How the Chicago Bulls had an impact on LSU basketball in the late 90s

The Chicago Bulls inadvertently had an impact on the future of LSU basketball in the late 90’s.

Nearly everyone in the nation was watching ESPN on Sunday night to catch the first two installments of The Last Dance, which chronicles the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls season — the final season in Chicago for Michael Jordan and several others.

Even if you weren’t a Bulls fan in the 90’s, or if you are too young to remember Michael Jordan in his prime, the documentary is worth watching. It’s raw, candid and informative. It’s nearly perfect (so far).

The last thing I was expecting to do after watching the documentary was make a connection between the late 90’s Bulls and LSU basketball.

But as I’ve often learned while writing about sports, there’s almost always a connection to LSU.

Here’s how the Bulls/LSU connection works.

Before the 1997-98 season, Bulls general manager Jerry Krause desperately wanted Iowa State’s Tim Floyd to replace Phil Jackson as the team’s head coach. Jackson ended up signing a one year deal with the Bulls to coach the team in 1997-98, despite Krause publicly parading Floyd around as his buddy.

Floyd revealed on Off the Bench on Monday that he nearly went to LSU when Dale Brown retired after the 1996-97 season. But the one thing that kept Floyd from heading to Baton Rouge was the drama with the Bulls hanging around in the background.

Floyd eventually became the Bulls’ head coach in 1998, after Jackson led the franchise to a sixth championship in eight seasons. He resigned midway through the 2001 season after failing to lead Chicago to the playoffs.

LSU ended up hiring John Brady in 1997 after Brown’s retirement.

Floyd, who later coached at USC and UTEP, has never led a team past the Sweet 16, so it’s not like LSU missed out too much because of Krause and the Bulls.