The Chicago Bulls' success, as everyone in the NBA well and truly knows, has been defined to one incredible era. With Michael Jordan dominating the league and Scottie Pippen about as good a sidekick as one could hope for, they were unstoppable for much of the '90s, accumulating six championships in that time.
Unsurprisingly, that means that those seasons dominate this list of the Bulls' best seasons, with only two years which didn't involve Jordan and Pippen making the cut. So how do we separate the seasons of one of the best NBA teams of all time?
10. 1974-75
The first of just two teams on this list which didn't feature Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, the 1974-75 incarnation of the Bulls is one of their best not to win a championship. With three players on the NBA-All Defensive First and Second Teams, the Bulls won 47 games throughout the season to finish atop the Midwest Division and second in the West. They proved too good for the Kansas City-Omaha Kings in the Conference Semis, winning that in six, before managing to get out to a 3-2 lead over the Warriors in the Conference Finals in a tight series. Unfortunately, they lost Game 6 and then gave up an 11-point lead after two quarters in Game 7 to go down by four points, but given those Warriors went on to win the championship in four games it's safe to say that this team deserves its spot on this list.
9. 1988-89
By 1988-89, Jordan was in his fifth season in the league and well and truly the dominant force he remained throughout his career. Scottie Pippen had joined him the year prior and came on in leaps and bounds in his second season, but remained short of the level that he would ultimately reach. Still, this team was showing signs of what to come. They underperformed relative to the season prior, winning 47 games and finishing sixth in the East, but that didn't stop them knocking off first the Cleveland Cavaliers, then the New York Knicks to make the Conference Finals. That was as far as they got, with the Detroit Pistons subsequently knocking them out in six, but the foundation for one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history had very much been laid.
8. 2010-11
After a success-starved period following the '90s, the Bulls finally began to make some noise once Derrick Rose joined the fray. In 2010-11, his third year, the young star made a huge leap and extraordinarily won the MVP after leading his team to a 62-win season and the first seed in the East. With Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer, Keith Bogans and Luol Deng by his side they breezed through the First Round and the Conference Semis, but a Miami Heat team led by a LeBron James no doubt desperate to prove his superiority to the young guard who had just pipped him for the MVP was too much to overcome, ending their season in a five-game series.
7. 1989-90
With five full seasons now under his belt, most of them completely dominant, question marks were beginning to surround Michael Jordan and when, if ever, he would finally break through for the ultimate success. On the back of another brilliant season he led his Bulls to the three seed, but unfortunately a similar tale to the previous year unfolded. They won comfortably through to the Conference Semifinals, but once there they again came across the Pistons. But this time around, the developing squad did a little better, forcing the series to a Game 7 on the back of three wins on their home court. Unfortunately, the series home court advantage proved to be the deciding factor, with the Pistons winning the decider comfortably in Detroit. That would be Jordan's last full year in Chicago in which anyone beat him.
6. 1992-93
Now, to the championship teams. It seems unfair to rank any of them last in that group, but sixth on this list is still pretty damn good. After back to back titles it was always going to take something special to knock this team off, and though they only cruised through the regular season to 57 wins, they still finished atop the East. With Jordan averaging a casual 35.1 points throughout the playoffs, they swept their way through to the Conference Finals, and though they gave up a couple of games in each of the last two series of the season, they were still too good for the Suns, and completed the first of their two three-peats of the decade before farewelling Jordan – at least for the time being.
5. 1991-92
The year prior, things were seriously humming along for the Bulls. After their drought-breaking first championship in 1990-91, the regular season proved something of a cakewalk for this side; they won 67 games, Jordan won his second consecutive MVP, and Pippen averaged then-career-highs in all major statistical categories with 21.0 points, 7.7 boards and 7.0 assists per game. Come playoff-time, they were somewhat surprisingly given a few scares; the Knicks took them to seven in the Conference Semis while they needed six games to win each of the next two series, but nonetheless win them they did, with Jordan again picking up the Finals MVP to complement his regular season MVP victory.
4. 1997-98
By 1997-98 and with five championships under their belt, this was an ageing team still led by Jordan and Pippen and with the likes of Luc Longley, Dennis Rodman and Toni Kukoc playing no small role of their own. But older though they may have been, they still won 62 games and eased their way through the first couple of rounds of the playoffs. The Pacers gave them a scare in the Conference Finals, but 28 points from Jordan was enough to see them over the line in Game 7. Up against Karl Malone, John Stockton and the Utah Jazz in the NBA Finals, the Bulls dropped a couple of games but for the most part looked in control. Up 3-2 and in what would be his final game with the Bulls, Jordan hit perhaps the most iconic shot in NBA history, giving his team a one-point lead with 5.2 seconds remaining to secure a sixth championship for the decade.
3. 1996-97
In his second full season back in the league, Jordan was by this point firing on all cylinders, scoring more points than every other player in the league at 33 years of age. The team would win 69 games throughout the course of the regular season, and hardly endured a hiccup en route to their fifth and penultimate championship. The Jazz were once again their victims in the NBA Finals, and though they snatched a couple of wins, the aura of inexorability which so defined the Bulls meant the result always felt inevitable. Jordan was, of course, the Finals MVP, with 31.1 points per game throughout the course of the playoffs and more than 32 in the NBA Finals.
2. 1990-91
This was the year in which it truly all began. After years of nearly-but-not-quites, the Bulls took a major step forward during the regular season, going from 55 wins the year prior up to 61. Jordan won his first MVP, and the Bulls made such light work of the playoffs that you'd think they'd already won five previously. Up against the Knicks, 76ers, Pistons and finally the Lakers, they lost just two games during this historic run, with Jordan averaging 31.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 8.4 assists in the playoffs, and Pippen averaging 21.6, 8.9 and 5.8 to go with 2.5 steals. At long last, Jordan, Pippen and the Bulls had broken through for their first championship, and they did it in style.
1. 1995-96
The Bulls were an extraordinary team for a long, long time, but this was the season in which everything truly came together. In Jordan's first full season back, this is widely regarded as the best team in NBA history. They compiled an incredible 72-win season, a number which has been bettered only by the 2015-16 Warriors which failed to get the job done in the NBA Finals. By the end of the playoffs, in which they lost just three games, Michael Jordan had won the MVP Award and the Finals MVP, Phil Jackson won Coach of the Year, Toni Kukoc had won Sixth Man of the Year – even Jerry Krause had won Executive of the Year. There was no stopping the Bulls during much of their dynastic run, but this year in particular was never going to see any result other than another Chicago title.
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