1995–96 NBA season explained

1995–96 NBA season
League:	National Basketball Association
Sport:	Basketball
No Of Teams:	29
Tv:	NBC, TBS, TNT
Draft:	Draft
Draft Link:	1995 NBA draft
Top Pick Link:	List of first overall NBA draft picks
Top Pick:	Joe Smith
Picked By:	Golden State Warriors
Season:	Regular season
Top Seed:	Chicago Bulls
Mvp:	Michael Jordan (Chicago)
Mvp Link:	NBA MVP
Top Scorer:	Michael Jordan (Chicago)
Playoffs:	Playoffs
Playoffs Link:	1996 NBA playoffs
Conf1:	Eastern
Conf1 Link:	Eastern Conference (NBA)
Conf1 Champ:	Chicago Bulls
Conf1 Runner-Up:	Orlando Magic
Conf2:	Western
Conf2 Link:	Western Conference (NBA)
Conf2 Champ:	Seattle SuperSonics
Conf2 Runner-Up:	Utah Jazz
Finals:	Finals
Finals Link:	1996 NBA Finals
Finals Champ:	Chicago Bulls
Finals Runner-Up:	Seattle SuperSonics
Finals Mvp:	Michael Jordan (Chicago)
Finals Mvp Link:	Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award
Seasonslist:	List of NBA seasons
Seasonslistnames:	NBA
Prevseason Link:	1994–95 NBA season
Prevseason Year:	1994–95
Nextseason Link:	1996–97 NBA season
Nextseason Year:	1996–97

The 1995–96 NBA season was the 50th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA), though the 50th anniversary was not celebrated until the following season. The Chicago Bulls defeated the Seattle SuperSonics 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals to win their fourth championship.

1995 NBA lockout

The 1995 NBA lockout was the first lockout of four in the history of the NBA. When the previous collective bargaining agreement expired after the 1993–94 season, a no-strike, no-lockout agreement was made in October 1994, with a moratorium on signing or restructuring player contracts. That moratorium expired on June 15, 1995, one day after the NBA Finals concluded. The expansion draft (which was held on June 24) and the NBA draft (which was held on June 28) were allowed to take place, but all other league business, including trades, free-agent signings, contract extensions, and summer leagues were suspended^[1] from July 1 until September 12; no games were lost due to the lockout, as a new collective bargaining agreement was reached well before the start of the 1995–96 season.^{[2] [3] [4] [5]} Among the key issues in the labor dispute were the salary cap, free agency, a rookie salary cap, and revenue sharing.

Notable occurrences

Offseason

Team	1994–95 coach	1995–96 coach
Boston Celtics	Chris Ford	M.L. Carr
Detroit Pistons	Don Chaney	Doug Collins
Golden State Warriors	Bob Lanier	Rick Adelman
Miami Heat	Alvin Gentry	Pat Riley
New York Knicks	Pat Riley	Don Nelson
Toronto Raptors	Expansion	Brendan Malone
Vancouver Grizzlies	Expansion	Brian Winters
In-season
Team	Outgoing coach	Incoming coach
Minnesota Timberwolves	Bill Blair	Flip Saunders
New York Knicks	Don Nelson	Jeff Van Gundy
Phoenix Suns	Paul Westphal	Cotton Fitzsimmons

