So let me get this straight ... because MJ retired you are saying the Bulls decided not to try and replace Horace Grant? If anything MJ retiring would make them want to replace Horace Grant even more because they knew they would be hurting. Probably not with the same sense of urgency since they didn't think they would have Jordan to compete for the title. This shouldn't be that hard to understand. You had a nice two year run because Jordan retired for, gasp, two years. Must have been a coincidence. :roll: He didn't retire for 2 years. He retired for 1 1/2. This is the root of the whole problem. Bulls fans want to ignore Jordan did come back and DID dominate in the playoffs. Your Grant comment still makes no sense. They made the playoffs and were still trying to win. Losing a guy who just average 15 and 11 means you would try to replace. Your theory is the Bulls lost Jordan, made the playoffs next year and then decided to just throw in the towel because they had no chance. We still had no power forward to speak of, Kukoc was playing it. Once we knew Jordan was back we went out and got Rodman and started teabaggin people. 16 pts, 5 rebounds and 5 assists is not good? Kukoc was a good PF and is a player most people know of. What you didn't have is rebounding. Will Perdue and Luc Longley blew chunks and while Kukoc was very good he wasn't a rebounder. Again it seems very doubtful to me that the Bulls decided to not sign anyone to replace Grant because of Jordan retiring a full year before. They still tried to win when Jordan was out which is why they made the playoffs. It seems much more likely they thought they had a replacement already in house and after two years of no rebounding, the second with Jordan back and dominating in the playoffs, they realized that to win they need a strong rebounder. They found the perfect one in Rodman because he was the best at rebounding and didn't care to score allowing Jordan, Pippen and Kukoc to handle it.