This is the first of two companion posts.
They were two Chicago teams in different sports, separated by 14 years and a turn of a century. They shared a city and an arena. They both won championships – one in the middle of Chicago’s greatest basketball decade, and one at the start of the city’s greatest hockey decade. One did it with the greatest basketball player of all time (apologies to no one) and a precision-fit supporting cast; the other with a roster so young that playoff beards – for many – were just rumors.
Sporadic joy. That is all I ask in return for my investment as a fan. The 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls and 2009-2010 Chicago Blackhawks are unrivaled in delivering me joy. What set those teams apart was something that sets iconic teams apart in all sports: a great player or two complemented by the complete buy-in and acceptance of roles by his or her teammates. Basketball and hockey are all about flow and momentum. Games are fluid and decisions are made on the fly, without much real-time guidance from coaches. In each sport, five players (setting aside the hockey goalie) need to act singularly. While set plays and individual battles exist in all sports, basketball and hockey lack football’s role-defining play-calling and the hyper-importance of baseball’s pitcher/batter duel.
These two teams were athletic orchestras – one on hardwood and one on ice. They brought me joy and achieved greatness in large part because of brilliant performances by role players. Not just any role players – arguably the greatest role players I have ever seen, role players who also happen to have had Hall of Fame-caliber careers: Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman of the Bulls, and Marian Hossa and Duncan Keith of the Blackhawks.
I know, I know. I hear you already. “Wait a second! How can you say Pippen and Rodman and Hossa and Keith were role players? That’s crazy.” And, “What about the 1985 Bears and 2016 Cubs and 2005 White Sox? Didn’t they bring you joy?”
Let me answer the second question first. Of course, those teams brought me joy. The 1985 Bears were a supernova; they fielded the best defense I have ever seen and an unrivaled collection of characters. That was a special group, and they did what they had been assembled to do – pummel everyone standing in the way. I don’t begrudge anyone who places the 1985 Bears on a pedestal. But I would feel a lot better about that team had it climbed the mountain at least once more. And I have grown a tad tired of the canonization of all things ’85 Bearsssss, including the head coach. You can try, but I am not sure you can convince me that Mayor Harold Washington would not have led the 1985 Bears to their Super Bowl win — as long as Buddy Ryan was left alone. The defense was that good. I mean, did you watch the playoffs?
As for the baseball teams? Special, obviously. The 2016 Game 7 Cubs’ win will likely never be displaced as the most cathartic, soul-cleansing win by any team I’ll ever follow. And while I am in the minority of Chicago fans who defend being a fan of both baseball teams (“why not?” is my argument), I am not a White Sox diehard and won’t pretend it was important to me as it was to others.
The Bulls
By 1996, the Bulls had already won three titles – during the Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen-Horace Grant half of the dynasty. You know the story: Jordan retired in 1993 after the tragic murder of his father, dabbled in baseball, and then came back late in the 1994-1995 season wearing a strange new number (45) and a lot of rust. The Bulls bowed to the Magic in the playoffs.
The 1995-1996 season was MJ’s first full season post-(first) retirement. He had apparently shaken off that rust. The Bulls set a since-eclipsed NBA record with 72 wins. They won the NBA title after a 15-3 playoff run that included sweeps of the Heat and Magic. During the regular season, they led the league in scoring, allowed the third fewest points per game, were first in offensive efficiency, and first in defensive efficiency.
Trivia Question: Four Bulls on the 1995-96 playoff roster were born outside the USA. Name them. Answer later.
trivia Question courtesy of the one true team, three-time champion of the st. giles men’s society sports trivia night
MJ was, well, MJ. He essentially picked up where he’d left off in 1993. But what elevated the 1995-96 Bulls to be the best of the six Bulls’ champions of the Nineties was Jordan’s supporting cast. Pippen was, of course, arguably the best wing man ever. He finished the season second on the team in per game scoring (19.4), third in rebounds (6.4), first in assists (5.9), and second in steals (1.7). Thanks to a little pandemic downtime, I recently watched some of the 1996 Bulls’ playoff games. MJ was, well, MJ. A cold-blooded killer. Unstoppable offensively. Relentless defensively. A force, just as I had remembered. You don’t forget Michael Jordan.