• The NBA established its first Canadian teams since the 1946–47 Toronto Huskies, as the Toronto Raptors and the Vancouver Grizzlies made their debuts as the NBA's 28th and 29th franchises.^[6] The Grizzlies began play at GM Place (now Rogers Arena) as a member of the Midwest Division while the Raptors set up shop at the SkyDome (now Rogers Centre), with some games also played at Maple Leaf Gardens, as a member of the Central Division. Each franchise won its first game, although Toronto would win only 21 games in the season, and Vancouver 15 games.
• The Chicago Bulls finished the season with a combined regular season and postseason record of 87–13, the best in NBA history.^[7] Chicago's 72 wins remained an NBA record until, when the Golden State Warriors, who were coached by ex-Bulls guard Steve Kerr, posted a 73–9 record, despite winning a combined 88 regular season and postseason games, they failed to win the championship. Prior to the start of the NBA Playoffs, the Bulls shocked the basketball world by wearing black socks, claiming this as redemption to the city's most infamous sports moment, the Black Sox Scandal of 1919.^[8] The socks would become a Bulls playoff tradition, which other teams soon follow. However, this was not the first time a team or a particular player wore black socks; earlier in the season, Orlando Magic forward Dennis Scott wore black socks while competing in the AT&T Three-Point Shootout at NBA All-Star Weekend.
• The Miami Heat hired Pat Riley as the team's new head coach and president of basketball operations. The hire caused controversy as the New York Knicks claimed that the Heat were guilty of tampering. After an investigation by the NBA, the Heat were found guilty and were forced to give the Knicks $1 million and a first round draft pick.^[9] Riley's first moves were the acquisition of Alonzo Mourning from the Charlotte Hornets for Glen Rice, and the trade for Tim Hardaway from the Golden State Warriors for Kevin Willis. Hardaway and Mourning would turn the struggling Heat into contenders in the coming seasons.
• NBA debuts for four future All-Stars Kevin Garnett, Michael Finley, Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse. Toronto Raptors point guard Damon Stoudamire won Rookie of the Year.
• Michael Jordan became the only player to win the NBA Finals MVP Award at least four times. He would also become the second player to earn the MVP triple crown since Willis Reed in 1970, having won All-Star, Regular Season and Finals MVP in the same season; an achievement he also accomplished in 1998, and later on by Shaquille O'Neal in 2000.
• Michael Jordan won his NBA record 8th scoring title.
• The Boston Celtics played their first season at the FleetCenter (now TD Garden).
• The 1996 NBA All-Star Game was played at the Alamodome in San Antonio, with the East defeating the West 129–118. Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls was named the game's MVP. Los Angeles Clippers guard Brent Barry won the Slam Dunk Contest.
• Referees were locked out to begin the season, but reached an agreement to return to work in December 1995.^[10]
• Following the referee lockout, legendary official Jake O'Donnell retired after 27 seasons (1968–95). O'Donnell, who also was an American League umpire from 1968 to 1971, worked the NBA Finals for 23 consecutive years (1972 through 1994). He remains the only official to work all-star games in two major professional sports.^[11]
• Magic Johnson comes out of retirement to play in 32 games for Los Angeles before retiring again at the end of the season.^[12]
• The Philadelphia 76ers play their final season at The Spectrum. At the time, it was named the CoreStates Spectrum; the CoreStates name was later added on their future home arena under construction at the time. The 76ers would return to the renamed Wachovia Spectrum for a farewell game in the 2008–09 season before its eventual demolition.
• Hakeem Olajuwon passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time leader in blocked shots in the last game of the season. John Stockton also became the all-time steals and assists leader, passing Maurice Cheeks and Magic Johnson, respectively. Robert Parish also passed Abdul-Jabbar for the most games played in the NBA.
• Portland Trail Blazers' longest sellout streak by any team in professional sports ends at 814, during which the team played its first season at higher-capacity Rose Garden, now the Moda Center.
• The Sacramento Kings made their first playoff appearance since 1986.

1995–96 NBA changes

• The Atlanta Hawks changed their logo and uniforms, which featured the Hawks' logo on the front of the jerseys. The road jerseys were both red and black.
• The Boston Celtics moved into the FleetCenter.
• The Chicago Bulls got new black alternate uniforms with pinstripes.
• The Houston Rockets changed their logo and uniforms, adding pinstripes to their jerseys and navy to their color scheme.
• The Miami Heat added new red alternate uniforms.
• The Milwaukee Bucks added new green alternate uniforms.
• The New York Knicks added the "New York" script to their logo, and got new blue alternate uniforms, with black side panels on their jerseys.
• The Portland Trail Blazers moved into the Rose Garden.
• The Seattle SuperSonics changed their logo and uniforms, replacing their primary green and yellow colors with dark green and red with side panels on their jerseys.
• The expansion Toronto Raptors got a new logo and new pinstripe uniforms, adding purple and red to their color scheme.
• The expansion Vancouver Grizzlies got a new logo and new uniforms, adding teal and brown to their color scheme.

Teams

1995-96 National Basketball Association
Division	Team	City	Arena	Capacity
Atlantic	Boston Celtics	Boston, Massachusetts	FleetCenter	19,156
	Miami Heat	Miami, Florida	Miami Arena	15,200
	New Jersey Nets	East Rutherford, New Jersey	Brendan Byrne Arena	20,049
	New York Knicks	New York, New York	Madison Square Garden	19,812
	Orlando Magic	Orlando, Florida	Orlando Arena	17,283
	Philadelphia 76ers	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	CoreStates Spectrum	18,176
	Washington Bullets	Landover, Maryland	US Airways Arena	18,756
Central	Atlanta Hawks	Atlanta, Georgia	Omni Coliseum	16,378
	Charlotte Hornets	Charlotte, North Carolina	Charlotte Coliseum	24,042
	Chicago Bulls	Chicago, Illinois	United Center	21,711
	Cleveland Cavaliers	Cleveland, Ohio	Gund Arena	19,432
	Detroit Pistons	Auburn Hills, Michigan	The Palace of Auburn Hills	22,076
	Indiana Pacers	Indianapolis, Indiana	Market Square Arena	17,171
	Milwaukee Bucks	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Bradley Center	18,717
	Toronto Raptors *	Toronto, Ontario	SkyDome	28,708
Midwest	Dallas Mavericks	Dallas, Texas	Reunion Arena	18,293
	Denver Nuggets	Denver, Colorado	McNichols Sports Arena	17,171
	Houston Rockets	Houston, Texas	The Summit	16,285
	Minnesota Timberwolves	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Target Center	18,798
	San Antonio Spurs	San Antonio, Texas	Alamodome	20,557
	Utah Jazz	Salt Lake City, Utah	Delta Center	18,306
	Vancouver Grizzlies *	Vancouver, British Columbia	General Motors Place	19,193
Pacific	Golden State Warriors	Oakland, California	Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena	15,025
	Los Angeles Clippers	Los Angeles, California	Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena	16,161
	Los Angeles Lakers	Inglewood, California	Great Western Forum	17,505
	Phoenix Suns	Phoenix, Arizona	America West Arena	19,023
	Portland Trail Blazers	Portland, Oregon	Rose Garden	21,401
	Sacramento Kings	Sacramento, California	ARCO Arena	17,317
	Seattle SuperSonics	Seattle, Washington	Key Arena	17,072

