatterproof backboards. However, every team is still required to have a spare backboard in their home arenas just in case; the Atlanta Hawks changed their uniforms. The Dallas Mavericks changed their road uniforms from green to blue; the New York Knicks changed their logo. The Phoenix Suns changed their logo and uniforms, moved into the America West Arena
Cotton Fitzsimmons
Lowell "Cotton" Fitzsimmons was an American college and NBA basketball coach. A native of Bowling Green, Missouri, he attended and played basketball at Hannibal-LaGrange Junior College in Hannibal and Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, he coached the Phoenix Suns three times, was named the NBA Coach of the Year twice, is credited as the architect of the Suns' success of the late 1980s and early to middle 1990s. Fitzsimmons won 1,089 games in his coaching career: 223 games at the junior college level, 34 at the Division I college level and 832 in the NBA. Born to Clancy and Zelda Fitzsimmons, "Lowell" was raised in Bowling Green, where he attended Bowling Green High School; the family of six moved to Bowling Green. There, his fourth grade classmates nicknamed him "Cotton" because of his hair, his father died. His mother raised three siblings. In high school, Bowling Green High School basketball coach James A. Wilson became a key figure for Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons said: “Coach Wilson had the biggest influence on me of any male adult.
He taught me the difference between principles. Rules are made to be bent, sometimes broken. Principles are something. My mother raised me, of course, but I think I looked up to Coach Wilson as a father figure and wanted to be like him.”With the 5'7" Fitzsimmons, Bowling Green High School twice advanced to the Missouri State High School Basketball Tournament. After graduating from Bowling Green High School, Fitzsimmons worked at a brick plant in nearby Farber, Missouri, he worked for two years to help support the family until his sisters graduated from high school, just as his older brother Orland had done. During those two years, Cotton played 80 game seasons for the brickyard basketball team, was a basketball referee for local high school games and was a baseball infielder on a Bowling Green town baseball team, serving as the team manager. On his first taste of coaching, he recalled, "It's not easy going to the mound as a kid and taking out your pitcher, who's 30." In 1952, Fitzsimmons enrolled at Hannibal-LaGrange College a junior college in Hannibal, Missouri.
Fitzsimmons became a junior-college All-American. He led the team to the NJCAA Tournament. Fitzsimmons left Missouri to attend Midwestern State University in Texas. There, he averaged 13.3 points over 82 games and scored a career 1,095 points, while helping the Mustangs to the NAIA Tournament quarterfinals in 1956. Fitzsimmons turned down an offer to play for the AAU basketball for the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots and remained at Midwestern State after graduation to earn a masters’ degree in administrative education, he decided. After earning his degrees at Midwestern State, Fitzsimmons returned to Missouri, he accepted the position as head coach at Moberly Junior College in Moberly, Missouri in 1958, replacing Maury John. Fitzsimmons coached for nine seasons at Moberly, with a record of 223-59; when asked in his interview how long he planned to stay at Moberly if hired, "“I gave him the dumbest answer I gave anyone,” he said, “I told him I’d be there till we won two titles in a row.” Fitzsimmons proceeded to finish his tenure at Moberly with back-to-back NJCAA National Championships, in 1966 and 1967.
Fitzsimmons was hired by Kansas State University, serving as an assistant coach in 1967-1968 under Head Coach Tex Winter. There he learned the Triangle Offense from Winter, who left after the season for Washington and recommended Fitzsimmons to replace him. In 1968, he was named Head Coach at Kansas State. Fitzsimmons' first team at KSU finished 14-12. In 1969-1970, The Wildcats went a surprising 20-8, he was named 1970 Big 8 Coach of the Year and led the Wildcats to the Sweet Sixteen of the 1970 NCAA Tournament. Fitzsimmons moved to the NBA with the Phoenix Suns. In 1970, Fitzsimmons replaced Jerry Colangelo as Head Coach of the Phoenix Suns, it was Colangelo. At first Colangelo had asked about other possible candidates. Colangelo asked Fitzsimmons, “How would you like the job?” Fitzsimmons took the position and led the Suns to their first winning season, going 48–34 that season. The relationship between Colangelo and Fitzsimmons would be lengthy, as Fitzsimmons would serve the Suns in multiple capacities, including three tenures as Head Coach.
