50 Fun Facts About Chicago Bulls

Which offensive system, taught by assistant coach Tex Winter, powered the Bulls' six title teams?

The triangle offense keeps players spaced and moving without the ball, which made it far harder for defences to send two men at Michael Jordan.

Which team won the two titles between the Bulls' three-peats?

The Houston Rockets won in 1994 and 1995, the two seasons Michael Jordan spent mostly away from the NBA trying his hand at professional baseball.

The Bulls share their home arena, the United Center, with which NHL team?

The Blackhawks' owners, the Wirtz family, once ran the Bulls as well, and the two clubs' owning families went on to build the United Center together.

Who reportedly sealed Dick Klein's choice of team name by saying 'That's a bunch of bull!'?

His son Mark, a small boy at the time, blurted it out while the family tossed names around; Klein had already rejected Matadors and Toreadors as too long to win with.

Which 1970s Bulls star, nicknamed 'The Original Bull', later coached against Chicago in two NBA Finals?

Jerry Sloan arrived for the team's first season and was the first Bull to have his number retired; two decades later he was on the opposing bench as Chicago won its last two titles.

What did the 1966–67 Bulls become the first NBA expansion team to do in a debut season?

Qualifying for the playoffs on a 33–48 record, then the best by any expansion side, earned Johnny "Red" Kerr the Coach of the Year award in the team's very first season.

What is the name of the Bulls' mascot, introduced in 1969?

Benny the Bull began as a crowd-pulling stunt: a showman general manager, Pat Williams, brought him in when attendance had slumped, and the gimmick worked.

Which player did the Bulls miss out on in 1979 after losing a coin flip for the first pick?

Magic Johnson went first overall after Bulls general manager Rod Thorn called heads and lost the toss; Chicago settled for David Greenwood with the second pick.

Who went one pick before the Bulls took Michael Jordan in 1984?

Sam Bowie went second, it is thought because the team choosing there already had a young shooting guard in Clyde Drexler and wanted a big man; repeated leg injuries then undermined his career.

Michael Jordan scored 63 points in a 1986 playoff game against which team?

The Boston Celtics still won the game and swept the series, but Larry Bird said he had faced "God disguised as Michael Jordan"; the 63 was still a playoff record in 2025.

Scottie Pippen was acquired on 1987 draft night in a swap for which centre the Bulls had just picked eighth?

Olden Polynice was the bait in a swap planned in advance: Chicago had eyed Pippen before the draft, took Polynice eighth and traded him the same night for the fifth pick.

Which team eliminated the Bulls in the playoffs three years in a row from 1988 to 1990?

The Detroit Pistons beat Chicago three years running and won two titles; when the Bulls finally swept them in 1991, several Pistons walked off without shaking hands.

Which coach did Phil Jackson replace as Bulls head coach in 1989?

Doug Collins was replaced straight after taking the Bulls to the conference finals; his own assistant took over and won six titles with the core Collins had coached.

Whom did the Bulls beat in the 1991 NBA Finals for their first championship?

The Los Angeles Lakers took the opening game in Chicago and then lost four in a row; it was their last Finals for nine years and Michael Jordan's first.

Whose three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left won Game 6 of the 1993 Finals in Phoenix?

John Paxson's shot was the only basket any Bull other than Jordan scored in the whole fourth quarter, and it turned a 98-96 deficit into a third straight title.

In March 1995 Michael Jordan announced his return to the Bulls with a statement of which two words?

"I'm back." was the whole statement; he came back in a No. 45 jersey rather than his famous 23, and switched back during that spring's playoffs.

Which Croatian rookie forward joined the Bulls in 1993 and later won Sixth Man of the Year?

Toni Kukoč hit a buzzer-beater against the Knicks in his first playoffs, on a play that so angered Scottie Pippen, who wanted the shot himself, that Pippen refused to go back on court.

Whose jump shot off a pass from Michael Jordan won the 1997 title in Game 6?

Steve Kerr was wide open because the defence sent two men at Jordan, whom everyone expected to shoot; Kerr hit from 17 feet with five seconds left.

Which centre, acquired from Minnesota in 1994, was the first Australian to play in the NBA?

Luc Longley cost the Bulls only Stacey King in the swap, and went on to start at centre for all three title teams of 1996 to 1998.

Whom did the Bulls send to San Antonio in 1995 to acquire Dennis Rodman?

Will Perdue was the whole price for the league's best rebounder: Chicago needed a power forward after Horace Grant left as a free agent, and Rodman filled the hole.

Which team broke the 1995–96 Bulls' record of 72 wins?

The Golden State Warriors won 73 and then lost the Finals from 3–1 up, so the 72-win Bulls were still, as of 2025, the winningest team to go on and take the title.

Which team, having knocked Chicago out of the 1995 playoffs, handed the 1995–96 Bulls their first defeat?

The Orlando Magic, with former Bull Horace Grant, ended a 5–0 start in November; Chicago answered by sweeping them in the conference finals.

Whom did the Bulls beat in the 1996 Finals for their fourth title?

The Seattle SuperSonics lost the deciding game on Father's Day, and Jordan, whose father had been murdered three years earlier, wept on the locker-room floor clutching the ball.

Michael Jordan's 1989 series-winning buzzer-beater, known as 'The Shot', eliminated which team?

The Cleveland Cavaliers had won all six regular-season meetings and led by a point with three seconds left when Jordan hung in the air over Craig Ehlo and scored.

Which team did the Bulls beat in both the 1997 and 1998 NBA Finals?

The Utah Jazz had never reached the Finals before 1997, then ran into Chicago two years running; both series ended in Game 6 on a late Bulls shot.