Expansion team *

Map of teams

Standings

By conference

Notes

• z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs
• c – Clinched home court advantage for the conference playoffs
• y – Clinched division title
• x – Clinched playoff spot

Playoffs

See main article: 1996 NBA playoffs. Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Home court advantage does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead the team with the better regular season record; teams enjoying the home advantage are shown in italics.

Statistics leaders

Category	Player	Team	Stat
Points per game			30.4
Rebounds per game			14.9
Assists per game			11.2
Steals per game			2.85
Blocks per game			4.49
FG%			.584
FT%			.930
3FG%			.522

NBA awards

Yearly awards

• NBA Most Valuable Player: Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
• NBA Rookie of the Year: Damon Stoudamire, Toronto Raptors
• NBA Defensive Player of the Year: Gary Payton, Seattle SuperSonics
• Sixth Man of the Year: Toni Kukoč, Chicago Bulls
• NBA Most Improved Player: Gheorghe Mureșan, Washington Bullets
• NBA Coach of the Year: Phil Jackson, Chicago Bulls

• All-NBA First Team

• • F – Karl Malone, Utah Jazz
  • F – Scottie Pippen, Chicago Bulls
  • C – David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs
  • G – Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
  • G – Penny Hardaway, Orlando Magic

• All-NBA Second Team:
  • F – Shawn Kemp, Seattle SuperSonics
  • F – Grant Hill, Detroit Pistons
  • C – Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets
  • G – Gary Payton, Seattle SuperSonics
  • G – John Stockton, Utah Jazz

• All-NBA Third Team:
  • F – Charles Barkley, Phoenix Suns
  • F – Juwan Howard, Washington Bullets
  • C – Shaquille O'Neal, Orlando Magic
  • G – Mitch Richmond, Sacramento Kings
  • G – Reggie Miller, Indiana Pacers

• NBA All-Defensive First Team:
  • F – Dennis Rodman, Chicago Bulls
  • F – Scottie Pippen, Chicago Bulls
  • C – David Robinson, San Antonio Spurs
  • G – Michael Jordan, Chicago Bulls
  • G – Gary Payton, Seattle SuperSonics

• NBA All-Defensive Second Team:
  • F – Horace Grant, Orlando Magic
  • F – Derrick McKey, Indiana Pacers
  • C – Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston Rockets
  • G – Bobby Phills, Cleveland Cavaliers
  • G – Mookie Blaylock, Atlanta Hawks

• NBA All-Rookie First Team

• • Damon Stoudamire, Toronto Raptors
  • Joe Smith, Golden State Warriors
  • Jerry Stackhouse, Philadelphia 76ers
  • Antonio McDyess, Denver Nuggets
  • Arvydas Sabonis, Portland Trail Blazers
  • Michael Finley, Phoenix Suns

• All-NBA Rookie Second Team:
  • Rasheed Wallace, Washington Bullets
  • Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves
  • Bryant Reeves, Vancouver Grizzlies
  • Brent Barry, Los Angeles Clippers
  • Tyus Edney, Sacramento Kings

Player of the week

The following players were named NBA Player of the Week.

