“All the pieces are in place,” coach Dave Wannstedt once infamously said of the Bears, when neither the pieces were in order nor even the places. This season’s Bulls appear to have all the pieces–perhaps too many of them–but certainly not in the proper places.
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Last season the Bulls put together a “drive and kick” offense: their skilled young perimeter players drove the lane, drew the defense, and dished out to a teammate for an open shot. But the Bulls lacked a presence in the middle, and this is what they added during the off-season by signing big Ben Wallace, the defensive specialist who led the Detroit Pistons to an NBA championship two years ago. The Bulls opened this season by pasting the defending champs, Shaquille O’Neal’s Miami Heat, by 42 points. But the next night the Bulls lost in Orlando to the Magic, and last Friday they lost their home opener to the Sacramento Kings. The pieces seemed a jumble, a jigsaw puzzle fresh out of the box. But what makes the Bulls so fascinating is the unique challenge all this young talent poses to coach Scott Skiles. Disappointing as the Bulls’ first games were, the team looks like it could become something special–perhaps even a championship team.
The opener at the United Center was declared “Fear the ‘Fro” night, in honor of the unruly Afro Wallace sometimes sports when he hasn’t braided his hair–the first 10,000 fans were given Afro wigs. There was some doubt about whether he’d go along with the gag, but after the other Bulls had been warming up for a few minutes Wallace literally skipped onto the floor. During the game he displayed a surprisingly fluid turnaround jumper–offense not being considered his area of expertise–and raked down rebounds as if he were playing with a jai alai basket.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images.
