SI Article on Bulls

[Nault <rnault@ptialaska.net>]

Hi,

I read in Sports Illustrated recently that the Bulls will most likely not
resign Jackson, and therefore won't keep Jordan either (he has said that if
Jackson goes he will go).  And there was even talk of getting rid of
Scottie Pippen!

Here is the article, from SI Online:


by Jackie MacMullan

  Break Up the Bulls?

  The Bulls are heavily favored to repeat as NBA champions in part
  because they possess the kind of chemistry that other franchises lack.
  Yet Chicago owner Jerry Reinsdorf says he's prepared to risk
  altering that chemistry. He and Bulls vice president of basketball
  operations Jerry Krause have already scouted replacements for coach
  Phil Jackson, compiled a list of free agents to pursue if Michael
  Jordan retires, decided which players they would want in return if
  they traded Scottie Pippen, and mulled over replacing power
  forward Dennis Rodman with backup Jason Caffey. Reinsdorf is coy
  about which players and coaches he has his eye on, but he's ready to
  make moves. "I have to think long-term, not just next year," he says.
  "I don't want to become the Boston Celtics of the next decade."

  Boston's dynasty crumbled in the wake of management's decision to
  allow Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish to grow old in
  Celtics uniforms rather than trade them for younger players or draft
  picks. (Ironically, Parish is still playing at age 43, in Chicago's
  red-and-black uniform.) So when is it time to let go?

  Reinsdorf, whose Bulls at week's end had taken a two-games-to-none
  lead over the Bullets in their best-of-five Eastern Conference
  quarterfinal series, thinks he'll know in the next few weeks. "If we
  win the title and blow through everyone, that's one thing," he says.
  "But suppose we win and somebody gets hurt? Or suppose we win,
  but only barely? My reaction could well be different in each case."

  Translation: A fifth championship ring in seven seasons guarantees
  nothing. While acknowledging that there will be tremendous public
  pressure to keep the Bulls intact if they win, Reinsdorf says, "I don't
  care." In fact, several sources in the Bulls' organization say the
  prevailing feeling in Chicago is that Reinsdorf and Krause are
  itching to begin rebuilding and are confident they can win another
  championship without Jackson and, if it comes down to it, without
  Jordan.

  Last summer, after tense and often acrimonious negotiations, Jackson
  signed a one-year contract worth $2.75 million. Jackson says he was
  so convinced the Bulls wouldn't ante up that he packed the
  belongings in his office and was prepared to walk until his players
  talked him out of it. Reinsdorf eventually blinked and paid more than
  he had planned. Those who know the owner well say that won't
  happen again.

  Meanwhile, the normally tight-lipped Krause has been fawning over
  Iowa State coach Tim Floyd, infuriating Jackson's allies. Reinsdorf
  insists that Floyd is not necessarily Jackson's heir apparent, while
  Jackson denies there are bad feelings. "Jerry [Krause] gets enamored
  of certain people," he says. "He used to be enamored of me."

  Reinsdorf says he wants Jackson back, but he quickly adds, "I don't
  know what is in Phil's head, but I think he wants to control
  everything. If that's what he wants, he can't have that here."

  Jackson says that isn't, and never was, his ambition. "Quite honestly,
  I think that's being used as spin," he says. Because of a clause in his
  contract permitting him to negotiate with teams during the playoffs,
  Jackson at week's end was expected to attract interest from the
  Grizzlies, the Magic and the Sixers.

  Much of Jackson's bargaining power with Chicago is supplied by
  Jordan, who has said he would retire if Jackson left. Asked before
  the playoffs if he still felt that way, Jordan said, "Yes. If Phil leaves,
  I'm going home to my family." Many people close to Jordan claim
  he is playing too well (as evidenced by his 55-point splurge on
  Sunday against the Bullets in Chicago's 109-104 Game 2 win) and
  having too much fun to walk away. Yet teammates say Jordan has
  been discussing retirement in recent weeks. "I think when Michael
  says [he'll retire], he believes it," Reinsdorf says. "But when it
  actually came time to decide, he might rethink it."

