Thread by @readjack, 20 years ago today, Michael Jordan retired for the 2nd time. This [...]

20 years ago today, Michael Jordan retired for the 2nd time. This set off a 10-day chain of events unprecedented in pro sports, transforming a 62-win, three-time defending champ into a 13-37 nightmare and changing the Bulls franchise in ways that still reverberate.

A Thread.

The spectre of a breakup hung over the entire 1998 season, which Phil Jackson nicknamed #TheLastDance. Moments after MJ's last shot won ring #6, the Bulls power players all expressed doubts about a return for 1999.

From: https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/June-2018/The-Last-Day-of-the-Chicago-Bulls-Dynasty-NBA-Finals-Game-6-1998/

10 Bulls players + Phil Jackson were unsigned going into 1998-99, including Jordan, Pippen and Rodman. Eight days after the championship, Phil kickstarted the mass exodus, saying goodbye to the media and literally riding into the sunset.

The NBA lockout began July 1. Three weeks later, the Bulls consummated their years-long flirtation with Iowa State coach Tim Floyd. They hired him not as head coach, but as something called "Director of Basketball Operations."

Reinsdorf said that if Phil did not come back before the lockout ended, Floyd would succeed him as coach. If he did return, Floyd would be Director of Basketball Operations.

Phil's agent Todd Musburger called shenanigans.

@markheisler: http://articles.latimes.com/1998/jul/24/sports/sp-6759

The Floyd hiring essentially backed MJ into a corner, who was on the record at the start of '97-'98 saying he would not play for another coach.

Floyd, upon his '98 hiring: "I hope Michael will come back and play for me."

The standoff ended January 13, 1999, 20 years ago today, when Michael Jordan officially retired. This was the first domino in a devastating 10-day period.

Hold on to your hats.

More: https://www.blogabull.com/2017/3/24/15044772/the-true-story-of-jerry-krause-breakup-of-the-bulls-michael-jordan-phil-jackson-scottie-pippen

Art by @jknowles31 / @MikeKellams for @chicagotribune

January 15, 1999: Bulls officially name Tim Floyd head coach.

January 20, 1999: NBA lockout ends.

January 21: Bulls renounce the rights to Buechler, Jordan, Joe Kleine and Rodman, and trade Steve Kerr to the Spurs.

The team holds its first shootaround. Toni Kukoc, Bill Wennington and new captain Ron Harper are the biggest names there.

January 22, 1999: The Bulls trade Scottie Pippen to the Rockets for Roy Rogers and a 2nd round pick. Charles Barkley re-signs with Houston to give the Rockets a new Big 3 of Hakeem, Scottie and Charles.

A Barkley-to-the-Bulls signing was rumored before the breakup.

The Pippen trade basically concluded the purge, though on Jan. 23, 1999, the Bulls traded Luc Longley to the Suns for Mark Bryant, Martin Muursepp, Bubba Wells and a future first round pick.

Bonus: while this was happening, the Bears botched the McGinnis announcement on Jan. 22.

All told, from Jan. 13 to the 23, 1999, the Bulls lost Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, Longley, Kerr and basically Phil Jackson, promoted Tim Floyd to head coach, and acquired a bevy of journeymen, rookies and draft picks.

The gruesome details:

The team's big plan was to bottom out in the lockout season of 1999, draft well, and then head into the summer of 2000 with huge cap space and sign some combination of Tim Duncan, Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady.

Uh... here's how that went: https://twitter.com/readjack/status/906265024229978114

https://twitter.com/readjack/status/906265024229978114

Instead of transforming one dynasty into another, the 1999 breakup of the Bulls set the franchise on a 20-year odyssey of false starts and heartbreak.

@BarbersChairNet: https://www.barberschairdigital.com/blog-posts/2018/7/22/undoing-the-dynasty-michael-jordan-magic-johnson-and-how-the-bulls-blew-a-shot-to-become-the-lakers

Undoing the dynasty: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and how the Bulls blew a shot to become the...

How are LeBron James, the Lakers, and the 90s Bulls linked? It’s a sign of the Lakers’ continued dominance, and how the Bulls missed a chance to turn a dynasty into a DYNASTY @readjack

https://www.barberschairdigital.com/blog-posts/2018/7/22/undoing-the-dynasty-michael-jordan-magic-johnson-and-how-the-bulls-blew-a-shot-to-become-the-lakers

In the fall of '99, Ron Harper signed with the Lakers. Phil Jackson returned from retirement to coach the Lakers. Houston traded Pippen to the Trail Blazers. And a few months later the Bulls traded Kukoc, leading to this unpleasant graphic:

From 1999 to 2004, we watched as the key men in the dynasty continued their careers elsewhere. Here is the unfortunate bizarro world Sports Illustrated series.

Oh wait, this was the real world.

Fast forward to yesterday: the 7th Bulls head coach since Phil Jackson receives a contract extension into 2020 despite a losing record. Among those running the team is Gar Forman, the final hire from the Tim Floyd regime.

Floyd hired Forman as a scout, Aug. 1, 1998.

