What if Mike Jordan never retires in 1998?

[Mazter]

These weren't true heading into their first season though.
this is all with the benefit of hindsight.
Rodman was the best third option for the Bulls, yeah but the league?
Longley is a guy who blew every second layup he took.

A lot of their reputation and status was due to playing with MJ and pip.

Sure, but did any other team in 96 have a third option who would be deemed better than Rodman?
How many teams in 96 had a fifth option who was better than Longley?

Nobody wanted anything to do with him (Rodman) at that time.

This points out the role Phil had in Chicago, he made it happen by making Rodman apologize to Pippen at Krause's house before the 1995 season began. Now Phil left the Bulls in June after the Championship. Rodman not talking to Jordan/Pippen without Phil around would probably explode somewhere in the 98/99 season.

[SmashMouthRod]

It will never happen but the Bulls matched up against the Robinson/Duncan Spurs (99 champs) wouldve been a matchup for the ages. Probably the toughest opponent they wouldve played in the finals. The New York Knicks finally had a breakthrough when the Bulls werent in the way similarly to the first Jordan retirement. But lost to the Rockets in 94 and Spurs in 99. I believe the Bulls wouldve beaten that Rockets back to back team at least one of the matchups. Im not so sure about that Spurs team with Pop. Duncan came into the league great; Robinson had been great; with Sean Elliott, Avery Johnson and perimeter shooting with championship experience (Mario Elie and Steve Kerr). It wouldve been interesting to see how the Bulls wouldve tried to neutralize that twin tower front court.

[Jordan Stopper]

These weren't true heading into their first season though.
this is all with the benefit of hindsight.
Rodman was the best third option for the Bulls, yeah but the league?
Longley is a guy who blew every second layup he took.

A lot of their reputation and status was due to playing with MJ and pip.

Sure, but did any other team in 96 have a third option who would be deemed better than Rodman?
How many teams in 96 had a fifth option who was better than Longley?

Nobody wanted anything to do with him (Rodman) at that time.

This points out the role Phil had in Chicago, he made it happen by making Rodman apologize to Pippen at Krause's house before the 1995 season began. Now Phil left the Bulls in June after the Championship. Rodman not talking to Jordan/Pippen without Phil around would probably explode somewhere in the 98/99 season.

Mate you're pushing it with the best fifth option talk, longley was trash.

Also, off the top of my head, Horace Grant was definitely a better third option at the time, Robert Horry and Sam cassell were coming into their own too and Danning Manning for the Suns was still a force.

I think Rodman was the perfect third option for the Bulls but as a third option overall? I think that's very questionable.

[Ron Swanson]

Never ceases to amaze me the Jordan contrarianism arguments like "36-year old Dennis Rodman" was the best 3rd option in the league, and propping up guys like Luc Longley, Jason Caffey, and Steve Kerr as anything but mediocre NBA journeymen. Pippen literally missed half the regular season in '98, yet that Bulls team won 62 games and had the best net-Rtg in the league en route to another championship. But sure, "the defense was all Pippen/Rodman" and "Jordan was done after that season".

[NCHeels2008]

Would've been interesting to add Jordan to the 99 Knicks

[Mazter]

Mate you're pushing it with the best fifth option talk, longley was trash.

Besides it being kind of odd to hear some guy calling any one who made it to the NBA trash, trash or not, feel free to mention 5 better 5th starter on any NBA team that season. Anyways, it's not like 35 year old Ilgauskas in '11 or Joel Anthony in '12 were outperforming Longley as LeBron's fifth option. In case we forgot, this all started at someone saying that LeBron had the most stacked team than any superstar ever.

Also, off the top of my head, Horace Grant was definitely a better third option at the time, Robert Horry and Sam cassell were coming into their own too and Danning Manning for the Suns was still a force.

I think Rodman was the perfect third option for the Bulls but as a third option overall? I think that's very questionable.

I guess the critics at the time differed about that. Besides leading the league in rebounds again, Rodman ranked 15th in MVP voting, 7th in DPOY voting, 3rd in All Star East forward voting (8th overall East, 17th overall) and was 1st All Defensive in 1996. There weren't many first options with those accolades that season, let alone a second or third. Horry and Cassell (who was a 6th man) can't both be a 3rd option for the same team and Manning came of the bench and played...like 33 games. One could argue Grant over Rodman I guess, but that's about it.

[twyzted]

Mate you're pushing it with the best fifth option talk, longley was trash.

Besides it being kind of odd to hear some guy calling any one who made it to the NBA trash, trash or not, feel free to mention 5 better 5th starter on any NBA team that season. Anyways, it's not like 35 year old Ilgauskas in '11 or Joel Anthony in '12 were outperforming Longley as LeBron's fifth option. In case we forgot, this all started at someone saying that LeBron had the most stacked team than any superstar ever.

Also, off the top of my head, Horace Grant was definitely a better third option at the time, Robert Horry and Sam cassell were coming into their own too and Danning Manning for the Suns was still a force.

I think Rodman was the perfect third option for the Bulls but as a third option overall? I think that's very questionable.

I guess the critics at the time differed about that. Besides leading the league in rebounds again, Rodman ranked 15th in MVP voting, 7th in DPOY voting, 3rd in All Star East forward voting (8th overall East, 17th overall) and was 1st All Defensive in 1996. There weren't many first options with those accolades that season, let alone a second or third. Horry and Cassell (who was a 6th man) can't both be a 3rd option for the same team and Manning came of the bench and played...like 33 games. One could argue Grant over Rodman I guess, but that's about it.

Rodman was traded to the bulls for will perdue which means that the spurs were so desparate to get rid of rodman that they traded him straight up for a back up center for David Robinson... Also rodman was probably the best 3rd option for the bulls as a defender but he was useless in the offence except for getting offensive rebounds and then he threw the ball to next bulls player he saw. There were many players who were better offensive player than rodman

And youre acting like the 5th option/starter for teams are anything else than just a player thats there to play defence and take open shots/layups. sam perkins was a better 5th option then longley, dennis scott/nick anderson for the magic, derek harper/anthony mason for the knicks, Dale Davies of the pacers and danny manning for the suns.