“He felt confident he could leave and they could survive and thrive” – Phil Jackson reveals how MJ saw the Bulls after his 1993 retirement originally appeared on Basketball Network.
Michael Jordan believed the Chicago Bulls would be just fine without him. After three straight championships and the NBA world at his feet, he walked away in 1993 — certain the team could survive and thrive without him.
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Phil Jackson backed that belief. So did some of the players. But the year that followed tested everything — loyalty, identity, and what it really meant to lead in Jordan’s shadow.
“One thing Michael said to this team was he felt confident he could leave and they could survive and thrive. That’s one of the things we have to find out — is it possible for this team to do that,” Phil Jackson shared ahead of the 1993-94 season via the Washington Times.
The Bulls needed a new identity with MJ gone
Several Bulls players saw Jordan’s exit as a chance to prove they weren’t just his supporting cast. One of them was Horace Grant. He thought they deserved recognition since they supported Jordan in winning three straight championships.
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“After winning that first championship, we got an identity, meaning that he couldn’t win it without us,” Grant said. “In the beginning, when he first got to Chicago, he was a leading scorer, this and that, but he didn’t have the people he had to win three championships.”
It was clear some players wanted to escape the shadows of Jordan. But it remained that they still needed a new superstar to lead them. That was no other than Scottie Pippen, who Michael believed was the new top dog of the team.
“It’s his house now,” Jordan quipped after taking part in a charity game organized by Pip. “It’s his place.”
Pippen blossomed but was no Michael
Pippen answered that call to be the Bulls’ new star. For most parts of the 1993-94 season, the Central Arkansas product appeared to be on the right track. However, there were forgettable moments that tarnished his run.
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Many remember the infamous “1.8-second incident” in the playoffs against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Pip refused to enter the game after Jackson designed a play for Toni Kukoc instead of him.
Pippen shed light on that incident, claiming that he felt insulted. Aware that it was his first year playing out of Jordan’s shadows, he felt Jackson was doing Kukoc a favor to rise among the ranks. That move insulted him.
Pip’s near-perfect season
It was an unfortunate end for the 5th overall pick of the 1987 Draft, who led the Bulls splendidly that season. He averaged 22.0 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 2.9 steals in 72 regular-season games.
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That effort pushed Scottie into the regular season MVP race. He eventually finished third behind Hakeem Olajuwon of the Houston Rockets and David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs. It was the highest he could garner in his 17 seasons in the league.
There is no question Pip had what it took to lead the Bulls to success. The only caveat was that he was not as dominant as Michael in terms of taking over and dealing with high-pressure situations.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jun 28, 2025, where it first appeared.