<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">[IMGR]http://www.nba.com/media/bulls/bird_060626.jpg[/IMGR] How does watching Magic Johnson lead a Bulls fastbreak sound? Or seeing Larry Bird unleash twine-tickling threes for the beloved red, white and black in the old Chicago Stadium? Or, better yet, how about Karl Malone delivering the mail night after night in Chicago?s famed triangle offense? All of those could have happened if a little break had gone the Bulls way in years past. And that's exactly the kind of fortune that seems to always be involved come Draft time. Fresh off leading Michigan State to the 1979 NCAA National Championship, Earvin ?Magic? Johnson was the top prize of that summer?s NBA Draft. Where the charismatic playmaker would call home as a pro came down to who would win a simple coin flip for the right to pick first?the Chicago Bulls, who had posted the worst record in the Western Conference during the 1978-79 season, or the Los Angeles Lakers, who, by virtue of a trade, held the first pick of the New Orleans Jazz, who stumbled their way to the worst record in the East. Chicago requested the honor of calling the flip and the Lakers agreed; so, after Commissioner Larry O?Brien tossed a coin in the air, then Bulls General Manager Rod Thorn immediately woofed ?heads,? to go along with the final results of a fan poll. Unfortunately for broken-hearted Bulls fans, the coin landed tails up, and the Lakers were suddenly on their way to capturing five NBA titles in the ?80s. Pair that misfortune with Boston taking advantage of a then league rule by selecting and signing, before the 1979 Draft commenced, Larry Bird as a junior eligible player in June, 1978?a full year before Bird actually left Indiana State University. Bird?s inking with Boston meant the Bulls didn?t have a shot at grabbing him either. Instead, with the No. 2 pick, Chicago chose UCLA All-American forward David Greenwood, who turned out to be a decent pro but was far from the player that Johnson or Bird were.</div> Source
It's all good, we ended up with his airness, and with jordan you don't need luck. nevertheless that is kinda interesting, especially magic...
I am not disappointed at all with how it turned out, getting Michael Jordan was the defining moment in franchise history to this day he is the face of the franchise. No disrespect to Magic, nor Bird, but I would not trade MJ for anything.
Magic and Bird is one thing, drafting them would have meant we miss out on Jordan. The Malone situation is a lot more interesting. We could have paired Malone to MJ. What would have happened then? Would Malone have reached the status he now has playing with MJ instead of Stockton? Or would he have developed differently? Would we still have goten pippen? because that was a draft day deal if i'm not mistaking, and he was an obscure player at the time, so it's very possible Krause could have drafted him either way... Imagine all the possibilities
And also take into accoutn we were lucky Jordan fell to us when Sam Bowie was taken. Coulda easily been the other way.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting I-Miss-MJ:</div><div class="quote_post">Who is better Pippen or Karl.</div> totally different players. very tough to judge...
I like Pippen better, but if it's overall Malone is probably the better player in his prime. and yeah that would have sucked if Portland took Jordan, they would have been amazing with Clyde the Glide and Terry Porter, crazy backcourt.
I am glad we didn't get magic because otherwise we wouldn't have gotten Jordan so everything turned out for the better.
