3 takeaways from episodes 9 and 10 of The Last Dance, ESPN’s MJ doc
2. So, why did the Bulls break up?
It’s the question that’s loomed over the entire 10-part docuseries but only grew larger amid Chicago’s final celebration to cap it off. Why did the Bulls, after winning their sixth championship in eight years, refuse to defend their three consecutive championships?
To be fair, the Bulls didn’t directly break up their core, but Jerry Krause’s refusal to consider bringing back head coach Phil Jackson — even if he went 82-0 — set off a chain reaction.
Jordan wasn’t going to play for another coach besides Jackson. Already furious at the organization, it’d be difficult to bring Pippen back without the chance to compete for titles alongside MJ. Without either of those two, Rodman wasn’t worth the headache.
But that still doesn’t answer the question of why Krause wanted to push that first button before he had to. Even if every draft pick and trade went in his favor, there’s so much unpredictability that goes into winning at the highest level. Who could tell when anything close to what he had would come again?
Most of it had to do with his ego. Krause didn’t just want to win. He wanted to win his way, a way that earned a level of credit he felt he deserved.
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Jerry Reinsdorf has had 22 years to come up with an answer that didn’t sound like one of the dumbest decisions in sports history. Still nothing...
— Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) May 18, 2020
That raises another question of why Jerry Reinsdorf didn’t intervene to set up a chase for banner No. 7. As the owner of the NBA’s premier franchise at the time, wouldn’t competing for titles be in his best financial interests?
Everyone watching heard Jordan say it. They viewed the 1997-98 season as The Last Dance, but they would all have come back for a chance at a seventh, even Pippen.
Jackson believed it was time to go, but maybe that was because he was already being shown the door. What Reinsdorf says about the value of the players or how much it would’ve cost him or Chicago’s questionable title chances remains irrelevant. They had still earned the right to defend what was theirs.
It’s been more than 20 years since that 1997-98 season and the attention still sits on Krause and Reinsdorf for answers that remain unsatisfactory.
Because the truth is, one doesn’t exist and never will. No matter how many different ways they tried and continue trying to spin it.