Chicago Bulls Rumors
The Bulls seem to have had a bad image in terms of perception by free agents for years, what kind of work do you think the new front office will have to do to rehabilitate that image? @Patrick H. A lot of it is relationships. If they carry the pre-existing relationships people I have talked to insist they do, the job could be easy. I’ve heard from more than a few people who have been extremely impressed with the direction of the franchise.
Scott Brooks joined the Wizards Talk podcast this week and said he thinks the 1994 Rockets still would have won the title. “[The Bulls] had no answer for [Olajuwon]. It’s easy for me to say this now because it’s all hypothetical, but I don’t think they would have beat us in ’94,” Brooks said. “Now, the next year it could have been a different story. But that ’94 team, ‘Dream’ was, it was like destiny. He was locked in. I’ve never seen a guy up close every fourth quarter, I don’t even think he missed a shot, let alone make a mistake. He had both ends just covered.”
Brooks also recalled a story from those years involving Jordan and his Rockets teammate Vernon Maxwell talking trash to each other. “I remember one time they were just going at each other, going at it. You could tell it was getting a little dicey. It was like ‘okay, this might be a fight, actually.’ They got nose to nose one time,” Brooks said. “[Maxwell] said ‘man, I don’t care how many blank-blank commercials you’re in, I don’t care how many Nike commercials, I don’t care how many McDonald’s commercials; I will blank-blank your butt. I’m not intimidated by all the commercials.’ I’m looking at him like ‘gosh darn, Vernon, you know you’re talking to Jordan, right?’ He wasn’t afraid.”
In NBC Sports’ “Sports Uncovered” podcast, members of the 1994-95 Dubs detailed, for the first time in 25 years, a slew of Warriors practices Jordan dominated weeks before even rejoining Bulls practices – and the motivation behind them. “I might get in trouble for this,” said Tim Hardaway, then Golden State’s star point guard. “Him and (Warriors assistant coach) Rod Higgins are really, really good friends. He (Jordan) came and practiced with us two or three times.”
The Bulls received clearance from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office and are in talks with city officials to reopen the Advocate Center for limited workouts on Friday, May 29, sources tell NBC Sports Chicago Bulls insider K.C. Johnson.
