5. Scottie Pippen & Horace Grant (1993-94)
A year removed from Michael Jordan dropping basketball to pursue his baseball dream, the Bulls were left in a state of purgatory and forced to pick up the pieces. No one expected much from a team abandoned by its superstar, but that didn’t stop the 1993-94 Bulls from racing out to a 55-27 record led by none other than Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant.
Pippen and Grant each ranked top two in points, rebounds, steals, and blocks per game that season, with Grant finishing just outside of the top two in assists as well. To say this was a two-man wrecking crew that no one saw coming would be nothing short of an understatement.
Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant are the only Bulls duo that has ever seriously competed for a championship without an MVP on the roster.
As good as this rendition of the Bulls was, it wouldn’t be enough to get the job done and claim the franchise’s fourth consecutive Larry O’Brien Trophy. The Bulls would fall in seven games to the eventual NBA Finalist New York Knicks, dueling to the end with the legendary Patrick Ewing and John Starks.
Unfortunately, this would be Grant’s final season with the Bulls, as management put its trust in Toni Kukoc to replace his production. The Bulls subsequently won eight fewer games the following season and once again failed to advance past the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. After leaving Chicago, Grant would unfortunately never achieve the same level of individual success while striking out on his own, but we’ll never forget those three rings he won and how he held down the fort with Pippen in MJ’s absence.