Chicago is the proud home of many talented and award winning professional sports teams. From the Chicago White Sox to the Chicago Blackhawks, there is no shortage of entertainment and heart pounding moments from our professional teams. However, the most well known Chicago team has to be the Chicago Bulls. If you were to ask any stranger on the street for one well known professional basketball player, chances are they would say Michael Jordan. In fact, the Bulls have set numerous records that have yet to be beaten at the current time.
The Chicago Bulls were founded on January 16, 1966 as the third NBA team Chicago had. The other two teams were the Chicago Stags which were around from 1946 to 1950, and the Chicago Packers-Zephyrs, currently known as the Washington Wizards. Dick Klein was the Bill’s owner and serves as president for their opening years. In their initial year, the Bulls were allowed to sign players from established teams. As a result of this, the Bulls set two new records for an expansion team. The first was posting the best record by an expansion team and the second was qualifying for a playoffs in their first season.
Fan attendance was poor for the first decade until 1971 when under the leadership of Pat Williams and head coach, Dick Motta, the Bulls qualified for playoffs four times in a row. Attendance for games grew to over 10,000. It was the next year that the Bulls set a record for win-loss with a total of 57 wins and 25 losses. However, all good things must come to an end and the Bulls went on the decline after Motta moved to general manager. As a result of the decline, he was fired and replaced by Ed Badger.
It was in the 90’s that the Bulls saw the most success they ever have had. The golden era had three prominent basketball figures – Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and Michael Jordan. The 1995 to 1996 season is said to be the greatest season the team has ever had as they won a record breaking 72 games.
Currently the team is ranked as the third most valuable NBA team. With a value of $2.3 billion and earning over $67 million in the 2015 season. Recently the Bulls let former head coach Tom Thibodeau go and placed him with Fred Hoiberg.