Chicago Bulls: The dynasty’s effect on The Dream Team

The Chicago Bulls had a lot of things that they effected when they had a dynasty and USA Olympic basketball was one of those things.

Of course, the Chicago Bulls were on their way to becoming the greatest dynasty in the history of sports in the early 1990s. In 1992, they announced that the American Olympic Basketball team would be the first in the history of the world to feature a roster loaded with players from the National Basketball Association. Well, it would go on to be known as “The Dream Team” and some consider it to be the greatest sports team ever assembled.

The Chicago Bulls had a lot to do with the makeup of this team and their perception of a couple of their opponents. For one thing, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were on the team. They joined players like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Karl Malone, John Stockton, and Charles Barkley amongst others. It is clear why the team cruised to an Olympic Gold Medal but it didn’t come without some storylines.

The Last Dance documentary airing on ESPN has been detailing the Chicago Bulls teams of the 1990s. It showed in Sunday’s episode five that they had a lot of influence on some of the happenings of this historic Team USA.

For example, Isiah Thomas was snubbed despite being one of the best players in the NBA. He was a big part of “The Bad Boy” Detroit Pistons that didn’t get along with a lot of players on the Bulls. Some people believe that his feud with Michael Jordan had a lot to do with not being selected. That very well may be true but as the documentary showed, he also had his fair share of issues with Magic, Bird, and Pippen.

There was also the storyline involving a player on the Croatian National Team. It was a very good team compared to the rest of the world but they were no match for the Dream Team. Well, they had a player named Toni Kukoc who fits the mold of the Bulls impacting this whole thing. He was drafted by the Bulls in 1990  but he stayed in Europe until he reported to the Bulls in 1993.

Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan made plenty of comments about his abilities and whether or not he could play in the NBA. Well, it was pretty clear that they were out of line as Kukoc did eventually come to the Bulls and would win three championships with them. He didn’t get to play with Jordan until he came back from baseball but he eventually did.  Between his Europe and NBA days, he had a pretty good career.

The Bulls had a lot to do with a lot of things in the 1990s. The impact the Dream Team had on sports around the world was huge. It was the beginning of sports having a worldwide impact that we know it to have today. The fact that the Bulls and its players had fingerprints all over it is very interesting to learn about.