Year-by-Year History of the Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls joined the NBA for the 1966-67 season. The franchise struggled for the better part of a quarter century, occasionally putting excellent teams on the court, such as the tough units of the mid-1970s that featured Bob Love, Norm Van Lier, Jerry Sloan, and Tom Boerwinkle. More often, however, the Bulls worked hard for mediocre results. That all changed in the mid-1980s with the drafting of Michael Jordan, the dominant player of his era and possibly the greatest player of all time.
Jordan won seven straight scoring titles with a combination of breathtaking slam dunks and a bag of thrilling shot-making tricks. He put up some of the biggest numbers in NBA history and wrote some of the most memorable chapters in the annals of the league. The addition of Scottie Pippen, another Hall of Famer, in 1987 would set the stage for one of sport's great dynasties.
In the early 1990s, the Bulls assembled a strong supporting cast for Jordan and Pippen which won three consecutive NBA titles, becoming only the third franchise in history to string together a trio of crowns. After more than a year of "retirement" to try his hand at professional baseball, Jordan returned to lead the Bulls back to another title in 1996, one more in 1997 and a third in a row in 1998, the Bulls' second three-peat of the decade and their sixth NBA championship trophy.
Ten years later, Chicago beat overwhelming odds to win the NBA Draft Lottery, meaning the Bulls had the top pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. Point guard Derrick Rose was the team's choice, and he has since led the Bulls to the playoffs in each of his professional campaigns, including a trip to the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals. In Rose's third season, he became the youngest player in NBA history to earn MVP honors.
Prior to the inception of the Bulls organization, two pro teams had failed in Chicago. One squad, the Stags, had been a charter member of the 11-team Basketball Association of America, the predecessor of the NBA. The franchise folded after the 1949-50 campaign. The Packers debuted in 1961-62, but after two last-place finishes and a name change to the Zephyrs, the franchise moved to Baltimore and eventually became the Washington Bullets.
Jordan won seven straight scoring titles with a combination of breathtaking slam dunks and a bag of thrilling shot-making tricks. He put up some of the biggest numbers in NBA history and wrote some of the most memorable chapters in the annals of the league. The addition of Scottie Pippen, another Hall of Famer, in 1987 would set the stage for one of sport's great dynasties.
In the early 1990s, the Bulls assembled a strong supporting cast for Jordan and Pippen which won three consecutive NBA titles, becoming only the third franchise in history to string together a trio of crowns. After more than a year of "retirement" to try his hand at professional baseball, Jordan returned to lead the Bulls back to another title in 1996, one more in 1997 and a third in a row in 1998, the Bulls' second three-peat of the decade and their sixth NBA championship trophy.
Ten years later, Chicago beat overwhelming odds to win the NBA Draft Lottery, meaning the Bulls had the top pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. Point guard Derrick Rose was the team's choice, and he has since led the Bulls to the playoffs in each of his professional campaigns, including a trip to the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals. In Rose's third season, he became the youngest player in NBA history to earn MVP honors.
Prior to the inception of the Bulls organization, two pro teams had failed in Chicago. One squad, the Stags, had been a charter member of the 11-team Basketball Association of America, the predecessor of the NBA. The franchise folded after the 1949-50 campaign. The Packers debuted in 1961-62, but after two last-place finishes and a name change to the Zephyrs, the franchise moved to Baltimore and eventually became the Washington Bullets.
1966-67: "Red" in Inaugural Season
The brand-new Chicago Bulls franchise earned its first victory on October 15, 1966, with a 104-97 win over the St. Louis Hawks. The team's coach was Johnny "Red" Kerr, a former player with the Syracuse Nationals, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Baltimore Bullets. He is one of a select group of players to surpass the 10,000 mark in both rebounds and points, and he held the league record for consecutive games played with 844 until Randy Smith eclipsed his mark during the 1982-83 season. Read More...
1967-68: Chicago Struggle Without its "Guy"
After that promising beginning the Bulls fell apart. During the 1967-68 season the club traded Guy Rodgers, the steadiest player on the squad, to the Cincinnati Royals for Flynn Robinson and two future draft choices. Chicago lost its first nine games, slumping to 1-15 before climbing back to respectability. The Bulls went 28-38 the rest of the way but still finished 29-53. Read More...
1968-72: Bulls Turn Corner Because of Love
In 1968-69 the Bulls went 33-49, a record that helped explain the home crowd of just 891 fans who watched them beat Seattle, 120-105, on November 7. On November 23 they traded Flynn Robinson to Milwaukee for Bob Love, a smooth 6-8 scoring threat, and Bob Weiss, a scrappy 6-2 guard. Chicago was accumulating the elements of a competitive club. Read More...
