Chicago Bulls - The Dynamic Duo of Dunk

[fjccommish]

Prior to the season's start the Bulls got a fantastic surprise. They selected Junior Jordan, the 6'10" son of former Bulls star Michael Jordan, in the second round of the draft. The recent HS grad hadn't impressed tremendously in various draft camps. He had a big body, was strong and athletic, but took a lot of erratic shots and didn't establish himself on the boards. He also didn't like to move very quickly, often loping up and down the court. He looked like a project PF who could play some at SF. And people questioned why he would enter the draft out of high school, much less even that he could find a place on a college team if he didn't enter the draft. But a few phone calls from Junior's famous father convinced the Bulls to draft Junior.

An "injury" during summer league season kept Junior off the court and even away from the team. Both the Bulls GM and head coach made some noise that Junior might be dropped despite his famous father. But what they didn't know, or at least weren't telling the press if they knew, was that Michael Jordan was busy practicing with his son and Kobe Bryant in a secret "boot camp" designed to get the most out of Junior. The result was, well, shocking.

Meanwhile the Bulls were busy making some trades. They decided Ben Wallace wasn't going to add the inside scoring they needed, and so traded Ben and Deng to the Rockets for Yao Ming.

Now the Jordan surprise was revealed. Junior showed up to training camp a completely different player than the one the Bulls drafted. He was fast, quick, slashing to the basket for spectacular dunks, and forcing his way to dominate the boards. But the biggest change of all was Junior's ability to dish the ball, especially to Yao Ming in the perfect position to score. In the pre-season Junior averaged 35 PPG, 15 RPG and 12 APG. He lit up the floor, and suddenly the kid who looked like a draft day mistake for the Bulls turned into what might be the biggest draft day coup in the history of the NBA.

Another shock followed. Just before the first game of the season, the Bulls traded Kirk Hinrich and PJ Brown to the Knicks for Channing Frye and David Lee.

The Bulls started the season with Jordan at the point, Griffin starting at shooting guard, Nocioni at small forward, Frye at PF and Yao in the Center. Gordon spelled their major scoring punch off the bench. It was good for wins in their first fteive games, Jordan averaging over 40 PPG, 10+ RPG, 7 APG and even 5 steals per game. Yao Ming was scoring 25 a night and pulling down 15 rebounds. Nocioni was contributing with 10+ PPG, and Gordon was working out with 18 PPG off the bench. But then the ship started rocking.

Gordon thought he should start. The Bulls best lineup was with Griffin, the better defender, with the starting five while Jordan and Ming provided the majority of the scoring punch. But Skiles made a small adjustment to try to appease Gordon, giving him a few more minutes a game including a little time with the starters. The Bulls dropped their next game, 117-115 to the Lakers. After trailing by 20 going into the 4th, Junior Jordan led them in a tremendous come back. He scored 30 points in the fourth, on his way to 64 for the game. He grabbed 10 rebounds in the 4th on his way to 20 for the game. Yao Ming had 5 of his 15 boards in the 4th quarter, and Nocioni added 8 points. But it fell just short as Jordan's game winning attempted three went in and out. The Bulls had their first loss of the season.

They followed it with a win, and then faced the NY Knicks with their tremendous PG pair of Marberry and Hinrich. It was a back and forth game, with the Bulls taking a six point lead into the half. But the Knicks kept rotating Kirk and Marberry at the point, and when Jordan went out for Duhon he couldn't keep up with either of them. Yao Ming got into early foul trouble, and had a hard time with an aggressive Eddie Curry. Gordon also took too many shots, going 5 for 16 from the field, 2-6 from three point land. Time and again Jordan dished to Gordon, expecting a return pass when Gordon was cut off inside. But instead Ben kept forcing up shots, resulting in either a turnover or blocked shot. The Knicks were on fire from outside, and ended up with an 8 point win.

Many in the Bulls organization were furious after this loss. Not furious with the loss, but instead with Gordon's attitude. The Bulls were a different team, a much better team, when Gordon came off the bench. But he was becoming disruptive, even still complaining as he got more minutes with the starters. Ben wanted to start. And Yao was disappointing more and more. His rebound numbers were down, and Jordan was working hard to set up Yao with easy shots. Yao wasn't hustling.