Michael Jordan's 1992 Finals shrug came against which team?

The Portland Trail Blazers watched him hit six three-pointers in the first half of Game 1; after the sixth he turned to the broadcast table and shrugged, as surprised as anyone.

Which team pushed the 1998 Bulls to a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals?

The Indiana Pacers, under rookie coach Larry Bird, won every game on their own floor, so Chicago needed an 88–83 win at home in the decider just to reach its last Finals.

Which player did Jordan strip before his title-winning shot in Game 6 of the 1998 Finals?

Karl Malone had just taken a pass in the post with his team a point ahead when Jordan stole the ball from him, dribbled upcourt and scored over Bryon Russell with 5.2 seconds left.

Which Bulls general manager, at odds with coach Phil Jackson, rebuilt the roster after the 1998 title?

Jerry Krause had assembled all six title teams; he was also widely quoted as saying that organisations, not players and coaches, win championships.

Which college coach replaced Phil Jackson in 1998 and went 13–37 in the Bulls' first season after the dynasty?

Tim Floyd came from Iowa State to a roster stripped of Jordan, Pippen and Rodman, and things got so bad that his team once scored only 49 points in a game.

Which No. 1 pick, later traded for Tyson Chandler, was co-Rookie of the Year for the Bulls in 2000?

Elton Brand averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds as a rookie, but after a 15–67 season the Bulls sent him to the Clippers for the draft rights to Tyson Chandler, a long-term prospect.

What were the Bulls' odds of winning the 2008 draft lottery, which they won to select Derrick Rose?

At 1.7% the Bulls, only ninth in the queue, pulled off what was then the second-biggest upset in lottery history, and spent the pick on a Chicago-born point guard.

Derrick Rose played college basketball at which university before the Bulls drafted him?

Memphis reached the national final in his only college season, but the NCAA later struck the whole year from the records after his entrance-exam score was ruled invalid.

What distinction did Derrick Rose earn in 2011?

The youngest MVP in NBA history at 22, he led the league's best team; a year later a knee injury in the playoffs cost him the whole of the following season.

Which Bull won Defensive Player of the Year and finished fourth in MVP voting in 2013–14?

Joakim Noah carried a team that had lost Derrick Rose to another knee injury and traded Luol Deng in mid-season, and still hauled it to 48 wins.

With which pick of the 2011 draft did the Bulls select Jimmy Butler?

The 30th pick is the last of the first round, and it took Butler four years to make it look like a steal: in 2015 he was voted the NBA's Most Improved Player.

Which Alan Parsons Project instrumental became famous as the Bulls' player-introduction music?

"Sirius" was chosen by stadium announcer Tommy Edwards after he heard it playing in a cinema, and it worked so well in Chicago that other NBA teams copied the idea.

Which Chicago-raised star signed with his hometown Bulls in 2016 after 13 seasons with another team?

Dwyane Wade came home with three championship rings, but the reunion lasted a single season: the Bulls bought out his contract the following autumn.

Which arena was the Bulls' home court in their first regular season, before Chicago Stadium?

The International Amphitheatre stood beside the Union Stock Yards, the meat-packing district that gave the Bulls their name; the team left for Chicago Stadium after a single season.

Which touring show forced the Bulls and their arena-mates onto an annual two-week autumn road trip?

Ringling Bros. Circus took over the arena every autumn, a ritual known as the circus trip, until the building's owners let the contract lapse after the 2016 run; the show itself closed a year later.

Which local businessman bought a controlling stake in the Bulls in 1985?

Jerry Reinsdorf also owned baseball's White Sox, so when Michael Jordan walked away from basketball in 1993 it was his other club that signed him to play baseball.

Which star did the Bulls acquire from San Antonio in the 2021 off-season?

DeMar DeRozan won two games in two days over New Year with buzzer-beating three-pointers, and Chicago returned to the playoffs for the first time in five years.

Which coach, hired in 2010, was named NBA Coach of the Year after his first Bulls season?

Tom Thibodeau had spent years as an assistant known for his defences; given his first head-coaching job, he won 62 games, the best record in the league.

Which centre acquired in the 1976 ABA dispersal draft led the Bulls in the late 1970s?

Artis Gilmore became available when his ABA club, the Kentucky Colonels, was left out of the merger with the NBA and its players were shared out among the league's teams.

Which tribute did the Bulls launch in 2024?

The Ring of Honor opened with a ceremony at the United Center, where part of the crowd booed the tribute to a late general manager and left his widow in tears.

During his first retirement, Michael Jordan played minor-league baseball for which team?

The Birmingham Barons were a farm club of the Chicago White Sox, a team with the same owner as the Bulls; he spent the 1994 season in their outfield.

Which 2020 ESPN and Netflix documentary miniseries chronicled Michael Jordan's Bulls career?

The Last Dance was built on footage from a film crew given all-access to the Bulls throughout 1997–98, material that went unaired for more than twenty years.

In June 2017 the Bulls traded Jimmy Butler to Minnesota for a package including which guard, then recovering from knee surgery?

Zach LaVine had torn a knee ligament four months earlier, yet made two All-Star teams in Chicago; Kris Dunn and the pick that became Lauri Markkanen came in the same deal.

In March 2013 the Bulls ended which team's 27-game winning streak?

The Miami Heat of LeBron James had not lost for nearly two months, and Chicago stopped them without Derrick Rose, who missed that whole season injured.

Which four-time Defensive Player of the Year did the Bulls sign as a free agent in 2006?

Ben Wallace arrived on a four-year contract after winning a title elsewhere, but the Bulls traded him away before his second season was out.