1995–96 Chicago Bulls season

NBA season
team = Chicago Bulls
misc = 72-win season, 4th championship
end_year = 1996
wins = 72
losses = 10
division = Central
division_place = 1
conf_place = 1
coach = Phil Jackson
arena = United Center
owners =
television =
radio =
playoffs = NBA Champions
bbr_team = CHI

The Chicago Bulls set an NBA record by winning 72 games. The Bulls would go on to beat the Seattle Supersonics in the 1996 NBA Finals.

Offseason

Prior the 1995-96 season, Dennis Rodman and Jack Haley were traded from the San Antonio Spurs to the Chicago Bulls for center Will Perdue and cash considerations, in order to fill a large void at power forward left by Horace Grant, who left the Bulls prior to the 1994-95 season.

Haley only played in one game during the regular season and did not participate in the playoffs, but he was kept on the roster for the entire year because of his friendship with the enigmatic Rodman, who rarely spoke to anyone else on the team. Team management felt that someone had to keep the unpredictable forward out of trouble, and Haley quickly earned a reputation as Rodman's "babysitter". [ [http://www1.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?p=8742080&sid=dec51c6333e39d61d224eeeb3348a7dd RealGM :: View topic - Most Undeserving player to win a championship? ] ]

In his book "Bad As I Wanna Be", Rodman stated that Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen had to approve the trade before it took place. Rodman chose the number 91 (9+1=10 according to Rodman for why he chose that number) for his jersey since the number 10 jersey was retired by the Bulls after the 1994-1995 season in honor of Bob Love.

NBA Draft

NBA Finals

*Game 1 - June 5, Wednesday @ Chicago, Chicago 107, Seattle 90: "Chicago leads series 1-0"
*Game 2 - June 7, Friday @ Chicago, Chicago 92, Seattle 88: "Chicago leads series 2-0"
*Game 3 - June 9, Sunday @ Seattle, Chicago 108, Seattle: 86: "Chicago leads series 3-0"
*Game 4 - June 12, Wednesday @ Seattle, Seattle 107, Chicago 86: "Chicago leads series 3-1"
*Game 5 - June 14, Friday @ Seattle, Seattle 89, Chicago 78: "Chicago leads series 3-2"
*Game 6 - June 16, Sunday @ Chicago, Chicago 87, Seattle 75: "Chicago wins series 4-2"

The Finals were played using a 2-3-2 site format, where the first two and last two games are held at the home court (United Center) of the team with the better regular season record. The Bulls became the third franchise to have at least four championships, leaving them behind the Boston Celtics with 16 and Los Angeles Lakers with 11 (at the time).Michael Jordan became the first player to win the Finals MVP four times.

Game 1

"Wednesday, June 5, at the United Center"

Game 4

"Wednesday, June 12, at the KeyArena"

Roster

Navbox
name = Chicago Bulls 1995-96 NBA champions
titlestyle= background:#e20e0e; color:black;
title = Chicago Bulls 1995-96 NBA Champions
list1 =

0 Brown !7 Kukoč !8 Simpkins !9 Harper !13 Longley !22 Salley !23 Jordan (Finals MVP) !25 Kerr !30 Buechler !33 Pippen !34 Wennington !35 Caffey !53 Edwards !54 Haley !91 Rodman !Coach Jackson

Award Winners

* Phil Jackson, NBA Coach of the Year
* Michael Jordan, All-NBA Team, First Team
* Michael Jordan, All-Star Game MVP
* Michael Jordan, NBA MVP
* Michael Jordan, NBA Finals MVP
* Michael Jordan, NBA All-Defensive Team, First Team
* Michael Jordan, Regular season leader, Field Goals (916)
* Michael Jordan, Regular season leader, Field Goal Attempts (1850)
* Michael Jordan, Regular season leader, Total Points (2491)
* Michael Jordan, Regular season leader, Scoring Average (30.4 points per game)
* Scottie Pippen, All-NBA Team, First Team
* Scottie Pippen, NBA All-Defensive Team, First Team
* Dennis Rodman, NBA All-Defensive Team, First Team
* Dennis Rodman, Regular season leader, Rebounds Per Game (14.9)
* Dennis Rodman, Regular season leader, Offensive Rebounds (356)
* Dennis Rodman, Regular season leader, Rebound Rate (26.6)
* Toni Kukoc, NBA Sixth Man of the Year

NBA All-Star Game

* Michael Jordan, Guard
* Scottie Pippen, Forward

References

* [http://www.databasebasketball.com/teams/teamyear.htm?yr=1995&tm=Chi&lg=N Bulls on Database Basketball]
* [http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/1996.html Bulls on Basketball Reference]