Basketball rosters are usually comprised of fifteen players. Usually twelve of the players are active while the remaining three are on injured reserve. A basketball team is comprised of five different positions listed below.

• Center
• Power Forward
• Small Forward
• Shooting Guard
• Point Guard

The center is usually the tallest player on the team and this is the player the that scores a majority of his points in the painted area. The player in the Power Forward Position is similar to the Center with respect that he is scores a majority of his points in the painted area also. However the Power Forward position is a little more versatile as most players in this position can score points in the painted area but are also proficient jump shooters anywhere from twelve to fifteen feet away from the basket. The Small Forward is often referred to as the swingman position. The player in this position often shares a responsibility of various duties. This includes crashing the defensive rebound and often facilitating the team’s fast break and scoring from different positions on the floor. The shooting guard will more than likely score a majority of the team’s points as the player in this spot often leads the teams and shot attempts as well as points per game. Last but certainly not least, the point guard is the quarterback of the offense. This player usually sets up of the offense and tries to find players in favorable spots on the floor where they are most likely to score a basket. The point guard for this reason, often leads the team in assists.

The Chicago Bulls’ Roster was last updated April 1st 2010.

“Centers”

• Brad Miller
• Rob Kurz

“Forwards”

• Joakim Noah
• Taj Gibson
• Hakim Warrick
• Chris Richard
• Luol Deng
• Joe Alexander

“Guards”

• Derrick Rose
• Kirk Hinrich
• Acie Law
• Devin Brown
• Ronald Murray
• James Johnson
• Jannero Pargo

The Chicago Bulls were a gritty team during the 1960’s and 1970’s that featured players such as Bob “Butterbean” Love, Jerry Sloan, Norm Van Lier and Artis Gilmore. However, for all their grit and hard-nosed defense, the Bulls never achieved championship success. With the third pick in the 1984 draft, the fortune for the franchise would change forever. That pick was a shooting guard from North Carolina, Michael Jordan.

Michael Jordan would help turn the team around and he gave the fans a lot to cheer for each game. Despite Jordan’s individual ability, it was evident that Jordan would not be able to elevate the Bulls to championship stature on his own, and he would need help. In the 1987-1988 season, the Bulls acquired forwards Scottie Pippen via a trade with the Seattle Supersonics and Horace Grant from Clemson. These acquisitions along with John Paxson and Bill Cartwright, the Bulls’ starting five was now set. However, the team would not enjoy immediate success as they would be eliminated from the playoffs three consecutive years by the Detroit Pistons (1988-1990). Finally in the 1990-1991 season, the Bulls would finally come into their own and would sweep the their arch rival Pistons in the Conference Finals and would defeat Magic Johnson’s Lakers in five games to give the franchise it’s first ever championship. The Bulls would also capture the title the next two seasons, becoming the first team to win three straight titles since the Minneapolis Lakers accomplished the feat during the fifties.

Michael Jordan would walk away from basketball prior to the 1993-1994 season and the Bulls hopes of a fourth championship were dashed as they would fall to the Knicks in the Conference Semifinals 4-3. Michael Jordan would eventually return to the Bulls in March of 1995 and he would help the team win 13 of their 17 remaining games to finish with the fifth best record in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls would defeat the Charlotte Hornets in four games but would fall to the upstart Orlando Magic in six games. This would mark the first time that a Jordan-led Bulls team would lose a playoff series in five years. The Bulls would waste little time returning to the top of the leagues as they would finish the 1995-1996 with a record of 72-10 and became the first NBA team to ever to record 70 victories in a season. The Bulls would win the franchise’s fourth championship with a 15-3 record in the playoffs and the Bulls would again go on to win titles the following two seasons as well for the team’s second three-peat.

The Bulls best roster was during their second string of three-peat championships. With Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman leading the way, the Bulls would record an astounding 203 regular season wins during that span. While Horace Grant provided more inside scoring than Rodman, the Bulls were one of the best defensive teams in the league and every player on the bench could hurt the opposing team from the outside at any given moment. The Bulls have only won one playoff series since the last championship season of 1998 and that came in 2007 when they surprisingly swept away the Miami Heat who had captured the title the previous year. The team came close to winning their second playoff series last year against the short-handed Celtics but would fall 4-3 in one of the most exciting first round series in recent memory. The future looks bright with second-year point guard Derrick Rose leading the way. However, as the Bulls did with Jordan, the team will need to surround Rose with the right pieces if they hope to someday return to championship glory.