Ever since Michael Jordan left, the Chicago Bulls have struggled to find a true identity, skipping through weird era after weird era. The only solidified group they managed to bring in was the Derrick Rose-led Bulls, and those guys’ chance at a championship was cut short by injuries.
Before and after Rose, the Bulls put together a bunch of different oddball teams, some of which were more competitive than others. Perhaps the weirdest group the Bulls put together was the Jimmy Butler, Dwyane Wade, and Rajon Rondo-led Bulls in the late 2010s. They were only together for a brief period of time, but they made things interesting.
In the 2017 NBA Playoffs, they even took the first two games of their first-round series against the first-seeded Boston Celtics. However, Rondo went down with an injury after the first two games, and Chicago lost the next four in a row.
On a recent appearance on the Views from the Rafters podcast, Rondo said that he believes Chicago’s early exit from the playoffs was “karma” for keeping him benched throughout the course of the season. (H/t Stephen Beslic of Bulls News)
“I got benched for almost 20 games that year,” Rondo said. “We turned around a little bit going into the playoffs, and then I’m back in the starting lineup. For me, that was my motivation, like, ‘You guys want to bench me? I’mma show you.’ I ended up trying to do my best as I could possibly do. We win the first two games, I got hurt, we don’t win another game. So for me, that was kind of like their karma on how they treated me versus me not being able to feel the destiny as far as me winning and beating the Celtics.”
Rondo was only a Bull for one season, but it was certainly a memorable run – for better or for worse.
