WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.740 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today is Wednesday, 00:00:02.980 --> 00:00:07.019 February 18th, 2026. And today we are heading 00:00:07.019 --> 00:00:10.320 into the heart of the Midwest. We're going to 00:00:10.320 --> 00:00:14.980 the Windy City. Chicago. Chicago. We are talking 00:00:14.980 --> 00:00:17.480 about a team that, for people of a certain age, 00:00:17.660 --> 00:00:20.359 really, they didn't just play basketball, they 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:23.399 were basketball. They were this, like, global... 00:00:23.870 --> 00:00:25.910 cultural phenomenon, almost like the Beatles 00:00:25.910 --> 00:00:28.429 and sneakers. We are talking, of course, about 00:00:28.429 --> 00:00:30.350 the Chicago Bulls. Yeah, it's just impossible 00:00:30.350 --> 00:00:32.590 to tell the story of the modern NBA without a 00:00:32.590 --> 00:00:35.170 massive, massive chapter dedicated to the Bulls. 00:00:35.189 --> 00:00:37.189 A huge chapter. Exactly. But the fascinating 00:00:37.189 --> 00:00:39.009 thing about this deep dive, you know, looking 00:00:39.009 --> 00:00:41.530 at this stack of research we have here, it's 00:00:41.530 --> 00:00:44.549 the contrast. The contrast. How so? The extreme 00:00:44.549 --> 00:00:47.689 highs and the... The confusing lows. You have 00:00:47.689 --> 00:00:51.070 the absolute untouchable apex of the 1990s. The 00:00:51.070 --> 00:00:53.229 dynasty. The dynasty that changed sports marketing, 00:00:53.350 --> 00:00:55.530 that changed the global perception of the athlete. 00:00:55.670 --> 00:00:58.130 I mean, it changed everything. And then you had 00:00:58.130 --> 00:01:00.049 the roller coaster that followed. The rebuilding. 00:01:00.149 --> 00:01:04.569 The baby bulls. The tragedy of the Derrick Rose 00:01:04.569 --> 00:01:07.590 era. And then this sort of basketball purgatory 00:01:07.590 --> 00:01:10.540 the franchise has been stuck in. more recently. 00:01:10.620 --> 00:01:13.560 It is so wild when you lay it all out on a timeline. 00:01:13.879 --> 00:01:16.140 It's almost like the statue of Michael Jordan 00:01:16.140 --> 00:01:19.599 outside the United Center casts this massive 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:22.319 shadow that just blocks out the sun for everyone 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:24.159 who came after him. That's it. It's the burden 00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:26.019 of expectation. I think that's really the theme 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:28.739 today. When your franchise is synonymous with 00:01:28.739 --> 00:01:32.359 the greatest of all time, anything less than 00:01:32.359 --> 00:01:35.439 a ring feels like an abject failure. That makes 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:37.849 sense. So our mission today is to unpack this 00:01:37.849 --> 00:01:39.590 beast. We've got sources covering the history 00:01:39.590 --> 00:01:41.769 from the very beginning, the founding in 1966, 00:01:42.290 --> 00:01:44.650 all the way up to where we sit right now in February 00:01:44.650 --> 00:01:47.349 2026. Yeah, a lot to cover. A lot. We're going 00:01:47.349 --> 00:01:50.129 to look at how a team with a name that was, and 00:01:50.129 --> 00:01:51.849 this is true, literally a joke. We'll get to 00:01:51.849 --> 00:01:54.010 that built a dynasty. We're going to break down 00:01:54.010 --> 00:01:56.530 the what ifs specifically around Derrick Rose. 00:01:56.870 --> 00:01:58.689 And we're going to look at where they stand right 00:01:58.689 --> 00:02:01.549 now, you know, in this post Levine era with a 00:02:01.549 --> 00:02:03.980 young core trying to find its way. So we have 00:02:03.980 --> 00:02:05.459 to start at the beginning. We have to start at 00:02:05.459 --> 00:02:09.800 the beginning. 1966. The origin story. So the 00:02:09.800 --> 00:02:11.819 Bulls weren't the first pro basketball team in 00:02:11.819 --> 00:02:14.300 Chicago, right? I feel like I've heard of the 00:02:14.300 --> 00:02:17.180 Stags or something. You have, yeah. The Bulls 00:02:17.180 --> 00:02:20.159 were actually the third attempt to make pre -basketball 00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:24.199 work in Chicago. First you had the Chicago Stags 00:02:24.199 --> 00:02:27.360 in the 1940s. They actually made the very first 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:30.000 BAA finals, but then they folded. Wow, okay. 00:02:30.469 --> 00:02:32.990 Then you had the Chicago Packers, who then became 00:02:32.990 --> 00:02:35.750 the Zephyrs. In the early 60s, they were a total 00:02:35.750 --> 00:02:38.129 disaster and ended up moving to Baltimore to 00:02:38.129 --> 00:02:41.389 become the Bullets. So by 1966, the NBA was probably 00:02:41.389 --> 00:02:43.689 a little hesitant about Chicago. Oh, they were 00:02:43.689 --> 00:02:45.710 very wary. They just weren't sure it was a basketball 00:02:45.710 --> 00:02:48.469 town. And then entered Dick Klein. Entered Dick 00:02:48.469 --> 00:02:50.699 Klein. And he's a really interesting character 00:02:50.699 --> 00:02:53.120 in NBA history because he's the only owner to 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:54.740 have actually played professional basketball. 00:02:54.939 --> 00:02:56.680 Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, he played for the 00:02:56.680 --> 00:02:59.080 Chicago American Gears in the NBL. So he was 00:02:59.080 --> 00:03:01.039 a basketball guy through and through, not just 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:03.719 some businessman writing checks. Right. So he 00:03:03.719 --> 00:03:06.460 gets the franchise, he sets up shop, but he needs 00:03:06.460 --> 00:03:09.900 a name. And this is, I think, my favorite anecdote 00:03:09.900 --> 00:03:12.300 from the early days because it just feels so... 00:03:13.359 --> 00:03:15.099 Uncorporate. Right. There's no branding committee. 00:03:15.300 --> 00:03:18.379 Exactly. Today, you'd spend millions on focus 00:03:18.379 --> 00:03:22.120 groups and consulting. Synergy. Back then, Klein 00:03:22.120 --> 00:03:23.960 just wanted something that screamed Chicago. 00:03:24.659 --> 00:03:29.479 And in the mid 60s, Chicago was still. You know, 00:03:29.539 --> 00:03:32.960 the hog butcher for the world. It was the meatpacking 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:35.379 capital. The union stockyards were still a huge 00:03:35.379 --> 00:03:37.900 part of the city's identity. So he's brainstorming. 00:03:37.900 --> 00:03:40.000 He wants that connection to the industry. And 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:42.319 he's thinking about names. And from what I read, 00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:45.319 he was absolutely dead set on a one syllable 00:03:45.319 --> 00:03:47.400 name. He had his whole theory about it. He did. 00:03:47.479 --> 00:03:50.159 He really believed that teams with three syllables 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:52.300 in their nickname never won championships. I 00:03:52.300 --> 00:03:54.319 think he cited the Montreal Canadiens as like. 00:03:54.780 --> 00:03:56.800 the only exception he could think of. That's 00:03:56.800 --> 00:03:59.120 such a weirdly specific superstition. Isn't it? 00:03:59.159 --> 00:04:01.000 So he's sitting there with his family and he's 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:02.620 pitching all these ideas and he's suggesting 00:04:02.620 --> 00:04:05.819 names like the Matadors. Which is three syllables. 