In-depth look at the Bulls new Ring of Honor with Michael Reinsdorf

In-depth look at the Bulls new Ring of Honor with Michael Reinsdorf

Hello everybody I’m Casey Johnson with NBC Sports Chicago and is my pleasure to welcome you to our interview with Bulls president and CEO Michael Rin how you doing Michael doing well you seem very excited to be sitting down we joked off camera that we are usually more informal

Than this Casey’s wearing a tie I’m impressed I’m I’m showing you up uh but hey we’re to celebrate a very cool thing obviously the Bulls Ring of Honor and the obvious question is like how did this idea come about well it’s something it’s something I’ve been thinking about

For a long time I think it’s really important to myself to my my family to actually all our Bulls fans all over the world to celebrate all the people that have had such an impact in our organization um whether it’s a player front office you know coach trainer um

Everyone’s there’s so many people have played such an important part of our our success over the you know almost 60 years and so I think it was just a great opportunity to just celebrate um you know once once a bow always a bow other organizations have done things that are

Similar to this why now for you guys you know it’s something that we I thought about it many many years ago and then then Co hit and that kind of slowed things down you hosted the All-Star game we had the All-Star Game and it was just there

There’s a lot of stuff going on but it’s something that’s been in the back of my mind for a long time it’s we you know we’ve honored players and certain uh front office uh staff and coaches with you know retiring their their numbers but this this gives us an opportunity to

Celebrate more people uh it takes more than just one person to to you know win a championship it takes more than one person to you know be successful um it takes a team of people and um this is this is a great opportunity know we can celebrate people like dick Klein the

First owner of the Bulls who knows what what would have happened had he not taken a chance and started this organization um it’s a chance to celebrate you know Tony K coach uh you know Dennis Rodman played three years for us but you know those were three

Memorable years and so this is just a way for our fans to uh and and and for our organization to say thank you to all the people that have meant so much to us uh at the Chicago Bulls one question I’ve heard from a lot of people and maybe

Uh able to reveal the behind the curtains selection process or not but how did the selection process work well it it was hard because the truth is is that we could there’s so many people that we could put into you know the first inaugural class but for us we just

Decided to kind of take a look at um the numbers that were retired so the you know the Michael and the Scotties uh Bop love and Jerry Stone so that was obvious dick Klein who was you know the original owner um you know players who played for

The Bulls several years and also are in the Hall of Fame so Tony kach is in the Hall of Fame Dennis Rodman’s in the hall of fame um and recognizing that you know we’re going to be doing this every other year so we have plenty of Runway now to

To bring in you know more players and coaches and uh you know front office staff to be part of our our uh Ring of Honor did you have any thought to maybe this first class being too big it yes I mean it’s it’s hard not to

Be too big for that first class um and so you know we’re also honoring the the the the 95 96 yeah we’re going to get into that so so yeah it crossed my mind but I think I think where we settled was is probably fits for that first class

Yeah because like you have the the parameters of either retired already or with a tie to the Hall of Fame because I was saying one question I’ve gotten from some people is like did you ever think about maybe doing just Michael and Scot Scot but then you’re like well Phil

Coach them and Jerry Krauss acquired them except for Michael and or hired them and so like where do you start drawing the line it would have it would have been difficult and so to the you know for us I think this honors our Championship you know players like

Michael and and Scotty Jerry Krauss who was the general manager Phil Jackson was our coach and then uh you know you add in the Johnny red C and the other the Hall of Famers like Dennis Rodman and Tony kach and artist Gilmore Gilmore Tex winners right I mean that it just it

Just feels right it just you know even though players like Chad were not on championship team they they were the first great Chicago Bulls basketball team he was part of it and you know he’s a hall of famers right right um You and I have talked about this many times over

The years but the 95 96 team it’s pretty cool that you guys are honoring that team uh in particular because of obviously the at the time NBA record 72 victories and just the Rockstar nature to that team what do you your kind of personal memories of following that team

