Chicago Bulls: 15 toughest players in franchise history

Artis Gilmore, also known as the “A-Train”, was a tremendous value pick. Selected in the seventh round, No. 117 overall, Gilmore went on to have an illustrious ABA career with the Kentucky Colonels.

However, after the merger in 1976, Gilmore was selected first by the Bulls where he continued his dominance in the NBA, culminating in a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame induction in 2011.

Gilmore was the proverbial “stat-stuffer,” as he filled up the box score just about every night. For his career, he averaged 18.8 points, 12.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.4 assists per game. At 7-foot-2, he patrolled the middle of the paint for the Bulls from 1976 to 1982 and again briefly in 1987.

Even at his height and weight (240 pounds), he was incredibly athletic and agile, especially for big men during that era. Consequently, it should come as no surprise that he shot an amazing 58 percent from the floor during his career, which is still an NBA record.

But make no mistake about it — athletic and agile is not code for soft. Gilmore was as tough as they come, and fit in perfectly with the culture the Bulls teams of the 1970s cultivated.

He was a beast who was so talented, he single-handedly willed his Jacksonville University team to the 1970 NCAA Championship game against the vaunted UCLA Bruins. His career average for rebounds in college was 22.7 per game — yes, you read that right.

Gilmore was such an intimidating force on both the offensive and defensive end for the Bulls. He was so far ahead of most of his peers physically and athletically that he often simply imposed his will on others, which makes him one of the toughest Bulls in franchise history.