00:04:05.939 --> 00:04:08.439 So he's already breaking his own rule. He's breaking 00:04:08.439 --> 00:04:12.319 his own rule. Or the Toreadors. Can you even 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:16.170 imagine? And now you're Chicago Toreadors. It 00:04:16.170 --> 00:04:17.750 just doesn't quite have the same ring to it. 00:04:17.790 --> 00:04:19.810 Not at all. So he's pushing these names and they're, 00:04:19.810 --> 00:04:21.769 I mean, they're kind of terrible. And the story 00:04:21.769 --> 00:04:24.069 goes that his young son, Mark, is just sitting 00:04:24.069 --> 00:04:27.069 there listening to all this livestock talk. And 00:04:27.069 --> 00:04:29.250 finally, Mark just looks at his dad and says, 00:04:29.410 --> 00:04:31.649 Dad, that's a bunch of bull. And boom, the light 00:04:31.649 --> 00:04:33.829 bulb goes off. Dick Klein snaps his fingers and 00:04:33.829 --> 00:04:37.470 says, That's it. The bulls. It wasn't a marketing 00:04:37.470 --> 00:04:39.870 firm. It was just a kid roasting his dad. I absolutely 00:04:39.870 --> 00:04:43.350 love that. And it led to what is, I think you 00:04:43.350 --> 00:04:45.490 can argue, the most consistent brand in sports 00:04:45.490 --> 00:04:47.230 history. I mean, you just look at the logo, that 00:04:47.230 --> 00:04:50.269 red angry bull. Yeah. Designed by Dean P. Wessel. 00:04:50.430 --> 00:04:53.129 And this is a key point for our deep dive. If 00:04:53.129 --> 00:04:56.029 you look at almost any other NBA franchise, their 00:04:56.029 --> 00:04:59.829 visual identity is. Like a kaleidoscope. Oh, 00:04:59.850 --> 00:05:02.269 for sure. The Pistons have changed colors, what, 00:05:02.310 --> 00:05:04.889 three times? The Hawks, the Bucks, the Sixers, 00:05:04.889 --> 00:05:07.269 they all rebrand every decade just to try and 00:05:07.269 --> 00:05:09.949 sell more jerseys. But not the Bulls. The Bulls 00:05:09.949 --> 00:05:13.389 logo you see in 2026 is virtually identical to 00:05:13.389 --> 00:05:16.089 the one from 1966. Same expression, same blood 00:05:16.089 --> 00:05:18.990 -tipped horns. It is iconic. There's a real strength 00:05:18.990 --> 00:05:21.529 in that consistency. It says, we don't need to 00:05:21.529 --> 00:05:25.160 change. We are the Bulls. And, you know, unlike 00:05:25.160 --> 00:05:27.220 most expansion teams, they didn't stink right 00:05:27.220 --> 00:05:29.720 away. No, not at all. Usually an expansion team 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:32.339 is just, it's a donation of wins to the rest 00:05:32.339 --> 00:05:35.100 of the league for like five years. Exactly. You 00:05:35.100 --> 00:05:37.879 fully expect to lose 60 or 70 games. But the 00:05:37.879 --> 00:05:40.639 Bulls were different. In that first season, 1866 00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:44.279 -67, they went 33 -48. Okay, so a losing record. 00:05:44.519 --> 00:05:47.399 But it was the best record by an expansion team 00:05:47.399 --> 00:05:50.019 in NBA history at that time. And this is the 00:05:50.019 --> 00:05:52.199 real kicker. They made the playoffs. They are 00:05:52.199 --> 00:05:54.560 the only expansion team to qualify for the playoffs 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:57.519 in their very first year. That is actually wild. 00:05:57.680 --> 00:05:59.100 Who were the guys making that happen? Because 00:05:59.100 --> 00:06:01.060 obviously, you know, Jordan is still in diapers 00:06:01.060 --> 00:06:03.699 at this point. Right. Well, you had Johnny Red 00:06:03.699 --> 00:06:05.579 Kerr as the coach. He won coach of the year that 00:06:05.579 --> 00:06:07.819 first season. You had Guy Rogers, who was this 00:06:07.819 --> 00:06:09.939 wizard with the ball. He led the league in assists. 00:06:10.379 --> 00:06:13.420 But the real soul of that team was a guy whose 00:06:13.420 --> 00:06:17.439 jersey hangs in the rasters today. Jerry Sloan. 00:06:17.709 --> 00:06:20.189 The original bowl. Jerry Sloan really set the 00:06:20.189 --> 00:06:22.550 template for what Chicago basketball was supposed 00:06:22.550 --> 00:06:25.089 to be. You know, before all the glamour of the 00:06:25.089 --> 00:06:28.310 90s, Chicago basketball was blue collar. It was 00:06:28.310 --> 00:06:30.910 elbows. It was defense. It was diving on the 00:06:30.910 --> 00:06:34.129 floor for loose balls. Grit. Total grit. And 00:06:34.129 --> 00:06:36.850 Sloan embodied that. And they had some real success 00:06:36.850 --> 00:06:38.970 in the 70s, too. They weren't just a flash in 00:06:38.970 --> 00:06:41.529 the pan. They had four straight 50 -win seasons. 00:06:41.689 --> 00:06:44.389 There were guys like Bob Love, Chet Walker, Norm 00:06:44.389 --> 00:06:47.149 Van Leer. They were a very, very good team. But 00:06:47.149 --> 00:06:49.990 very good doesn't become a dynasty. No. They 00:06:49.990 --> 00:06:51.810 kept hitting a ceiling. And that ceiling was 00:06:51.810 --> 00:06:53.670 usually named Kareem Abdul -Jabbar and the Milwaukee 00:06:53.670 --> 00:06:55.970 Bucks. Okay, yeah. Or the Golden State Warriors. 00:06:56.290 --> 00:06:58.689 They got to the conference finals in 74 and 75, 00:06:58.910 --> 00:07:01.569 but they just couldn't get over that final hump. 00:07:01.629 --> 00:07:04.350 And by the late 70s... The wheels were starting 00:07:04.350 --> 00:07:06.430 to come off. The franchise started to slide. 00:07:06.850 --> 00:07:09.610 Badly. They were struggling to fill the old Chicago 00:07:09.610 --> 00:07:13.110 stadium. Attendance was down. The team was getting 00:07:13.110 --> 00:07:15.269 worse. They were basically relying on a coin 00:07:15.269 --> 00:07:17.389 flip to save them. OK, let's talk about that 00:07:17.389 --> 00:07:20.389 coin flip, because this is the first major what 00:07:20.389 --> 00:07:24.930 if in our stack of sources. 1979. This is a moment 00:07:24.930 --> 00:07:27.670 that completely changed the entire trajectory 00:07:27.670 --> 00:07:31.329 of the NBA. In 1979, the draft rules were different 00:07:31.329 --> 00:07:34.360 than they are today. The two teams with the worst 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:36.620 records in each conference would literally flip 00:07:36.620 --> 00:07:38.259 a coin to see who got the number one overall 00:07:38.259 --> 00:07:41.259 pick. Just a 50 -50 shot. The literal 50 -50 00:07:41.259 --> 00:07:43.879 shot. And the prize that year. Magic Johnson. 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:47.019 Irvin Magic Johnson. So the Bulls are in the 00:07:47.019 --> 00:07:48.800 room. The Lakers are in the room. They had the 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:50.680 pick from a trade with the Jazz. The coin goes 00:07:50.680 --> 00:07:53.379 up in the air. And Rod Thorne, who was the Bulls 00:07:53.379 --> 00:07:55.379 GM at the time, he calls heads. He calls tails. 00:07:55.620 --> 00:07:58.079 The Lakers get the pick. They take Magic Johnson. 