We were both a lot younger then yeah we well we were younger um it’s always weird when you can remember the games that you all the games that you lost there are so few um my my best favorite memory of that year besides obviously winning the championship was going to

Milwaukee remember driving up and being like we have a chance well we knew we were going to break the record at that point but we’re going to win 70 games it’s it was unheard of at at at the time and just it’s still hard to we won but

The way I look at it we won 72 but we really we really won 87 games that year we were 87 and 13 so that’s a pretty good that’s a pretty good winning percentage and the most important thing is we won that last game of the season always the most important always the

Most important one um let’s just go through quick hit thoughts on each of the inaugural sure class if you can or if I can since I did not have all 13 in front of me and going off memory uh deck Klein you started there dick Klein um so

Obviously I don’t have personal memories of big time but I’ve talked to Jerry Colangelo who uh former owner of the Phoenix Suns Jerry was actually the first employ that dick hired um and he said dick was a tremendous guy and he tells stories about how they were on

Michigan Avenue trying to drum up support for uh for the Bulls and um you know he said dick was just a great guy he always refers to him as do so um Jerry’s someone that we should all talk to to get really good memories of of

What uh dickin was like you guys have come a little bit of a ways from uh trying to get season ticket holders on Michigan Avenue now they literally I think there was literally flatbed truck it was a flatback truck and and there was a bull on it there was a bull on it

Is what Jerry told me no one he said he thought they were going to get big crowds to show up and he said no one no one really showed up but you know basketball had failed in in Chicago before that so it it was a big deal and

It wasn’t a foregone conclusion that the team would survive Johnny red cerr oh I mean got some Johnny red Ian you’ve got everyone’s got Johnny red cerr probably can’t see him on YouTube I mean again he was actually the first coach of the Chicago Bulls and uh coached them to the

Playoffs and an expansion team but to me it’s just his his his energy and his excitement at at when he was in uh you know color commentating games and and Michael’s shot against Cleveland was just I mean you know you’ll never forget the you know hearing Johnny reder in the

Background I was just just a tremendous person I will say I have some fond memories of being on the road with Johnny right I did not participate in that but I know that that Johnny liked to have a good time he did always had a

Good time he Life of the Party yeah uh Jerry Sloan uh I Jerry Sloan was just a ferocious defensive player um and um again I was talking to Jerry cangel about about Jerry Sloan and um originally we were going to the Bulls were going to it was an expansion draft

And they were going to take a different player but Jerry somehow was able to convince the uh I guess it was the Baltimore team to uh trade him instead of us drafting one of their players so Jerry SLO was a great defensive player and you it was you know

Just his work ethic was incredible uh artist Gilmore a guy who comes back quite a bit he’s at a lot of home games it’s always good to see the A train I’ve gotten to know artist over the last few years um to me he was my memory of

Artisty like he was the first superstar that the Bulls really had like when when the ABA folded and they had that dispersal draft and the Bulls drafted artist Gilmore I was just like that was like when I started watching basketball and I was just like artist Gilmore was

Just the ultimate I mean like his the the the the the effort he had in the time that he was playing playing against kemil Jabar and just seeing those two guys go at it I mean artist was just a tremendous player you touched on him briefly but Chad Walker obviously Hall

Of Fame career with the 7 Le Sixers one of the best best players in NBA history but obviously impactful with those dick ma coach teams I mean Chet was an All-Star with Philadelphia right I’m not sure how he ended up getting traded to the Bulls but um you know the Bulls came

A game away from going to the finals in 1975 and and and uh chat Walker was I believe the best player on that team and uh he was another uh incredible player another guy who’s around here and there and has his number retired Bob love

Butterbean Bob love um to me he was a great NBA player but even a more amazing person off the court yeah his success story you can kind of no just just where he came from and and you know the obstacles he overcame with with his speech problems and when he was out of

