Lucien James "Luc" Longley (born 19 January 1969) is a retired Australian professional basketball player, who was the first Australian to play in the NBA, where he played for eleven seasons. Known for his passing ability and free spirit, Longley drew comparisons to fellow redhead Bill Walton upon his entry into the NBA.

Luc Longley was born 19 January 1969 in Melbourne, Victoria. At age sixteen Luc was a member of the Australian Under-19 side and the following year, 1986, he joined the Perth Wildcats, with whom he played two games. Longley was recruited out of Scotch College, Perth by the University of New Mexico's basketball coach, Gary Colson, who went to Perth to recruit Andrew Vlahov, who attended Stanford University. He attended college at the University of New Mexico, between 1987–1991, where he averaged 19.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists in his senior year. At nineteen he was a member of the national team for the Seoul Olympics, where they came fourth, the best result an Australian senior men's basketball team has achieved in Olympic competition.

Philip Douglas "Phil" Jackson (born September 17, 1945) is a retired American professional basketball coach and former player. Jackson is widely considered one of the greatest coaches in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His reputation was established as head coach of the Chicago Bulls from 1989 through 1998; during his tenure, Chicago won six NBA titles. His next team, the Los Angeles Lakers, won five NBA titles from 2000 to 2010. In total, Jackson has won 11 NBA titles as a coach, surpassing the previous record of nine set by Red Auerbach. He holds the record for the most championships in NBA history as a player and a head coach, after breaking the tie with Bill Russell when the Los Angeles Lakers won the 2009 NBA Finals. He also has the highest winning percentage of any NBA coach (.704). Jackson was a player on the 1970 and 1973 NBA champion New York Knicks.

Jackson is known for his use of Tex Winter's triangle offense as well as a holistic approach to coaching that is influenced by Eastern philosophy, earning him the nickname "Zen Master". Jackson cites Robert Pirsig's book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance as one of the major guiding forces in his life. He also applies Native American spiritual practices as documented in his book Sacred Hoops. He is the author of several candid books about his teams and his basketball strategies. Jackson is also a recipient of the state of North Dakota's Roughrider Award. In 2007 Jackson was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Gregory Donovan Ostertag (born March 6, 1973) is an American former basketball player. He spent most of his professional career with the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association.

Ostertag starred at Duncanville High School in Duncanville, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. He averaged 22.5 points and 13 rebounds per game during his senior season, and capped the year by leading the Panthers to the 1991 state championship, the first-ever for the school's boys basketball team.

After his successful high school career, Ostertag joined the basketball team at the University of Kansas. Standing 7-foot-2 and weighing 280 pounds, Ostertag provided a strong presence in the paint, helping the Jayhawks reach the NCAA Final Four in 1993. Statistically, his best season was his junior year (1993–94), when he averaged 10.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Most impressive, he set a school record by blocking 97 shots that year. He graduated in 1995 with career totals of 968 points and 770 rebounds, along with 258 blocked shots – the highest total in the history of Kansas and the Big 8 Conference.

Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is a retired American Hall of Fame professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, he was nicknamed "Dennis the Menace" and "The Worm" and was known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities. Playing small forward in his early years before becoming a power forward, Rodman earned NBA All-Defensive First Team honors seven times and was voted NBA Defensive Player of the Year twice. He also led the NBA in rebounds per game for a record seven consecutive years and won five NBA championships (1989, 1990, 1996, 1997, 1998). His biography at NBA.com states that he is "arguably the best rebounding forward in NBA history". On April 1, 2011, the Pistons retired Rodman's #10 jersey. Later that same year, Rodman was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Rodman experienced an unhappy childhood and was shy and introverted in his early years. After aborting a suicide attempt in 1993, he reinvented himself as a "bad boy" and became notorious for numerous controversial antics. He dyed his hair in artificial colors, presented himself with many piercings and tattoos and regularly disrupted games by clashing with opposing players and officials. He famously wore a wedding dress to promote his autobiography. Rodman pursued a high-profile affair with singer Madonna and was briefly married to actress Carmen Electra.