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:00.879 The Showtime Lakers are born right there in that 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:03.600 moment. And the Bulls pick. Second, who did they 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:05.920 end up with? David Greenwood. Yeah, look, to 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:08.360 be fair to David Greenwood, he was a solid NBA 00:08:08.360 --> 00:08:10.660 player. Yeah. Had a good career, played for over 00:08:10.660 --> 00:08:13.680 a decade, but he wasn't Magic Johnson. No, but 00:08:13.680 --> 00:08:15.600 here's where it gets really interesting to me, 00:08:15.620 --> 00:08:17.720 looking back. It sounds like a total disaster 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:20.939 for the Bulls at the time, but if they win that 00:08:20.939 --> 00:08:22.980 coin flip... Right, let's play that out for a 00:08:22.980 --> 00:08:26.100 second. If the Bulls get Magic Johnson in 1979, 00:08:26.819 --> 00:08:29.079 they'd probably become a pretty good team almost 00:08:29.079 --> 00:08:31.639 immediately. Magic was that good. Which means 00:08:31.639 --> 00:08:34.100 they win too many games to be back in the lottery 00:08:34.100 --> 00:08:37.240 in the early 80s. Exactly. If they have magic, 00:08:37.460 --> 00:08:40.799 they're likely a playoff team in 1983 and 1984. 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:43.700 They are nowhere near the top of the draft board 00:08:43.700 --> 00:08:47.190 in 1984. So losing that coin flip for Magic Johnson 00:08:47.190 --> 00:08:49.710 was the necessary tragedy that allowed them to 00:08:49.710 --> 00:08:52.210 be in a position to draft Michael Jordan five 00:08:52.210 --> 00:08:54.529 years later. That's some serious butterfly effect 00:08:54.529 --> 00:08:57.450 stuff. So, OK, let's fast forward to 1984, the 00:08:57.450 --> 00:08:59.529 draft class that everybody knows. Hakeem Olajuwon 00:08:59.529 --> 00:09:01.909 goes first to Houston. Which, even looking back 00:09:01.909 --> 00:09:04.870 now, is a totally defensible pick. Hakeem is 00:09:04.870 --> 00:09:07.250 a top 10 player of all time. He won two rings. 00:09:07.690 --> 00:09:10.090 Houston doesn't regret that pick. Not at all. 00:09:10.190 --> 00:09:13.620 But then, then we get to Portland. The Trailblazers 00:09:13.620 --> 00:09:16.860 have the second pick, and they take Sam Bowie. 00:09:17.100 --> 00:09:20.559 The pick that haunts an entire franchise to this 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:23.179 day. I mean, the logic was there, kind of. They 00:09:23.179 --> 00:09:25.100 needed a center because they already had a great 00:09:25.100 --> 00:09:27.120 shooting guard in Clyde Drexler. Right. It was 00:09:27.120 --> 00:09:30.379 a classic case of drafting for need over best 00:09:30.379 --> 00:09:33.820 available talent, and it burned them. Badly. 00:09:33.820 --> 00:09:36.700 And then at number three, the Chicago Bulls select 00:09:36.700 --> 00:09:39.100 Michael Jordan from the University of North Carolina. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:41.980 And the world changes. But, you know, it didn't 00:09:41.980 --> 00:09:44.019 change overnight into a championship team. Jordan 00:09:44.019 --> 00:09:45.740 was incredible immediately, rookie of the year, 00:09:45.799 --> 00:09:48.399 scoring like crazy. But the team itself wasn't 00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:51.639 great yet. But there was a moment, 1986, the 00:09:51.639 --> 00:09:54.340 God game. I feel like this is a moment where 00:09:54.340 --> 00:09:56.480 the entire league realized, oh, wait, this guy 00:09:56.480 --> 00:10:00.000 is different. That context here is just so key. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:02.379 Jordan had missed most of his second season with 00:10:02.379 --> 00:10:04.840 a broken foot. The Bulls front office actually 00:10:04.840 --> 00:10:06.620 wanted him to sit out the rest of the year to 00:10:06.620 --> 00:10:08.779 preserve his health. They were already kind of 00:10:08.779 --> 00:10:10.759 thinking about tanking for a better draft pick. 00:10:10.899 --> 00:10:15.000 Jordan fought them on it. He refused. He wanted 00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:17.360 to play. He basically dragged that team into 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:20.139 the playoffs as the eighth seed. And their opponent 00:10:20.139 --> 00:10:23.700 was the Boston Celtics. The 1986 Boston Celtics. 00:10:23.740 --> 00:10:27.039 We're talking Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:30.720 Parrish, Bill Walton coming off the bench. Many 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:33.000 people think this is the single greatest basketball 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:36.539 team ever assembled. They went 40 -1 at home 00:10:36.539 --> 00:10:40.600 that year. 40 -1. Unbelievable. And Jordan walks 00:10:40.600 --> 00:10:43.220 into the Boston Garden for game two. And he drops 00:10:43.220 --> 00:10:47.240 63 points. 63 in a playoff game against the best 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:49.639 defense in the league on their home court. And 00:10:49.639 --> 00:10:50.960 it wasn't like he was hitting a bunch of threes. 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:53.399 It was just attacking the rim, mid -range jumpers, 00:10:53.399 --> 00:10:55.840 free throws. He was possessed. The Bulls lost 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:57.720 the game in double overtime, but that didn't 00:10:57.720 --> 00:10:59.759 even matter. Because of what Larry Bird said 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:01.480 afterwards. Larry Bird, who was the reigning 00:11:01.480 --> 00:11:03.480 MVP and not exactly a guy who gave out compliments 00:11:03.480 --> 00:11:06.679 easily, he said, I think it's just God disguised 00:11:06.679 --> 00:11:08.929 as Michael Jordan. That's the chills moment right 00:11:08.929 --> 00:11:10.809 there. But here's the thing about the late 80s 00:11:10.809 --> 00:11:13.710 bulls, right? Jordan was God, but the team kept 00:11:13.710 --> 00:11:16.309 losing to the bad boys. The Detroit Pistons. 00:11:16.529 --> 00:11:19.009 And this is where we really need to talk about 00:11:19.009 --> 00:11:21.840 the Jordan rules. Because people hear that phrase 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:23.700 now, and I think they just think it means double 00:11:23.700 --> 00:11:25.679 team him. Yeah, it was a little more than that. 00:11:25.779 --> 00:11:27.379 It was organized violence. It was a philosophy. 00:11:27.799 --> 00:11:30.519 Chuck Daly, the Picton's coach, established a 00:11:30.519 --> 00:11:32.840 very clear set of rules. If Jordan was on the 00:11:32.840 --> 00:11:35.340 perimeter, you force him to his left. If he drove 00:11:35.340 --> 00:11:37.519 to the basket, you put him on the ground. Not 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:39.879 foul him. No. Put him on the ground. Make him 00:11:39.879 --> 00:11:42.539 bleed. Make him fear for his physical safety 00:11:42.539 --> 00:11:44.480 every time he went into the paint. And it worked. 00:11:45.019 --> 00:11:46.860 For a while. It worked for three straight years. 