The Bulls made another shocking trade. Word was Michael once again helped, and it was through the training sessions he had conducted with Junior and Kobe Bryant. The Bulls traded Yao Ming, Ben Gordon and Tyrus Thomas to the Los Angeles Lakers for Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum. And word was Kobe and Michael had discussed Kobe playing on the Bulls, forming a Jordan/Pippen like pairing with Junior. They had discussed it for the following season, but Michael made a call, and the Bulls got serious because it looked more and more like Gordon was not willing to do what was best for the team.

What will happen now that the Bulls have Bryant and Junior Jordan? Find out in the next post.

[fjccommish]

The next game is against Sacramento and features the Bulls new lineup:

PG - Junior Jordan (Duhon)
SG - Kobe Bryant (Griffin)
SF - Andre Nocioni (Kryappa)
PF - Channing Frye (Lee)
C - Andrew Bynum (Sweetney)

Bulls coach Scott Skiles gives a simple instruction. Run the offense, but Kobe and Junior should always be aware of where the other is on the floor.

They take the strategy to heart. Junior and Kobe combine for most of the Bulls first half scoring, with 18 and 22 respectively. Junior grabs 10 rebounds in the first half, dishes out 5 assists, with Kobe also contributing five assists. No other Bulls player has more than 4 points. Mike Bibby is slashing in for hoops and on fire from three point land, finishing the half with 15 points. The Bulls and Kings finish the half tied, 48 all.

The Kings get a small advantage in the second half. Junior Jordan picks up his fourth foul on a Bibby layup attempt, and has to sit out the rest of the quarter. Kobe keeps the game close, but the Bulls fall behind by as many as 15 and end the 3rd quarter down by 8.

In the 4th quarter, the Bulls can't get much going. By the time Junior returns to the floor, the Bulls have cut the lead to 6, with 6 minutes remaining. What turns out to be a historic moment takes place. As Jordan runs onto the floor, Kobe shouts "Let's win this thing!"

It starts out with Jordan stripping Bibby and running the floor for a dunk. Bulls down 4. Kobe intercepts a Bibby pass on the next possession, feeds Jordan under the basket for a dunk, Bulls down 2. The Kings miss their next shot, Sweetney grabs the board, and Jordan tries a three that misses. The Kings flash the ball down the court on a fast break, but Jordan and Kobe hustle after them and both get a hand on the Miller layup attempt, slamming the ball out of bounds. The Kings miss their next shot, Jordan grabs the rebound and flings a pass to a streaking Kobe who dunks and is fouled. He hits the free throw, the Bulls now lead by one.

Sweetney grabs a rebound off the Kings' next miss, passes to Jordan who tries to slash into the lane for a dunk. But he's met by two Kings, and has to pass to Kobe who hits a fadeaway jumper over Miller to put the Bulls up by 3.

Over the next five minutes Jordan and Kobe put on a show. If one isn't scoring, he's passing to the other. If the other isn't dunking he's hitting a tough jumper. By the time the final horn sounds, the Bulls have won the game by 22 points. Jordan ends it with 45 points, 22 rebounds, 8 assists, 7 steals and 3 blocks while Kobe has 52 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

After the game, the Kings' head coach laments "How can you beat them? You double team Jordan, he passes to Kobe and even if you rotate, he beats you off the dribble or hits a fadeaway. If Kobe has the ball the same thing happens in reverse. You can't put four or five guys on both of them, and both of them can score sometimes even with four or five on them. They're like some kind of supermen out there, superheros, a dynamic duo of dunk."

Local and national media pick up the quote. By the morning Chicago has a new nick name to take its place along side famous names of the past like "The Monsters of the Midway," "Tinker, to Evers to Chance," "Sweetness," and "Air." The "Dynamic Duo of Dunk" is born.

[Donatello]

This is really good writing, I like it- but just so you know, Michael Jordan does have two real sons, Jeffrey Michael and Marcus James, so I'm not sure why you had to make a fictional one. But it's good stuff, all the same.

[Gordon_#7_]

Yeah I like the read too... You've done a great job man!