Today, the My List special will resume by revealing the #8 team in the countdown, the Chicago Bulls. Before I dive head first into this, allow me to comment on the top comment getter today on the blogs. That blog has got to rank right up there with the most ignorant, spiteful, non-sports related, hateful, hard to read, bigoted, racist, stupid, and biggest wastes of time that I've seen on this site since I signed up here in November 2006. Almost worse than that, the Sizzle got into a verbal joust with gambit, and I thought (and I said as much in a comment on the blog in question) that was low-class, and while I agree that the major problem is that the blogger didn't talk about sports, that still is no excuse for taking a good blogger to task to defend that peace, er, piece of trash. You're better than that, Sizzle, and hopefully that #### is taken off this site or at least warned to stick to sports.

Speaking of sports, now that my commentary is out of the way, let's reveal the Bulls' all-time team.

Starters:

PG: Norm Van Lier: Van Lier gets forgotten by many people because he never truly stood out among the flashier PGs. But Van Lier was the engine that drove the Bulls during the 1970s. Acquired from Cincinnati during the 1971-72 season (a year after leading the league in assists with a 10.1 average), Van Lier led the team in assists every full season he played with the team. He was named All-NBA second team in 1973-74, made three All-Star teams (1974, 1976-77) and helped Chicago reach the 1974 Western Conference finals.

SG: Michael Jordan: As Bugs Bunny might say "What, you were expecting the Easter bunny?". Jordan certainly needs no introduction to basketball fans all over the world. Drafted #3 overall in 1984, Jordan captured ROY for the 1984-85 season with averages of 28.2 PPG, 6.5 RPG and 5.9 APG. After a serious foot injury kept him out of most of his second season, Jordan exploded for 63 points in game 2 of a first round series with Boston (causing Larry Bird to say it was God dressed as Jordan), and he never looked back. He would win ten scoring titles (and his career PPG of 30.1 is tops all time), five regular season MVPs (1988, 1991-92, 1996, 1998), three All-Star game MVPs (1988, 1996, 1998),  a Defensive POY (1988) and most importantly, six NBA titles, with Jordan winning Finals MVP in all six wins. He also won two Olympic gold medals (1984, 1992).

C: Artis Gilmore: Gilmore's best NBA years came when he played in Chicago. The Bulls spent a then-costly sum of $1 million to acquire Gilmore in the ABA dispersal draft in 1976. Gilmore responded with averages of 18.6 PPG and 13. RPG as Chicago won 49 games and extended the eventual champion Blazers to an elimination game in the 1st round that year. Gilmore's best stats year came in 1978-79. when he averaged 23.7 PPG and 12.7 RPG. He made four All-Star teams in Chicago, and led the league in FG% twice with the team (1981-82).

SF: Scottie Pippen: Pippen was the ideal "Robin" to Jordan's "Batman" during the Bulls' dynasty of the 1990s. Chicago traded Olden Polynice to Seattle for Pippen on draft night 1987, Pippen didn't begin to blossom until his third season, when new coach Phil Jackson made him the setup guy for his offense. Pippen made his first All-Star team that year (one of seven he made during his career), and in year four, the Bulls were NBA champs, as Pippen scored 32 to lead the Bulls in the clinching game of the 1991 Finals. Pippen would average over 20 PPG four times (a career high of 22 PPG in 1993-94), and would be named All-NBA Defensive 1st team eight straight times (1992-99). He also was the only player (besides Jordan) to play on all six Bulls championship teams.

PF: Horace Grant: Say what you may about Dennis Rodman, but Grant was on the Bulls longer than Rodman, and was a more all-around threat. Drafted by the team in 1987, Grant began to show potential in his second season (12 PPG and 8.6 RPG), and was steady throughout his Bulls run (as the third option behind Jordan and Pippen). Grant averaged a double-double twice as a Bull (1992 and 1994, which was his only All-Star game appearence), and had his best stats year in his last Bulls season in 1993-94 with 15.1 PPG and 11 RPG. He won three titles with the team before bolting for Orlando in 1994.

Reserves:

PG: John Paxson: The ideal PG for the triangle offense, Paxson was a throw-in in a trade the Bulls made with the Spurs to add George Gervin in 1985 (the Iceman played his final season with the Bulls). He eventually became a starter full time in 1989, and his precise shooting opened up the floor for Phil Jackson's revolutionary O. Paxson's zenith came in game five of the 1991 Finals, when he scored 10 points in the last four minutes of the game to clinch the title for Chicago. He also hit the clinching three to seal the Bulls' third straight title in 1993. Today, he is in charge of the Bulls as team GM.

