All Time TEAM Series

The Chicago Bulls

PG Derrick Rose
SG Michael Jordan
SF Scottie Pippen
PF Horace Grant
C Artis Gilmore

6th F Bob Love
7th F Toni Kukoc
8th SG Reggie Theus
9th SF Luol Deng
10th PG Kirk Hinrich
11th C Joakim Noah
12th C Tom Boerwinkle

Summary:

You would think the Bulls would be an easy all time team to do. They have to of the greatest players of all time in MJ and Scottie, then they have one of the biggest stars of today in Derrick Rose. Horace Grant made the starting lineup because with him in there, nobody scores on this starting lineup. The only defender there worse than “elite” is Derrick Rose, and he is definitely a serviceable defender in his own right. The bench is where things get a little sketchy. The forward position is strikingly strong until you realize that of the 3 forwards on the bench, one of them was a shoot-first-defend-later Bob Love, whose PER never peaked 17, while the others are the notoriously soft Toni Kukoc and the always-defending and always-streaky Luol Deng. That said, beyond that, the only major hole is at backup point guard, but that happens when a team has had all of one elite point guard throughout their long and illustrious history.

Player-by-Player Analysis:

Derrick Rose

This is a player that I have been watching since he was in college. I’d be lying if I said I knew he’d be a Bull from his days in Memphis. The Bulls were a fringe playoff team without a hope of getting a top pick in the lottery, until the unthinkable happened: they actually won the lottery with a 2.7% chance to get the number one pick. At the time, the decision between D-Rose and Michael Beasley seemed like a tough one, but now, it seems that Derrick was the obvious choice. Beasley has turned into a burnout who is the bud of many “getting high” jokes around plenty of NBA fans, and Derrick Rose is now an MVP. Rose’s career has taken off fast. He won his first MVP at age 22, becoming the youngest MVP in NBA history. He has never seen his PER dip below the average of 15, and has improved his scoring drastically with each season, unless the current season is counted. This year, he has been injured very often, although he should be returning soon.

Michael Jordan

What else is there to be said? The man is the greatest of all time. He led the league in scoring an astounding 11 times, he won the MVP award 5 times in the regular season, and won the Finals MVP award for each of his 6 rings. He is regarded as one of the best perimeter defenders of all time, and was able to put up a career points-per-game average of 30.1. I don’t need to argue for Jordan, but I know somebody who has never seen him play will argue his vulnerabilities with me.

Scottie Pippen

Any list that has MJ on it has to have Scottie Pippen on it. Scottie IS the best defender of all time, and he was a great offensive player too. Those two years Jordan took off to play baseball? Yeah, Scottie carried those teams. Scottie was legit.

Horace Grant

It was debatable as to which team Horace should have been placed on, but he fits in perfectly with the style that this Bulls team would play on defense, and he’s not so inept on the offensive side that he’d be useless like Joakim Noah can be at times.

Artis Gilmore

I can honestly say I do not know much about him, I was unable to watch him play due to him playing in the 70’s. But what I do know about him is that he could score well, as he averaged 18 ppg throughout his career, and 24 ppg a few times. He also averaged 12 rebounds per game throughout his career. That is quite an impressive number. He was also a prolific shot blocker, averaging 5 blocks per game during his rookie season in the ABA. 5 blocks per game! I find that extremely impressive at any level.

Commentary on the bench will be provided on a later date.