The Second City’s Second Wind

The Chicago Bulls are a franchise still defined by a team and its shooting guard that left the building 13 years ago. You know who I mean, the guy who can't be described as iconic because it's still not a strong enough word. Michael Jordan won 6 championships in the 1990s wearing that same Bulls jersey and defined an entire league.

And then he walked out, and he took Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman and Phil Jackson and even Ron Harper with him. The Chicago Bulls haven't been the same since.

Sure, they have rebuilt, several times, trying time and again to find the star player that could replace His Airness. First, it was Elton Brand, then there was Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry; they called them the Baby Bulls. By 2004, they had added Ben Gordon, the guard they called Mister Fourth Quarter as he could come alive at the end of a game and hit numerous game-winning shots like his predecessor.

It wasn't until 2007 that they won another playoff series, a surprising sweep of the defending champion Heat. The following year gave them the draft pick that allowed them to get Derrick Rose, who gave them glimpses by leading them to a wild first round playoff series against the Boston Celtics featuring an orgy of late-game heroics by both sides, taking the series to the maximum 7 games. It was at that point that they realized what this Bulls team could really do.

This year's Chicago Bulls team is in a position not seen since Jordan's glory days. Ever so carefully, the Bulls managed to tiptoe underneath the Hawks, around the Heat, and between the Celtics and Magic, to the top of the Eastern Conference without making a sound. This would be the first No. 1 playoff seed for the Bulls since that fateful season of 1998. And yet they remain the East's best-kept secret. Even as their star guard Derrick Rose is making his push for MVP of the league, he does it under the radar because of the phenomenon that is Blake Griffin.

As long as Chicago does in fact clinch the number one seed, they will have the opportunity to continue to do what they've done so well all season: win at home. With only 5 home losses, only San Antonio has an even comparable home record. As we all know, the advantage of playing at home means more in the NBA playoffs than in any other sport. Chicago will have that to draw on.

If the Bulls did do one other thing this year that put them on the map, it was sweeping their season series with the Miami Heat, winning all three games in the final seconds, and leaving the team of LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade with tears in their eyes and little to say for themselves.

By acquiring Carlos Boozer this past offseason to put at the power forward, the Bulls added 17 points and 10 rebounds per game to a frontcourt that already had the shot-blocking and rebounding presence of Joakim Noah and the versatile skills of Luol Deng. Suddenly, Rose found himself the ringleader of a young but powerful group that came together to overthrow the powers-that-be in the East.

At least that is, in the regular season. But the question remains, can they do it in the only season that really matters? Well, who would they have to get past?

The Celtics did the smart thing and actually got older this offseason and now it's paying dividends because (everyone act surprised now) Shaq is having injury problems and becoming the Big Albatross. Chicago also has the experience of battling them tooth and nail in that series in 2009 when the Bulls were still a lowly eighth seed.

Miami, for all their talent and potential, has had their season undermined by underachievement throughout. While they still have the second best record in the East, they have played awful against elite teams and stockpiled victories against mediocre ones. Logic says they will struggle mightily in the playoffs, even as they appear to be built for them on paper.

And Orlando has rebuilt around Howard with scary depth that features Gilbert Arenas and Quentin Richardson off the bench, while Jason Richardson and Jameer Nelson form the starting backcourt. Not to mention, reclaiming their playoff x-factor Hedo Turkoglu, who had a tendency to make clutch shots time and again the last time he wore a Magic jersey.

Come to think of it, in the 1990s we saw a few Bulls/Magic playoff series featuring Jordan vs. Shaq, one of which was epic. In 2011, we may just see another Bulls/Magic series with Derrick Rose vs. Dwight Howard in their place.

Perhaps we are looking at too small of a picture here for these Bulls, though. This is a team that should be causing us to look at who would matchup against them from the West in the Finals. Derrick Rose, meet Kobe Bryant for all the marbles. The Jordan clone vs. the Heir (no pun intended) to Michael's throne in Chicago. Perhaps this becomes a thrilling title run for the young Bulls, the first of many, that lead their fans to think of not one, but two great eras in Chicago Bulls history.

But for now, they're just a top-seeded team that no one saw coming. Not even Michael himself.