The dynasty of the Chicago Bulls is a well-told story. The team won two different three-peats during the 90s. That included a perfect 6-0 mark in the NBA Finals where the team made appearances between 1991 to 1993 and 1996 to 1998. With six-time Finals MVP Award winner Michael Jordan leading the way, this dynasty ranks among the top of the best. With that said, outside of Jordan, who is the most important Bulls player during that time?
Scottie Pippen was an essential piece for those championship suns. The combination of Jordan and Pippen was the one constant for those teams to win. However, it appears that after the Bulls won their fifth championship, Bulls General Manager Jerry Krause wanted to trade Pippen for an up-and-coming star in Tracy McGrady. At the time, McGrady was entering his rookie season. The future scoring champion had a few years to go before he was the T-Mac we all knew and loved but it was an interesting idea to trade the 31-year-old Pippen.
The Bulls were going into the 1997-98 season with the feeling that it would be the “last dance.” If the team decided to trade Pippen for McGrady, would the team have enough to complete their second three-peat? We take a look at the right now as we analyze the time the Chicago Bulls almost traded Pippen for McGrady.
The Bulls Had An Interest In McGrady
Credit: Fadeaway World
McGrady was an exciting high school prospect that directly made the jump to the pros. During his senior year of high school, McGrady averaged 27.5 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 7.7 assists at Mount Zion Christian Academy. Instead of intending to attend the University of Kentucky, McGrady was selected as the No. 9 overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft.
The Bulls had a chance to acquire McGrady but it meant that the team was going to have to part with their multi-time All-Star Pippen. The Raptors would have agreed to a straight one-for-one scenario involving Pippen for McGrady. Pippen was coming off a season where he averaged 20.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 1.9 steals. This was a proven player in the league but McGrady had a lot of traction out of high school to warrant a conversation.
The True Reason For Pippen Staying
There was a lot to unpack from the rumor that McGrady was going to be potentially traded to Pippen. For starters, Jordan reportedly did not like the idea that the Bulls were going to trade Pippen. According to McGrady, it was Jordan that came in and vetoed the deal, and McGrady thought he was going to be traded on draft night.
"Draft night, I almost got traded for Scottie. The night before the draft, Jerry Krause called my agent, got me up at midnight, and got me to a secret location to take a physical. It was about to go down, but MJ made the calls, ‘Yo, if y’all do that, I’m retiring.’ So he stopped that real quick.”
However, that led to another reaction. Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf took exception to the comments made by McGrady and wanted to set the record straight. According to Reinsdorf, Jordan had nothing to do with the decision to not trade Pippen and the owner took full responsibility for shooting down the idea.
"After this podcast, I contacted Michael Jordan and asked if there was any truth and his reply to me was, 'B.S'. That's the case. I don't even know if Michael was aware of it. He certainly never communicated with us, and never threatened to retire. The only reason that trade didn't go through was that I felt our fans wanted a sixth championship, and I wanted to win a sixth championship."
Reinsdorf further stated that the Bulls could have traded Pippen to the Celtics for two high draft picks. He stated that he would have used those picks on McGrady and Ron Mercer. While both players would have been welcomed additions to the team, the Bulls were in a championship window. That is exactly why Reinsdorf felt this was a bad idea because the Bulls were in pursuit of a sixth championship even if it meant that the team was going to be bad later.
Chicago Bulls Projected Lineup If Trade Happened
Credit: Fadeaway World
PG: Ron Harper
SG: Michael Jordan
SF: Toni Kukoc
PF: Dennis Rodman
C: Luc Longley
While the trade would have brought two younger players to the team, it’s hard to believe that the Bulls would insert an 18-year-old into the starting lineup when the team had Toni Kukoc lurking on the bench. The former Sixth Man of the Year was a proven professional. Assuming that the idea was to compete now and later, the team would have thrown their best available players on the floor. Kukoc won the 1996 Sixth Man of the Year and was a key piece for the 1996 and 1997 championship teams.
