08-05-2025
"We could've won seven, we could've won eight, or we could've won nine, the LeBron thing" - MJ took a shot at LeBron when discussing how many titles would Chicago won if the 1998 team never broke up
Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls built a dynasty during the 1990s. They completed two three-peats during an eight-year span from 1991 to 1998 to establish themselves not only as the best team in the decade but one of the greatest basketball squads of all time.
But successful as the Bulls were during that period, Michael Jordan was still bothered by the fact that they never got to keep the dice rolling and see how far their luck took them. After achieving a second three-peat in 1998, the Bulls surrendered the Larry O'Brien trophy without losing it on the basketball court by going their separate ways.
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"It was a very sad situation because we never lost in the Finals," said Michael in 2013 in an interview with good pal Ahmad Rashad. "I never knew what it felt like. At least, if you gonna…'Think I'll be the king of the hill?' Until somebody knocks you down there, you can shake the hand and say, 'You enjoy now, you gonna see how difficult it is,' but it never happened."
The Last Dance
The Bulls entered that 1997-98 season knowing that it would be their last. Phil Jackson was already told he wasn't coming back even if he went 82-0. And Jordan had declared that he'd rather retire than play for another head coach. Also, Scottie Pippen's controversial contract expired at the end of that campaign.
GM Jerry Krause also did not want the Bulls to get old. While he still had control over the pieces, he wanted to rebuild the team, even if that meant breaking them up while they were still at the peak of their powers. And so, despite winning a third straight Larry O'Brien Trophy in 1998, the dynasty team was disbanded, leaving Jordan and the crew thinking about the 'What ifs?'
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"Now we have to live the rest of our lives with this idea that we could've won seven, we could've won eight, or we could've won nine, the LeBron thing, but we were halfway there. We could've done all that. But for whatever reason, it was not meant to be," added Mike and thus took a dig at LeBron James' statement that the Miami Heat would win eight or nine titles when he assembled the big three there with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, but only managed to win two.
Related: Isiah Thomas recalls his college recruitment: "My mom closed the briefcase and said, 'My son's not for sale"
Harp said the Bulls would've beaten the Spurs in '99
While MJ thought about the possibilities after the "Last Dance", Bulls guard Ron Harper firmly believed that if the 1998 Bulls squad was retained and carried over to the 1999 season, they would have beaten the San Antonio Spurs in the 1999 NBA Finals and captured a fourth straight championship and a seventh overall title.
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"We felt we had a good enough team to keep winning — I don't think that the San Antonio Spurs would have gotten that championship, no way. Because they wouldn't have had to play against the New York Knicks, they would have had to play against that Chicago team. If we — the Bulls — had the same team, we would whooped San Antonio as*. I'll tell it like it is. We would whooped their a*s in five. Maybe four, but I'll say five," said Harper.
Looking back, the Bulls were still in their primes in '98, with Rodman as the oldest at 36 years old. With a team that was dominant and a unit that was cohesive, Chicago would still have been a powerhouse in '99. With MJ and Pip leading the way, there was a good chance they would've kept on winning and added at least another title in 1999.
Related: "He never beat Larry Bird, he never beat Magic and Kareem"- When Isiah Thomas reminded Stephen A. Smith he did what Michael Jordan could never do
