The Last Dance: 1997-98 Bulls

[The Original DC]

I enjoyed it, really liked the background footage on his 63-point game against arguably the greatest Celtic team of all time. Boston flat-out couldn’t stop him, yet they won the series.

I knew and still know more players from that 80’s/90’s era than I do today’s NBA. Great trip down memory lane. Oh, and here’s where I fall:

1) Jordan
2) Kobe
3) Lebron

 

[MJMGator]

I enjoyed it, really liked the background footage on his 63-point game against arguably the greatest Celtic team of all time. Boston flat-out couldn’t stop him, yet they won the series.

I knew and still know more players from that 80’s/90’s era than I do today’s NBA. Great trip down memory lane. Oh, and here’s where I fall:

1) Jordan
2) Kobe
3) Lebron

Gimme Magic or Bird over any of them.

 

[oxrageous]

Reinsdorf is also a cheap bastard, which had a lot do with breaking up the dynasty. Pippen signed a bad contract, and while that's his fault and not Reinsdorf's, the deal could have been revisited to make Pippen happy, who had been an amazing player for them. From that article I posted:

"So far in the documentary, Reinsdorf is content to shrug at the strife and chalk it up to strong and strange personalities, deflecting larger reflection to Jerry Krause, who died in 2017 and thus can’t defend the decisions. The biggest backlash on Twitter stemmed from the documentary’s framing of Scottie Pippen’s terrible long-term contract against the terrible hardships his family endured. Reinsdorf came across as unsympathetic in his response to Pippen’s unhappiness, saying he advised Pippen not to sign his career away for seven years, while acting like he didn’t have the power to revisit it, or offer an extension more in line with his value."

Also, Reinsdorf told Jordan he would "regret" giving him a 30 million dollar contract.

Bulls Owner Reinsdorf Once Told Michael Jordan He'd Regret Giving $30M Contract

Can you imagine the amount of money Jordan made Reinsdorf in his first 11 years with the Bulls, having never made more than 4 million in a season? Reinsdorf should have been down on his knees begging Jordan to take the 30 million, when Jordan was worth quadruple that to that franchise.

Sickening stuff. Reinsdorf is the villain.

 

[-THE DUDE-]

Here's what I don't get at all. The "villain" for that team was obviously Jerry Krause. But how the hell does Reinsdorf get a pass? He was Krause's boss, and ultimately called all the shots. So, what he actually did was choose Jerry freaking Krause over Jackson, Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman. He actually rejected at least another title or two, unnecessarily dismantling a dynasty, over his fat little GM.

In his interviews he acts like he was some kind of powerless, shoulder-shrugging observer. HE should be the villain, not Krause. It's inexplicable.

Here's an article that touches on this:

'The Last Dance' stokes Jerry Reinsdorf reservations among White Sox fans

"My problem with that analysis is that Reinsdorf did not position himself as the boss to Jordan, Jackson and Pippen. He positioned himself as the owner and positioned Krause as the boss. What’s interesting to me is that as a member of the White Sox organization in 1995, Jordan again found himself in a power struggle with a Reinsdorf-employed general manager, Ron Schueler, and again held the GM accountable for the animus, rather than the actual boss.

In both cases, Reinsdorf seems to have built a dynamic where the GM becomes the bad guy while he, Reinsdorf, evades the deepest criticisms. Even still, Reinsdorf has not been able to shield himself from the broader question of whether the Bulls were prematurely broken up, and what role he played in it."

Reinsdorf is loathed in Chicago too. For dismantling the Bulls and the piss poor managing of the team by letting Gar Forman and Paxson keeping them in NBA hell. It wasn’t until this year that fans FINALLY had enough and quit showing up...and weirdly enough they finally **** canned that loser Forman.

