Pistons, Bulls and Rockets: NBA Championship-Caliber Contracts 1990-94
1993 NBA Champion: Chicago Bulls
League Salary Cap: $14,000,000
Championship-Caliber Contract: Horace Grant & BJ Armstrong
Scottie Pippen was the definite second cog over the Bulls’ second threepeat (96-98), but there is a very good argument that Horace Grant holds that distinction for their first (91-93). Grant produced a total of 42.9 Win Shares over the Bulls first threepeat compared to Pippen’s 39.9. The point is not to argue over who was better but to appreciate how good those Bulls teams were.
They had two top-15 players vying for the distinction of being the second or third best player on the team. Factor in salaries compared to their production and the Bulls were not simply the Michael Jordan show. The early 90s Bulls teams would have been dangerous without Jordan, adding the greatest player of all time into the mix, well, that’s just unfair.
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The Bulls looked fatigued in 1992-93 from back to back championships. Pippen, Jordan, and Grant all saw dips in their regular-season production, with only Grant remaining a championship-caliber contract due to making far less than the other two. Grant’s $1.9 million in salary took up 13.5 percent of the salary cap. His 11.5 win shares were worth $3.86 million, 27.6 percent of the cap. Grant was still incredibly valuable to the Bulls just not to the degree he had been the previous two seasons.
Not to be overlooked, B.J. Armstrong, drafted by the Bulls in 1989, was a key contributor still on a rookie contract. His 9.3 Win Shares, valued at $3.12 million, was an incredible bargain at $540,000 in salary. BJ Armstrong would earn an All-Star nod in the following season with an expanded role after the departures of Michael Jordan and Horace Grant.
Dynasties tend to be appointed to their best player, and justifiably so, but the Bulls of the early 90s had a ton of talent on below-market contracts. Could the Bulls have won it all in ‘94 if Jordan didn’t retire for the first time?
Maybe, but they would have been much more vulnerable than they were over their previous campaigns with the departure of Horace Grant. Contracts make dynasties and the Bulls Championship-caliber contracts started to dry up after the 1992-93 season. Jordan walked away at the right time as a fourth championship in a row was likely out of reach.