00:11:47.019 --> 00:11:49.159 Yeah. They beat the Bulls in the 88 playoffs, 00:11:49.340 --> 00:11:52.179 the 89 playoffs, and the 90 playoffs. Jordan 00:11:52.179 --> 00:11:54.320 was just getting battered. Yeah. And this is 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:56.259 where Jerry Krause, the general manager, who 00:11:56.259 --> 00:11:58.860 is a very complicated figure in this whole story, 00:11:58.980 --> 00:12:01.659 this is where he deserves a lot of credit. He 00:12:01.659 --> 00:12:05.220 realized Jordan couldn't win by himself. He needed 00:12:05.220 --> 00:12:08.840 defense, and he needed length around him. He 00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:12.320 needed help. So he starts making moves. In 1987... 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:16.700 He drafts Horace Grant. And on that same draft 00:12:16.700 --> 00:12:19.259 night, he orchestrates a trade for a skinny, 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:22.299 unknown kid from central Arkansas named Scotty 00:12:22.299 --> 00:12:25.940 Pippen. And then the coaching change. Doug Collins, 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:28.860 who Jordan personally loved, gets fired and in 00:12:28.860 --> 00:12:31.840 comes Phil Jackson. Right. And Phil brings an 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:34.539 assistant coach with him named Tex Winter. And 00:12:34.539 --> 00:12:36.080 they introduced something called the triangle 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:38.279 offense. OK, we need to pause on the triangle 00:12:38.279 --> 00:12:40.860 because sports fans hear triangle offense and 00:12:40.860 --> 00:12:42.679 we all kind of nod like we know what it means. 00:12:42.980 --> 00:12:45.460 But why was it so revolutionary? Yeah, let's 00:12:45.460 --> 00:12:47.639 unpack that. Because Jordan hated it at first. 00:12:47.720 --> 00:12:50.279 He despised it. He called it an equal opportunity 00:12:50.279 --> 00:12:53.000 offense. He just wanted the ball. Under Doug 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:55.259 Collins, the number one play was give Michael 00:12:55.259 --> 00:12:57.100 the ball and get the hell out of the way. Right. 00:12:57.179 --> 00:12:59.460 The triangle completely changed the geometry 00:12:59.460 --> 00:13:02.190 of the court. How so? Exactly. Well, it sets 00:13:02.190 --> 00:13:05.429 up a sideline triangle. So you typically have 00:13:05.429 --> 00:13:07.769 the center in the low post, forward on the wing, 00:13:07.909 --> 00:13:11.210 and a guard in the corner. The spacing is incredibly 00:13:11.210 --> 00:13:14.590 precise. But the key is, it relies on reading 00:13:14.590 --> 00:13:17.750 the defense. If the defense collapses on Jordan, 00:13:17.889 --> 00:13:20.690 the system dictates that the ball must move to 00:13:20.690 --> 00:13:22.649 the open man. So it takes the decision -making 00:13:22.649 --> 00:13:25.250 out of Jordan's hands, in a way. Exactly. It 00:13:25.250 --> 00:13:28.190 puts it into the system. It forced Jordan, for 00:13:28.190 --> 00:13:30.470 the first time in his career, to truly trust 00:13:30.470 --> 00:13:32.909 his teammates. And that trust was the missing 00:13:32.909 --> 00:13:35.470 piece of the puzzle. It was everything. Once 00:13:35.470 --> 00:13:37.750 Jordan finally bought in, or maybe just resigned 00:13:37.750 --> 00:13:41.149 himself to it, the Bulls became completely unguardable. 00:13:41.289 --> 00:13:43.149 You couldn't just throw two or three guys at 00:13:43.149 --> 00:13:45.309 Jordan anymore because Pippen or Horace Grant 00:13:45.309 --> 00:13:47.509 or John Paxson would be wide open and the ball 00:13:47.509 --> 00:13:50.450 would find them. So 1991, we get to the Eastern 00:13:50.450 --> 00:13:53.330 Conference Finals. It's the Bulls versus the 00:13:53.330 --> 00:13:56.330 Pistons again. And this time, it's different. 00:13:56.490 --> 00:13:59.549 The Bulls didn't just win. They swept them. 4 00:13:59.549 --> 00:14:01.809 -0. The Bulls had all hit the weight room. They 00:14:01.809 --> 00:14:03.870 were physically stronger. They took the hits 00:14:03.870 --> 00:14:06.830 from Lane Beer and Rodman and kept coming. And 00:14:06.830 --> 00:14:10.210 the Pistons just knew it was over. In the final 00:14:10.210 --> 00:14:13.470 seconds of Game 4, Isaiah Thomas led the Pistons 00:14:13.470 --> 00:14:16.440 starters off the court. walking right past the 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:18.820 Bulls bench without shaking hands. Which is still 00:14:18.820 --> 00:14:21.379 a controversial move to this day. Oh, it was 00:14:21.379 --> 00:14:24.179 a totally classless move, but it was so symbolic. 00:14:24.460 --> 00:14:27.220 It signified the changing of the guard. The bad 00:14:27.220 --> 00:14:30.059 boys era was dead. The Bulls era had just begun. 00:14:30.299 --> 00:14:32.620 Then they go on to the finals and beat the Lakers. 00:14:32.860 --> 00:14:35.220 Yeah. That's when Jordan does the famous hand 00:14:35.220 --> 00:14:37.919 switch layup. Right. And he just weeps holding 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:40.620 the trophy. That image of him hugging the trophy. 00:14:40.740 --> 00:14:43.019 His dad, James, right there next to him. That 00:14:43.019 --> 00:14:44.860 was the release of seven years of criticism. 00:14:45.059 --> 00:14:47.940 He's a scorer, not a winner. That whole narrative 00:14:47.940 --> 00:14:50.720 died that night. Then they went again in 92 against 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:53.679 the Blazers. Then again in 93 against the Suns. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:56.299 The first three -peat is complete. And we shouldn't 00:14:56.299 --> 00:14:58.159 just gloss over how incredibly hard a three -peat 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:00.360 is. It's mentally and physically exhausting. 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:04.179 By the end of 1993, Jordan was just fried. And 00:15:04.179 --> 00:15:08.259 then the tragedy. His father, James Jordan, is 00:15:08.259 --> 00:15:10.509 murdered. It just broke him. He felt like he 00:15:10.509 --> 00:15:12.370 had nothing left to prove in basketball. And 00:15:12.370 --> 00:15:17.529 his rock, his anchor, was gone. So October 1993, 00:15:17.889 --> 00:15:20.490 he announces his retirement. And goes to play 00:15:20.490 --> 00:15:22.950 baseball. Which, looking back on it now, is one 00:15:22.950 --> 00:15:24.509 of the most surreal chapters in all of sports 00:15:24.509 --> 00:15:27.710 history. The greatest, most famous athlete in 00:15:27.710 --> 00:15:30.919 the world, riding a bus. In the minor leagues 00:15:30.919 --> 00:15:32.940 in Alabama. Just unbelievable. And the Bulls, 00:15:32.940 --> 00:15:34.720 you know, they actually kept going. That 1993 00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:38.220 -94 season, without Jordan, they won 55 games. 00:15:38.460 --> 00:15:40.399 Scottie Pippen was a legitimate MVP candidate. 00:15:40.620 --> 00:15:43.000 He was, but they lost in the playoffs to the 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:44.720 Knicks. They just, they missed their closer. 