The Windy City Bulls are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and are affiliated with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls play their home games at Now Arena, 25 miles (40 km) from Chicago. It became the thirteenth D-League team to be owned by an NBA team.[3]
| Windy City Bulls | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Conference | Eastern |
| League | NBA G League |
| Founded | 2016 |
| History | Windy City Bulls 2016–present |
| Arena | Now Arena |
| Location | Hoffman Estates, Illinois |
| Team colors | Red, black, silver[1][2] |
| President | Brad Seymour |
| Team manager | Chigozie Umeadi |
| Head coach | William Donovan III |
| Ownership | Chicago Bulls |
| Affiliation(s) | Chicago Bulls |
| Website | Official website |
History
editIn October 2015, the Chicago Bulls began pursuing an expansion franchise in nearby Hoffman Estates to play in the Sears Centre Arena[4] in time for the 2016–17 season.[5] On November 9, 2015, the Hoffman Estates board unanimously approved the Bulls' proposed NBA Development League (D-League) team.
The team received its name through a contest on the Chicago Bulls' website. Fans submitted about 3,600 suggestions, which were narrowed down to three finalists: Great Lakes Bulls, Heartland Bulls and Windy City Bulls.[6] Windy City was announced as the winner in a pep rally/press conference on February 24, 2016.[1][7]
The D-League rebranded as the NBA G League, after a league-wide sponsorship by Gatorade, in 2017. Their home arena was renamed Now Arena in 2020.
Season-by-season
edit| Season | Division | Regular season | Postseason results | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Wins | Losses | Pct. | ||||||
| Windy City Bulls | |||||||||
| 2016–17 | Central | 5th | 23 | 27 | .460 | ||||
| 2017–18 | Central | 3rd | 24 | 26 | .480 | ||||
| 2018–19 | Central | 2nd | 27 | 23 | .540 | Lost First Round (Westchester) 82–95 | |||
| 2019–20 | Central | 5th | 17 | 26 | .395 | Season cancelled by COVID-19 pandemic | |||
| 2020–21 | Opted out of single-site season | ||||||||
| 2021–22 | Eastern | 11th | 15 | 19 | .441 | ||||
| 2022–23 | Eastern | 7th | 18 | 14 | .563 | ||||
| Regular season record | 124 | 135 | .479 | ||||||
| Playoff record | 0 | 1 | .000 | ||||||
Current roster
edit| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Roster |
Head coaches
edit| # | Head coach | Term | Regular season | Playoffs | Achievements | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | L | Win% | G | W | L | Win% | ||||
| 1 | Nate Loenser | 2016–2017 | 50 | 23 | 27 | .460 | — | — | — | — | |
| 2 | Charlie Henry | 2017–2019 | 100 | 51 | 49 | .510 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | |
| 3 | Damian Cotter | 2019–2020 | 43 | 17 | 26 | .395 | — | — | — | — | |
| 4 | Henry Domercant | 2021–2024 | 66 | 33 | 33 | .500 | — | — | — | — | |
NBA affiliates
edit- Chicago Bulls (2016–present)
References
edit- ^ a b Moreno, Matt (February 24, 2016). "Windy City Bulls revealed as name of new Chicago Bulls NBA D-League team". WindyCity.GLeague.NBA.com. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
- ^ "Windy City Bulls Reproduction Guideline Sheet". NBA Properties, Inc. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
- ^ "Chicago Bulls Purchase NBA Development League Team". GLeague.NBA.com. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. November 11, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
- ^ Peterson, Eric (November 4, 2015). "Chicago Bulls say they'd promote Sears Centre big time with D-team". Daily Herald. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
- ^ Peterson, Eric (October 31, 2015). "Chicago Bulls development team may play at Sears Centre next year". Daily Herald. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
- ^ Peterson, Eric (December 17, 2015). "'Heartland Bulls' among finalists for D-League team name". Daily Herald. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
- ^ Johnson, K.C. (February 24, 2016). "Windy City Bulls revealed as Development League team name". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