Fitzsimmons worked for Colangelo on one year contracts, without any discussion of compensation throughout their long tenure together. In 1972, Fitzsimmons became coach of the Atlanta Hawks, he was 140-180 in four seasons, with one playoff appearance. He returned to Phoenix to reside in 1975. According to Fitzsimmons, one of the main reasons he accepted a job as Hawks coach was the opportunity to coach Pete Maravich; the Hawks traded Maravich to the New Orleans Jazz in May, 1974 and Fitzsimmons was left with a young team and a rotating front office.“Presidents and GMs were flying out of here like paper clips.” He told Sports Illustrated. On May 30, 1976, Fitzsimmons was replaced by his assistant Bumper Tormohlen with the Hawks at 28-46. On August 4, 1976, Fitzsimmons was hired as player personnel director for the Golden State Warriors, to replace the late Bob Feerick, working alongside Al Attles, Coach and General Manager. Attles said,'I have a long standing relation with Cotton and have always admired and respected him as a person and evaluator of talent," There, the team ma
Traverse City, Michigan
Traverse City is a city in the U. S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County, it is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was 14,674 at the 2010 census, with 143,372 in the Traverse City micropolitan area; the Traverse City area is the largest producer of tart cherries in the United States. Near the time of cherry harvest, the city hosts the annual week-long National Cherry Festival in the first full week of July, attracting 500,000 visitors annually; the surrounding countryside produces grapes, is one of the centers of wine production in the Midwest. Tourism, both summer and winter, is another key industry; the Traverse City area features varied natural attractions, including freshwater beaches, vineyards, a National Lakeshore, downhill skiing areas, numerous forests. In 2009, TripAdvisor named Traverse City the number two small town travel destination in the United States. In 2012, the city was listed among the 10 best places to retire in the country by U.
S. News & World Report. Before European colonists and the Northwest Territory, Traverse City was occupied by the Ojibwe and Ottawa people. Many locations in the Michigan area used to have native names. Traverse City was called "wequetong" which means "at the head of the bay" This area was an Indian camp near what is now Clinch Park in downtown Traverse City. Over time, this camp was abandoned. After the colonists came in, they discovered the Grand Traverse Bay; the bay earned its name from 18th-century French voyageurs who made la grande traverse, or "the long crossing", across the mouth of bay. The area was owned by the French, followed by Great Britain as the Province of Quebec. After 1776, the area was owned by the Americans. On Old Mission peninsula, Rev Peter Doughtery started the first permanent settlement in 1839; this was called "Grand Traverse" In 1847, Captain Boardman of Naperville, purchased the land at the mouth of the Boardman River at the head of the west arm of the bay, where the Indian camp was.
During that year the captain, his son, their employees built a dwelling and sawmill near the mouth of the river. In 1851 the Boardmans sold the sawmill to Lay & Co, who improved the mill greatly; the increased investment in the mill attracted additional settlers to the new community. Perry Hannah today is known as the founding father of Traverse City As of 1853, the only operating post office in the Grand Traverse Bay region was the one located at Old Mission, known as "Grand Traverse". While in Washington, D. C. in 1852, Mr. Lay had succeeded in getting the U. S. Post Office to authorize a new post office at his newer settlement; as the newer settlement had become known as "Grand Traverse City", after the Grand Traverse Bay, Lay proposed this name for its post office, but the Post Office Department clerk suggested dropping the "Grand" from the name, as to limit confusion between this new office and the one at nearby Old Mission. Mr. Lay agreed to the new, shortened name of "Traverse City" for the post office, the village took on this name.