  "It's extremely important to Michael that Phil is the coach," counters
  Jordan's agent, David Falk. "He doesn't want to be in an
  experimental stage at this point of his career, and if he envisions
  changes, like [bringing in] a rookie coach, it would alter his
  thinking." So might the Bulls' next salary offer. Last summer
  Chicago signed Jordan to a one-year contract worth $30 million,
  some of which, Reinsdorf says, was "catch-up money" for the many
  years that Jordan made far less than a number of NBA stars who
  weren't as good as he. Jordan doesn't see it that way. "I think
  Michael has already said he doesn't expect to take a pay cut," Falk
  says.

  As for Rodman, he used to say he'd retire if the Bulls didn't re-sign
  him; now, after making a splash in Hollywood with his costarring
  role in the film Double Team, he talks about joining the Lakers. But
  L.A. doesn't have salary-cap room to sign the Worm, even if it were
  interested in him.

  Rodman, who will become a free agent after the Bulls' last playoff
  game, knows his days in Chicago could be numbered. "If we don't
  win it all, I doubt I'll be back," he says. Sources close to the team say
  it's likely Rodman won't be back even if the Bulls do win. Rodman
  infuriated the league hierarchy and earned an 11-game suspension
  when he kicked cameraman Eugene Amos during a game in
  Minneapolis on Jan. 15, but he had previously incensed Reinsdorf
  even more when he used expletives in a live SportsChannel interview
  after the Bulls' Dec. 8 game against the Raptors. Reinsdorf says he
  wanted to suspend Rodman for 10 games but decided on a two-game
  suspension after he and NBA commissioner David Stern discussed
  the incident.

  "I hope Dennis doesn't start to believe he's the thing he created,"
  Reinsdorf says, alluding to Rodman's flamboyant persona. "I see
  signs of it. It's sort of like Howard Cosell at the end. He started to
  believe his own b.s." Meanwhile, Chicago is grooming Caffey, whose
  playing time has steadily increased.

  And whither All-Star swingman Pippen? He can become a free agent
  in July 1998. That gives the Bulls two options: trading him before
  that date or handing him a lucrative contract extension after they put
  their other pieces in place.

  Assuming Jordan retires after next season and Rodman isn't
  re-signed this summer, the Bulls could have the following players
  and salaries for cap purposes in July 1998: Randy Brown ($1.3
  million), Caffey (he would be a free agent, so the sum for cap
  purposes would be 150% of his salary at the time, or $1.6 million),
  Ron Harper ($5.3 million), Toni Kukoc ($4 million), Luc Longley
  (he too would be a free agent, making his figure $4.5 million) and
  Pippen (another free agent, $4.5 million). The total: about $21.2
  million. The '98 cap is expected to be about $28 million, so if the
  Bulls renounced the rights to a free agent such as Longley, they
  would have a truckload of cash to woo free agents from other teams,
  like the Timberwolves' Kevin Garnett. Then, once Chicago was done
  acquiring new talent, it could take advantage of salary-cap rules and
  pay its own free agent, Pippen, any amount it wanted.

  In the past Reinsdorf has resisted suggestions that he give superstar
  money to Pippen, who this season has been relatively underpaid at
  $2.25 million. "But now Scottie is the complete package," Reinsdorf
  says. "He has grown up. You don't read any dumb comments
  anymore, no more girlfriend problems, no gun incidents. And he'd
  have Kukoc to help. Toni is a young guy [age 28], and we could give
  him the ball. I'm not suggesting that's the way we'll go, but it's a
  viable alternative."

  So is trading Pippen. In fact, when Krause showed up recently at a
  Bucks regular-season game, speculation ran rampant that he was
  scouting All-Star forward Vin Baker, who is unhappy in Milwaukee
  and can walk after the 1998-99 season.

  Reinsdorf admits that he's less excited by the Bulls' success this year
  than in 1995-96. "Last year was incredible," Reinsdorf says. "Every
  night in the locker room was like the seventh game of the World
  Series. We were going for 70 wins [the Bulls ended up with a
  league-record 72], it was Michael's first full year back....This year
  doesn't have the same intensity. If we hadn't won last year, it would
  have been a tremendous downer. If we don't win this year, it won't
  be."



Tim

Nault
rnault@ptialaska.net

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