Chicago Bulls basketball has always been about tough, hard-nosed defense. This is a short write up on our best teams in history, and they all dominated defensively.
Chicago Bulls basketball has always been about tough, hard-nosed defense. This is a short write up on our best teams in history, and they all dominated defensively.
This defense was led by the backcourt of Jerry Sloan and Norm Van Lier, who was known as the toughest backcourt in the league. In 1973-74 they made the defensive first team together, with Bob Love also making the second team, and they recorded the 2nd lowest team defensive rating in NBA history to this day. They took the Jerry West/Wilt Chamberlain Lakers to 7 games twice.
Fun fact: Jerry Sloan was a 6.5 guard that averaged 9.1 rebounds per game in a season for the Bulls, and 7.4 rebounds for his career. That guy was TOUGH.
**Late 70’s Chicago Bulls**
Bulls gets the first pick in the ABA dispersal draft and selects Artis Gilmore, who is still the Bulls franchise leader in blocks. Jerry Sloan was retired at this point but Norm Van Lier was still on the team. They never managed to dominate the league defensively like years prior, but Gilmore and Van Lier both made the defensive second team in ’78, and they had a top 10 defense in the league.
**90’s Chicago Bulls**
Here comes the Bulls dynasty and the most dominant team in NBA history, and they did it with a team oriented offense and suffocating defense. Jordan and Pippen created absolute havoc defensively with fullcourt pressure, halfcourt traps, double teams, deflections and active hands. They made the defensive first team together 5 times, and in ’96 the Bulls had 3 players on the defensive first team with Jordan, Pippen and Rodman. Jordan won DPOY early in his career and is tied for most defensive first teams selections in history, and Pippen is widely regarded as the greatest wing defender in history, and Rodman is known as one of the most versatile defenders in history. No suprise that they dominated the entire league defensively.
**2007 Chicago Bulls**
The Baby Bulls. This is a more underrated defensive team in Bulls history. We signed one of the defensive GOATS in the offseason, Ben Wallace. We went from the 10th best, to the absolute best ranked defense in the league, and went back to 10th after we traded him. He made the defensive second team together with Kirk Hinrich, who Dwyane Wade has mentioned as one of the toughest defenders he ever faced. This was a deep and versatile defensive team that on top of Wallace and Hinrich, also had Luol Deng, Andres Nocioni, Thabo Sefolosha and Tyrus Thomas contributing defensively. They ended up beating the defensive champs and winning their first playoffs series since Jordan retired.
**2010-2015 Chicago Bulls**
Probably the most succesful Bulls team after the 90’s Bulls, and they did it solely on the defensive end. Joakim Noah was the engine, and would go on to win defensive player of the year, but the mastermind behind it was coach Tom Thibodeau. This team was also very deep and versatile defensively, with guys like Taj Gibson, Ronnie Brewer, Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich. They dominated the league defensively, but didn’t get to enjoy much playoffs success cause of heavy injury issues.
Honorable mentions:
**Early 2000’s Chicago Bulls**
This was a very bad team, but we saw one thing from them that we dont often see from a young team: Top 10 defense in the league. They had two legendary NBA defenders on rookie contracts on this roster in Tyson Chandler and Ron Artest (Metta World Peace). They never became dominant defensively on the Bulls though.
**2021-22 Chicago Bulls**
During the offseason this team was repeatedly mentioned as overrated, specifically for how bad they projected to be defensively. This ended up being hilariously incorrect until Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso both went down with injuries in January. Before that, the Bulls were ranked top 5 defensively and held the 1st seed in the eastern conference. We never saw Lonzo Ball, or a Bulls top defense again…
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**Early 70’s Chicago Bulls**
This defense was led by the backcourt of Jerry Sloan and Norm Van Lier, who was known as the toughest backcourt in the league. In 1973-74 they made the defensive first team together, with Bob Love also making the second team, and they recorded the 2nd lowest team defensive rating in NBA history to this day. They took the Jerry West/Wilt Chamberlain Lakers to 7 games twice.
Fun fact: Jerry Sloan was a 6.5 guard that averaged 9.1 rebounds per game in a season for the Bulls, and 7.4 rebounds for his career. That guy was TOUGH.
**Late 70’s Chicago Bulls**
Bulls gets the first pick in the ABA dispersal draft and selects Artis Gilmore, who is still the Bulls franchise leader in blocks. Jerry Sloan was retired at this point but Norm Van Lier was still on the team. They never managed to dominate the league defensively like years prior, but Gilmore and Van Lier both made the defensive second team in ’78, and they had a top 10 defense in the league.
**90’s Chicago Bulls**
Here comes the Bulls dynasty and the most dominant team in NBA history, and they did it with a team oriented offense and suffocating defense. Jordan and Pippen created absolute havoc defensively with fullcourt pressure, halfcourt traps, double teams, deflections and active hands. They made the defensive first team together 5 times, and in ’96 the Bulls had 3 players on the defensive first team with Jordan, Pippen and Rodman. Jordan won DPOY early in his career and is tied for most defensive first teams selections in history, and Pippen is widely regarded as the greatest wing defender in history, and Rodman is known as one of the most versatile defenders in history. No suprise that they dominated the entire league defensively.
**2007 Chicago Bulls**
The Baby Bulls. This is a more underrated defensive team in Bulls history. We signed one of the defensive GOATS in the offseason, Ben Wallace. We went from the 10th best, to the absolute best ranked defense in the league, and went back to 10th after we traded him. He made the defensive second team together with Kirk Hinrich, who Dwyane Wade has mentioned as one of the toughest defenders he ever faced. This was a deep and versatile defensive team that on top of Wallace and Hinrich, also had Luol Deng, Andres Nocioni, Thabo Sefolosha and Tyrus Thomas contributing defensively. They ended up beating the defensive champs and winning their first playoffs series since Jordan retired.
**2010-2015 Chicago Bulls**
Probably the most succesful Bulls team after the 90’s Bulls, and they did it solely on the defensive end. Joakim Noah was the engine, and would go on to win defensive player of the year, but the mastermind behind it was coach Tom Thibodeau. This team was also very deep and versatile defensively, with guys like Taj Gibson, Ronnie Brewer, Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich. They dominated the league defensively, but didn’t get to enjoy much playoffs success cause of heavy injury issues.
Honorable mentions:
**Early 2000’s Chicago Bulls**
This was a very bad team, but we saw one thing from them that we dont often see from a young team: Top 10 defense in the league. They had two legendary NBA defenders on rookie contracts on this roster in Tyson Chandler and Ron Artest (Metta World Peace). They never became dominant defensively on the Bulls though.
**2021-22 Chicago Bulls**
During the offseason this team was repeatedly mentioned as overrated, specifically for how bad they projected to be defensively. This ended up being hilariously incorrect until Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso both went down with injuries in January. Before that, the Bulls were ranked top 5 defensively and held the 1st seed in the eastern conference. We never saw Lonzo Ball, or a Bulls top defense again…