Week	Player
Nov. 3 – Nov. 12	Penny Hardaway (Orlando Magic)
Nov. 13 – Nov. 19	Cedric Ceballos (Los Angeles Lakers)
Nov. 20 – Nov. 26	Shawn Kemp (Seattle SuperSonics)
Nov. 27 – Dec. 3	Terrell Brandon (Cleveland Cavaliers)
Dec. 4 – Dec. 10	Dikembe Mutombo (Denver Nuggets)
Dec. 11 – Dec. 17	Scottie Pippen (Chicago Bulls)
Dec. 18 – Dec. 24	Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls)
Dec. 25 – Dec. 30	Karl Malone (Utah Jazz)
Jan. 2 – Jan. 7	Clifford R. Robinson (Portland Trail Blazers)
Jan. 8 – Jan. 14	David Robinson (San Antonio Spurs)
Jan. 15 – Jan. 21	Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls)
Jan. 22 – Jan. 28	Reggie Miller (Indiana Pacers)
Jan. 29 – Feb. 4	Jason Kidd (Dallas Mavericks)
Feb. 13 – Feb. 18	Armen Gilliam (New Jersey Nets)
Feb. 19 – Feb. 25	Shawn Kemp (Seattle SuperSonics)
Feb. 26 – Mar. 3 (tie)	Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston Rockets)
Feb. 26 – Mar. 3 (tie)	Shaquille O'Neal (Orlando Magic)
Mar. 4 – Mar. 10	Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls)
Mar. 11 – Mar. 17	Grant Hill (Detroit Pistons)
Mar. 18 – Mar. 24	Chris Gatling (Miami Heat)
Mar. 25 – Mar. 31	Arvydas Sabonis (Portland Trail Blazers)
Apr. 1 – Apr. 7	Kevin Johnson (Phoenix Suns)

Player of the month

The following players were named NBA Player of the Month.

Month	Player
November	Penny Hardaway (Orlando Magic)
December	Scottie Pippen (Chicago Bulls)
January	Michael Jordan (Chicago Bulls)
February	Charles Barkley (Phoenix Suns)
March	David Robinson (San Antonio Spurs)
April	Juwan Howard (Washington Bullets)

Rookie of the month

The following players were named NBA Rookie of the Month.

Month	Rookie
November	Damon Stoudamire (Toronto Raptors)
December	Joe Smith (Golden State Warriors)
January	Damon Stoudamire (Toronto Raptors)
February	Joe Smith (Golden State Warriors)
March	Jerry Stackhouse (Philadelphia 76ers)
April	Arvydas Sabonis (Portland Trail Blazers)

Coach of the month

The following coaches were named NBA Coach of the Month.

Month	Coach
November	Garry St. Jean (Sacramento Kings)
December	Mike Fratello (Cleveland Cavaliers)
January	Phil Jackson (Chicago Bulls)
February	George Karl (Seattle SuperSonics)
March	Bob Hill (San Antonio Spurs)
April	Phil Jackson (Chicago Bulls)

See also

• List of NBA regular season records

Notes and References

1. Brown, Clifton. "1995 NBA playoffs; NBA. Talks resume as lockout looms."The New York Times, Houston, 13 June 1995. Retrieved on 2 June 2015.
2. News: Stern Says Labor Deal Could Be Struck Soon. Tom. Friend. June 15, 1995. The New York Times. November 17, 2011.
3. News: NBA Talks Resume as Lockout Looms. Clifton. Brown. June 13, 1995. The New York Times. November 17, 2011.
4. Web site: NBA Lockout Chronology. https://web.archive.org/web/20010508193441/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/news/1999/01/05/lockout_chronology/. dead. May 8, 2001. January 6, 1999. CNN Sports Illustrated. Time Warner Company. November 17, 2011.
5. Web site: 10 Game-Changing Pro Sports Lockouts and Strikes – National Basketball Association (1995). CNBC. CNBC LLC. November 17, 2011. https://www.webcitation.org/69nEp2HXC?url=http://www.cnbc.com/id/41968930/10_Game_Changing_Pro_Sports_Lockouts_and_Strikes?slide=9. 2012-08-09. dead.
6. News: Brown . Clifton . 1995-11-03 . PRO BASKETBALL;Now Playing in the N.B.A., the Raptors and the Grizzlies . 2024-05-26 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
7. Web site: Top Moments: Bulls set NBA record with 72-win season . 2024-05-26 . NBA.com . en.
8. Chicago Bulls' players wearing black socks (origin) - 1996 NBA Playoffs . 2019-06-03 . Jordan era NBA history podcast - In all Airness . 2024-05-26 . YouTube.
9. News: 2024-03-02 . HEAT COMPENSATES KNICKS FOR RIGHT TO PURSUE RILEY . 2024-05-26 . Washington Post . en-US . 0190-8286.
10. Web site: Archives . L. A. Times . 1995-09-30 . NBA Locks Out Refs After Pledge Rejected . 2024-05-26 . Los Angeles Times . en-US.
11. Web site: Powell . Shaun . 1995-12-19 . Jake O'Donnell Is Gone, NBA Era Goes With Him . 2024-05-26 . Los Angeles Times . en-US.
12. News: 2024-01-06 . MAGIC NIXES RETURN TO LAKERS . 2024-05-26 . Washington Post . en-US . 0190-8286.