An original Bull, official scorer Rosenberg retires after 57 years
The last of the original Bulls is finally retiring.
Barring some play-in tournament success, Sunday's game was the last for official scorer Bob Rosenberg, who held the job since Game 1 in 1966.
The Bulls paid tribute to the Aurora resident during a first-quarter time out.
"I'm going to enjoy staying at home," Rosenberg said. "I'll miss the guys and all that, but in general, 57 years I think is long enough."
When the Bulls came to life in 1966, Rosenberg already had NBA experience from scoring for the Chicago Packers and Zephyrs from 1961-63. Before that, he said, he honed his craft at Evanston High School games.
He was at the scorer's table for the Bulls' debut on Oct. 18, 1966, at the Ampitheatre. Jerry Sloan scored 26 points and Guy Rodgers added 20 assists to lead the Bulls to a victory over the San Francisco Warriors.
After that, Rosenberg didn't miss a game until late in the 1999-2000 when he was invited to travel to Tokyo to score the Cubs-Mets series in Japan. He's probably better known from his years scoring for both the Cubs and White Sox, when his decisions ("wild pitch") could be heard on the broadcasts, but Rosenberg gave up that role a few years ago.
"Then I missed 31 games when I had the car accident (in 2021), then two games last year, that's it - 35 games," he said.
Back home in Aurora, Rosenberg said he has every score book representing every home game the Bulls have ever played, minus 35.
"I copy from the book I use here to a nice book at home, neatly," he said. "So I've got every one since Day One."
Vuc plays them all:
Nikola Vucevic and Patrick Williams completed milestones Sunday by playing in all 82 games this season. No Bulls player had done that since 2014-15, when Aaron Brooks and Nikola Mirotic both reached 82.
Vucevic talked Saturday about wanting to play in Dallas on Friday, even though Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Patrick Beverley sat out.
"Since I'm so close to doing it, I really wanted to get there, all 82," Vucevic said. "I never did it, I was close a couple times.
"I'm not a big fan of sitting out, usually I would like to play if I can. I just thought it would be fun to play with some of those guys that usually get less minutes and be out there with them, and also it's fun for me to play against Luka (Doncic), he didn't play in the first (Bulls-Mavs) game."
Vucevic credited his wife Nikoleta for letting him sleep in some days and getting their two kids out of the house to keep things quiet.
Going the distance:
Playing in 82 games didn't used to be such a rarity. Michael Jordan did it nine times, including all three years of the second championship run from 1995-98, and his final NBA season with Washington when he turned 40.
Scottie Pippen played 82 games five times. B.J. Armstrong did it six years in a row from 1990-96, the last of those seasons with Golden State.
The best year for Bulls durability was 2010-11, the Tom Thibodeau-coached team that went to the Eastern Conference finals. Luol Deng, Kyle Korver, Keith Bogans, C.J. Watson and Omer Asik all played 82 that season. Derrick Rose and Ronnie Brewer appeared in 81, and Taj Gibson 80.
Across the league, 10 players were on schedule to play in all 82 heading into Sunday's action, while Brooklyn's Mikal Bridges got to 83 since he was traded midseason.
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