Basketball he was up in Seattle and he was such a great Ambassador when we brought him back in the in the mid 80s to the Chicago Bulls and just he he he is forever linked with Chicago Bulls and just um just a very happy go-lucky guy

Who’s just uh made a huge difference in the community Jerry cruss Jerry Krauss um Jerry is obviously one of the most UND misunderstood people that I’ve ever that I’ve ever seen in sports um clearly anyone who’s the architect of six championship teams deserves a lot of

Credit and he finally did make it into the Hall of Fame um it’s too bad that he had already passed away but um he deserves to be in the hall of fame um obviously he didn’t draft Michael Jordan but everyone else that was on this team

Was a result of of uh Jerry and he also uh did a great job of picking coaches so you know pick Doug Collins to be uh coach and Doug you know was a great coach for the Bulls got us from you know a certain point to another point and

Then um when he brought Phil Jackson on I mean it wasn’t like Phil with people were knocking down the door to hire Phil Jackson and U he saw something in Phil that most people hadn’t seen and um and so uh Jerry deserves a ton of credit and

Um you know I wish he was gonna be here for this event but uh his family will be here and um we really do appreciate everything Jerry uh did for the Chicago Bulls very cool um yeah when you were talking about the whole idea behind this

And saying that you know not one person wins the championship I believe I heard once said organizations win championships but we won’t get into that well we will get in what what what Jerry was saying he was right by the he was right by the way and if you ask Phil

Today you ask anyone you ask Michael they’d all say the same thing of course it takes you know everyone to win it wasn’t like he was saying that the players don’t deserve you know most of the credit but like it takes the whole organization to to you know be part of

It and and and I’m I’m actually appreciate what he said and and and um I don’t think we should ever make any excuses it’s it was he was right you touched on him briefly too or I did Tex winner teex Tex winner I mean Tex was I

Tex winner I me he was I love all these guys but I really love Tex winner Tex was a person who was you know obviously made his name in college basketball and we brought him actually Jerry Krauss brought him one of the first hires he did was was bringing Tex winners on

Board at the Chicago Bulls and um I think Tex had a role during those during those years early years but not a tremendous role and it wasn’t until Phil Jackson came on board that we adopted the triangle offense and so um that offense while it was complicated I guess

For people to learn it was a great offense because it got all the players involved so obviously at the end of the day when you know shot clocks running down to three you know three seconds year you’re getting the ball to Michael or Scotty and they’re going to create

Something but there’s still plenty of other time during the game where you need to be moving and and cutting and and he he was all about fundamentals making the right pass um Tex was uh Tex was a legend he was an old school coach and and and um you listen to stories

From Pax and some of the guys of some of the drills they would do before you know in practice um it was it was incredible um one of my all-time favorite memories very early in my career I was working for the Chicago Tribune Tex winter invited me up to his office because I

Was doing a story on him and he just broke down the triangle offense for me and I’m sitting there did did you understand it no but but I remember thinking it was a great story and it was just an amazing experience to have a guy

That of his stature you know take me in and open it up just so well what’s amazing about the triple about the triangle offense is that it we won six championships at the Bulls and we didn’t have a dominating center right and then he goes over to the Lakers and they won

Five championships with a triangle um so it it it worked I’d love to see what he would do now to adjust it with the three-point shooting and everything but um that’s a cool F bubble uh Tony kach you’ve talked about he’s also at every game I can’t get away from that guy yeah

Tony goes to all the games part of the organization I sit up there and his knowledge of the game is just so incredible but Tony was a pioner like he was one of the first players European players to come to the NBA and he sacrificed so much to uh for the for the

Good of the team I think if he had been on another team not I think I know he would have been a perennial All-Star um but you know he came to a team that had uh Michael and and and Scotty and so he had a defer but he was we don’t win

Those championships if if Tony’s not part of that that team that’s really well said game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals well game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals um 98 I mean we don’t we don’t win that game without without Tony and I’m glad you also mentioned like his sacrifice because I