Around this time, the first cherry trees were being planted on the Old Mission Peninsula, something the peninsula is known for today. In December 1872, rail service arrived in Traverse City via a Traverse City Railroad Company spur from the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad line at Walton Junction; this opened up the area to settlement and industrial development. Many more people started living here, in 1881, Traverse City was incorporated as a village; this began the major commercial growth of the town. In 1895, Traverse City was incorporated as a city. 1925 was the year of the first National Cherry Festival called "Blessing of the Blossoms". This tradition has carried on in Traverse City since, has become a popular gathering around the state. During the week the festival takes place, the population of Traverse City rises from about 15,000 to about 500,000. In 1929, Traverse City's first airport, Ransom Field, opened in what is today Memorial Gardens Cemetery on US 31; the airport offered flights to Grand Rapids.
The half of the 20th century saw many older things from the area close. Ransom Field renamed Traverse City Airport, closed in 1969, when Cherry County Airport was opened. Two drive in theaters in the vicinity closed, as well as three normal theaters in the area. With this, the Cherryland Mall and Grand Traverse Mall opened in these years. In 2005, the first Traverse City Film Festival was held in downtown Traverse City by Michael Moore. In 2015 and 2016, Traverse City was called the best small town in America by Livability.com. Traverse City is a part of the greater Northern Michigan region; the city is the main inland port of the Grand Traverse Bay—a long, natural harbor separated from the waters of Lake Michigan by the Leelanau Peninsula, divided longitudinally evenly by a narrow peninsula of tiered hillsides and farmland called Old Mission Peninsula. The most prominent of the city's waterways is the Boardman River. Along with Boardman Lake, the river is part of the Boardman River Watershed; the Boardman's 287-square-mile watershed contributes one-third of the water volume to the bay and is one of Michigan's top-ten fisheries, with more than 36 miles of its 179 miles designated as a Blue Ribbon trout fishery.
It is a state-designated "Natural River". A large project was finished on the Boardman. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 8.66 square miles, of which, 8.33 square miles of it is land and 0
1988–89 NBA season
The 1988–89 NBA season was the 43rd season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Detroit Pistons winning the NBA Championship, sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers; this was the first season of the Miami Charlotte Hornets. The NBA adopts the three-official system used in college basketball permanently; the league experimented with three officials per game in 1978–79, but went back to two officials per game for the next nine seasons, although they have three with the inclusion of an alternate referee for all playoff games and selected regular season games. The Miami Heat and the Charlotte Hornets become the league's 25th franchises; the Heat plays its inaugural season in the Midwest Division. As a result, the Sacramento Kings move to the Pacific Division; the 1989 NBA All-Star Game was played at the Astrodome in Houston, with the West defeating the East 143–134. Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz takes home the game's MVP award. New Arenas: The Milwaukee Bucks move from the MECCA Arena to the then-Bradley Center, the Sacramento Kings move from ARCO Arena I to the then-ARCO Arena, the Detroit Pistons move from the Pontiac Silverdome to The Palace of Auburn Hills.
Michael Jordan records ten triple-doubles in eleven games near the end of the season. Prior to the season, the first-year Hornets announce that they choose teal as their primary color, which gave them immediate attention. In the next decade, expansion teams in the other professional sports leagues further popularized the use of the color; the Hornets popularized the use of pinstripes on the uniforms, which were adopted by the Orlando Magic, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, Indiana Pacers and the current Charlotte Hornets' predecessor franchise, the Bobcats. The Chicago Bulls started a playoff tradition by wearing black sneakers. Prior to that, the Boston Celtics were the only team to wear black sneakers. Following the Bulls' unlikely playoff run, other teams began adopting the style, beginning with the Philadelphia 76ers in 1990; this was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's last season. The Los Angeles Lakers became the first team to sweep two consecutive best-of-seven series; the Celtics, who had won no fewer than 57 games over the previous 9 seasons, slump to 42 as Larry Bird played only six games due to injuries.
The Indiana Pacers had 4 different head coaches during the season, a rare occurrence that has not happened since. Seattle SuperSonics guard Dale Ellis won the All-Star game's 3-point shootout; the first cancellation of an NBA game due to a civil disturbance. In the wake of the Miami riots, the game between the Miami Heat and the Phoenix Suns on January 17, 1989, was canceled. Jerry Sloan begins the first season of 23 for the Utah Jazz, the longest tenure for any professional coach for one city and franchise. Notes z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs y – Clinched division title x – Clinched playoff spot The League expands from twenty-three to twenty-five franchises, with new expansion teams in Charlotte and Miami; the Heat began its season as a member of the Western Conference despite its geographical position, enduring its longest road trips when playing Western Conference teams. It began the season 0–17, at the time the worst start in NBA history.
