Pooh25 Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Chicago Bulls: End of an Era By:ChicagoStateofMind http://oi52.tinypic.com/r7iplx.jpg Remember the "Baby Bulls"? Remember the Bulls who couldn't win more then 20 games per season? Remember Coach Cartwright, Jamal "Chucker" Crawford, Eddy Curry with his unlimited potential but laziness dropped him to a mere scrub in the NBA? Remember Frazier, Ben Wallace, Larry "Chucker" Hughes and Mike Sweetney? Remember when Chicago signed washed up John Starks? Those were one of the worst days in Chicago Bulls History after the "Jordan Years". Jerry Krause was the GM back in the day when this occurred and he blew up the historic Chicago Dynasty, some say prematurely. Some say that the Chicago Bulls could have competed for a couple more years under Jordan and Scottie Pippen and the Worm with their key role players. But, it was too sad to be true, the Chicago Bulls Dynasty was over when Jordan retired a second time, Pippen was traded for Olden Polynice, and Luc Longley and Steve Kerr left in sign-and-trade deals, and Dennis Rodman and Jud Buechler signed elsewhere as free agents... The Bulls hit gold after the first season without Michael Jordan, drafting Elton Brand with the #1 pick in the 1999 draft. Elton averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds in his first season in the pros but he didn't have enough pieces around him to build a winner, when Ron Artest is your #2 option, it's going to be tough as witnessed by the Chicago Bulls hobbled to a 17-65 record that season... The summer of 2001, the biggest NBA free agency period witnessed, until 2010, a group that included Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady and Eddie Jones to name a few players. Tim Duncan resigned with San Antonio, Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady both teamed up in Orlando as a dynamic duo and Jones also opted not to sign with Chicago. Who did Chicago get that year? Brad Miller and Ron Mercer. Write that up as another failure for the Chicago Bulls rebuilding process under the tenure of Jerry Krause. The only other option the Chicago Bulls had was the draft and in the 2000 NBA Draft, selected Marcus Fizer and Jamal Crawford. The Young Bulls had no team cohesion and hobbled once again to a 15-67 record... The Chicago Bulls had a fresh start when Jerry Krause resigned the next offseason when the Chicago Bulls had drafted two high school phenoms in Tyson Chandler, who was traded for Elton Brand, and Eddy Curry was selected by the Chicago Bulls. It was not a very smart idea for Krause to put everything in the bag and it backfired against the Chicago Bulls in the future... After the resignation of Jerry Krause, John Paxson was named the GM of the Chicago Bulls and the Bulls had a fresh start. Some key names that John Paxson drafted were Jay Williams, Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, and Luol Deng. Jay Williams suffered a career ending injury when he had a motorcycle injury which was TRAGIC news for the Chicago Bulls because he had the makings of a superstar athlete. He had many great games for the Chicago Bulls and was on the especially when he posted a triple double. Kirk Hinrich, was the perfect player for Paxson, because he was white and went hard every play... Ben Gordon was the streaky shooter who could come up big in the clutch time and Luol Deng was the player who could do it all. The #2 high school prospect at the time behind LeBron James in the 2003 draft class. Scott Skiles, was the man responsible for changing the losing mentality, when he coached the Bulls to winning records and changed the player's mentalities to think that they could beat anyone if they played hard every game and played as a team. The infamous Jordan quote "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships" would be the unofficial team motto for the Skiles era's teams... The team suffered after they defeated the Miami Heat in the '05 great run they had until they got knocked out mercilessly against the Detroit Pistons where Ben Wallace had altercations with the coaching staff and was quitting on the team when he was late for shoot around. The tides were turning, when the altercation that Ben Wallace created and the Chicago Bulls fell into a deep slump and the players accepted back to the losing mentality they had in the beginning of the decade after the "Jordan Years". Ben Wallace was the root of the problem and he manipulated the young Bulls players by saying things in the locker-room such as "you have the contract now, why play hard?". Many of the Bulls players accepted the "Ben Wallace Philosophy" and tuned out Scott Skiles and Skiles was fired on Christmas Day. Fast Forward, to present day, where the Future looks bright under the arms of Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and Carlos Boozer. Harden your hearts from the days of losing and look at these amazing players we have currently on our team. They are all winners and they do not care about stats, they just want to win and they will do anything to get the win at the end of the day. Embrace it, love it, and CHERISH it because we are going to miss these days, just as we have missed the Jordan Days. ------------------- Comments & Criticism? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Truth Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Ben Wallace was the root of the problem and he manipulated the young Bulls players by saying things in the locker-room such as "you have the contract now, why play hard?"lol rly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pooh25 Posted January 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 lol rly? Yeah, he was a huge cancer to the team especially after he realized he shouldn't have signed for Chicago because he just signed with Chicago for the money when his heart was set on Detroit. Bad Times.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Truth Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 haha, that's crazy. I remember him signing that big [expletive] deal with Chicago now. I'd forgotten he ever even played with them. but yeah, the past is the past, I guess. you could have even mentioned their troubles in the past few years when they missed out on acquiring Kobe and couldn't sign Wade/LeBron. things look good for them now, though. Rose has really turned this around, and in a short period of time. Rose, Boozer, and Noah make for one of the best trios in the game, but they could still use a scorer. things look good, though. nice blog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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