Remember when he got into the Hall of Fame people some people were expressing skepticism to me I’m like do you understand how dominant this dude was overse number one number two he came over here he was he had had that injury and he was you know obviously still at a

High level but not at the level of his prime I don’t think people realize how incredible he was and and remember in those days you didn’t you didn’t shoot big guys didn’t shoot from outside like that and he you know he was what 610 and

Can handle the ball um the waiter yeah I mean he he would have if he was playing in today’s game I mean he’d be he’d be one of the you know top 10 players in the league all right you seeit I’ve done here I’ve saved the four big ones for

For last you know uh Dennis Rodman Dennis Rodman is I have no idea where you’re taking no I mean I’m just going to talk from a basketball standpoint I like that day if you talk to Dennis’s teammates they you know they all say he was a great guy and and and

They loved having him on the team but from from a watching him play like when he was on Detroit like he could guard every player in the court I’ve never seen a guy play defense like Dennis Rodman and then when he decided he was just to become a rebounder he was I mean

For his height and his his intelligence was incredible the way he could anticipate where that ball was going to go off the rim and and to lead the league in rebounds for that many years um and he you know he actually could have been a bigger scorer but he knew

His role and his like I I don’t need to score I need to play defense I don’t know how you beat Utah with he you know when I know Carl Malone had great stats against us but I can’t imagine what he would have had had someone else been

Guarding him um Dennis was uh just a just an incredible defensive player Phil Jackson Phil Jackson is obviously one of the greatest coaches of all time um I think what made Phil so great was the moment never got too big for him and he showed that to the players so like in

Crucial situations there was no Panic on Phil like he was calm you know he could get into your face you know and and and get on you but there was no Panic and I think um he did things that with meditation and you know dealing with

Just calmness and just for the moment I think he was uh just an incredible coach and at the end of the day he came in in and he recognized what he had in Tex and he said I’m handing you know I’m handing this offense over to you and he was able

To convince players like Michael to be like okay you know you can still score a lot of points but let’s figure out how to make the rest of your players on the team better yeah one thing I heard consistently from players that I got to know over the years is you know and

Having covered that second threee was he would do his teaching in practice and then as you said he would Empower players in games to kind of figure things out to this moment of just calmness in moments of us I mean I mean think about think about the last game

Against Utah no time out there no timeout didn’t call timeout I don’t know how many people would have not have called timeout but in his mind he’s like hey the ball’s in Michael’s hands I mean it just showed there were times though during you know during regular

Season where he would just make them work it out like he wouldn’t call timeout you know I remember the second championship against Utah like he started that fourth quarter in game six with Michael uh and all the starters kep Scotty on the bench and and and we’re

Down 14 or 16 points and I’m like most coaches wouldn’t have done that they would have just said uhuh M like Michael stay in the game and and you know next thing you know we go on a run and you know we cut it to five and then he puts

Michael in so um he he just he was just a tremendous coach and he actually was the way he used his assistant coaches you know he he allowed them to have a voice and I think that was really important yeah Tex winners one guy that’s going in and we’ll get into the

Other assistant coach with a question I have for you later but we’re down to the last two Scotty Pippen Scotty is um one of the obviously one of the greatest players we’ve ever had he’s one of the greatest players to play in the NBA he

Made the all the all uh great 50 players and now 75 um Hall Famer Hall of Famer talk to his teammates and they’ll say that he was probably their favorite teammate of all time so I think that he um he could do it all like he his defense and his offense he was

Explosive um I think he was a caring person he is a caring person um I I you know I really appreciate Scotty he’s he’s meant so much to our our our organization another guy you don’t win game seven of the 9080 C Conference Finals without him him and him and Tony

I mean you don’t win I mean those two guys were so big in that game he huge I’ll tell you where Scotty deserves the most credit is game six against Utah in 98 he went out he went out with back his back was so bad I mean I don’t know

