The Last Dance: Four predictions for episodes 5 and 6

4. The Croatian Sensation

Long before the days of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce – and far before LeBron James’  infamous televised “decision” in which he announced he would be taking his “talents to South Beach” to team up with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade – Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman comprised the inner sanctum of the Big Three responsible for bringing a multitude of championships to the Windy City.

This type of triangular core roster unit has always predicated immense success in the NBA, and it’s a theme that can be traced back nearly to the league’s inception. Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish assumed superior roles for the Boston Celtics’ dynasties of the 1980s. Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy encompassed the core trio of stars for the showtime Los Angeles Lakers’ runs of the same period. Top teams of earlier decades also embodied a similar trend – see Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor. And even further back: Bob Cousy, Bill Russell, John Havlicek.

But while remarkable alpha talent has long had direct causation to the winning efforts of the league’s teams of yesteryear, their pursuits would be null and void if not for the supporting play of the essential role players that surrounded them.

For the ’08 Celtics, it was the phenomenal point guard play of Rajon Rondo that got them over the hump. For those LeBron-led championship Miami Heat teams, players like Mike Miller and Shane Battier assumed dark-horse roles.

As for those legendary Bulls’ squads than ran roughshod through the league during the 1990s, that guy was Toni Kukoc.

The Croatian-born lefty got his first brush with NBA competition in an unsettling way during the 1992 Olympic group stages. Unfortunately for him, with Pippen and Jordan waiting in the wings to give their newest teammate (Jerry Krause had drafted him back in 1990) an ample dosage of the harsh realities the American game would have waiting for him. That they did, holding Kukoc to just four points on 2-of-11 from the field while taking turns guarding him.

Upon his arrival in the Americas though, Kukoc proved to be exactly what the Bulls needed in filling their sixth-man role. He was a 6’10” stretch-four seasoned beyond his years, capable of stepping back and shooting the deep ball, providing needed floor spacing and posing the ability to dive inside and crash the boards as well.

He may not have made the best initial impression on Jordan and Pippen in international competition, but he was an integral factor in their elevation to sanctification during the latter part of the decade.

And the story of the team’s reign over the league through the late ’90s is incomplete without Kukoc euro-stepping his way into the forefront of their plans.