Chicago Bulls End of Season Wrap Up

Predicted Outcome: 50-32, tied first place Central Division
Finished: 62-20, first place Central Division, 9-5 playoffs

Michael Jordan must be breathing a sigh of relief as his former team fell to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. His legacy in Chicago still remains intact. For years Jordan has carried the crown as Chicago’s favorite son as proven by the bronze statue of him in front of the United Center. Then all of a sudden, his omnipotence was challenged by some young whipper-snapper by the name of Derrick Rose. First Rose leads Jordan’s former team to a 62 win season—the first time since, well, Jordan led the team. Rose, at the age of 21, also became the youngest player to win the league’s MVP award—beating out Jordan who won his first MVP award at the age of 25. Now Jordan would lose his sole stake in Chicago as the sole player to bring the Chicago Bulls to Championship glory.

It took Jordan seven years to win his first NBA title, whereas Rose was in his third year and led his Bulls to the Conference Championship. Jordan was around 26 years old when he reached the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time. The first two, his Bulls fought and lost to the Isiah Thomas led Bad Boy Detroit Pistons teams. It took three seasons of blood, sweat and tears to finally overcome the Pistons and move on to win his first NBA title. Now here’s this young buck that comes in right after his freshman year in college and leads his former team to the conference championship for the first time in nearly a decade in just three years. If Rose’s Bulls would have won the series and advanced on to the NBA Finals, Jordan’s achievements in the Windy City and in basketball in general would have been greatly overshadowed thanks to such a feat. Jordan’s overall greatness as the finest player to have played the game would finally have been eclipsed.

Fortunately for Jordan, his legacy remains intact thanks to the efforts of the Miami Heat because right now that’s all he has going good for him right now. He’s currently portrayed as one of the biggest bunglers in an NBA front office with his illogical roster moves and poor talent evaluations. This was the guy who picked an athletically raw and offensively inept high school player Kwame Brown with the first pick of the 2001 NBA draft. He continued to show his poor judgment in talent five years later when he picked Adam Morrison with the third pick in the draft over Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, and Rajon Rondo. Morrison would end up being a bust while Roy, Gay and Rondo would go on to have All Star careers. Let’s not forget his unwise personnel moves as well. When he was the big wig for the Washington Wizards, he traded and up and coming Richard Hamilton to the Detroit Pistons for an aging and worn out Jerry Stackhouse. Hamilton would go on to become an All Star and win an NBA title with the Pistons while Stackhouse would continue his decline and bring the Wizards grief in the process. And that’s not even the worst of his poor personnel decisions in his post NBA career.

So, as can be seen by Jordan missteps in his post basketball career, he really needs what little he has left to maintain his revered stature in basketball. If Derrick Rose’s team were to have gone to the Finals, instead of the Heat, that would be just another black eye in the post basketball career of Michael Jordan. People would have been dismissing him as the greatest player ever replacing him with Derrick Rose. Jordan would turn into just another foot-note in NBA history as his legacy would have been swept away. His greatness would have been swept under a rug in place for the new kid on the block, Derrick Rose and his legacy would continue to be tarnished as a result of his own foolish business moves. At least for now, Jordan can salvage what’s left of an amazing basketball career and still cling on to the few vestiges of his past.

He was fortunate enough when Kobe Bryant did not match his six championship tally being ousted by the playoffs by the Dallas Mavericks. Now with Phil Jackson leaving the coach’s chair, he does not have to worry about neither Bryant nor his former coach winning another NBA Title that would diminish his achievement of winning six NBA titles in one decade. His place in sports history would remain unbeaten and unmatched. With the Chicago Bulls losing in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Miami Heat, Jordan does not have to worry about someone on his former team pushing him aside neither. His Chicago Bulls will still remain as one of the greatest sports dynasties with no equal for the past fifteen or so years. He can still carry that label with pride, well, until at least next season.
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