What I had forgotten – a little bit – was Scottie Pippen’s grace and greatness. Imagine yourself pouring a few tablespoons of cooking oil into a frying pan. The oil glides across the surface in all directions, eventually covering every square inch of the pan. That was Scottie Pippen on the basketball court. Gliding effortlessly, everywhere. Covering every inch of the court with his impossibly long, loping strides. Defensively, he was always in the other team’s way – either on the ball, or in a passing lane. Offensively, he deferred to Jordan quite a lot – but somehow still made his presence known. Bouncy, spectacular, versatile. On both ends, he seemed to have the length of someone 6-11, and the mobility of someone a foot shorter.
That Jerry Krause-built team had only three guys average in double figures — Jordan, Pippen, and The Waiter, Toni Kukoc. Steve Kerr came off the bench and was the fifth-leading scorer (8.4). Krause assembled the perfect set of complementary players for Jordan – in addition to Pippen, the team featured a collection of relatively young/relatively unproven guys (Kukoc, Luc Longley, Jason Caffey, Dickey Simpkins), mid-career journeymen keenly aware of their limitations (Kerr, Bill Wennington, Jud Buechler, Randy Brown), guys on the back nine of their careers who gladly fell in line with however the coaching staff and Jordan wanted them deployed (Ron Harper, John “Spider” Salley, James “Buddha” Edwards), and one towel-waving cheerleader (Jack Haley).
Did you notice the guy I did not mention? Dennis Rodman. He really does not fit into any of those categories. Imagine, Dennis Rodman, Non-Conformist. By then, he was not a kid, but also not yet done. He was Dennis Rodman, rebounding savant. And he had an exceptional basketball IQ. “You’re saying Rodman was smart?” Uh – yeah. Watch one of those playoff games in 1996. When he joined the Bulls, Rodman essentially stopped shooting – he took on average less than five shots per game in the regular season. That’s an insanely low number, considering he averaged nearly 15 rebounds a game, with 5.6 per game coming on the offensive end. Rodman would often pass up on put-back attempts after gathering a rebound – hurrying the ball back to Jordan or Pippen on the perimeter as if he was allergic to leather. What he did was played the exact role the post-Horace Grant Bulls needed – rebounding machine. His positioning on both ends of the court, awareness of spacing, anticipation of where the ball was going, knack for setting screens – all off-the-charts good. Sure, he could be a goofball and draw a technical foul or ejection occasionally, but when he bought in to what the Bulls were doing and followed Jordan and Pippen’s lead, the Bulls went from being the best team in the league to arguably the best team in history.
So beat me up if you want – tell me Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman were not role players. But hear me out first. A role player, to me, is not simply a John Salley or Jud Buechler – someone who mostly sits on the bench and plays a few minutes a game as a backup, often in garbage time, or as a last resort if someone is injured or in foul trouble. A role player in basketball is anyone who clearly does less than his talents allow him to do, who sacrifices for the sake of the team. Next to Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen was always going to play second fiddle. Next to Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman was always going to be the non-scorer, counted on to do everything else – and especially to get them the damn ball back when someone missed a shot.
As great as Jordan was, the first several years of his career proved he could not win championships on his own. For the sake of his legacy, he was lucky to have played alongside Pippen and Rodman and the many others who bent to his will and played supporting roles. Jordan was known to be a gambler. In playing with Pippen and Rodman in 1996, he drew pocket aces.
Trivia Answer: Bill Wennington (Canada), Luc Longley (Australia), Toni Kukoc (Croatia) and … get this one … Steve Kerr (Lebanon). (Kerr’s father, Malcolm, was President at the American University in Beirut. Malcolm Kerr was murdered when Steve Kerr was in college at the University of Arizona.)
trivia answer courtesy of the one true team