The private ceremony took place on Thursday, as select members of the Bulls organization honored their latest “Ring of Honor” class.
Halftime of Saturday’s game with the Wizards was the public celebration, and the good news was there were no distractions of who didn’t show.
That was the case for the inaugural class two years ago, as both Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen opted to skip the ceremony. Jordan did at least send a video message, but the entire week leading up to festivities was filled with the drama of will they show or won’t they show? They did not.
Heck, even Dennis Rodman was late.
That was not the case with this second class as former assistant coach Johnny Bach, former players Bill Cartwright, Horace Grant, John Paxson and Norm Van Lier, and long-time play-by-play radio and television announcer Neil Funk were all honored.
“I think it’s awesome,” coach Billy Donovan said of the latest class. “Obviously for the class and all the people that have contributed here, the people that have contributed to the organization, the success here is remarkable. It’s great to see all those guys get rewarded and acknowledged, recognized for their own individual accomplishments and the team accomplishments that they’ve been a part of.”
Obviously, the latest class focused more on the first three-peat, starting with Bach, who was not only a decorated World War II hero, but was the key figure in developing the team’s “Doberman” defense under head coach Phil Jackson.
Cartwright was the starting center for the first three-peat after he was acquired in a 1988 trade, while Grant and Paxson were also key figures. Paxson also served as the long-time general manager and senior advisor.
Bumps and bruises
Not only was the blow-out loss to Miami on Friday night a flat-out stain on the early part of this season, but there was injury added to the insult.
Matas Buzelis, Patrick Williams, Isaac Okoro, Kevin Huerter and Dalen Terry were each knocked out of the Heat game – or in Huerter’s case ejected – and into the training room. With a back-to-back against the Wizards, not everyone made it back either.
Huerter and Buzelis were both cleared, but Okoro (back), Williams (left wrist) and Terry (calf strain) were each in street clothes for the game with Washington.
Early return
Because of the shortage of bodies, the Bulls had to pull the plug on rookie Noa Essengue playing Saturday’s game with the G League Windy City Bulls.
The rookie did play Friday’s game with Windy City and scored 22 points, but it’s not the scoring department that Donovan was necessarily focused on with the 12th overall pick from the June draft.
“I don’t really worry about (his scoring),” Donovan said. “I think he’s going to run out in transition and find ways to score. I think it’s going to be more the defensive part. Now the rebounding part, I think he’s so long that him going to the glass will be better for him and certainly help us. I think his cutting and feel for the play is good. The shooting, he was 1-for-5 from three (Friday), so I think that’s going to take time to get better, and him playing with the basketball.”
Essengue finally earned rotation minutes with the big club, making his NBA rotation debut with a four-minute scoreless stint in the first half against the Wizards. He was a minus-9 in plus/minus as well.