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:46.460 They missed the guy who takes the last shot. 00:15:46.659 --> 00:15:50.279 Exactly. Then comes March 1995. The facts. Two 00:15:50.279 --> 00:15:53.179 words. I'm back. He returns. He's wearing number 00:15:53.179 --> 00:15:56.440 45. He drops 55 points on the Knicks at Madison 00:15:56.440 --> 00:15:58.679 Square Garden. The famous double nickel game. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:02.399 But they lose in the playoffs. To the Orlando 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:04.820 magic. And that loss to Orlando was so crucial. 00:16:05.659 --> 00:16:07.840 Jordan looked rusty. He looked human. People 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:09.340 were whispering that he'd lost a step, that he 00:16:09.340 --> 00:16:11.399 was done. And he took that personally. Oh, he 00:16:11.399 --> 00:16:13.519 took that very personally. He spent the entire 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:17.080 summer of 95 filming the movie Space Jam. But 00:16:17.080 --> 00:16:19.639 he had them build a full -size air -conditioned 00:16:19.639 --> 00:16:22.740 gym on the Warner Brothers lot. He trained like 00:16:22.740 --> 00:16:25.629 an absolute maniac. Which sets the stage for 00:16:25.629 --> 00:16:28.549 the 1995 -96 season, the greatest team of all 00:16:28.549 --> 00:16:30.750 time. I think so. It's hard to argue against 00:16:30.750 --> 00:16:35.490 it. 72 wins, 10 losses. That record stood for 00:16:35.490 --> 00:16:38.509 20 years. It did, until the Warriors broke it. 00:16:38.850 --> 00:16:40.590 But, you know, the Warriors didn't win the title 00:16:40.590 --> 00:16:43.509 that year. The Bulls finished the job. But the 00:16:43.509 --> 00:16:45.809 key to this team wasn't just Jordan being back 00:16:45.809 --> 00:16:47.690 and Pippen being great. It was the third guy. 00:16:48.009 --> 00:16:51.250 Dennis Rodman. The worm. Jerry Krause traded 00:16:51.250 --> 00:16:53.590 Will Perdue, a backup center for Dennis Rodman. 00:16:54.110 --> 00:16:56.029 And at a time it was considered a massive risk, 00:16:56.190 --> 00:16:58.509 Rodman was eccentric. That is maybe the most 00:16:58.509 --> 00:17:00.649 polite way to put it. The hair, the piercings, 00:17:00.669 --> 00:17:02.690 wearing a wedding dress to his own book signing. 00:17:02.909 --> 00:17:05.789 A whole thing. But on the court, he was a genius. 00:17:06.109 --> 00:17:07.950 A rebounding savant. He didn't want to score. 00:17:08.130 --> 00:17:10.190 He didn't care about scoring. He just wanted 00:17:10.190 --> 00:17:12.430 to rebound and defend. He said he would study 00:17:12.430 --> 00:17:14.410 the rotation of the ball on other players' shots 00:17:14.410 --> 00:17:17.009 to know exactly where the rebound would go. The 00:17:17.009 --> 00:17:19.269 defense on that team was just suffocating. Think 00:17:19.269 --> 00:17:21.970 about this for a second. Jordan, Pippen, and 00:17:21.970 --> 00:17:25.190 Rodman. were all named to the NBA All -Defensive 00:17:25.190 --> 00:17:27.730 First Team that year. Three guys from the same 00:17:27.730 --> 00:17:29.829 team. That had never happened before and hasn't 00:17:29.829 --> 00:17:31.670 happened since. If you're an opposing offense, 00:17:32.089 --> 00:17:34.349 where do you go? There's nowhere to go. You have 00:17:34.349 --> 00:17:36.890 the greatest perimeter defender ever in Pippen, 00:17:36.970 --> 00:17:39.569 the greatest competitor ever in Jordan, and the 00:17:39.569 --> 00:17:42.549 greatest rebounder ever in Rodman. It was a complete 00:17:42.549 --> 00:17:45.349 meat grinder. They just steamrolled the entire 00:17:45.349 --> 00:17:48.009 league. They beat the Seattle Supersonics in 00:17:48.009 --> 00:17:50.150 the finals. Then they turn around and beat the 00:17:50.150 --> 00:17:53.009 Utah Jazz in 97. That was the flu game. Which 00:17:53.009 --> 00:17:55.309 we now know is probably food poisoning from a 00:17:55.309 --> 00:17:58.470 bad pizza in Park City, Utah. Yeah. But the pizza 00:17:58.470 --> 00:18:00.450 game doesn't sound quite as heroic, does it? 00:18:00.630 --> 00:18:03.630 No, it doesn't. And then we get to 1998, the 00:18:03.630 --> 00:18:06.250 last dance. The tension around that team was 00:18:06.250 --> 00:18:09.230 off the charts. Jerry Krause had already publicly 00:18:09.230 --> 00:18:11.410 said that Phil Jackson was not coming back as 00:18:11.410 --> 00:18:14.130 coach the next year, even if they went 82 -smell. 00:18:14.269 --> 00:18:17.029 Unbelievable. Pippen was furious about his contract 00:18:17.029 --> 00:18:19.630 and was demanding a trade. It was a team that 00:18:19.630 --> 00:18:22.130 was being held together by pure spite and greatness. 00:18:22.670 --> 00:18:27.029 Game six, in Utah, the final minute. This sequence 00:18:27.029 --> 00:18:31.089 is, it's just basketball perfection. The Bulls 00:18:31.089 --> 00:18:33.470 are down by one. Carl Malone has the ball in 00:18:33.470 --> 00:18:35.769 the post, guarded by Rodman. Jordan sneaks up 00:18:35.769 --> 00:18:38.289 behind him. Doesn't gamble. Just waits for the 00:18:38.289 --> 00:18:40.410 perfect moment and just swipes the ball clean. 00:18:40.549 --> 00:18:42.789 He comes down the court. No timeout. Everyone 00:18:42.789 --> 00:18:44.910 in the building, everyone on the planet knows 00:18:44.910 --> 00:18:47.150 he's taking the shot. He drives to his right, 00:18:47.230 --> 00:18:49.069 gives Brian Russell a little nudge, a little 00:18:49.069 --> 00:18:51.789 push off. A veteran move. A veteran move. He 00:18:51.789 --> 00:18:54.849 stomps on a dime. Russell slides past him and 00:18:54.849 --> 00:18:58.089 he just rises up. The pose, the follow through, 00:18:58.250 --> 00:19:01.230 swish. It's the ultimate mic drop in sports history. 00:19:01.349 --> 00:19:03.190 It is. He holds the follow through for just a 00:19:03.190 --> 00:19:06.009 second. The Bulls win by one. Sixth title. Second 00:19:06.009 --> 00:19:09.309 three -peat. And then the screen goes black on 00:19:09.309 --> 00:19:11.589 the dynasty. The dismantling. It was so immediate, 00:19:11.609 --> 00:19:14.089 wasn't it? It was brutal. Jordan retires again. 00:19:14.509 --> 00:19:16.390 Phil Jackson leaves and goes on a motorcycle 00:19:16.390 --> 00:19:18.930 trip across the country. Pippen is traded to 00:19:18.930 --> 00:19:21.950 Houston. Rodman is released. In just a matter 00:19:21.950 --> 00:19:23.410 of months, they went from the greatest team in 00:19:23.410 --> 00:19:25.269 history to a roster of guys like Brent Berry 00:19:25.269 --> 00:19:27.730 and Randy Brown. And this kicks off what I like 00:19:27.730 --> 00:19:31.259 to call the Dark Ages, the Baby Bulls era. It 00:19:31.259 --> 00:19:33.859 was a really rough decade for the fans. They 00:19:33.859 --> 00:19:36.119 were constantly trying to chase the next Jordan. 