Look guys, it’s no secret that we’re in the off season now, and there won’t be any significant Bulls news until the NBA Draft. One could even make the argument that all that tanking to only get the 7th pick also means the draft itself may not bring us any significant news.
So instead, let’s embrace the off season depression and start throwing out a fun hypothetical; if one were to create a Bulls line-up using players from throughout the franchises 51 seasons, who would your ultimate starting five be?
Well, we dug through every season and player to bring you the best Bull for each position. Feel free to argue with us in the comments.
1. Center: Artis Gilmore
After the American Basketball Association merged with the NBA in 1976, the league held a special dispersal draft in order to divide up the players, with the Bulls choosing Artis Gilmore, the super-star center from the Kentucky Colonels. Gilmore became a key figure of the Chicago defense during his six seasons, using his 7’2 height to average 2.1 blocks and 11.1 rebounds per game. Also, while he may not be the most prolific scorer on this list, Gilmore would average a highly respectable 19.3 points a game. A premiere center throughout his career, Gilmore was also one of the few players who could ever put the breaks on all-time great, Kareem Abdul–Jabbar. Plus, he had a sweet afro. This guy fucks. If you’re going to build the best Bulls team, you couldn’t ask for a better center to build around.
2. Small Forward: Scottie Pippen
Chicago royalty, any list that would leave off Scottie Pippen at small forward is not a list you should take seriously. Scottie Pippen is not only an all-time great Bull, but basically belongs on basketball’s Mount Rushomore. During his first eleven seasons with the Bulls, Pippen averaged 18 points a game and roughly 0.55 championships a season. He was also the first “point forward” that paved the way for the LeBrons and Ben Simmonses (that’s a word right?) of the modern day NBA. Pippen still leads the league in playoff steals with 395, and only missed the playoffs once during his 16-season career in the NBA, in his final season where he retired a Chicago Bull. That being said, he takes any opportunity he has to rank other players before Michael Jordan because he is a jealous fuck. SHUT THE FUCK UP SCOTTIE! I digress.
3. Point Guard: Derrick Rose
Look, forget the Derrick Rose that you’ve had in your mind for the last six years, the perennially injured journeyman who looks like he’s held together by duct tape, and remember who Derrick Rose was. When he first arrived in Chicago in 2008 after being selected number one in the draft, Rose went to work earning himself the Rookie of the Year. He followed that break out season the following year by making the all-star team, before boasting his best year where he became only the second Bull to win the MVP award after bringing Chicago its first 60+ win season in almost 20 years, before losing the Eastern Conference finals in five games to the super team of LeBron, Wade, and Bosh. No matter how his career ends, (not well and probably soon) one cannot deny that Derrick Rose was a superstar on the verge of history.
4. Power Forward: Horace Grant
Gotta give it to Horace Grant on the fact that the man just knew how to win. A four time NBA All-Defensive team member, Grant was a key part of the original Bulls three-peat serving with Joran and Pippen as a member of the core three. Grant even played hero with his last second block of Kevin Johnson to with the 1993 NBA Finals. After Jordan’s original departure, Grant served as the number two man behind Pippen and made his way to the 1994 All-Star game. In his post Bulls career, Grant went on to win one more championship with the L.A Lakers in 2001.
5. Shooting Guard: Michael Jordan
If you didn’t see this one coming then I cannot understand why you even bothered reading a list about a sport you’ve never heard of. Michael Jordan is the best player to ever think of the word basketball. If you want numbers to back it up, Jordan accumulated five Season MVP’s, six Finals MVP’s, fourteen All-Star appearances, led the league in scoring for ten seasons, owns two Gold Medals, was the 1988 Defensive Player of the Year Award (this one just seems made up), has enough rings to make his own Infinity Gauntlet, and, fuck it, hit three home runs in the minor leagues. Michael Jordan has surpassed the idea of “great basketball player” and instead has become the measuring stick used to beat down other All-Timers. Simply put, with Jordan leading these other four at their primes, you’d never have to watch another basketball game for as long as you lived, cause you already know who won.