This depressing thread is brought to you by my non-depressing book, "How The GOAT Was Built: 6 Life Lessons From the 1996 Chicago Bulls." Read it here!

https://readjack.wordpress.com/2016/05/23/how-the-goat-was-built-6-life-lessons-from-the-1996-chicago-bulls/

https://readjack.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/how-the-goat-was-built-by-jack-m-silverstein2.pdf

And remember, Bulls fans: https://twitter.com/readjack/status/835539695291359232

https://twitter.com/readjack/status/835539695291359232

Postscript: 10 months after he retired, a 36-year-old Michael Jordan came to Bulls practice to slaughter rookie Corey Benjamin one-on-one. Mike tells Benjamin to "Look around you" at the banners, and adds later, "Don't call me out of retirement."

After that practice, someone asked MJ for his comfort level in the building re: Reinsdorf/Krause. Mike didn't feel welcome but also didn't feel he needed their blessing.

It clearly seems like he wanted to be part of the organization after retirement. What could have been...

Postscript #2: everyone talks about the Pippen-to-the-Celtics trade in '97, but in '95, the Bulls had an offer from the Clippers that had the potential to yield L.A.'s #1 pick in '95, '96, '97, '98. That could have brought KG, Kobe, T-Mac, Rashard Lewis: https://twitter.com/readjack/status/975445248024436737

https://twitter.com/readjack/status/975445248024436737

Here I am as a guest of @LaurenceWHolmes on @670TheScore breaking down the Feb. 1995 Pippen-Clippers deal, which Pippen ultimately squashed.

Again:

Clippers get Pippen
Bulls get Clippers #1 picks in '95 and '96 and right to swap #1s in '97 and '98.

What do you do?

I mistyped: Corey Benjamin is in his 2nd year here. The rookies on this team included Artest, who is dumbfounded, Brand, who I think accuses Benjamin of cheating with the score, and Lari Ketner, who stares down Brand from the front row.

https://twitter.com/Sixfever/status/1085040885581131776

https://twitter.com/Sixfever/status/1085040885581131776

Would the Bulls have won more championships if they stayed together? As Mike notes, that's a matter of speculation:

Ladies and gentlemen, your 2019 Chicago Bulls.

@cbefred @BawlSports @SBN_Ricky @KCJHoop

Chicago Tribune, 20 years ago today — coverage of the three sign-and-trade deals the Bulls made, all of which would become official in the days to follow, once the lockout was over:

* Pippen to the Rockets
* Longley to the Suns
* Kerr to the Spurs

The lockout ended January 20, 1999, and the Tribune reported that Dennis Rodman was retiring to focus on movies and wrestling. A month later the Lakers lured him back. The L.A. Times ran a "Point-Counterpoint" with "Point" the not-exactly-positive, "It's Twisted but It May Work."

On Feb. 28, 1999, the dispersal of the Bulls took centerstage in L.A., as Rodman's Lakers hosted Pippen's Rockets, with Michael Jordan watching courtside.

Note the bandage on MJ's right pointer finger. He severed a tendon in January '99 cutting a cigar.

https://www.blogabull.com/2017/3/24/15044772/the-true-story-of-jerry-krause-breakup-of-the-bulls-michael-jordan-phil-jackson-scottie-pippen

The Lakers won 106-90 in a game that seemed to cram the entire spectacle of the 1990s into one gym:

Jordan
Pippen
Rodman
Shaq
Kobe
Hakeem
Barkley
Carmen Electra

Plus Jack Nicholson for good measure.

This is some kind of highlight reel!

@bball_ref: https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199902280LAL.html

The breakup of the Bulls wasn't just about the Bulls. It was about the vacuum the Bulls created, and which teams and players sought to fill it. One was Kobe.

The 20-year-old scored 18 against the Rockets, going at Pippen while Jordan watched. He wanted the throne for sure.

In his 2nd game with the Lakers, Dennis Rodman came off the bench and led L.A. with 10 boards. His arrival in L.A. was lauded by the press as one that would bring leadership and stability to the young Lakers.

Rodman could hardly believe his new reputation:

The honeymoon didn't last. Rodman became a Lakers starter in his 13th game, stated the next 11 games, and then was released before the playoffs after showing up to one practice "groggy" with no basketball shoes or socks.

At age 37 he led the '99 Lakers with 11.2 RPG in 23 games.

What's wild for Rodman is that if he'd been able to keep it together with L.A. in 1999, he would have found himself playing for Phil Jackson in 2000. Harper came too — the 2000 championship Lakers could have had Harp, Dennis and Phil.

As Rodman showed in 2000 with the Mavericks, he still had game, leading the Mavs at 14.3 boards per game.

The downside: the Mavericks, winners of 7 of 8 before signing Dennis, won only three of his 12 games with him (all starts). He was ejected from two games and suspended one.

The Lakers, of course, didn't need Rodman to win the 2000 title, just as his ex-team, the Spurs, didn't need him to win in 1999. Instead, the Bulls dispersal brought rings to Kerr (1999) and Harper/Phil (2000), as Pippen had one of his greatest heartbreaks: Game 7, 2000 WCF.