The Dismantling of the 1990's Bulls

      Let's face it, we all say it. That we can run a sports team better than the guys currently running the team. Heck some of us run team via video game like Madden. However, do we? Especially during a dynasty where you keep in the dynasty as long as you can until the player retires or too old to give your team anything or start trading/releasing for younger talent. Also, there's the Miami Marlins who after they win a Championship they start to trade most of their talent. Heck, they have done it without even being close to the playoffs. Then again, most teams not named the Yankees, Red Sox have that problem. Then again, Baseball doesn't have a salary cap per se other sports do. For the 1990s Bulls, it was no different. They were facing the same problems that the 1980s Celtic, Laker, and Piston teams dealt with. Granted with the Celtics and Lakers, they had to deal with more than just with father time. Celtics lost Len Bias two days after he was drafted second overall to the team due to a cocaine overdose (three other players from that 1986 draft also had problems with cocaine) and who knows what could have been and a possible rivalry with Jordan and the Lakers losing Magic Johnson after he was diagnosed positive for HIV and he immediately retired shortly after that. Unsure if it would have mattered either if he kept playing (he did have brief comebacks in 1992 preseason and 1996) or wasn't HIV positive because most of the Showtime Lakers were either gone or aging and teams like the Suns, the Supersonics (before they were the OKC Thunder), the Jazz, and the Rockets were on the rise and even if Magic had say another season or two possibly three in his prime, I am unsure if the Lakers would have been a title-contending team. Playoffs caliber team yes. Anyway back to the Bulls. Honestly, I don't know if Reinsdorf was going to paid everyone. More than likely not. He did offer Phil Jackson an opportunity to come back but it sounded like that he was going to coach a rebuilding team with Michael Jordan and that Krause was going to rebuild the team in a few years. Can't blame Phil for not wanting to do that. Plus I don't think Jordan would have had the patience for that if it was he still there because more than likely he would have been surrounded by younger guys (think of his time with the Wizards) and maybe there would have been a younger guy who probably have been impatient with him. Would have it been possible for everyone to sign one-year deals or the main core of players for a chance at a seventh title (well four or less depending on the player)? Possible but probably unlike considering would the Jerrys (Krause and Reinsdorf) even allowed that to happen? Maybe they would have but they probably would have thought this would be delaying the evitable, we need to rebuild now. The topic of going for a seventh title was first bought about from the Top Five Reasons You Can't Blame from ESPN Classic when they one of Jerry Krause breaking up the Bulls in 2005 (also number one on that list was Michael Jordan which I disagree with, Phil left first and should have been number one). Also, when promoting his 30 for 30 episode "Rodman: For Better or Worse" on ESPN's The Jump with his former teammate Scottie Pippen and host Rachel Nichols about the seventh title especially since the 1998-99 (well more like the 1999 season because of the lockout) season only had 50 games because of the lockout and Dennis Rodman was like man we could have won the seventh title if we came back. It was a possibility since the East was won an 8th seed New York Knicks team that season. It doesn't happen if the Bulls somehow get at least the core back and perform like they did in the previous three years. Probably could have beaten the Spurs and taken a title away from David Robinson, Steve Kerr who joined in the Spurs that offseason and won his fourth straight title (and later a fifth as a player in 2003), and Will Perdue from the first three-peat team and the player that the Spurs got for Rodman. Adding to another 10 rings I think the Bulls could have possibly gotten. So it would have been 11 rings. (OK more like 10 out of 11 really if it wasn't for the Bad Boy Pistons or Jordan's detour to baseball). Also, Jordan in the end of the Last Dance sounded like he wished they would have come back for one more title run. The thing is would they have kept everyone? Would the Bulls kept Dennis Rodman after that whole situation where he skipped a team practice before game four to wrestle with Hulk Hogan? Not a wise decision especially with the title on the line. It probably would have been more understandable if Rodman was a player for the White Sox (I know I went there). Couldn't he wait a few more days before doing that? However, if Michael wanted him back, Rodman would have came back as simple as that. Now there's one Scottie Maurice Pippen. He probably the hardest to gauge what he would have done. Would have he stayed for one more season or go elsewhere and give more money? He was vastly underpaid and honestly, I wouldn't have blamed him if he left for the money. He was the sixth highest-paid player on the team. Remember he's won six rings. You're thinking if a player won 2-3 rings for a team, he's gone to leave for free agency and get his money. Jordan would have needed his A-game (more like his A-plus game) and probably got a number of teammates including Rodman to convince Pippen to stay one more season. I don't remember Pippen reaction to Rodman said "we could have won four straight". I'm sure he agreed with him. Ultimately, the Bulls were dismantled and Krause took the blame. Honestly, I agree with Charles Barkley saying that another Jerry (Reinsdorf) is more responsible for the Bulls break-up than Krause. I don't think he saw going to pay everyone even for one more season and the Bulls haven't been the same since though they did make it to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2010-11 season with Derrick Rose winning MVP award. They lost to the Miami Heat under Lebron James and Rose got hurt in the next season's playoffs and hasn't been the same since (same can be said about the Bulls). Even the Celtics, Lakers, and the Pistons won titles since their 1980's and early 1990's teams faded away. Obviously, the 1999 Bulls were the worst team in the league under Tim Floyd who as hired as head coach after Phil left. Floyd coached there for three-plus seasons until resigning after terrible tenure there. Had at least one good season with the New Orleans Hornets (before switching to the name Pelicans to let Charlotte retake the name) in the 2003-04 season leading them to the playoffs and taking the Miami Heat to seven games but it wasn't enough for the New Orleans as they fired him after that season. I don't think it would have been a good coaching job to have knowing that the team was stripped down with the exception of Toni Kukoc and Rod Harper. By the time, the Bulls had a playoff team, Jerry Krause resigned in 2003 replaced by former Bull John Paxson. Krause bounced around Major League Baseball going from team to team as a scout or. He died in 2017 at the age of 77 just before was going to be inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame. He wasn't the nicest guy but HE DID BUILT THE BULLS AROUND JORDAN TO CREATE THAT DYNASTY. I think he did/does deserve more respect than he got. Even Scottie Pippen who hated Krause said in the Last Dance that Krause was the Greatest General Manager of all time. Would people be tired of the Bulls if they went for the seventh title? Probably, people were tired of Steve Kerr's Golden State Warriors winning titles in recent years though remember it's Michael Jordan so probably not. I admit I was glad they did break up when they did. End on a good note and that was it. Plus we won't be talking about this documentary if they did or maybe the documentary would have been 12 episodes long who knows. Sad to see how things ended but you got to admit it was a fun ride while it lasted. Phil Jackson coached another team into a dynasty in the LA Lakers during the Shaq and Kobe years and later just the Kobe years (though Kobe did have Pau Gasol for the last two titles). I wouldn't doubt if that Lakers team got a The Last Dance style Documentary or a 30 for 30 Episodes because it's going to at least two or three parts at least. I heard that a Kobe Documentary is going to happen since it been said that a camera crew followed Kobe around his last season the same way that they followed the 1997-98 Bulls. Also, Dwayne Wade is producing a documentary about the Redeem Team, the 2008 USA Men's Basketball team that won gold after the 2004 team only won a Bronze medal (I know I know, but that a low point for the Men's team after the IOC allowed NBA players to be used). I wonder if things are going to be awkward in the next NBA owners' meeting since Jordan and Reinsdorf are peeps now. Also, surprised Michael Jordan didn't maybe try to play for the Knicks after leaving the Bulls just to screw with Krause. They probably would have won the title if he did.