One of the most fascinating tales in the NBA is the destruction of the Chicago Bulls dynasty. Most dynasties that the NBA has seen usually have a similar downfall. These teams reach the peak of the NBA summit, and things then fall apart.
Whether it is injuries or departures of star players, the story is usually the same. It goes without saying that no dynasty can last forever. Whether it’s the Celtics of the 80s, the Lakers of the 2000s, or the Golden State Warriors of the 2010s, dynasties always come and go, and their collapse is usually tied with the players.
But perhaps the greatest dynasty of all is the only exception to this. The 1995-98 Chicago Bulls ran rampant across the league. Despite boasting some of the oldest teams in NBA history, the Bulls dominated the NBA landscape for three years.
The Bulls team between 1990-93 was completely different from the Bulls of 95-98. Other than Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, the rest of the supporting cast was entirely different.
During Jordan’s run in the 90s, he and the Chicago Bulls only lost one playoff series. That would be the one against the Orlando Magic in 1995, which was the year Jordan returned to the NBA midseason.
And he was still playing himself back into shape at the time. The lack of a defensive presence like they had in Horace Grant hurt the Bulls, and they were eliminated by the Magic.
So in 1995, the Bulls acquired Dennis Rodman to pair with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. While Rodman was no longer the All-Star level player, he was still a beast on the defensive end of the court.
The trio proved to be a successful one, as the Bulls went on to have the greatest regular-season record in NBA history at the time, with 72 wins and 10 losses. The Bulls then went on to beat Gary Payton and the Seattle Supersonics in the NBA Finals, capping off one of the greatest NBA seasons in history.
Despite earlier having a reputation of not trusting his teammates, Jordan in the 90s proved that he could also be an effective playmaker. For a stretch of 11 games, Jordan played as a point guard and averaged a triple-double across that period. MJ’s trust in his teammates allowed the Bulls to become a supremely successful team.
The 1996-97 season proved to be the real turning point for the Bulls. On the court, they were as dominant as ever, establishing themselves as the best team in the league. But off the court, a storm was brewing.
Jerry Krause, the Bulls GM who had assembled this dynastic squad, was insistent on going into a rebuild. Many of the Bulls’ superstars were quite old, and he felt they didn’t have much left in the tank despite their success.
So going into the 97-98 season, Krause wanted to go into a rebuild, and fire head coach Phil Jackson. Michael Jordan threatened to go back into retirement if Jackson was let go. On the other hand, Scottie Pippen demanded a trade because the Bulls wouldn’t renew his contract to improve his salary.
Krause ultimately relented and allowed Jackson to stay for one more season, but promised that this would be the final season for him in Chicago. Many fans questioned why Krause would do this, given that the Bulls had shown no signs of slowing down.
The 97-98 season was dubbed the ‘Last Dance’ for Jackson and the Bulls, which ultimately became the focus of a docuseries that aired last year. Jordan had promised that he would not play for another head coach, and would retire if Jackson were fired.
Whereas Krause stuck to his guns, repeatedly stating that Jackson would be let go regardless of the outcome of that season. Pippen eventually returned to the Bulls but was told that he would not be brought back or have his contract renewed for the new season.
Fans of the Bulls held out hope that Krause would change his mind and keep Jackson, Pippen, and by extension Jordan. And even though the Bulls completed their second three-peat of the decade, Krause did no such thing.
Jackson was let go by the Chicago Bulls, and almost their entire roster was cleaned out to enter a rebuild. Jordan stuck to his promise and went back into retirement, refusing to play under another head coach.
The rest of the Bulls stars found new homes across the NBA. And just like that, the NBA’s greatest dynasty was history. Jordan only had 4 Hall Of Fame caliber teammates during his run in Chicago compared to LeBron James’ 12. But MJ was able to lead the Bulls as a dynasty on a run like no other in history.
To this day, very few people understand or agree with Krause’s decision. Magic Johnson is among those who were befuddled by the decision. During an interview last year, Johnson remarked that Krause was responsible for the downfall of the franchise, and the effects of it are still being felt to this day.
"I think that Krause just destroyed a dynasty. I think if they were able to keep the team together … [the Bulls] would have probably won 10, 11, 12 championships."
—@MagicJohnson pic.twitter.com/z4fJvvFdKB
— First Take (@FirstTake) May 4, 2020
“I think that Krause just destroyed a dynasty. I think if they were able to keep the team together, give Scottie Pippen his money, keep Michael happy, because he was very happy with Scottie and Phil Jackson as a coach. And he had great role players around him. They would have probably won 10, 11, 12 championships. They had that type of run in them. But when you start making the superstars unhappy and thinking that management is more important than guys that play on the basketball court, then we got a chance to see that was a huge mistake. Michael Jordan said ‘oh you just treat me like… you can win basketball games without me? I’ll show you that can’t. So he retired that first time and the Bulls didn’t win a championship so he came back and won three straight. And then he was able to just leave the franchise. The franchise has never been the same since. I think Derrick Rose brought a lot of excitement, but he wasn’t able to bring the championships to Chicago that Michael Jordan was able to do. And so, I think that really hurt the franchise even today.”
Since the collapse of the 98 Bulls, the franchise has not made any NBA Finals appearances, nor been a strong contender. The closest they ever got to a solid team was during the days of Derrick Rose, who is the only MVP in franchise history not named Michael Jordan.
As of this writing, the Bulls have assembled a solid team with Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, and Nikola Vucevic. If the Bulls can break their current playoff drought and become a contender once again, there will be cause for excitement in Chicago.