00:19:36.380 --> 00:19:39.819 They drafted Elton Brand, who was a great player, 00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:42.720 but he wasn't a franchise savior. They drafted 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:45.380 Tyson Chandler and Eddie Curry straight out of 00:19:45.380 --> 00:19:47.680 high school. The Twin Towers. Which never really 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:50.680 worked out. They had Jay Williams, the college 00:19:50.680 --> 00:19:54.039 phenom from Duke, who had that tragic motorcycle 00:19:54.039 --> 00:19:56.799 accident that ended his career before it really 00:19:56.799 --> 00:19:59.240 started. It just felt like the franchise was 00:19:59.240 --> 00:20:02.519 cursed. Until 2008, the lottery miracle. This 00:20:02.519 --> 00:20:04.319 is another one of those statistical anomalies 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:06.960 that just seems impossible. The Bulls had been 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:09.279 mediocre that year, but not the worst team in 00:20:09.279 --> 00:20:11.960 the league. They only had a 1 .7 % chance of 00:20:11.960 --> 00:20:14.319 winning the number one pick. Less than 2%. Less 00:20:14.319 --> 00:20:17.180 than 2%. And somehow, the ping pong balls bounced 00:20:17.180 --> 00:20:19.460 their way. And it just so happened that in that 00:20:19.460 --> 00:20:21.279 year's draft, there was a kid from the south 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:24.440 side of Chicago. Derrick Rose from Simeon High 00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:26.680 School. It felt like it was written in the stars. 00:20:27.309 --> 00:20:29.849 They draft him. He's instantly great, wins Rookie 00:20:29.849 --> 00:20:32.410 of the Year. And suddenly, the United Center 00:20:32.410 --> 00:20:34.829 is loud again. There's a buzz back in the city. 00:20:34.970 --> 00:20:38.029 And then Tom Thibodeau arrives as coach in 2010. 00:20:38.650 --> 00:20:41.609 And Thibs brought that defensive intensity back 00:20:41.609 --> 00:20:43.750 to Chicago. We talked about the triangle. We 00:20:43.750 --> 00:20:45.809 should probably talk about Thibs' defense. He 00:20:45.809 --> 00:20:48.049 introduced a scheme that became known as ICE. 00:20:48.309 --> 00:20:50.609 Okay, explain ICE for us. So basically, in a 00:20:50.609 --> 00:20:52.630 pick -and -roll, instead of the defending guards 00:20:52.630 --> 00:20:54.670 switching or trying to fight over the screen, 00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:58.180 He forces the ball handler away from the screen 00:20:58.180 --> 00:21:00.819 towards the sideline, towards the ice. It effectively 00:21:00.819 --> 00:21:03.759 uses the sideline as an extra defender and keeps 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:07.240 the ball out of the middle of the floor. It revolutionized 00:21:07.240 --> 00:21:09.359 NBA defense for a few years. Then on offense, 00:21:09.460 --> 00:21:12.509 he had Derrick Rose. Rose was... Violent. I think 00:21:12.509 --> 00:21:14.210 that's the only word for it. He attacked the 00:21:14.210 --> 00:21:16.309 rim with a speed and a power that we had just 00:21:16.309 --> 00:21:17.990 never seen from a point guard before. He was 00:21:17.990 --> 00:21:21.269 a blur. In 2011, he becomes the youngest MP in 00:21:21.269 --> 00:21:24.150 the history of the NBA. The Bulls win 62 games. 00:21:24.210 --> 00:21:25.950 They make it to the Eastern Conference Finals. 00:21:26.089 --> 00:21:28.029 It really felt like the start of a new dynasty. 00:21:28.450 --> 00:21:31.150 They were set to battle the Heedles, LeBron, 00:21:31.349 --> 00:21:34.450 Wade, and Bosh for the next decade. And then 00:21:34.450 --> 00:21:38.890 April 28, 2012. I remember exactly where I was 00:21:38.890 --> 00:21:40.670 when this happened. Every single Bulls fan does. 00:21:41.130 --> 00:21:43.630 Game one of the playoffs against the 76ers. The 00:21:43.630 --> 00:21:45.529 Bulls are up by 12 with about a minute left in 00:21:45.529 --> 00:21:47.509 the game. Rose is, for some reason, still in 00:21:47.509 --> 00:21:49.509 the game. He does a little hop step in the lane. 00:21:49.650 --> 00:21:52.150 Yeah. And just crumbles. The silence in that 00:21:52.150 --> 00:21:54.450 arena was deafening. You could hear a pin drop, 00:21:54.589 --> 00:21:57.630 torn ACL. And in that one moment, the championship 00:21:57.630 --> 00:22:01.029 window just slammed shut. It is the biggest what 00:22:01.029 --> 00:22:03.589 if in Chicago sports history. Maybe all of sports. 00:22:03.690 --> 00:22:06.329 If Rose stays healthy, do they beat LeBron? Do 00:22:06.329 --> 00:22:08.089 they win a title? We'll never know for sure. 00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:11.220 But the tragedy is that the very way Rose played, 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:13.839 that violent explosive torque he put on his body, 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:16.019 was probably unsustainable. The human body just 00:22:16.019 --> 00:22:18.200 has limits. So Rose goes into this awful cycle 00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:21.319 of rehab and re -injury. And in that vacuum, 00:22:21.539 --> 00:22:25.680 a new star emerges. Jimmy Butler. Which was a 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:28.319 total surprise. Jimmy was the 30th pick in the 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:30.539 draft, a defensive specialist for Marquette. 00:22:30.700 --> 00:22:33.819 But he willed himself into a superstar through 00:22:33.819 --> 00:22:36.579 sheer hard work. He became the face of the team. 00:22:36.700 --> 00:22:38.720 But the vibes were bad. The vibes were very bad. 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:41.359 The front office Gar Foreman and John Paxson, 00:22:41.420 --> 00:22:44.160 who the fans called Gar Pax, were constantly 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:46.700 feuding with Fibideau. They eventually fired 00:22:46.700 --> 00:22:49.279 Fibs, which was really unpopular. Then they traded 00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:51.839 Rose to the Knicks. And then finally they traded 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:54.819 Butler in 2017, a full teardown. And just to 00:22:54.819 --> 00:22:56.400 close the loop on Derrick Rose, because this 00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:58.480 is a recent development for our listeners here 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:02.400 in 2026, on January 24th of this year, just a 00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:05.480 few weeks ago, the Bulls finally retired Derrick 00:23:05.480 --> 00:23:08.400 Rose's number one jersey. It was a really emotional 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:11.380 night, and it was the right thing to do. He didn't 00:23:11.380 --> 00:23:13.789 bring a ring to Chicago. But he brought hope 00:23:13.789 --> 00:23:16.269 back. And for a few years, he made Chicago the 00:23:16.269 --> 00:23:18.509 center of the basketball world again. He absolutely 00:23:18.509 --> 00:23:20.650 deserved to have his jersey in the rafters. I 00:23:20.650 --> 00:23:22.910 totally agree. So Butler gets traded to Minnesota 00:23:22.910 --> 00:23:26.210 in 2017. And the return package for him really 00:23:26.210 --> 00:23:29.390 defines the next era. They get Zach Levine, Chris 00:23:29.390 --> 00:23:31.910 Dunn, and a draft pick that became Laurie Mark 00:23:31.910 --> 00:23:34.930 Cannon. The official rebuild. And it was messy. 