‘Soul Power’ shines spotlight on Chicago Bulls' Artis Gilmore and his impact on the ABA, NBA

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the National Basketball Association and the American Basketball Association merger. The two leagues couldn’t 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.

A new four-part docuseries, “Soul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association,” executive produced by Chicago rapper Common and ABA players Julius “Dr. J” Erving and George Karl, is a look back at the league’s history and forward to what the NBA has become: one of the most popular sports in the world. Also narrated by Common, “Soul Power” celebrates the ABA, its players and contributions to the game of basketball, which at the time wasn’t even the number two sport in America. “

“The 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,” Common says in the docuseries.

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.

“The Kentucky Colonels should have made it into the NBA ... but the Chicago Bulls' owner [Arthur Wirtz] had to have Artis Gilmore. He said, ‘That’s my one stipulation. I gotta have Artis.’ And the only way for him to get Artis was to keep Kentucky out of the NBA,” director Kenan Kamwana Holley said at the premiere of “Soul Power” 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 — a superstar by any measure.

Where many consider “Dr. J” as one of the greatest players to play in the ABA/NBA, “The Doctor” himself was quick to point out there was already a superstar worthy of that title. Erving said at the premiere: “When I came in as a rookie, I wasn't the best player in the league. It was the guy who won Rookie of the Year and MVP, Artis Gilmore.” Gilmore was described as being an unstoppable train whenever he attacked the basket, hence the moniker “A-Train.”

Princeton standout and two-time ABA champion Brian Taylor added, “He was like a man amongst boys really, with his size, 7'2 frame and strength. That's back in the game where the low post was the game.” Gilmore was the first pick of the NBA’s ABA supplemental draft for a reason, and his arrival to Chicago in 1976 added an important cornerstone to an already legendary foundation.

Gilmore steps into the spotlight in episodes three and four of “Soul Power” with several highlight reels. In fact, the very first dunk in the ABA Dunk Contest was made by the A-Train himself.

“I think initially I was the one that was the father of the blocked shots. That’s when they started originally bringing [blocks] onto the stat sheet,” Gilmore told the Sun-Times at the premiere.

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 “playground” style of play. “I grew up playing on playgrounds… 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's go!”

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.

Despite never winning an NBA title, the Hall of Famer’s 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’s influence, Erving, a two-time ABA and one-time NBA Champion, continued to praise Gilmore: “I wanted to be as good as Artis or better than him.”

It isn’t until the final episode when viewers learn why the ABA and its soul power resonate so deeply with Common — beyond even his love for the game.

A love that celebrates a style, spirit and soul that lives on. “The NBA may think they defeated the ABA … but to defeat them, they had to become them,” Holley said.

All four episodes of “Soul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association” is currently airing on Prime Video.