We're trying to figure out the best season in Bulls franchise history, and we want your help in deciding.
Because the Bulls tout the greatest player in basketball history, who could have made up this list by himself, we're giving Michael Jordan his own side of the bracket. But the other side of the bracket is also filled with some pretty memorable and remarkable campaigns.
So read up on each matchup and then have your voice heard by voting on our Twitter page here. Check out the entire bracket in the graphic above.
The Jordan Region
No. 1 Michael Jordan (1995-96) vs. No. 8 Michael Jordan (1997-98)
No. 1 Michael Jordan (1995-96): Jordan was on a mission in his first full season back from retirement. He led the Bulls to a then-record 72 wins with a regular-season MVP award, All-Star MVP and romp through the NBA playoffs, where the Bulls went 15-3 en route to their fourth NBA title. Jordan won his eighth straight scoring title at 30.4 points a game, with nine games where he put up 40 or more. He saved his best for Detroit, scoring 53 with 11 rebounds and six steals in early March. To prove Jordan was getting better as he aged, he shot a career-high 43 percent from 3-point range at age 33.
No. 5 Michael Jordan (1997-98): The "last dance" featured a 35-year old Jordan capturing his fifth MVP while leading the Bulls to their sixth title. It wasn't the best statistical Jordan season but he willed the Bulls to a 62-win season while being without Scottie Pippen for nearly half the year after Pippen underwent back surgery. Jordan won his 10th straight scoring title at 28.7 points per game and had 12 games of 40 points or more, including a 42-point showing at Madison Square Garden in New York in his last visit as a Bull. Later that June, he played his last game as a Bull, a 45-point performance in Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz, hitting the winning jumper with five seconds remaining.
No. 3 Michael Jordan (1987-88) vs. No. 2 Michael Jordan (1990-91)
No. 3 Michael Jordan (1987-88): 1987-88: Jordan went from phenom to icon in 1988, picking up his first MVP award and leading the Bulls out of the first round for the first time in his career. In addition to his league-leading 35 points per game, Jordan recorded the only season in NBA history of 250 steals and 125 blocks, earning his only Defensive Player of the Year award. Jordan dominated All-Star Weekend in Chicago, winning the slam dunk contest and scoring 40 in the All-Star game for his first MVP. It was the season where Jordan put the league on notice: He was coming for the crown.
No. 2 Michael Jordan (1990-91): 1990-91: Jordan's second MVP came with his first NBA title, as he was at the peak of his powers physically combined with the ultimate team success, with the Bulls finally getting past Detroit before defeating the Lakers in the Finals. He shot a career-high 54 percent from the field while averaging 31.5 points, six rebounds and 5.5 assists as he began to fully embrace the triangle offense in Phil Jackson's second season. Jordan had 57 games where he shot better than 50 percent from the field, and was among the league leaders in steals at 2.7 per game while earning his fourth straight All-Defensive First Team honor.
The Field Region
No. 1 Derrick Rose (2010-11) vs. No. 4 Scottie Pippen (1991-92)
No. 1 Derrick Rose (2010-11): Where to begin? The youngest MVP in league history took the league by storm, averaging 25.0 points and 7.7 assists while leading the Bulls to a league-best 62 wins. Rose had been named an All-Star the previous season but took his game to new heights in Year 3, appearing in 81 games, making 128 3-pointers (after making a combined 32 his first two seasons) while helping the Bulls rank first in defensive efficiency under first year head coach Tom Thibodeau. Rose and the Bulls lost in five games to LeBron James and the Miami Heat, with Rose shooting a paltry 35 percent on 24 attempts per game. But his historic season will always go down as one of the franchise’s best, and the only non-Jordan MVP.
No. 4 Scottie Pippen (1991-92): It was evident early in his career that Scottie Pippen was going to be a star. But his 1991-92 season really put him in the national spotlight. He averaged 21.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.0 assists – the only player in the league to average 20/7/7 – was named All-NBA Second Team and All-NBA Defensive First Team. Pippen didn’t have as strong a postseason as he did during the Bulls’ championship run the previous year, but he did help close out the Blazers in the Finals with a near triple-double in Game 5 (24/11/9) and 26 points in the clincher back home.
No. 3 Joakim Noah (2013-14) vs. No. 2 Scottie Pippen (1993-94)
No. 3 Joakim Noah (2013-14): If Noah was ‘just’ Defensive Player of the Year and ‘just’ an All-Star, this would still be worthy of one of the top seasons in Bulls history. He finished 4th in MVP voting, was 1st team All- NBA (one of four Bulls players in last 50 years to accomplish that), and put together one of the best offensive seasons of any big man in league history. Seriously, only five centers have ever averaged 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists per game for an entire season: Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Bill Walton, and Noah. Heart, hustle, and muscle indeed.
No. 2 Scottie Pippen (1993-94): Yeah, well what would Scottie be without MJ? We found out that answer in 1993-94, when Pippen took the reins of the franchise as Jordan rode the Birmingham bus as a minor-league baseball player. Pippen responded with a sensational season, averaging 22.0 points, 8.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists. He averaged 2.9 steals, shot 49 percent from the field and became a 3-point threat for the first time in his career. He was named First Team All-NBA and All-NBA Defensive First Team, and finished third to Hakeem and The Admiral in MVP voting. He averaged 22.8/8.3/4.6 in the postseason but ultimately proved it was easier to win in the spring with MJ by his side. Still, this individual season was one of the franchise’s best, if not the best. Hardware isn’t everything.