Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls entered the NBA as an expansion team in 1966 and quickly established themselves as competitive, making the playoffs in their first season - a rarity for expansion teams. The early Bulls were built on defense and toughness, with players like Jerry Sloan, Bob Love, Norm Van Lier, and Chet Walker forming the backbone of teams that consistently contended in the Western and later Midwest Division.

The 1970s saw the Bulls reach the Western Conference Finals multiple times but never break through to the NBA Finals. The team was competitive but lacked the transcendent star needed to take the next step. The franchise's fortunes declined in the late 1970s and early 1980s, bottoming out as Chicago Stadium's crowds thinned.

The silver lining of the early 1980s struggles was clear: the Bulls were positioned for a high draft pick in 1984, and the basketball gods were about to deliver the greatest player the sport would ever see.

With the third pick in the 1984 draft, the Bulls selected Michael Jordan out of the University of North Carolina. The impact was immediate and seismic. Jordan won Rookie of the Year, averaged 28.2 points per game in his first season, and began filling Chicago Stadium with a level of excitement the building had never experienced. His 63-point performance against the Celtics in a 1986 playoff game - after returning from a broken foot - prompted Larry Bird to say he had just watched "God disguised as Michael Jordan."

Under new head coach Doug Collins and then Phil Jackson, the Bulls gradually assembled a supporting cast worthy of Jordan's talent. Scottie Pippen, drafted in 1987, developed into one of the most versatile players in NBA history. Horace Grant provided interior toughness. But the Bulls couldn't get past the Detroit Pistons' "Bad Boys," losing to them in the playoffs in 1988, 1989, and 1990 - physical, bruising series that tested Jordan's resolve.

Those defeats against Detroit were formative. Jordan learned that individual brilliance alone couldn't win championships, and Phil Jackson's triangle offense gave the Bulls the system they needed to harness Jordan's talent within a cohesive team framework.

In 1991, the Bulls finally broke through, sweeping the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals and then defeating Magic Johnson's Lakers in five games to win the franchise's first NBA championship. Jordan was magnificent, and the image of him clutching the trophy while weeping on the court became one of the most iconic moments in sports history.

The Bulls won again in 1992, defeating the Portland Trail Blazers in six games in a series remembered for Jordan's "Shrug Game" - a first-half explosion of six three-pointers that left even Jordan himself shrugging at the broadcast cameras. In 1993, they completed the three-peat by beating Charles Barkley's Phoenix Suns in six games, with John Paxson hitting the series-clinching three-pointer.

Three consecutive championships established the Bulls as the NBA's dominant force and Jordan as the most famous athlete on the planet. Then, shockingly, Jordan retired in October 1993 to pursue professional baseball, citing the emotional toll of his father James Jordan's murder and a desire for new challenges.

Jordan returned in March 1995 with a two-word press release - "I'm back" - and by the following season, the Bulls were the most dominant team in NBA history. The 1995-96 Bulls went 72-10 in the regular season, a record that stood for 20 years, and won the championship by defeating the Seattle SuperSonics. Jordan won his fourth Finals MVP, and the team's red-and-black became the most recognizable sports brand on Earth.

The Bulls won again in 1997, defeating the Utah Jazz in six games in a Finals remembered for Jordan's "Flu Game" - Game 5, in which a visibly ill Jordan scored 38 points while barely able to stand. The 1998 championship, also against Utah, was sealed by Jordan's iconic last shot - a pull-up jumper over Bryon Russell with 5.2 seconds remaining that gave the Bulls their sixth title.

After the 1998 championship, Phil Jackson departed, Scottie Pippen was traded, and Jordan retired for the second time. The dynasty was over, but its legacy - six championships in eight years, a 72-10 season, and the greatest individual career in sports history - was permanent.