SG: Jerry Sloan: Before become universally known as the hard### coach of the Utah Jazz, Sloan was an equally hard### player for the Bulls of the 60s and early 70s. Acquired in the expansion draft from the Bullets in 1966, Sloan was a solid scorer (five seasons of 15 or better PPG, a high of 18.3 in 1970-71), but he made his name by being a tough defensive player. Four times he was named to the All-Defensive 1st team (the first ever team in 1969, 1972, 1974-75) and he had 100+ steals twice (steals weren't kept until the final three seasons of his career). He has carried that success into coaching, with his hard-nosed style producing five conference finals berths and two trips to the NBA Finals.

C: Bill Cartwright: "Mr. Bill" may have had not been Jordan's close friend, but he was a dependable C of the Bulls' first three peat of the 90s. Added in a trade with the Knicks (where he was an All-Star in 1980 as a rookie) for Charles Oakley in 1988, Cartwright's best stats year was his first in Chicago, with 12.4 PPG and 6.7 RPG. Though his stats steadily declined, Cartwright had enough left to start on three title teams. He would play six years in Chicago until he finished his career in Seattle in 1994-95.

SF: Bob Love: Love was the original scoring machine for the Bulls in the 70s. Acquired almost as an afterthought from Milwaukee in 1969, Love expolded the following year, as he averaged 21 PPG in 1969-70 after 5.9 the previous year. It was the first of six straight years of 20+ PPG for Love, who played in three All-Star games (1971-73). Love was also a key part of the Bulls team that reached the 1974 Western finals, and was All-NBA second team twice (1971-72).

PF: (tie) Charles Oakley/Dennis Rodman: Both were rebounding forces during their Bulls tenures, so let's do both. Oakley, added in a draft pick swap from Cleveland for Keith Lee in 1985, had a double-double average in two of his three Chicago seasons, and finished second for the rebounding title in 1988 to Michael Cage in the closest margin to decide that title ever (a mere .03 margin). Rodman won the rebounding title in all three of his Chicago seasons, and despite being flaky, added three NBA titles to go with the two he won in Detroit.

Coaches:

Head Coach: Phil Jackson: Jackson seemed an unlikely candidate to even become an NBA coach as a player with the Knicks in the 70s. But he succeded Doug Collins as coach in 1989, and immediately set a rookie coaches record (since broken by Larry Bird) with 55 wins and led Chicago to the Eastern finals. The next year, they won 61 games and their first NBA title. Jackson became the first (and only) coach to have two instances (he would later add a third) of three straight titles, and by the time he left Chicago in 1998, they had won 6 NBA titles and 545 regular season wins.

Assistants: Richard Motta, Doug Collins: Motta took over the team in 1968, and within three years, the Bulls had their first winning record (51-31). The Bulls won 50 or more games four straight years (1971-74) and made the playoffs six straight times, with a trip to the 1974 Western finals. Collins coached the team from 1986-89, with winning records in two of those three years, and coached Chicago to an unlikely berth in the 1989 Eastern finals, before being replaced by Jackson after the run ended.

Honorable Mentions:

C; Nate Thurmond: Did help team to 1974 conference finals, but he is more of a Warriors legend than a Bulls legend.

SG: George Gervin: Like Thurmond, Gervin is a Spurs legend, and the way he went out in Chicago was sad.

PG: Ron Harper: Scrappy PG and a friend of Jordan, but I felt Paxson had more of a hand in the first run than Harper did in the second run.

C: Luc Longley: Does it matter if it's Longley or Cartwright? Interchange if you must.

SF: Orlando Woolridge: Think the Alvin Robertson theory of my last list; Woolridge's best Chicago years were not good for the team, so it diminishes them a bit.

PG: Guy Rodgers: Led league in assists in 1967 as a Bull, but that was his only full Bulls season.

PF Elton Brand: Only played two years in Chicago, and became better known as a Clipper.

Any current Bull: Let's see if they play more consistently before they get on this list.

That's the Bulls. Tomorrow, team #9, the Hawks, will be revealed. Until then, may the bad free-stylers put their "stuff" on a different blog page!