Oh and he also owns that **** team on the south side with no fans

 

[jaywalker72]

Reinsdorf is also a cheap bastard, which had a lot do with breaking up the dynasty. Pippen signed a bad contract, and while that's his fault and not Reinsdorf's, the deal could have been revisited to make Pippen happy, who had been an amazing player for them. From that article I posted:

"So far in the documentary, Reinsdorf is content to shrug at the strife and chalk it up to strong and strange personalities, deflecting larger reflection to Jerry Krause, who died in 2017 and thus can’t defend the decisions. The biggest backlash on Twitter stemmed from the documentary’s framing of Scottie Pippen’s terrible long-term contract against the terrible hardships his family endured. Reinsdorf came across as unsympathetic in his response to Pippen’s unhappiness, saying he advised Pippen not to sign his career away for seven years, while acting like he didn’t have the power to revisit it, or offer an extension more in line with his value."

Also, Reinsdorf told Jordan he would "regret" giving him a 30 million dollar contract.

Bulls Owner Reinsdorf Once Told Michael Jordan He'd Regret Giving $30M Contract

Can you imagine the amount of money Jordan made Reinsdorf in his first 11 years with the Bulls, having never made more than 4 million in a season? Reinsdorf should have been down on his knees begging Jordan to take the 30 million, when Jordan was worth quadruple that to that franchise.

Sickening stuff. Reinsdorf is the villain.

The CBA at that time did not allow for any renegotiation unless there was cap space to do so. Obviously, with the cap at less than 30M and Jordan, signed with Bird rights, making over 30M himself, there was no cap room to revise the deal.

 

[oxrageous]

The CBA at that time did not allow for any renegotiation unless there was cap space to do so. Obviously, with the cap at less than 30M and Jordan, signed with Bird rights, making over 30M himself, there was no cap room to revise the deal.

Well well well, we've got a Reinsdorf apologist among us.....must be a relative. I have no idea if what you just said is actually true but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's not on general principle. I've been telling you you're wrong for 30 years and there's no reason to stop now.

Besides, Reinsdorf had YEARS to renegotiate the Pippen deal BEFORE Jordan got the huge contracts the last two years.

He said it himself - he does NOT renegotiate deals. That's fine, but there's often consequences, and breaking up a dynasty might be one of them.

 

[jaywalker72]

Well well well, we've got a Reinsdorf apologist among us.....must be a relative. I have no idea if what you just said is actually true but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's not on general principle. I've been telling you you're wrong for 30 years and there's no reason to stop now.

Besides, Reinsdorf had YEARS to renegotiate the Pippen deal BEFORE Jordan got the huge contracts the last two years.

He said it himself - he does NOT renegotiate deals. That's fine, but there's often consequences, and breaking up a dynasty might be one of them.

He loved being cheap and making money - he let Krause take the fall, knowing the GM's bravado, (organizations, not players, win championships) would serve as cover while the Bulls raked, and continue to rake, hundreds of millions of dollars, raising the valuation of the team into the stratosphere, despite their wins and many, many losses.

 

[oxrageous]

He loved being cheap and making money - he let Krause take the fall, knowing the GM's bravado, (organizations, not players, win championships) would serve as cover while the Bulls raked, and continue to rake, hundreds of millions of dollars, raising the valuation of the team into the stratosphere, despite their wins and many, many losses.

He obviously didn't care about titles and proved it by breaking up the team. But we know he cared about money. Doesn't Micheal freaking Jordan make you a lot of money? This guy is such a clueless idiot he viewed Jordan as COSTING him money instead of making him money.

Jordan had to have single-handedly quadrupled the value of the Bulls franchise in 10 years. Maybe more.

 

[Marine1]

The 70’s and 90’s were nowhere close to the 80’s. The 80’s were artistry.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Gimme Magic or Bird over any of them.

Magic is #2 IMO.

He wasnt AS DOMINANT but he was amazing in that he could play PG or C or any place in between, and at a high level.