1972-74: A Player With No Fear: Bulls Acquire Van Lier
In November the Bulls acquired 6-2 guard Norm Van Lier from Cincinnati for center Jim Fox. Van Lier brought a pugnacious attitude to the game and teamed with Sloan to form the toughest defensive guard tandem of the era. The squad had a seven-game winning streak in late November, then another of equal length in late December, and stood at 27-10 entering the new year. Another five-game string in January put the Bulls 21 games up in the win column. Read More...
1974-76: Defense Helps Chicago Win Division
After four straight 50-win seasons the Bulls fell to 47-35 in 1974-75 but still captured first place in the Midwest Division. The team got off to a shaky start as Van Lier and Love held out while they renegotiated their contracts. However, 6-11 center Nate Thurmond, acquired from Golden State in a trade for Clifford Ray, picked up the slack. Thurmond was in the final years of his Hall of Fame career, but in his Bulls debut (the season opener on October 18) he set a team record by blocking 12 shots against the Atlanta Hawks. Read More...
1976-81: Artis Awesome, But Bulls Aren't
The immediate results were surprisingly good, however, as Badger helped the 1976-77 squad to a dramatic 20-game improvement and a 44-38 record. Prior to the season the Bulls had acquired 7-2 center Artis Gilmore in the ABA Dispersal Draft. After five great campaigns with the Kentucky Colonels in which he had averaged 22.0 points, Gilmore put in six sterling seasons with Chicago. He couldn't rescue the Bulls from a team-record losing streak, however, as they went winless in 13 games. That rough patch was forgotten by season's end, though, as the team won 20 of its final 24 contests, with Gilmore, rookie Scott May, and veteran Norm Van Lier leading the charge. The remarkable turnaround vaulted the Bulls into the playoffs, in which they became victims of Bill Walton and the championship-bound Portland Trail Blazers. Read More...
1981-84: A Three Year Struggle
The 1981 NBA Draft yielded 6-9 forward Orlando Woolridge of Notre Dame, but after the promise of the previous season, 1981-82 was a disappointment. A December 2 game against Golden State was especially galling-the Bulls broke their own NBA record with a .705 field goal percentage but still lost to the Warriors, 120-119. The team went 19-32 under Sloan, and on February 17 he was replaced by Bulls General Manager Rod Thorn. Thorn guided the Bulls to a 15-15 finish and a 34-48 overall record. Gilmore led the team in scoring (18.5 ppg) and rebounding (10.2 rpg) and led the NBA in field goal percentage at .652. Read More...
1984-87: "Air Jordan"
The reward for the lean season was the third pick in the 1984 NBA Draft. The Houston Rockets, picking first, selected Hakeem Olajuwon, who would become one of the NBA's most dominant centers for more than a decade. The Portland Trail Blazers used the second selection for another center, Sam Bowie, whose career would be hampered by a series of injuries. The Bulls took College Player of the Year Michael Jordan, a 6-6 guard from North Carolina. Read More...
1987-89: Jordan Gets a Supporting Cast
Jordan was indisputably great, and Oakley, who led the league in total rebounds (1,066), was outstanding. Still, the Bulls lacked a quality supporting cast. They took a major step toward alleviating that problem at the 1987 NBA Draft, when Vice President of Basketball Operations Jerry Krause acquired two players who would be vital cogs in Chicago's future championship machine. With two picks in the top 10, Krause selected Olden Polynice at No. 8 and Horace Grant at No. 10. He then traded Polynice and draft considerations to the Seattle SuperSonics for Scottie Pippen, whom the Sonics had grabbed with the fifth pick. Read More...
1989-90: Phil Jackson Replaces Doug Collins
Phil Jackson replaced Doug Collins as head coach for 1989-90. As a player Jackson had spent 13 years in the NBA, 11 of them with the Knicks. He had been named the Continental Basketball Association's Coach of the Year in 1985, the season after his Albany Patroons won the league championship; he then hooked on with the Bulls as an assistant coach. Read More...
1990-91: No Bull Chicago Cops Championship
In 1990-91 some of the less obvious aspects of Phil Jackson's coaching philosophy began to draw attention-and began to produce unprecedented results. Although the Bulls had the most creative offensive force in the history of the game in Jordan, they also stressed defense and teamwork. Read More...
1991-92: Two Rings are Better than One
In 1991-92 the Bulls came roaring back. They dominated throughout the year and threatened the league record for victories in a season before ending up at 67-15, the best mark in franchise history. Chicago was slow out of the gate but then ran off a team-record 14-game winning streak for a 15-2 record by early December. The Bulls put together a 13-game streak in January to sit at 37-5, then coasted in with a 30-10 second half. Chicago equaled its best home record at 36-5 and set a new club mark with 31 road victories. Read More...