00:23:35.049 --> 00:23:37.490 You had the Jim Boylan coaching era, which was 00:23:37.490 --> 00:23:39.930 an absolute disaster. Players were threatening 00:23:39.930 --> 00:23:44.309 mutiny. It was bad. 2020, new management finally 00:23:44.309 --> 00:23:47.910 comes in, Arturis Karnasovas and Mark Eversley, 00:23:48.009 --> 00:23:50.569 and they decide to push their chips in and try 00:23:50.569 --> 00:23:54.109 to win now. They trade for Nikola Vucevic, they 00:23:54.109 --> 00:23:58.109 sign DeMar DeRozan, they get Lonzo Ball and Alex 00:23:58.109 --> 00:24:01.329 Caruso. The DeBalzac era is born. It's a funny 00:24:01.329 --> 00:24:03.250 name, but for a minute there, it really worked. 00:24:03.490 --> 00:24:07.170 It worked beautifully. In January of 2022, the 00:24:07.170 --> 00:24:08.750 Bulls were the number one seed in the Eastern 00:24:08.750 --> 00:24:11.430 Conference. Lonzo Bull was the connective tissue 00:24:11.430 --> 00:24:13.509 of that team. He threw the perfect outlet passes. 00:24:13.730 --> 00:24:16.710 He played elite defense. The chemistry was incredible. 00:24:16.950 --> 00:24:19.230 But then the knee. Lonzo hurts his knee. And 00:24:19.230 --> 00:24:21.210 initially they thought it was just a minor meniscus 00:24:21.210 --> 00:24:24.250 tear, you know, back in 68 weeks. It was not 00:24:24.250 --> 00:24:26.730 six to eight weeks. No, it turned into an absolute 00:24:26.730 --> 00:24:28.289 nightmare for him. He had multiple surgeries. 00:24:28.490 --> 00:24:30.269 He got to the point where he needed a meniscus 00:24:30.269 --> 00:24:32.190 transplant. Which just sounds like science fiction. 00:24:32.450 --> 00:24:35.369 It's a donor meniscus from a cadaver. It's a 00:24:35.369 --> 00:24:37.990 massive, extremely rare procedure for a professional 00:24:37.990 --> 00:24:40.390 athlete. He ended up missing two full seasons. 00:24:40.650 --> 00:24:43.690 And without him, the Bulls just fell apart. Yeah, 00:24:43.769 --> 00:24:45.849 the chemistry was gone. They didn't have a true 00:24:45.849 --> 00:24:48.450 point guard. DeRozan and Levine were scoring 00:24:48.450 --> 00:24:50.609 a ton of points, but the defense just collapsed. 00:24:50.710 --> 00:24:53.130 The whole thing just kind of stagnated. And they 00:24:53.130 --> 00:24:56.470 entered play -in purgatory. Which is the absolute 00:24:56.470 --> 00:24:58.930 worst place to be in the NBA. For three straight 00:24:58.930 --> 00:25:03.089 years, 2023, 2024, and 2025, they finished either 00:25:03.089 --> 00:25:05.529 9th or 10th. They would win their first play 00:25:05.529 --> 00:25:07.690 -in game and then lose the second one to the 00:25:07.690 --> 00:25:10.990 Miami Heat. It was like Groundhog Day every single 00:25:10.990 --> 00:25:13.170 year. You're not good enough to compete for a 00:25:13.170 --> 00:25:14.930 title, but you're not bad enough to get a top 00:25:14.930 --> 00:25:18.109 draft pick. You were just there, struck in the 00:25:18.109 --> 00:25:20.609 middle. Which brings us to the major shakeup 00:25:20.609 --> 00:25:22.730 that finally happened about a year ago, February 00:25:22.730 --> 00:25:26.430 2025, the end of the Zach Levine era. It had 00:25:26.430 --> 00:25:28.170 to happen. It was clear the relationship had 00:25:28.170 --> 00:25:32.240 run its course. On February 2, 2025... The Bulls 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:35.099 traded Zach Levine to the Sacramento Kings. Let's 00:25:35.099 --> 00:25:38.000 look at that trade. Because at the time, people 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:39.720 were, I think they were pretty underwhelmed. 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:42.519 The Bulls got back Zach Collins, Trey Jones, 00:25:42.839 --> 00:25:44.759 Kevin Herter, and a first -round pick. Right. 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:46.799 It wasn't a blockbuster return. They didn't get 00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:49.660 a young superstar back for him. But you have 00:25:49.660 --> 00:25:52.400 to look at the salary cap sheet. Levine was making 00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:56.799 over $40 million a year. Moving that contract 00:25:56.799 --> 00:25:59.839 was the asset. It was addition by subtraction. 00:25:59.859 --> 00:26:02.140 Exactly. It allowed the Bulls to finally pivot. 00:26:02.539 --> 00:26:04.500 and have some financial flexibility. They also 00:26:04.500 --> 00:26:07.039 made other moves. They traded Alex Caruso to 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:09.839 OKC for Josh Giddey. And DeMar DeRozan ended 00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:12.180 up going to the Kings, too, in free agency. So 00:26:12.180 --> 00:26:14.740 the band really, truly broke up. Completely. 00:26:14.740 --> 00:26:17.720 A hard reset. And now when we look at the roster 00:26:17.720 --> 00:26:21.420 for this 2025 -2026 season, the season we're 00:26:21.420 --> 00:26:23.519 in right now, it's a weird mix of guys. It is. 00:26:23.579 --> 00:26:25.220 You have Josh Giddey running the point. He's 00:26:25.220 --> 00:26:28.019 a great passer, but a very shaky shooter. You 00:26:28.019 --> 00:26:30.339 have Kobe White, who has really blossomed into 00:26:30.339 --> 00:26:32.680 a legitimate scorer. You have Patrick Williams, 00:26:32.839 --> 00:26:34.619 who is still trying to figure out if he's a star 00:26:34.619 --> 00:26:37.240 or just a role player. And the rookie, Matas 00:26:37.240 --> 00:26:40.319 Bouzelis. Yeah, drafted 11th overall. He's shown 00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:43.480 some flashes. You know, honestly, it is just 00:26:43.480 --> 00:26:46.059 heartwarming to see Lonzo Ball back on the court, 00:26:46.140 --> 00:26:48.640 even in a limited role, after everything he went 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:50.319 through. Oh, for sure. But let's be real about 00:26:50.319 --> 00:26:52.000 their performance. They finished last season 00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:56.119 39 -43. They're hovering around .500 right now. 00:26:56.200 --> 00:26:58.660 They aren't contenders. No, not even close. They 00:26:58.660 --> 00:27:00.579 are still searching. They're searching for that 00:27:00.579 --> 00:27:04.039 alpha. That guy. They don't have a Jordan. They 00:27:04.039 --> 00:27:06.180 don't have a Rose. They have a collection of 00:27:06.180 --> 00:27:10.380 nice, solid pieces. Let's shift gears a little 00:27:10.380 --> 00:27:12.200 bit before we wrap up. We've talked history. 00:27:12.359 --> 00:27:14.380 We've talked the roster. But we have to talk 00:27:14.380 --> 00:27:16.720 about the culture. Because the Bulls brand is 00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:19.920 so specific. And it all starts with the music. 00:27:20.240 --> 00:27:22.660 Serious by the Alan Parsons Project. Da -da -da. 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:25.440 Da -da -da. Just hearing it, my heart rate goes 00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:27.400 up. It might be the single most recognizable 00:27:27.400 --> 00:27:30.299 sports intro in the entire world. And it's a 00:27:30.299 --> 00:27:32.670 complete accident. Tommy Edwards, the stadium 00:27:32.670 --> 00:27:35.029 announcer, heard it in movie theater in the 80s 00:27:35.029 --> 00:27:37.049 and just thought, hey, this builds tension pretty 00:27:37.049 --> 00:27:39.049 well. And then you pair it with the Running of 00:27:39.049 --> 00:27:41.589 the Bulls video intro. Which evolved over the 00:27:41.589 --> 00:27:45.250 years. In the 90s, it was those early CGI graphics 00:27:45.250 --> 00:27:48.650 of bulls running through downtown Chicago. And 00:27:48.650 --> 00:27:50.990 they would always end by smashing the opposing 00:27:50.990 --> 00:27:53.950 team's bus. I always loved that part. Just absolutely 00:27:53.950 --> 00:27:56.390 totaling the Knicks bus on the screen. And then 00:27:56.390 --> 00:27:58.190 the lights go completely out in the stadium. 