Bill Wennington's Tales From The Bulls Hardwood

by Bill Wennington, Kent McDill

Chicago Bulls fans thought they had it so good. From 1991 through 1993 the Bulls won three consecutive NBA titles behind the talents of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. When Jordan retired in the fall of 1993, those fans thought the good times were over. In the fall of 1995, however, Jordan was ready to make a full return to NBA action, Pippen was still the best number two man in basketball, and then bad-boy Dennis Rodman was signed to join the franchise that had grown to hate him. Suddenly, the Bulls had the greatest team in NBA history. Bill Wennington’s Tales from the Bulls Hardwood tells some of the inside stories from that team, the one that won three more NBA titles from 1996 through 1998. Seen from the eyes of three-time NBA champion center Bill Wennington, the Bulls come to life differently, from an insider’s point of view. The 1995-96 Bulls won an NBA record 72 games and became the Beatles of professional sports. Followed everywhere and talked about endlessly, they captured a national and international audience and kept all eyes upon them for three seasons, even though everyone knew they were going to win. Fans will read about some of the most famous names in basketball history. Jordan, the demanding team leader; Pippen, the true teammate; Rodman, the reckless rebounder; Toni Kukoc, the outsider; Ron Harper, the former star turned role player; Luc Longley, the affable Aussie; Steve Kerr, the John Paxson sequel; all playing for Phil Jackson, the Zen master coach. These are stories fans have not heard before, but it’s not their fault. They just weren’t there the way Bill Wennington was.

188 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2004

Reviews

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bill Wennington's book is great if you're looking for snippets and inside scoop type stories from a specific era of Chicago Bulls Basketball: 1993-1998. Bill relates many funny and exciting stories about the Bulls' record-setting 72-win season, and the three championships they won while he was on the team, as well as the couple years when MJ was retired the first time.

Potential draw-backs: 1) It does not read chronological. Rather, Bill focuses on personalities and people and events about the team one at a time, telling the stories as they relate to the subject at hand, rather than sticking strictly to the sequence of events. Still, a fan will enjoy the reminiscence regardless.

2) This is not a full biography of Bill Wennington. As I mentioned above, this book only covers his playing days with the Chicago Bulls: 1993-1998.

Still, I love hearing about some of the pranks that team members played on each other back in the day...