{"id":478583,"date":"2026-02-16T13:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T13:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/478583\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T13:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T13:40:09","slug":"soul-power-shines-spotlight-on-chicago-bulls-artis-gilmore-and-his-impact-on-the-aba-nba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/478583\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Soul Power\u2019 shines spotlight on Chicago Bulls’ Artis Gilmore and his impact on the ABA, NBA"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the National Basketball Association and the American Basketball Association merger. The two leagues couldn\u2019t have been more different. The NBA was the established league with TV contracts, top players and a style of play that was considered slow, predictable and highly regulated. And despite much of the ABA not being televised nationally, the league attained legendary status thanks to word of mouth.<\/p>\n

A new four-part docuseries, \u201cSoul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association,\u201d executive produced by Chicago rapper Common and ABA players Julius \u201cDr. J\u201d Erving and George Karl, is a look back at the league\u2019s history and forward to what the NBA has become: one of the most popular sports in the world. Also narrated by Common, \u201cSoul Power\u201d celebrates the ABA, its players and contributions to the game of basketball, which at the time wasn\u2019t even the number two sport in America. \u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ABA greats of the past serve as some of the last living legends in American sports; the roots of what they accomplished still reach out to connect us today,\u201d Common says in the docuseries.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\""Soul<\/p>\n

George Karl (from left), Julius Erving, Artis Gilmore and Brian Taylor attend the \u201cSoul Power: The Legend Of The American Basketball Association\u201d world premiere at Regal Cinemas Union Square on Feb. 10 in New York City. Karl and Erving were executive producers of \u201cSoul Power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet behind the flair and soul, the ABA was struggling financially while the NBA was struggling talent-wise. One of the standout talents of this era was Artis Gilmore, who was drafted by both the Kentucky Colonels of the ABA and the Chicago Bulls of the NBA in 1971. The battle for his services was fierce from the start. The ABA won round one, as the star center from Jacksonville University signed with Kentucky. Round two came five years later during the 1976 merger negotiations, and the Bulls remained insistent that Gilmore was rightfully theirs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Kentucky Colonels should have made it into the NBA … but the Chicago Bulls\u2019 owner [Arthur Wirtz] had to have Artis Gilmore. He said, \u2018That\u2019s my one stipulation. I gotta have Artis.\u2019 And the only way for him to get Artis was to keep Kentucky out of the NBA,\u201d director Kenan Kamwana Holley said at the premiere of \u201cSoul Power\u201d Feb. 10 in New York. Whether Chicago brass prevented Kentucky from coming to the NBA or not, one thing they knew for sure was that Gilmore would provide the centerpiece the Bulls needed. This was the guy who led Kentucky to the 1975 ABA Championship, was Finals MVP and averaged over 20 points and 20 rebounds per game \u2014 a superstar by any measure.<\/p>\n

Where many consider \u201cDr. J\u201d as one of the greatest players to play in the ABA\/NBA, \u201cThe Doctor\u201d himself was quick to point out there was already a superstar worthy of that title. Erving said at the premiere: \u201cWhen I came in as a rookie, I wasn\u2019t the best player in the league. It was the guy who won Rookie of the Year and MVP, Artis Gilmore.\u201d Gilmore was described as being an unstoppable train whenever he attacked the basket, hence the moniker \u201cA-Train.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"03670-13.2802.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Artis Gilmore was described as being an unstoppable train whenever he attacked the basket, hence the moniker \u201cA-Train.\u201d<\/p>\n

Princeton standout and two-time ABA champion Brian Taylor added, \u201cHe was like a man amongst boys really, with his size, 7’2 frame and strength. That\u2019s back in the game where the low post was the game.\u201d Gilmore was the first pick of the NBA\u2019s ABA supplemental draft for a reason, and his arrival to Chicago in 1976 added an important cornerstone to an already legendary foundation.<\/p>\n

Gilmore steps into the spotlight in episodes three and four of \u201cSoul Power\u201d with several highlight reels. In fact, the very first dunk in the ABA Dunk Contest was made by the A-Train himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think initially I was the one that was the father of the blocked shots. That\u2019s when they started originally bringing [blocks] onto the stat sheet,\u201d Gilmore told the Sun-Times at the premiere.<\/p>\n

From blocked shots, three-pointers, run-and-gun play and the dunk contest, the ABA game had a different vibe that Dr. J attributes to a \u201cplayground\u201d style of play. \u201cI grew up playing on playgrounds\u2026 once I got outta college I went over to Harlem, started playing in the Rucker League, there was no conformity now. It was just, they took the chains off, so let\u2019s go!\u201d <\/p>\n

From 1976 to 1982 Gilmore was the bridge between the old-school Bulls and the Michael Jordan era. He returned to the Bulls in 1987 for a brief stint to help out rookies Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant, bringing both his pedigree and a lesson in toughness.<\/p>\n

Despite never winning an NBA title, the Hall of Famer\u2019s impact on the league cannot be measured by stats alone. He led the Bulls to two playoff runs where they lost both times to the eventual champions. In a testament to Gilmore\u2019s influence, Erving, a two-time ABA and one-time NBA Champion, continued to praise Gilmore: \u201cI wanted to be as good as Artis or better than him.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

Artis Gilmore (left) and Mike Mitchell go up for a rebound during a game in this undated file photo.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t until the final episode when viewers learn why the ABA and its soul power resonate so deeply with Common \u2014 beyond even his love for the game.<\/p>\n

A love that celebrates a style, spirit and soul that lives on. \u201cThe NBA may think they defeated the ABA \u2026 but to defeat them, they had to become them,\u201d Holley said. <\/p>\n

All four episodes of \u201cSoul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association\u201d is currently airing on Prime Video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This year marks the 50th anniversary of the National Basketball Association and the American Basketball Association merger. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-478583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}