Team: Milwaukee Bucks
Sport: NBA Basketball
Background: The Milwaukee Bucks are
a National Basketball Association team based in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. The current franchise owner is U.S. Senator
Herb Kohl.
Founded: 1968
Home Arena: Bradley Center
Uniform colors: Purple green and
silver
Logo design: The head and shoulders
of an eight-point white-tail buck on a triangular
background atop stylized "Milwaukee Bucks"
lettering
NBA Championships: 1972
Current Coach: Terry Porter
Franchise history:
Milwaukee opened its initial season on October
16, 1968, with an 89-84 loss to the Chicago Bulls
before 8,467 fans in the Milwaukee Arena. The starting
lineup featured Wayne Embry at center, Fred Hetzel
and Len Chappell at forward, and Jon McGlocklin and
Guy Rodgers in the backcourt. Larry Costello was the
head coach. The team's first win came in its sixth
game of the season, a 134-118 victory over the Detroit
Pistons.
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The 1968-69 Bucks completed the season at 27-55
and last in the Eastern Division, a fortuitous finish
as it turned out. Under league rules at the time,
a coin toss was held between the two divisions' last-place
finishers for the first pick in the college draft.
The expansion Phoenix Suns, last in the Western Division
with a 16-66 record, were matched with Milwaukee in
a telephone-conference coin toss conducted by then
NBA Commissioner J. Walter Kennedy. Suns owner Dick
Bloch guessed heads, and the 1964 Kennedy half-dollar
came down tails.
The selection was obvious: Lew Alcindor, who had led
the UCLA Bruins to three NCAA Championships in three
years. Alcindor would go on to play 20 seasons in
the NBA and become the greatest scorer in league history
with 38,387 career points. The Suns took 6-10 University
of Florida center Neal Walk, who would average 12.6
points in eight seasons with Phoenix, New Orleans,
and New York.
Basketball Hall of Famers:
• Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar
• Dave
Cowens
|
• Wayne
Embry
• Alex
English |
• Bob
Lanier
• Oscar
Robertson |
Retired numbers:
• 1
Oscar Robertson
• 2
Junior Bridgeman
• 4
Sidney Moncrief
|
14 Jon McGlocklin
16 Bob Lanier |
32 Brian Winters
33 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar |
Current Stars:
• Dan
Gadzuric
• Toni
Kukoc
• Desmond
Mason |
• Michael
Redd
• Keith
Van Horn |
• TJ
Ford
• Joe
Smith
|
Basketball Hall of Famers:
Wayne Embry (Former general manager; inducted as a
contributor. When he became GM of the Bucks in 1971,
he was the first African-American to serve in that
position in the NBA. He would later go on to be the
NBA's first African-American team president with the
Cleveland Cavaliers.)
K. C. Jones (Former assistant; inducted for his playing
career with the Boston Celtics.)
External links:
Milwaukee Bucks official web site (http://www.nba.com/bucks/)
Official Milwaukee Bucks Summer Pro League practice
web site (http://www.summerproleague.com/)