1992-93: "Three-Peat"
The Bulls finished the 1992-93 regular season at 57-25, the team's fourth straight 50-win campaign. For the second consecutive year Chicago never lost more than two games in a row. On January 16 against the Orlando Magic, Jordan scored 64 points, his second-highest total ever. He won his seventh straight scoring title at season's end and joined Pippen on the NBA All-Defensive First Team. B. J. Armstrong, a fourth-year guard from Iowa, moved into the starting lineup and led the NBA in three-point percentage at .453. Read More...
1993: Jordan Announces his Retirement
The Bulls seemed poised to go as far into the record books as Jordan would carry them, but then, prior to the opening of training camp for the 1993-94 season, Jordan dropped the bomb. He retired at age 30. Read More...
1993-94: There is Life Without Jordan
However, the 1993-94 Bulls proved there was life without Michael Jordan. Although Chicago didn't win its fourth straight championship, it posted a 55-27 record (for second place behind the Atlanta Hawks in the Central Division) and advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals. But for the first time in four consecutive playoff matchups, the New York Knicks eliminated the Bulls, though it took them seven games to do it. Read More...
1994-95: "His Airness" Returns
The 1994-95 season opened with the Chicago Bulls in a new arena, the United Center, and with Michael Jordan as a memory. The team played close to .500 ball for much of the campaign. Scottie Pippen was one of the league's best all-around talents, finishing among the league leaders in steals (2.94 per game, 1st), scoring (21.4 ppg, 12th), rebounding (8.1 rpg, 23rd), and assists (5.2 apg, 23rd). Pippen started in the All-Star Game and was named to the All-NBA First Team at season's end. Toni Kukoc was inserted into the starting unit about 25 games into the season and averaged 15.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 4.6 assists for the year. Most nights Kukoc and Pippen formed a formidable duo. Read More...
1995-96: Greatest Ever? Bulls Wins 72 Games
After hearing for an entire offseason that he wasn't quite the same player as he had been when he abruptly retired in 1993, Michael Jordan was driven to lead the Bulls to the NBA championship for the fourth time in six years. His supporting cast included Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman, acquired in a preseason trade. Though a talented collection of players, no one could have predicted what the team would accomplish. Read More...
1996-97: Five Times a Champion
Coming off of a record-breaking 1995-96 season, what could the Chicago Bulls do for an encore? How about 69 wins and a second consecutive NBA title, the fifth for the Bulls in seven years? That's exactly what the Bulls accomplished in 1996-97, posting a 69-13 record and winning the championship with a memorable six-game triumph over the Utah Jazz in the NBA Finals. Read More...
1997-98: Repeat Three-Peat
It wasn't easy for the 1997-98 Bulls. Unlike many of Chicago's prior title runs, this one never seemed like a mere formality. From the very beginning of the season, the Bulls were challenged both mentally and physically. Read More...
1998-99: The Rebuilding Begins
After six NBA championships in the previous eight seasons, it was time for the Chicago Bulls to start over. Read More...
1999-2000: Emergence of a Rookie
In the Bulls first full year of rebuilding, efforts focused around the 1999 NBA Draft’s first overall pick, Elton Brand. In the 1999-2000 season, Brand joined an impressive group of NBA players, becoming only the 19th player in league history to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in a rookie campaign. In addition, he became only the second player in team history to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds, joining Artis Gilmore. Read More...
2000-01: Youth Reigns
The Bulls’ intentions going into the 2000-01 campaign was to recruit a pair of the summer’s elite free agents—a group that included Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, Tracy McGrady and Eddie Jones—to be the core players in the re-building process. However, Duncan re-signed with San Antonio, Hill accommodated his wife’s desires to go to Orlando and McGrady and Jones both opted to play near their home towns. Read More...
2001-02: Change of Direction
In 2001-02, the make-up and direction of the Chicago Bulls changed significantly: by the season’s end, a pair of 18 year old phenoms and an All-Star caliber player were in the line-up while Elton Brand, once thought to be the franchise’s cornerstone for rebuilding efforts, was not. The result was a renewed sense of optimism and hope surrounding the team’s future with Tyson Chandler, Eddy Curry and Jalen Rose as the centers of attention. Read More...
2002-03: A Rosy Future
The Bulls entered the 2002-03 campaign with an eager sense of anticipation on what the prior year’s moves would become. Read More...
2003-04: Winds of Change
Heading in to the season, Bulls fans were as optimistic as they had been in years. Before it was done, however, winds of change had blown through the Windy City leaving a roster and a coaching staff upside down. Read More...
2004-05: Skiles' Style Works for the Bulls
Scott Skiles’ first full season as Chicago’s head coach turned out to be an eventful one. Following a roller coaster ride of highs and lows, the team finished the regular season with a record of 45-37 en route to the postseason for the first time in six years. Read More...