The Hornets finished at 20–62. Such records are typical of expansion NBA franchises in their initial seasons, with 15–67 being the poorest record repeated by the Cavaliers, Grizzlies and Mavericks, as well as the Heat; the Sacramento Kings were belatedly moved to the Pacific Division in their fourth season after leaving Kansas City. Teams in bold advanced to the next round; the numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Home court advantage does not belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead the team with the better regular season record. Most Valuable Player: Magic Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers Rookie of the Year: Mitch Richmond, Golden State Warriors Defensive Player of the Year: Mark Eaton, Utah Jazz Sixth Man of the Year: Eddie Johnson, Phoenix Suns Most Improved Player: Kevin Johnson, Phoenix Suns Coach of the Year: Cotton Fitzsimmons, Phoenix Suns All-NBA First Team: F – Karl Malone, Utah Jazz F – Charles Barkley, Philadelphia 76ers C – Akeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets G – Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls G – Magic Johnson, Los Angeles Lakers All-NBA Second Team: F – Tom Chambers, Phoenix Suns F – Chris Mullin, Golden State Warriors C – Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks G – John Stockton, Utah Jazz G – Kevin Johnson, Phoenix Suns All-NBA Third Team: F – Dominique Wilkins, Atlanta Hawks F – Terry Cummings, Milwaukee Bucks C – Robert Parish, Boston Celtics G – Dale Ellis, Seattle SuperSonics G – Mark Price, Cleveland Cavaliers All-NBA Rookie Team: Rik Smits, Indiana Pacers Willie Anderson, San Antonio Spurs Mitch Richmond, Golden State Warriors Charles D. Smith, Los Angeles Clippers Hersey Hawkins, Philadelphia 76ers NBA All-Defensive First Team: Dennis Rodman, Detroit Pistons Larry Nance, Cleveland Cavaliers Mark Eaton, Utah Jazz Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls Joe Dumars, Detroit Pistons NBA All-Defensive Second Team: Kevin McHale, Boston Celtics A. C.
Green, Los Angeles Lakers Patrick Ewing, New York Knicks John Stockton, Utah Jazz Alvin Robertson, San Antonio SpursNote: All information on this page were obtained on the History
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division; the Heat play their home games at American Airlines Arena, have won three NBA championships. The franchise began play in 1988 as an expansion team, where after a period of mediocrity, the Heat would gain relevance during the 1990s following the appointment of former head coach Pat Riley in the role of team president. Riley would construct the high-profile trades of Alonzo Mourning in 1995, of Tim Hardaway in 1996, which propelled the team into playoff contention. Mourning and Hardaway would lead the Heat to four division titles, prior to their departures in 2001 and 2002, respectively; as a result, the team struggled, entered into a rebuild in time for the 2002–03 season. Led by Dwyane Wade, following a trade for former NBA Most Valuable Player Shaquille O'Neal, Miami made the NBA Finals in 2006, where they clinched their first championship, led by Riley as head coach.
After the departure of O'Neal two years the team entered into another period of decline for the remainder of the 2000s. This saw the resignation of Riley as head coach, who returned to his position as team president, was replaced by Erik Spoelstra. In 2010, after creating significant cap space, the Heat partnered Wade with former league MVP LeBron James, perennial NBA All-Star Chris Bosh, creating the "Big Three". During their four-year spell together, under the guise of Spoelstra, James and Bosh, they would lead the Heat to the NBA Finals in every season, won two back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013; the trio would all depart by 2016, the team entered another period of rebuilding. Wade was reacquired in 2018, albeit to retire with the franchise; the Heat hold the record for the NBA's third-longest streak, 27 straight games, set during the 2012–13 season. Four Hall of Famers have played for Miami, while James has won the NBA MVP Award while playing for the team. In 1987 the NBA granted one of its four new expansion teams to Miami and the team, known as the Heat began play in November 1988.