The rest of the starting lineup would have been legit. The Bulls would have the 1996-97 scoring leader in Jordan while rebounding leader Dennis Rodman would continue to play his role. Longley was a big man that gave the team 11.4 points and 5.9 rebounds during the 1997-98 season where he played 58 total games. Altogether, the Bulls would have needed McGrady to play big minutes right away off of the bench with Jason Caffey, Randy Brown, Scott Burrell, and Steve Kerr.
Toronto Raptors Projected Lineup If Trade Happened
Credit: Fadeaway World
PG: Damon Stoudamire
SG: Doug Christie
SF: Scottie Pippen
PF: Oliver Miller
C: Marcus Camby
This was a young lineup with 24-year-old Stoudamire, 23-year-old Camby, and 21-year-old Chauncey Billups. That does not include John Wallace and Gary Trent, who was also 23 years old. Doug Christie and Oliver Miller were the older players in the lineup at 27 years old. Adding Pippen would have made him the third-oldest player on the roster, trailing 34-year-old Tim Kempton and 33-year-old Bob McCann, who played a combined five games for the Raptors during the 1997-98 season.
How many wins is Pippen worth for this team? While there are some productive names on this roster, it wasn’t until five years later that we saw many of these names produced. Pippen might have had the best statistical season of his career because his usage percentage would have skyrocketed. With that said, the team was one year away from acquiring Vince Carter. The idea that the team could have had Pippen, Carter, Camby, and Billups is interesting as well.
The Aftermath
If you are thinking what we are all thinking, this was a crazy idea. The idea that the Bulls were willing to part with a five-time champion, All-Star, and All-Defensive player for an unproven 18-year-old was asinine. The Bulls had a championship window with Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman. Blowing that up would have risked not winning the sixth championship of the dynasty and there is no guarantee that McGrady would have panned out if he stayed. That is exactly why McGrady also believes the idea was crazy for the team to try and trade for him.
"That's exactly what I thought it was, I thought it was crazy. Why would they want an 18-year-old high school kid and trade him for a top 50 NBA Hall of Famer, a 5-time NBA champion at the time, Scottie Pippen? Jerry Krause was just obsessed with me, I'll just throw that out there. When I became a free agent in 1999-2000, Jerry Krause was trying to recruit me again..... but as an 18-year-old kid getting traded for Scottie Pippen, too much pressure. It doesn't make sense..."
Ultimately, McGrady’s assessment was right all these years later because the facts match up. The Bulls won 62 games to claim the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Fans loved this team as the United Center led all 29 teams in attendance. Pippen battled injuries and played in 44 games but averaged a line of 19.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 1.8 steals during the regular season. Pippen then came back to help the Bulls return to the NBA Finals where the team defeated the Utah Jazz in six games to win the sixth championship of their tenure.
After the Bulls won the title, the team lived up to the “last dance” mentality. Jordan retired, Rodman left the Bulls, and Pippen joined the Rockets.
As for the Raptors, trading for Pippen would not have helped this team that much. The Raptors finished 16-66 overall with their young lineup. While Pippen might have added 10 wins to the team, it likely would not have been enough for the team to get out of this massive hole. The season was a rollercoaster for the young group as the team went through two coaches as well. Pippen would have enjoyed individual success because he would have been the go-to player but he would have missed out on a sixth title.
In the end, the Bulls were bad for several years. The Bulls finished 15th in the Eastern Conference for three consecutive seasons with win totals of 13, 17, and 15. The team didn’t have a winning season again until 2004-05. Reinsdorf wanted to gamble a sixth title for the sake of the future. That future cost the Bulls six losing seasons, so it begs the question of how much was the title worth. McGrady was averaging 26.8 points per game by the 2000-01 season with the Magic and Orlando was making a bid for the playoffs. Then, McGrady won the scoring titles in 2002 and 2003 while the Bulls were bad. However, most fans in Chicago will gladly take the three-peat with Pippen playing a major role in one of the greatest dynasties ever.
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