Why didn’t the Bulls go for 7?

[ZionDunks]

Watching last dance. I still don’t understand why they didn’t just run it back with the guys they had one more time.

Was the situation just too explosive between Krause and the players ? And basically it had run its course?

[Full Court]

It's a big mystery. I don't think anybody knows what was going through everyone's minds.

[Gohan]

Better question, why didnt they stop at 4 or 5?

[Full Court]

Better question, why didnt they stop at 4 or 5?

Well, Jordan could have jumped ship and tried to form a super team after the Bulls failure in 1995, but he doesn't roll like that.

[Hey Yo]

MJ quit in 94 and 98

[jayfan]

The Jerry's wanted to get rid of Phil or something.


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[3ba11]

Watching last dance. I still don’t understand why they didn’t just run it back with the guys they had one more time.

Was the situation just too explosive between Krause and the players ? And basically it had run its course?


It was Pippen's fault

He sat out for the first half of the 98' season to get surgery and this muddied the waters all year - it was the straw that broke the camel's back

[John8204]

Watching last dance. I still don’t understand why they didn’t just run it back with the guys they had one more time.

Was the situation just too explosive between Krause and the players ? And basically it had run its course?

It was a confluence of several aspects of the times. The contracts were coming up and they didn't want to invest in a bunch of players in decline. Also what needs to be remembered that in the 90's the Draft had a run of locks of guys to build franchises around the "next" Jordan

Keep in mind
1992 - Shaq (1)
1993 - Chris Webber (1)
1994 - Grant Hill (3)
1995 - Kevin Garnett (5) (Chicago native and HS student)
1996 - Allen Iverson (1)
1997 - Tim Duncan (1)

The gambles were basically paying off...so tanking you could have another run. Now that run came to an end and the Bull's ended up with a sorry lot of 6 top ten picks that all flopped. But the Bulls didn't know that.
1999 - Elton Brand (1)
2000 - Marcus Fizer (4)
2001 - Eddy Curry (4)
2002 - Jay Williams (2)
2003 - Kirk Hinrich (7)
2004 - Ben Gordon (3)

Michael Jordan which a lot of Jordan-stans don't like to admit but the winning was covering up all the shady borderline illegal stuff that MJ was getting into. The drug crackdowns were coming in baseball and you saw a lot of the more shady players getting out and retiring. I think the NBA got it's first positive roid test in 2000 which I don't buy for a second that you didn't have obvious juiciers.

[ZionDunks]

It was a confluence of several aspects of the times. The contracts were coming up and they didn't want to invest in a bunch of players in decline. Also what needs to be remembered that in the 90's the Draft had a run of locks of guys to build franchises around the "next" Jordan

Keep in mind
1992 - Shaq (1)
1993 - Chris Webber (1)
1994 - Grant Hill (3)
1995 - Kevin Garnett (5) (Chicago native and HS student)
1996 - Allen Iverson (1)
1997 - Tim Duncan (1)

The gambles were basically paying off...so tanking you could have another run. Now that run came to an end and the Bull's ended up with a sorry lot of 6 top ten picks that all flopped. But the Bulls didn't know that.
1999 - Elton Brand (1)
2000 - Marcus Fizer (4)
2001 - Eddy Curry (4)
2002 - Jay Williams (2)
2003 - Kirk Hinrich (7)
2004 - Ben Gordon (3)

Michael Jordan which a lot of Jordan-stans don't like to admit but the winning was covering up all the shady borderline illegal stuff that MJ was getting into. The drug crackdowns were coming in baseball and you saw a lot of the more shady players getting out and retiring. I think the NBA got it's first positive roid test in 2000 which I don't buy for a second that you didn't have obvious juiciers.

Great post. Thank you

[3ba11]

Krause told everyone before the 98' season that it was Phil's last year and this was due to the Krause-Phil relationship.

With Phil out, MJ didn't have time to build another organic juggernaut from scratch.. He didn't have time to mold a 7 ppg rookie in his image and elevate another team and non-descript offense to championship level

[RogueBorg]

Because of Jerry Krause's ego.

"Organizations win championships, not players."

How'd that work out for ya Jerr?

[Hey Yo]

Krause told everyone before the 98' season that it was Phil's last year and this was due to the Krause-Phil relationship.

With Phil out, MJ didn't have time to build another organic juggernaut from scratch.. He didn't have time to mold a 7 ppg rookie in his image and elevate another team and non-descript offense to championship level

Plenty of free agents were available. Why wouldn't they want to play with MJ?

[La Frescobaldi]

Phil Jackson left, Jordan wouldn’t play without him.
So they blew the team up for the money which at the gm/owner level was the only right thing to do

[3ba11]

Plenty of free agents were available. Why wouldn't they want to play with MJ?


It wasn't the 2011-present era where guys teamed up together.

Jordan didn't have the option of teaming up with Malone or Ewing or Penny

[SATAN]

No Phil No Chip.

[Hey Yo]

It wasn't the 2011-present era where guys teamed up together.

Jordan didn't have the option of teaming up with Malone or Ewing or Penny

All free agents in 1998 re-signed with the team they were already on?

Why wouldn't MJ's clout be enough to attract free agents? If he won titles with 15ppg Pippen, then why not just bring another 15ppg free agent and win more titles?

[3ba11]

All free agents in 1998 re-signed with the team they were already on?

