I just missed his career, but I've had a deep disgust with how the organization did flashback nights and just bundle seasons so often(promoting things at the UC on the scoreboard, or tributes) that they will do all these highlights of Norm, Of course RP3P Bulls, Bob Love, and even Rodman nights. But they gloss over a few players so often, it winds up being like 10 seconds of the whole tribute. Chet Walker is the current big snub I hope they are working on. It used to be Bulls era Artis Gilmore, but they just started releasing archives of him, it's been very slow, by comparison of teams like the Lakers, Knicks, and Celtics. And yes, since the Bulls had MJ, made a shit ton of wealth off that era, I feel the organization needs to spend a lot more time with publishing archives. That's not just your history, that stuff is OUR history. They claim videos weren't made, films were lost, but fans kept proving teams wrong and sharing personal archives. ESPECIALLY gamblers, holy shit if you ever wanted to find a quirk *POSITIVE* about the deep, out of control gambling culture in the 60s and 70s.... those MFers wanted proof of more than just box scores in the newspaper, they invested in their own television studios(exxageration, like saying a library is now in a phone, except in by the time we reached the 60s, a small coat closet could become a TV studio). Like people say porn built the internet and made VHS.... gambling is what built the sports archives, NFL Films included.
Sorry, off-tangent. But this is what I think of, when I think of Chet Walker. I think a BIG WTF to the Organization, the Association, all run by lawyers. This is something they need to fix soon. Let's face it, before Michael Jordan, Bulls fans didn't quite catch onto watching professional basketball. So a late commer starts watching in their 30s, 40s, etc because Jordan grabbed them.... they don't get to rewatch those past seasons?
Sad to say this, but the real truth here, is because of the NBA's archive DRM, that Chet Walker didn't get respected by fans, they way he should have been in his lifetime because there is no good way of seeing more than a small piss of footage compared to what's out there, and now it's going to take his death, for the team to dig through and post a few tributes.
Score 0 Bulls - 1 Obsessive Gamblers
Also, what I understand, is that Chet rhyming with Jet makes the nickname, but he actually was one of the first Bulls players that could effectively run fast break offenses on every play. Right after wearing himself on defense, he bolted down and beat his defenders at his position 80% of the time. Which is impressive, since a competitive league, that would be a lot more even. So you can't just walk into the NBA and brag that you're the Jet, people will mock you out of the NBA. That's a nickname that had to be earned.
So ok, two things when I think about Chet. RIP
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