The Miami Heat began their early years with much mediocrity, only making the playoffs two times in their first eight years and falling in the first round both times. Upon the purchasing of the franchise by Carnival Cruise Lines chairman Micky Arison in 1995, Pat Riley was brought in as the team president and head coach. Riley acquired center Alonzo Mourning and point guard Tim Hardaway to serve as the centerpieces for the team, transforming Miami into a championship contender throughout the late 1990s. With them they brought in a new team trainer, Cody Posselt, to work on shooting; the Heat underwent a dramatic turnaround in the 1996–97 season, improving to a 61–21 record – a franchise record at the time, second-best in team history. That same year, Miami earned the moniker of "Road Warriors" for its remarkable 32–9 record on the road. On the backs of Hardaway and Mourning, the Heat achieved their first two series victories in the playoffs, making it to the Conference Finals against the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls before losing in five games.
Their biggest rivals of the time were the New York Knicks, Riley's former team, who would eliminate the Heat in the playoffs from 1998 through 2000. A period of mediocrity followed after, highlighted by missing the playoffs in 2002 and 2003. In the 2003 NBA draft, with the fifth overall pick, Miami selected shooting guard Dwyane Wade out of Marquette. Free-agent swing-man Lamar Odom was signed from the Los Angeles Clippers. Just prior to the start of the 2003–04 season, Riley stepped down as head coach to focus on rebuilding the Heat, promoting Stan Van Gundy to the position of head coach. Behind Van Gundy's leadership, Wade's stellar rookie year and Odom's break out season, the Heat made the 2004 NBA Playoffs, beating the New Orleans Hornets 4–3 in the 1st round and losing to the Indiana Pacers 4–2 in the 2nd round. In the offseason, Riley engineered a summer blockbuster trade for Shaquille O'Neal from the Los Angeles Lakers. Alonzo Mourning returned to the Heat in the same season. Returning as championship contenders, Miami finished with a 59–23 record garnering the first overall seed in the Eastern Conference.
Sweeping through the first round and the semifinals, Miami went back to the Conference Finals for the first time in eight years, where it met the defending champion Detroit Pistons. Despite taking a 3–2 lead, Miami lost Wade to injury for Game 6; the Heat would go on to lose Game 7 at home despite Wade's return. In the summer of 2005, Riley brought in veteran free agent Gary Payton from the Boston Celtics, brought in James Posey, Jason Williams and Antoine Walker via trades. After a disappointing 11–10 start to the 2005–06 season, Riley relieved Van Gundy of his duties and took back the head coaching job; the Heat made it to the Conference Finals in 2006 and in a re-match, defeated the Pistons, winning the series 4–2. Making its first NBA Finals appearance, they played the Dallas Mavericks, who won the first two games in Dallas in routs; the Heat won the next four games, capturing its first championship. Wade won the Finals MVP award; the Heat experienced four-years of post-title struggles from 2007 through 2010, including a 4–0 sweep by the Chicago Bulls in the 1st round of the 2007 NBA Playoffs.
In the 2007–08 season, Wade was plagued by injuries and the Heat had a league worst 15–67 record. O'Neal was traded to Phoenix midway through the season. Riley resigned as head coach following the season but retained his positio
Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association, as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division, are the only team in their division not based in California; the Suns play their home games at the Talking Stick Resort Arena. The franchise began play in 1968 as an expansion team, their early years were shrouded in mediocrity, but their fortunes changed in the 1970s, after partnering long-term guard Dick Van Arsdale and center Alvan Adams with Paul Westphal, the Suns reached the 1976 NBA Finals, in what is considered to be one of the biggest upsets in NBA history. However, after failing to capture a championship, the Suns would rebuild around Walter Davis for a majority of the 1980s, until the acquisition of Kevin Johnson in 1988. Under Johnson, after trading for perennial NBA All-Star Charles Barkley, combined with the output of Tom Chambers and Dan Majerle, the Suns reached the playoffs for a franchise-record thirteen consecutive appearances and remained a regular title contender throughout the 1990s, reached the 1993 NBA Finals.