How many guys would have come back in that game and he just we don’t win that game without him and it’s just that he was just a warrior just absolutely a warrior and you know my favorite memories are him and Horus and um Michael you know like you know Johnny

Bach would call them the Dobermans and you know and they would press guys and you know just the excitement at the uh you know the old stadium and and you know Scotty I you know you could argue he should have been MVP in in 1994 the

Year Michael retired and you know if not for a horrible call by Hugh Hollands in in that he said that two bad calls Hugh Holland made one was can you still get fine r i get fine for this one but um you know who knows what would happen we

Would you know we would have beaten the Knicks that year in the playoffs we would have gone to the Conference finals against Indiana I mean that team could have also made the finals uh I’m no Ray clay or Tommy Edwards but I will say from North sorry uh Michael Jordan

There’s really nothing to be said you know what has what can we say that hasn’t been said I mean he was he is the greatest player to play the game um sorry LeBron and and LeBron is number two but LeBron is a strong number two I

Mean LeBron we don’t need to get into that debate but but Michael never in his entire career lost a playoff series that he should have won so yes those early years he lost playoff series but we always lost to a team that was better those years that we lost to

Detroit Detroit was always the better team but once Michael got to the top of that mountain he never he never uh they no one ever tossed him off and you know you can talk about you know the series against Orlando Orlando’s still you know the team that was still the favorite

Team in that playoff series Michael played what 15 games like it’s actually amazing that we took him six games probably should have taken him to seven games we had a 10-point lead with a few minutes left in game six and and they outscored us um but Michael is the

Greatest competitor of all time and he’s definitely the greatest player of all time I mean it’s just you know six championships six MVPs in the finals um you know he won a defense player of the year how many MVPs did he win they stopped giving him the MVP because they

Got you know they got bored with giving it to him but um definitely definitely the greatest player of all time and such an electric atmosphere anytime he walks into any room he is I mean he’s one of those few guys to me that has an AA

About him I I he has an aura about him I you know I saw him as a player um as as as an owner Governor’s meetings I would see when he would walk in the room and you could just see how people would gravitate towards him and these are

People that are really successful themselves but you know it’s it’s Michael Jordan so um he’s uh he he’s a part of Chicago Bull’s history a part of city of Chicago’s history and obviously a part of the NBA history he you handed the uh the C monial Allstar ball to you

Because it was Charlotte host of the year before you guys did that was a cool moment yeah it it was a cool moment and you know and and I got a standing ovation when when that happened which is pretty cool kind of like the time he and Bill

Winnington combined for 57 points right Bill witon Double Nickel game so B Bill won scored the winning Basket in that game The Double Nickel game and then they combined for 57 points so that was your Standing Ovation got my Ovation we got it Michael um what do you hope fans

Take away from this whole experience not only the game Friday night but just the week with the atrium exhibit yeah we’re going to have an Atrium experience so we’re going to have a lot of memorability out there uh we’re doing a Gaya on Thursday night and then on

Friday at the uh halftime we’re doing a ceremony I I think I want our fans one I want our fans to know how important our history is our players our front office staff um I think that’s really important I want our players to know though how important they are to us

As a as a team as an organization but also how important they are to the fans of Chicago so it’s been you know how many years since we won our first championship how many years since then you know team won 72 games and and they’re still loved by by our city

They’re loved and you know by people all over the world I want I really want our fans and our players to really appreciate what this moment really means and and um what this uh Ring of Honor means going forward yeah and going forward I’m glad you brought that up

Because you know we we’re talking so much about about this inaugural class and this initial idea but this is going to be an every 2-year occasion have you thought about future potential classes already I mean we’ve already kind of touched on some of these names Horus

Grant um Johnny Bach uh Norm van leer uh obviously there’s a criteria you have to be retired for Sumer years so Derrick Rose is not yet qualified right but I’m I’m already seeing a lot of potential for some future class here I trying to help you out yeah you’re you’re not

