Never forget!

[GoddamnyamanProf]

You're right, back then players knew their place and did exactly what the man on top told them.

Any other tired strawmen you'd like to trot out here while you're on a roll?

 

[Based Lord Zedd]

He wouldnt have needed to, thats the point. Never came into consideration. No one in the Bulls org was thinking hey lets just recruit our biggest rivals to come join our big happy family! Nah they were thinking lets beat those mfs.

DAMN sure wasnt actively recruiting his rivals

Sounds like the Bulls had some idiots in their front office then. Goal should be to improve team by any means necessary,.. if that meant recruiting a rival then the front office is just supposed to say no?

I mean unless you count them signing Rodman, who at one point played for a big rival.

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

I dont know what way you think it'll be but nobody that knows ball respects this. I asked people today how many ships they think Golden State will win and they said to the effect of "who cares, they wont mean shyt"

and God help em if they dont even win

I see misery loves company.

 

[Thegospel]

I dont know what way you think it'll be but nobody that knows ball respects this. I asked people today how many ships they think Golden State will win and they said to the effect of "who cares, they wont mean shyt"

and God help em if they dont even win

I heard the same about Miami. Try again my nikka

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Any other tired strawmen you'd like to trot out here while you're on a roll?

How is that a strawman? The only difference between those days and today is that players have far more freedom to decide their own fate.


The "but they're rivals!" shyt is stupid. Dennis Rodman was from those Bad Boy Pistons teams, easily the biggest rivals of Jordan's entire career. Rodman was the DPOY back-to-back years when the Pistons were winning championships at the Bulls expense. But when the Bulls told Jordan that they could get Rodman, you know what Jordan said immediately? "Go get him!"

That team already had two of the top five guys in the NBA (Jordan and Pippen) plus Harper, Kerr, Kukoc, and Longley. But when they found out they could add another top-15 guy (Rodman was 3rd-team All-NBA the year before, multiple year All-star, coming off his 7th straight 1st-team All-Defensive Team), they said, "Go get him!" They didn't give a shyt whether he was a "rival" who had played them four straight years in the playoffs and taken titles at their expense.


The ONLY difference is that in that day the White guys at the top did all the decision making, and the players just offered consent. Now, it's different. But players want to win - that bit hasn't changed at all. Look at what Magic said about entering the NBA (he wanted to go to LA to team up with Kareem, wouldn't even have left college if crappy-ass Chicago had gotten the pick). Look at how stacked with talent those Boston and Los Angeles and Chicago squads were, or the other various "super teams" that Houston and LA and Boston have tried to form. No one has ever wanted to play with less talent to prove a stupid point, unless they were ego-driven as hell.

 

[jwinfield]

He wouldnt have needed to, thats the point. Never came into consideration. No one in the Bulls org was thinking hey lets just recruit our biggest rivals to come join our big happy family! Nah they were thinking lets beat those mfs.

DAMN sure wasnt actively recruiting his rivals

I don't think the Bulls ever had enough cap space to sign a "rival", so it wasn't a consideration because it was never a possibility.

It's ridiculous to think that if Shaq was interested in joining the Bulls that they would've told him to stay in Orlando to keep the rivalry going.

PRO BASKETBALL;In Free-Agent War, Knicks Have Edge

"I'm talking to everybody," Ewing said earlier this week, referring to his off-season job as the Knicks' recruiting coordinator. "I expect us to be in the running for Juwan Howard and a lot of guys. Reggie Miller. Allan Houston. No question. We can catch the Bulls."

Isaacson: Bulls had right chemistry for Rodman

"We knew Dennis had worn out his welcome in San Antonio. He took off his shoes while he was on the bench and all that," Reinsdorf said. "But we said he'd be the perfect guy if our players would accept him."

"But the question was, could the other players, particularly Michael and Scottie [Pippen], accept him. He did a crappy thing to Scottie and could have hurt him [when he pushed him into the first row of seats during a Bulls-Pistons playoff game in 1991] and he was a member of the Pistons, who we hated. But we talked with them and they said unequivocally, 'Go get him. He can help us.'"

Fans care more about this rivalry shyt than the actual players do.

 

[jwinfield]

This year was the first time OKC and GS faced each other in the playoffs but cats acting like this was some long standing rivalry.

NY and Indy faced each other 3 straight years in the playoffs, including two 7 game series, but that didn't stop Ewing from trying to get Reggie to the Knicks.

The "but they're rivals!" shyt is stupid. Dennis Rodman was from those Bad Boy Pistons teams, easily the biggest rivals of Jordan's entire career. Rodman was the DPOY back-to-back years when the Pistons were winning championships at the Bulls expense. But when the Bulls told Jordan that they could get Rodman, you know what Jordan said immediately? "Go get him!"

But as soon as MJ and Pip were presented with the idea to bring Dennis on, they both gave the OK