However, the team would again fail to win a championship, entered into another period of mediocrity until the early part of the 2000s. In 2004, the Suns reacquired Steve Nash, returned into playoff contention. With Nash, Shawn Marion, Amar'e Stoudemire, under head coach Mike D'Antoni, the Suns became renowned worldwide for their quick, dynamic offense, which led them to tie a franchise record in wins in the 2004–05 season. Two more top two Conference placements followed, but the Suns again failed to attain an NBA championship, were forced into another rebuild; the Suns own the NBA's seventh-best all-time winning percentage, have the second highest winning percentage of any teams to have never won an NBA championship. 10 Hall of Famers have played for Phoenix, while two Suns—Barkley and Nash—have won the NBA Most Valuable Player award while playing for the team. The Suns were one of two franchises to join the NBA at the start of the 1968–69 season, alongside the Milwaukee Bucks from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
They were the first major professional sports franchise in the Phoenix market and in the entire state of Arizona, remained the only one for the better part of 20 years until the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League relocated from St. Louis in 1988; the Suns played its first 24 seasons at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, located northwest of downtown Phoenix. The franchise was formed by an ownership group led by Karl Eller, owner of a public enterprise, the investor Donald Pitt, Don Diamond, Bhavik Darji, Marvin Meyer, Richard Bloch. Other owners with a minority stake consisted of entertainers, such as Andy Williams, Bobbie Gentry and Ed Ames. There were many critics, including then-NBA commissioner J. Walter Kennedy, who said that Phoenix was "too hot", "too small", "too far away" to be considered a successful NBA market; this was despite the fact that the Phoenix metropolitan area was growing and the Suns would have built-in geographical foes in places like in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle.
After continual prodding by Bloch, in 1968 the NBA Board of Governors granted franchises to Phoenix and Milwaukee on January 22, 1968 with an entry fee of $2 million. The Suns nickname was among 28,000 entries that were formally chosen in a name-the-team contest sponsored by The Arizona Republic, with the winner awarded $1,000 and season tickets for the inaugural season. Suns was preferred over Scorpions, Thunderbirds, Mavericks, Tumbleweeds and Cougars. Stan Fabe, who owned a commercial printing plant in Tucson, designed the team's first iconic logo for a mere $200. However, they were disappointed with the results. In the 1968 NBA Expansion Draft, notable Suns' pickups were future Hall of Famer Gail Goodrich and Dick Van Arsdale. Jerry Colangelo a player scout, came over from the Chicago Bulls, a franchise formed two years earlier, as the Suns' first general manager at the age of 28, along with Johnny "Red" Kerr as head coach. Unlike the first-year success that Colangelo and Kerr had in Chicago, in which the Bulls finished with a first-year expansion record of 33 wins and a playoff berth, Phoenix finished its first year at 16–66, finished 25 games out of the final playoff spot.
Both Goodrich and Van Arsdale were selected to the All-Star Game in their first season with the Suns. Goodrich returned to his former team, the Lakers, after two seasons with the Suns, but Van Arsdale spent the rest of his playing days as a Sun and a one-time head coach for Phoenix; the Suns' last-place finish that season led to a coin flip for the number-one overall pick for the 1969 NBA draft with the expansion-mate Bucks. Milwaukee won the flip, the rights to draft UCLA center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, while Phoenix settled on drafting center Neal Walk from Florida; the 1969–70 season posted better results for the Suns, finishing 39–43, but losing to the eventual Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the playoffs. The next two seasons, the Suns finished with 48- and 49-win seasons, but did not qualify for the playoffs in either year, did not reach the playoffs again until 1976; the 1975–76 season proved to be a pivotal year for the Suns as they made several key moves, including the offseason trade of former All-Star guard Charlie Scott to the Boston Celtics in exchange for guard
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association, as a member of the league's Western Conference in the Pacific Division; the Lakers play their home games at Staples Center, an arena shared with the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association, the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League. The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NBA, have won 16 NBA championships, the second-most behind the Boston Celtics; the franchise began with the 1947 purchase of a disbanded team, the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League. The new team began calling themselves the Minneapolis Lakers. A member of the NBL, the Lakers won the 1948 NBL championship before joining the rival Basketball Association of America, where they would win five of the next six championships, led by star George Mikan. After struggling financially in the late 1950s following Mikan's retirement, they relocated to Los Angeles before the 1960–61 season.