00:27:58.250 --> 00:28:01.670 The spotlight hits the floor. And Ray Clay, the 00:28:01.670 --> 00:28:05.410 announcer from North Carolina, at guard. 6 '6", 00:28:05.410 --> 00:28:08.349 Michael Jordan. Opposing players used to say 00:28:08.349 --> 00:28:10.049 that by the time the intros were over, they felt 00:28:10.049 --> 00:28:12.529 like they were already down 10 -0. It was psychological 00:28:12.529 --> 00:28:15.369 warfare. Another tradition, the black shoes. 00:28:15.670 --> 00:28:19.089 This started back in the 1989 playoffs. The whole 00:28:19.089 --> 00:28:21.269 team decided to wear black shoes as a sign of 00:28:21.269 --> 00:28:23.750 unity. Back then, pretty much everyone in the 00:28:23.750 --> 00:28:26.190 league wore white shoes. So it looked menacing. 00:28:26.190 --> 00:28:27.650 It looked different, like they were a team of 00:28:27.650 --> 00:28:29.789 assassins. Except for that one time MJ broke 00:28:29.789 --> 00:28:32.690 the rule, of course. Of course. The 1995 playoffs, 00:28:32.829 --> 00:28:35.009 when he came back from baseball, he debuted the 00:28:35.009 --> 00:28:37.490 Air Jordan Icky Conchords, those beautiful white 00:28:37.490 --> 00:28:40.029 patent leather shoes. He got fined by the league 00:28:40.029 --> 00:28:42.430 for not matching his teammates. But they looked 00:28:42.430 --> 00:28:45.109 so good, nobody really cared. We have to mention 00:28:45.109 --> 00:28:47.640 the rivalries, too. Because you don't win six 00:28:47.640 --> 00:28:49.619 rings without making a lot of enemies. Oh, yeah. 00:28:49.740 --> 00:28:52.420 The Pistons or the Blood Feud. That was personal. 00:28:52.539 --> 00:28:56.599 That was hatred. But the Knicks in the 90s, those 00:28:56.599 --> 00:28:59.660 playoff series were just wars. Patrick Ewing, 00:28:59.839 --> 00:29:02.160 John Starks, Charles Oakley, they met in the 00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:04.400 playoffs almost every single year. It was a rock 00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:07.549 fight every time. And the Cavs? Poor Cleveland. 00:29:07.750 --> 00:29:09.930 I mean, first Jordan hits the shot over Craig 00:29:09.930 --> 00:29:13.049 L. Lowe in 89 to eliminate them. Then fast forward 00:29:13.049 --> 00:29:15.089 to the modern era and you have LeBron James playing 00:29:15.089 --> 00:29:18.109 for Cleveland, eliminating the Derrick Rose Bulls 00:29:18.109 --> 00:29:20.890 over and over again. It's a rivalry of repeated 00:29:20.890 --> 00:29:23.269 heartbreak for one side. And more recently, the 00:29:23.269 --> 00:29:25.410 Miami Heat. The Heat are the modern villains 00:29:25.410 --> 00:29:28.420 for the Bulls. First, the Big Three, with LeBron 00:29:28.420 --> 00:29:30.559 and Wade blocking Rose's path to the finals. 00:29:30.779 --> 00:29:34.279 And then Jimmy Butler, a former Bull, joining 00:29:34.279 --> 00:29:36.720 the Heat and personally eliminating Chicago in 00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:38.200 the play -in tournament three years in a row. 00:29:38.480 --> 00:29:41.200 It's poetic, but it's cruel. So bringing this 00:29:41.200 --> 00:29:43.319 all back together, we've gone from Dick Klein's 00:29:43.319 --> 00:29:46.220 son saying that's a bunch of Bull, to the GOAT, 00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:48.880 to the Rose tragedy, to the DeBalzac what -if, 00:29:48.940 --> 00:29:52.980 and now to this new uncertain era in 2026. It 00:29:52.980 --> 00:29:55.200 really is a franchise defined by its ghosts. 00:29:55.660 --> 00:29:57.779 That's exactly the feeling I get from all this. 00:29:57.900 --> 00:29:59.680 They've experienced the highest highs that are 00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:02.480 possible in sports. Six championships in eight 00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:05.779 years. Two three -peats. The greatest player 00:30:05.779 --> 00:30:08.759 to ever live. But they have spent the last 28 00:30:08.759 --> 00:30:12.859 years trying and failing to recreate that magic. 00:30:13.059 --> 00:30:15.119 And that's the big question for them moving forward, 00:30:15.160 --> 00:30:17.680 isn't it? Is that legacy a foundation to build 00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:19.940 on or is it a ceiling you can never break through? 00:30:20.119 --> 00:30:22.180 I think it's both. It's a foundation because 00:30:22.180 --> 00:30:24.180 it makes the brand global. You can go anywhere 00:30:24.180 --> 00:30:27.460 in the world, Paris, Beijing, Rio, and you'll 00:30:27.460 --> 00:30:29.420 see someone in a Bulls hat. But it's a ceiling 00:30:29.420 --> 00:30:32.279 because every team is compared to the 96 Bulls. 00:30:32.279 --> 00:30:34.960 Every star player is compared to Jordan. Derrick 00:30:34.960 --> 00:30:37.299 Rose came the closest. He had the city in the 00:30:37.299 --> 00:30:39.859 palm of his hand. But his body betrayed him. 00:30:40.059 --> 00:30:43.220 Jimmy Butler tried. Zach Levine put up huge numbers. 00:30:43.279 --> 00:30:45.279 But nobody could live up to the ghost of number 00:30:45.279 --> 00:30:49.500 23. And now, with Levine officially gone, and 00:30:49.500 --> 00:30:52.279 this young group led by guys like Giddy and Buscelli's, 00:30:52.970 --> 00:30:55.430 The cycle kind of resets. They aren't contenders 00:30:55.430 --> 00:30:58.490 yet. But for the first time in a long time, there 00:30:58.490 --> 00:31:01.430 isn't one designated savior on the roster who 00:31:01.430 --> 00:31:04.109 is failing to deliver a title. It's a clean slate. 00:31:04.329 --> 00:31:06.430 But the statue is still there. The statue is 00:31:06.430 --> 00:31:08.579 always there. So here's a provocative thought 00:31:08.579 --> 00:31:11.480 to leave you with as we wrap this up. We always 00:31:11.480 --> 00:31:13.880 talk about the Bulls needing to find the next 00:31:13.880 --> 00:31:16.599 Jordan to be great again. But maybe that's the 00:31:16.599 --> 00:31:18.819 entire problem. Maybe the only way the Bulls 00:31:18.819 --> 00:31:21.960 can truly move forward is to stop looking for 00:31:21.960 --> 00:31:25.220 a singular godlike figure to save them and instead 00:31:25.220 --> 00:31:27.519 build a team that wins despite not having one. 00:31:27.720 --> 00:31:30.480 But as long as that number 23 hangs in the rafters 00:31:30.480 --> 00:31:32.769 and that statue stands outside. I just don't 00:31:32.769 --> 00:31:34.549 know if that's psychologically possible for that 00:31:34.549 --> 00:31:37.009 city and that franchise. It's the curse of greatness. 00:31:37.750 --> 00:31:40.089 Good feels like failure when you've already tasted 00:31:40.089 --> 00:31:43.509 perfection. That does it for our deep dive into 00:31:43.509 --> 00:31:45.970 the Chicago Bulls. From the coin flip to the 00:31:45.970 --> 00:31:48.529 dynasty to the constant rebuilds. Thanks for 00:31:48.529 --> 00:31:50.109 listening and we'll catch you on the next one.