Why wouldn't MJ's clout be enough to attract free agents? If he won titles with 15ppg Pippen, then why not just bring another 15ppg free agent and win more titles?


There was no colluding back then

MJ couldn't call up Barkley and team up because it wouldn't work.. Barkley would've laughed at him and told him to stop drinking

[Shogon]

There were multiple factors but...

Jerry Krause told Phil Jackson that even if he went 82 and 0 and won the title in 1998, he wasn't coming back. End of discussion.

[Hey Yo]

There was no colluding back then

MJ couldn't call up Barkley and team up because it wouldn't work.. Barkley would've laughed at him and told him to stop drinking

But according to you, Pippen was just a plain 15ppg player. Why would MJ need Barkley if all he needed, according to you, was a plain 15ppg teammate?

[3ba11]

But according to you, Pippen was just a plain 15ppg player. Why would MJ need Barkley if all he needed, according to you, was a plain 15ppg teammate?


Jordan still has to learn a new system and chemistry with teammates (brand of ball)

Teams win organically by developing a better brand of ball than their peers like the Spurs, Warriors or 90's Bulls..

Jordan didn't have that kind of time

Btw, this shows how Lebron doesn't know how to win (brand of ball) and must team-hop (talent-based winning.. all-star game strategy).. his abnormal ball-dominance as a frontcourt player imposes spot-up roles that stall young players, thereby needing ready-made stars to win

[Hey Yo]

Kukoc, Harper and Wennington were still there. That's 4 of your starting 5 who knew the system. Wouldn't that have been an upgrade from Pippen and Rodman??

[3ba11]

Kukoc, Harper and Wennington were still there. That's 4 of your starting 5 who knew the system. Wouldn't that have been an upgrade from Pippen and Rodman??


Yes but Phil was gone... It would've been a new offense entirely..

It isn't that Jordan can't handle it - he'll access whatever aspects of his game are needed - it's that he has to wait for teammates to learn the offense - Pippen was nothing without the triangle, but actually a pure shooter like Kukoc would be fine (and was)

[Hey Yo]

4 of the 5 starters already knew the system. Wouldn't have been hard for those 4 to teach the triangle to their teammates.

Didn't LA learn the triangle rather easily when Phil first got there? MJ and the other Bulls vets could have done the same.

[3ba11]

.
Stats without triangle

99' Kukoc...... 19/7/5 on 42%.. 18.6 PER.. 3.0 BPM.. 2.1 VORP.. 0.082 WS/48..
99' Pippen..... 14/6/6 on 43%.. 16.8 PER.. 2.5 BPM.. 2.3 VORP.. 0.118 WS/48

[3ba11]

4 of the 5 starters already knew the system. Wouldn't have been hard for those 4 to teach the triangle to their teammates.

Didn't LA learn the triangle rather easily when Phil first got there? MJ and the other Bulls vets could have done the same.


New coach... New system

This isn't Lebron-ball where the coach just runs Lebron-ball

Jordan is coachable and skilled enough to employ the best brands of ball movement that yield the highest team ceilings/Finals records.. He's a coach's dream.. Phil made his little triangle famous with MJ's goat scoring in it .

Ultimately, Jordan was skilled enough to get a 30 PER without "westbrooking" or "lebron-balling" and therefore constantly needing more help... Jordan won titles as scoring champ (unprecedented)

[Hey Yo]

So why didnt MJ realize he would have been better off with Kukoc as his sidekick in 1999? He could've held private workouts during the lockout to teach the triangle.

Vegas would have them the favorites to repeat under that scenario.

[FireDavidKahn]

They wouldn't have got it.

They legit got bounced in the second round with Jordan. People will say Jordan was rusty and that's why they lost but Jordan dominated that series averaging 31 ppg,7 rpg,4 apg ,3 spg ,2 bpg on 48% shooting.

[3ba11]

They wouldn't have got it.

They legit got bounced in the second round with Jordan. People will say Jordan was rusty and that's why they lost but Jordan dominated that series averaging 31 ppg,7 rpg,4 apg ,3 spg ,2 bpg on 48% shooting.


He was bad in the clutch for the first time in his career though

Like most series between 2 big teams, the series was won on a few possessions and Jordan "lebron'd" those possessions for the first time in his career.. He 4/10'd those possessions... It sucked... Honestly, I don't know how you stan the lebron guy.. He's 19 years career of 95' Jordan or much worse

[FireDavidKahn]

He was bad in the clutch for the first time in his career though

Like most series between 2 big teams, the series was won on a few possessions and Jordan "lebron'd" those possessions for the first time in his career.. He 4/10'd those possessions... It sucked... Honestly, I don't know how you stan the lebron guy.. He's a career of 95' Jordan

Jordan bricked it and lost despite playing at his usual dominating self.

They wouldn't have made 7.

[3ba11]

Jordan bricked it and lost despite playing at his usual dominating self.

They wouldn't have made 7.


He wasn't dominating - he was coming back from baseball and that certainty wasn't in the air or in his swagger

Btw, the Bulls were lottery before MJ returned in 95', so that's what Jordan was winning with every year.. When they didn't have the boost and momentum of being defending 3-peat champion, they were lottery on a stand-alone basis before MJ returned to restore 3-peat

Jordan's advanced stats tell the story in those 95' Playoffs - they were Wizards years level

And he literally tricked off 2 games with turnovers in the clutch... If this was another player, it wouldn't be notable - but Jordan never turned it over with me game on the line.. ever... until 98' ECF