NBA Championships: 6
Last NBA Championship: 1998
Claim to Fame: Michael Jordan and the Bulls were practically unbeatable in the 1990’s, cruising to six titles.
Claim to Shame: Everything after Jordan?
The 1966 Bulls are still the only expansion team in NBA history to make the playoffs in their inaugural season.
Chicago muddled through 14 more seasons before things changed dramatically. In the 1984 draft, the Bulls selected Michael Jordan with the third pick. He would, of course, go on to become arguably the greatest player in the history of the NBA.
Jordan’s first breakthrough came in the 1991 season, when the team, under head coach Phil Jackson, was able to finally end the Detroit Pistons’ dominance in the East. They would go onto win their first of three straight titles, before Jordan retired in 1993 to pursue a baseball career.
Jordan returned in 1995, and in his first full season back the Bulls became the first team to win 70+ games in a season. They won the first of another three titles before Jordan retired a second time.
The Bulls suffered through some lean years but appeared to find a worthy successor to Jordan in the late 2008, when they drafted Derrick Rose. The Chicago native went onto win MVP in 2011, but injuries derailed his promising career, forcing the Bulls into another reset.
Now two years removed from the Jimmy Butler trade, they took a step back in the win column going just 22-60 as they fired Fred Hoiberg and replaced him with the somewhat controversial hire of Jim Boylen, who had multiple instances of internal conflict with players boil up throughout the second half of the season.
Their biggest acquisition of the summer was landing lightning quick point guard prospect Coby White in the draft, who they hope will finally be the long term answer at the position. He should get a chance to develop alongside Otto Porter, Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter as the Bulls continue their rebuild.
