Bob Love: 1942-2024

*Photo credit: Walter Iooss Jr.

Former Chicago Bulls legend Bob Love passed away Monday after a long bout with cancer, the Bulls said in a post on X. Love was 81.

Nicknamed “Butterbean”, the 6 foot 8 inch forward was a three-time all-star with the Bulls from 1971-1973, and garnered Second Team All-NBA honors in ‘71 and ‘72. He was also Second Team All-Defense from ‘72-‘74.

Selected in the fourth round of the 1965 NBA Draft, Love started his professional career with the Trenton Colonials of the Eastern League before suiting up for the Cincinnati Royals - the team that drafted him - from ‘66-‘68. After being selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in 1968’s expansion draft, he was traded to Chicago, where he flourished, carving out a career worthy of Hall of Fame consideration.

Before the Michael Jordan years and the seasons of futility that preceded MJ’s arrival in Chicago, the Bulls enjoyed successful seasons with Love, Jerry Sloan, Chet Walker, and Norm Van Lier under head coach Dick Motta.

From the ‘70-‘71 season through to ‘73-‘74, the Bulls won 51, 57, 51, and 54 games, losing in the Western Conference Semifinals the first three years of that stretch and the Conference Finals in ‘73-‘74. After a 1975 Western Conference Final loss to the San Francisco Warriors (47 wins in the regular season), the Bulls went 24-58 in ‘75-‘76, which was Love’s final season in Chicago.

Love averaged 21.3 points and 6.8 rebounds in 592 career games as a Bull. From ‘69 through ‘75, he averaged at least 21 points and 6 rebounds each season. He followed up a 25.2 point and 8.5 rebound campaign in ‘70-‘71 with a 25.8 point, 6.6 rebound campaign in ‘71-‘72.

Love eclipsed 30 points thirteen times over his 47-game postseason career. His best playoff performance was a 38 point, 13 rebound and 6 assist output on 16-for-25 shooting against the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 4 of the 1973 Western Conference Semifinals, a game that the Bulls won 98-94.

Dealing with a back issue in 1976, Love spent the ‘76-‘77 season with the Bulls (14 games), New York Nets (13 games) and Seattle SuperSonics (32 games) before retiring at age 34. He finished his career with averages of 17.6 points and 5.9 rebounds.

For a franchise that most people only associate with one name, Bob Love was a Bulls’ star, a rock in the Windy City in an era before the franchise’s championship years, when the league housed great forwards and centers from Bob McAdoo to Elvin Hayes to Dave Cowens and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Walt Bellamy, and Wes Unseld, and included the twilight seasons of Wilt Chamberlain.

A native of Bastrop, LA and an alum of Southern University and A&M College, Love was the 12th NBA player ever selected from an HBCU. He was the first of five Jaguars to be drafted to the NBA, preceding Jasper Wilson, Frankie Sanders, and the late Tommy Green and the late Bobby Phills. Avery Johnson attended Southern but was a free-agent signing in 1988.

Love’s No. 10 was the second number in Bulls’ history to be retired, following Sloan’s No. 4.

RIP, Bob Love.