6 Rings: the true story of the Chicago Bulls dynasty

 

Twenty years ago, the dynasty ended.

The Chicago Bulls of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson won six championships in eight seasons and reshaped the NBA forever.

My latest story celebrates their final game together, Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals, and completes (for now, I guess) an ongoing series of pieces that I have written over the past 13 years on what was easily my favorite era as a sports fan.

Here, all together, are those pieces about “YOUR World Champion Chicago Bulls!”

I will never get tired of hearing that.

How The GOAT Was Built: 6 Life Lessons From the 1996 Chicago Bulls

Way back in October, back when the Bulls’ record of 72 wins was safe, I began an essay about the 12 moves the Bulls made between June 1993 and October 1995 that turned an aged, bickering, 57-win champion into a flourishing, rejuvenated, 72-win juggernaut.

Seven months later, I have a 13,000-word e-book and have spent more time reading about and watching clips of the 1995-96 Bulls than any time other than 1995-96. I’ll save you the suspense: It’s been a sweet 7 months!

Thus I am very proud to release “How The GOAT Was Built: 6 Life Lessons From the 1996 Chicago Bulls.”

READ AND DOWNLOAD THE PDF VERSION: How the GOAT was built — by Jack M Silverstein

For an iBooks copy for your phone, email readjack.com@gmail.com.

More e-book options to come.

To read the six lessons without the prologue or epilogue, (but with lots and lots of video!), click the links below:

33-23 = 1.8, but 33+23 = 72

Excerpt from “How The GOAT Was Built: Six Life Lessons From the 1996 Chicago Bulls” (Read the book here)

Lesson #2: Don’t be afraid to push your limits — or to find peace and excellence within them

by Jack M Silverstein (@readjack)

The championship Bulls don’t work without Scottie Pippen. So naturally the Bulls tried to trade him approximately a bajillion times between 1994 and 1998. In telling the story of the 1996 Bulls — and gleaning from that story wisdom for our own lives and pursuits — two abandoned Pippen trades stand out.

Incredibly, both failed because the OTHER team balked.

The first was between the Bulls and SuperSonics on the eve of the 1994 draft, the Pippen-for-Kemp deal that failed when Seattle got cold feet.

The second was in February 1995, when the Clippers tried to acquire Pippen at a time when he was dead set on leaving.

“I don’t want to be here (with the Bulls) the rest of the season,” Pippen said in early February. “I’m hoping teams are thinking about me. I’m still ready to get out of here. I’m looking for a different place, a different team, a different perspective on my career. I’ve got 18 days to go (to the February 23 trading deadline). The countdown is on. Just say I’m showcasing myself out here.”

The 1993 Bulls and LeBron James: a look back, and a look ahead

The 1993 Bulls and LeBron James: a look back, and a look ahead

Originally posted June 20, 2013

Michael Jordan scored the first nine points of the 4th quarter of Game 6 of the 1993 Finals — Pax scored the last three.

If I could watch only one Bulls Finals game for the rest of my life, it would be Game 6, June 20, 1993: Bulls 99, Suns 98. The night the Bulls secured their legacy as one of the premier teams in league history. The night “Paxson for three!” became every young Chicago hooper’s on-court self-exclamation.

There are a few reasons this game gets the nod for me. One, of course, is the remarkable final 45 seconds:

On the John: Vinny and me

On the John

Vinny and me

Originally completed May 5, 2010

It was all sunshine and smiles for Vinny Del Negro on June 9, 2008.

My complicated fan relationship with coach Vinny Del Negro began May 24, 2008, the day I applied for the Bulls’ then-vacant head coaching spot. It was a chaotic time for the organization. After three consecutive trips to the postseason, the Bulls had collapsed, firing Scott Skiles and flopping to a 33-49 record under interim coach Jim Boylan. After Boylan was heaved April 17, Pax and Reinsdorf began their search for a new head coach.

Can you name all of the players on the championship Bulls?

It’s quiz time!

Can you name all 38 players who appear on Bulls championship banners?

Ready…

From November 30, 2006: Oh, to have KG…

On the John

Oh, to have KG…

Originally completed November 30, 2006

KG would have looked fantastic in a Bulls uniform.

I’ve grown quite mad for Kevin Garnett.

This should not come as much of a surprise. After all, we’re talking about a seven foot forward who, after 11 NBA seasons and 30 years on Earth, still plays ball like he’s from the future.

Are power forwards supposed to have handles like Scottie and post moves like Hakeem? Are they supposed to use Kobe’s first step to propel themselves to Ewing’s tomahawk? Should they have the ability to score like the Mailman (when necessary), rebound like Charles, and fling passes around the paint like Vlade Dadi…all while defending the rim like the Admiral?

To quote Mrs. Seinfeld: how could anyone not like him?

The readjack.com CHICAGO BULLS collection

Aaaaand nooooooow…

Nothing like a Bulls poster to make a kid's room complete.

Since I’ve written so much about YOUR WORLD CHAMPION CHICAGO BULLS! (don’t you still love hearing that?), I figured I would create one page with all of my best Bulls work. Essays from Bear Down and On the Johns from 2006 to the present.

I will also post the best Bulls-related youtube vids, links to other people’s Bulls writing, and whatever else seems appropriate.

Cool?

Cool.

Learning the Hard Way: Jordan’s Bulls vs. the Bad Boy Pistons

From Bear Down and Get Some Runs:

Learning the Hard Way

My parents became friends in 1972. For eight years they lived on the East Coast, dating on and off until they decided to get married in 1980. I was born a year later while we were living in Brooklyn, MJ two years after that in Connecticut, and in 1984 we moved back home to Chicago in an Evanston apartment as my folks had always planned.

This is how it felt to be a Bulls fan in the late 80s.

As a three-year-old with Chicago fandom rich in the blood, I really could not have asked for a better time to move back. While doomed as apocalyptic by the great Orwell, 1984 was the beginning of a golden era in Chicago sports. The Cubs won the division that summer, going to the postseason for the first time since 1945. The Bears, buoyed by an incredible 1983 draft, dominated in the fall and went back to the NFC Title game, and though they lost to the Niners the seeds were planted for their incredible 1985 run.

But the city’s most significant move came in the middle of the year, when the Bulls used the number 3 pick in the draft to select Michael Jordan, a junior guard from North Carolina. This was the landscape of Chicago sports when I was growing up, and from 1984-1998, I saw some pretty incredible feats:

From May 6, 2005: A Thank You Note [end of the 2005 Bulls]

May 6, 2005: A Thank You Note

The season is over.

The 2005 Bulls put ‘team’ first, with vets like Pike and Adrian Griffin meshing with four rookies, including Lu, Du, and Noce.

The Bulls have just lost Game 6, 94-91, and I am strapped with an incredible feeling of loss. No second round series with Miami. No Game 7 at home. After leading for most of the game and playing the kind of basketball that helped us earn the fourth seed in the East, the kind of basketball that had evaded us during Games 3, 4, and 5, the Bulls fell apart in the final two minutes and dropped a heartbreaker to the Wizards.