Helping me out the first class you thought this I actually think the second one is going to be the even harder because there’s so many people and so I’m actually looking forward to it there’s so many great players and and staff I just I I’m actually I’m excited

U I’m excited for you know this weekend or this week and I’m also excited for you know two years when we we when we go with the second class have you ever thought of a scenario maybe we’re getting too far ahead of ourselves where it’s one time where it’s comes two years

And there’s just nobody to oh that won’t that that won’t ever happen because the history is too rich the history too rich and the history is is has is not you know continues on so we’re never going to have a issue um I know baseball sometimes they don’t induct someone in

The Hall of Fame I always think that’s strange but um you know we’re never going to have a problem we have such a great history at the Bulls and I’m I’m looking forward to it I asked you about what you want fans to take away from this what’s kind of the excitement level

And I know it’s been a busy time for you guys too but from an organizational standpoint what’s the excitement level it’s there everyone’s excited this is you know the other day someone said to me everyone in the organization’s been involved in this and I being sarcastic

That I am I said really every single person and they they started laughing but it literally it seems like it’s been everyone and our organization has had a role in this in this uh Ring of Honor and um I think people are really really excited what about your your father will

Is he been been active participant is he excited for my dad will be there um you know would I say he’s an active participant sure he’s an active participant as long as I information I give him but um you know he was he was actually really excited about this

Because he knows the impact that everyone has had on on our organization so he was he was so excited when he when he found out Phil was coming in and um you know he’ll be there and and it’s um it’s going to be a really special moment

For my dad just a few more you mentioned Phil’s coming in I don’t know if you’re at liberty to offer other attendees I know that the invitees been out and some people have been working behind the scenes everyone’s been invited and um you know we picked a perfect time

Of the year to to to do this did January and Chicago it’s it’s weather’s been great to weather’s been great today and it’s probably turning to snow but we think we’re going to have a great turnout and um you know we’re really excited and kind of a big pitcher

Philosophical question but how do you guys make sure as an organization you celebrate the past while not like overdoing it I mean obviously the current team is the focus as well so sure when I when I first started I kind of was worried like do we celebrate the

Past asked too much and now at my age at 56 years old and seeing how long ago that was and realizing you know I go travel all over the world I’ll see someone wearing a Dennis Rodman Jersey or a Pippen Jersey or a Jordan jersey

It’s like we need to celebrate it we can do both like just celebrate celebrate our championship years our years that we you know n 2011 the Bulls made the Eastern Conference Finals we didn’t win a championship but it was a special team the you know 75 bulls that came within a

Game of being Golden State special team so you know I want to celebrate our history and I want to celebrate going forward yeah and every time I mean you guys have not to to that point have not done a lot of that I mean I’m thinking

Of the red cerr night that was so special you did the 20th anniversary of the first title team in 2011 that was a special night so you guys have not really overdone this no we haven’t overdone it and we you know we probably I think we we probably should have

Celebrated the 95 96 team earlier I think we were going to and then and then Co hit and then everything kind of like you know kind of went backwards from there but this is this is you know we couldn’t celebrate every 20 year every 25th year because then we’d be

Celebrating right right so much so we want to make this really special and we think that the turnout is going to be incredible on on Thursday and and Friday and I know uh you know some of the players that I’ve T spoken to are really really excited very cool well it should

Be a wonderful event and we certainly appreciate your time today Michael and look forward to the rest of the week and next time we can not be wearing suits exactly sounds good thanks man thank you

On a special episode of the Bulls Talk Podcast, Bulls’ CEO Michael Reinsdorf joins K.C. Johnson to discuss the Bulls’ Ring of Honor. Reinsdorf reveals how the decision was made to start the Ring of Honor, how the selection process works, what future classes might look like and more.

#ChicagoBulls #MichaelJordan #MichaelReinsdorf

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In-depth look at the Bulls new Ring of Honor with Michael Reinsdorf
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