 

[Swamp Donkey]

He obviously didn't care about titles and proved it by breaking up the team. But we know he cared about money. Doesn't Micheal freaking Jordan make you a lot of money? This guy is such a clueless idiot he viewed Jordan as COSTING him money instead of making him money..

I suspect DC considers him the best GM ever.

 

[GatorInGeorgia]

The sentiments about Pippen would make Quasimoto's head explode if he were on this board. At the very least, he'd educate all of us about the 5 tool player that Pip was.

You beat me to it.

I wonder what ever happened to him and the rest of the round table chucklefu*ks?

Please stop wondering and just go with the "who gives a fcvk" attitude. Not having to listen to those chucklefu*ks will save us all a lot of aggravation.

 

[jaywalker72]

He obviously didn't care about titles and proved it by breaking up the team. But we know he cared about money. Doesn't Micheal freaking Jordan make you a lot of money? This guy is such a clueless idiot he viewed Jordan as COSTING him money instead of making him money.

Jordan had to have single-handedly quadrupled the value of the Bulls franchise in 10 years. Maybe more.

And then he used him to raise the awareness of his White Sox franchise, which he also mires in cheapness.

 

[Musclepug]

 

[PCGatorAlum]

What is funny to me are people on Twitter saying that Scottie Pippen is one of the most underrated players in the last 30 years or some such grand declaration. This is a guy who, in the midst of his career with the Bulls, was already placed on the NBA 50 at 50 list as one of the best of all time in 1997.

Also, you never hear anyone say anything about the Bulls championships that didn't have some sort of variation of how the team took that step once Pippen arrived.

I think the man got his due in terms of appreciation. And then some.

Horace Grant was better than Pippen.

 

[oxrageous]

Horace Grant was better than Pippen.

I'm not sure if Horace was even as good as his twin brother Harvey.

 

[PCGatorAlum]

I'm not sure if Horace was even as good as his twin brother Harvey.

I knew both of them

 

[GatorInGeorgia]

Okay, serious questions. Was Jordan encouraged or forced to take a few years off by the NBA commish for gambling? Did he bet on Bulls games (other than above example) and/or other NBA teams? Was the murder of his dad connected to Jordan’s alleged gambling and possibly his refusal to pay some large debts? How big did he bet at casinos and how big were his biggest losses? Anybody have any good stories (real or made up) or any insights? Opine if you wish.

 

[gator1946]

I enjoyed it, really liked the background footage on his 63-point game against arguably the greatest Celtic team of all time. Boston flat-out couldn’t stop him, yet they won the series.

I knew and still know more players from that 80’s/90’s era than I do today’s NBA. Great trip down memory lane. Oh, and here’s where I fall:

1) Jordan
2) Kobe
3) Lebron

You left out Bird. Aside from the obvious, eyes in the back of his head, and a rebounder in spite of the fact that he couldn't jump, he was the best off balance shooter I have ever seen. You could knock him off balance. get in his face, twist him sideways, and he'd still make the shot. He'd make shots while shoved in the air and going out of bounds. Never saw or have seen anything like it. He didn't care what you did, it nobody was open and time was running low he'd make the shot.

 

[oxrageous]

Okay, serious questions. Was Jordan encouraged or forced to take a few years off by the NBA commish for gambling? Did he bet on Bulls games (other than above example) and/or other NBA teams? Was the murder of his dad connected to Jordan’s alleged gambling and possibly his refusal to pay some large debts? How big did he bet at casinos and how big were his biggest losses? Anybody have any good stories (real or made up) or any insights? Opine if you wish.

Our theory back in the day was that Jordan was supposed to throw game 6 against the Suns in 1993 for the gamblers. A game 7 would have been huge money for the NBA. It was a strange game, with a lethargic Jordan suddenly going off in the final moments.....almost as if he had changed his mind - he could never take a dive.

Less than six weeks later, Jordan's father is tragically murdered. Hmmmm.

Jordan then "retires" from the NBA.