CHICAGO, June 8 -- For nearly two decades, the voice was as much a fixture as the court itself. Stacey King could be exasperating, thrilling, corny, and magnificent inside the space of a single possession - a man who turned mid-game commentary into performance art for a franchise that badly needed something to celebrate beyond the standings. Sunday morning, the Chicago Bulls announced that King had died at 59. No cause was given.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said King was pronounced dead at his residence in the 500 block of Bonnie Brae in River Forest. An autopsy was scheduled. That is essentially all that is known. What is not in dispute is what his departure means to the city he had been connected to, in one form or anothe...