Led by Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, Los Angeles made the NBA Finals six times in the 1960s, but lost each series to the Celtics, beginning their long and storied rivalry. In 1968, the Lakers acquired four-time NBA Most Valuable Player Wilt Chamberlain, won their sixth NBA title—and first in Los Angeles—in 1972, led by new head coach Bill Sharman. After the retirement of West and Chamberlain, the team acquired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who won multiple MVP awards, but was unable to make the Finals in the late 1970s; the 1980s Lakers were nicknamed "Showtime" due to their fast break-offense led by Magic Johnson. The team won five championships in a nine-year span, contained Hall of Famers Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, was led by Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley. After Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson retired, the team struggled in the early 1990s, before acquiring Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in 1996. With the duo, who were led by another Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson, the team won three consecutive titles between 2000 to 2002, securing the franchise its second "three-peat".
The Lakers won two more championships in 2009 and 2010, but failed to regain their former glory in the following decade. The Lakers hold the record for NBA's longest winning streak, 33 straight games, set during the 1971–72 season. 21 Hall of Famers have played for Los Angeles. Four Lakers—Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, O'Neal, Bryant—have won the NBA MVP Award for a total of eight awards; the Lakers' franchise began in 1947 when Ben Berger and Morris Chalfen of Minnesota purchased the disbanded Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League for $15,000 from Gems owner Maury Winston. Minneapolis sportswriter Sid Hartman played a key behind the scenes role in helping put together the deal and the team. Inspired by Minnesota's nickname, "Land of 10,000 Lakes", the team christened themselves the Lakers. Hartman helped them hire John Kundla from College of St. Thomas, to be their first head coach, by meeting with him and selling him on the team; the Lakers had a solid roster, which featured forward Jim Pollard, playmaker Herm Schaefer, center George Mikan, who became the most dominant player in the NBL.
In their first season, they led the league with a 43–17 record winning the NBL Championship that season. In 1948, the Lakers moved from the NBL to the Basketball Association of America, Mikan's 28.3 point per game scoring average set a BAA record. In the 1949 BAA Finals they won the championship; the following season, the team improved to 51–17, repeating as champions. In the 1950–51 season, Mikan won his third straight scoring title at 28.4 ppg and the Lakers went 44–24 to win their second straight division title. One of those games, a 19–18 loss against the Fort Wayne Pistons, became infamous as the lowest scoring game in NBA history. In the playoffs, they defeated the Indianapolis Olympians in three games but lost to the Rochester Royals in the next round. During the 1951 -- 52 season, the Lakers won 40 games, they faced the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals. In the 1952–53 season, Mikan led the NBA in rebounding, averaging 14.4 rebounds per game, was named MVP of the 1953 NBA All-Star Game.
After a 48–22 regular season, the Lakers defeated the Fort Wayne Pistons in the Western playoffs to advance to the NBA Finals. They defeated the New York Knicks to win their second straight championship. Though Lakers star George Mikan suffered from knee problems throughout the 1953–54 season, he was still able to average 18 ppg. Clyde Lovellette, drafted in 1952, helped the team win the Western Division; the team won its third straight championship in the 1950s and fifth in six seasons when it defeated the Syracuse Nationals in seven games. Following Mikan's retirement in the 1954 off-season, the Lakers struggled but still managed to win 40 games. Although they defeated the Rochester Royals in the first round of the playoffs, they were defeated by the Fort Wayne Pistons in the semifinals. Although they had losing records the next two seasons, they made the playoffs each year. Mikan came back for the last half of the 1955–56 season, but struggled and retired for good after the season. Led by Lovellette's 20.6 points and 13.5 rebounds, they advanced to the Conference Finals in 1956–57.
The Lakers had one of the worst seasons in team history in 1957–58 when they won a league-low 19 games. They had hired Mikan, the team's general manager for the previous two seasons, as head coach to replace Kundla. Mikan was fired in January when
