AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
2004 chicago bulls roster8/8/2023 ![]() ![]() Johnson ( Chicago Tribune Bulls beat reporter, 1996-97, 2000-05, 2006-19): After the dynasty broke up, the Bulls had the worst six-season stretch of losing in NBA history. This is the story of the Baby Bulls, as told by the coaches, the players, and others who lived it. And it’s the first-to-worst Warriors and their fans who are now getting a preview of the precipitous fall that will come for Golden State, as it has for every dynasty. But 15 years later, the misbegotten Boylen Bulls now pitifully limp along on two left feet. That young team gave Chicago basketball fans an invaluable, if illusory, gift: a reason to believe that the Bulls would soon dance again. Gordon asserted himself as the most clutch Bulls scorer since Michael Jordan, earning the nicknames Ben Jordan and Heir Gordon in addition to the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award, the only rookie ever to receive the honor. Along the way, the Bulls clawed back from an 0-9 start that tied the franchise-record worst, weathered clashes between Skiles and center Tyson Chandler, and pulled together after the late-season loss of scoring leader Eddy Curry, who was sidelined with a career-altering heart arrhythmia. The story of that Cinderella season, during which the team ground out 47 wins to secure a first post-dynasty playoff berth, is a tale of redemption, the stuff of sports movie mythos: Through hard work and defensive grit, a no-nonsense coach (Scott Skiles) shepherded his dark-horse squad of precocious rookies (Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Chris Duhon, Andrés Nocioni) and grizzled veterans (Antonio Davis, Adrian Griffin) back into contention, effectively exorcising the stubborn ghosts of recent futility. Superstar free agents thumbing their noses at a once-proud franchise that had become the league laughingstock.īut just as fans were giving up hope along with their season-ticket packages, there came a glimmer of promise: the so-called Baby Bulls of 2004-05. Suffering a 53-point beatdown in November 2001. Winning a franchise-worst 15 games in 2000-01. Scoring 49 points in an April 1999 game, a record low in the shot-clock era. Along with all the losing came innumerable indignities. The team would go on to compile the second-worst six-season record in NBA history: just 119 wins and a dismal 341 losses (including the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season). Holdovers like Ron Harper and Toni Kukoc marveled at the swiftness with which the Unstop-a-Bulls had become the Replace-a-Bulls-guys with names like Rusty LaRue and Kornél Dávid, the league’s first Hungarian player.įollowing the last dance, the Bulls organization suddenly found itself learning to walk again. ![]() Steve Kerr was sent to San Antonio, Luc Longley to Phoenix. Pippen went to Houston in a sign-and-trade. ![]() In the 10 days that followed, Bulls general manager Jerry Krause (widely blamed for the breakup) went about dismantling the dynasty and selling it for parts. On January 13, 1999, in the midst of the bitterly waged lockout, Jordan retired from the NBA for a second time. Jackson rode off into the sunset on a motorcycle to begin a yearlong sabbatical. “No matter what happens, my heart, soul, and love will still be in the city of Chicago.”Ĭhants of “One more year!” rose from the tearful crowd. “Nobody knows if we’re going to be in Grant Park next year,” Michael Jordan said, with a bit more ambiguity. “It’s been a great run,” Scottie Pippen added. “This was our last dance, and it was a wonderful waltz,” Bulls head coach Phil Jackson said from the park’s band shell stage. With hundreds of thousands of fans assembled in Chicago’s Grant Park on June 16, 1998, to celebrate the third title of a second three-peat, the end of that decade’s great NBA dynasty could no longer be denied. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |