Honorable mention: Joakim Noah
Noah is without question the least skilled player on this list, and although his legacy has been tarnished by unsuccessful verbal altercations with several superstars, a disastrous second half to his career and an inability to adapt to the new era of basketball, his resume speaks for itself. The former ninth-overall draft pick left the University of Florida as a two-time NCAA champion and NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player award and eventually graduated to two NBA All-Star teams and one All-NBA First-Team nomination, making him one of only four Chicago Bulls to make the First-Team list. Noah was a defensive specialist that offered little on the offensive end but was as tenacious of an interior defender as there was, which ultimately helped him make three All-Defensive teams and win the 2014 Defensive Player of the Year award.
Honorable mention: Horace Grant
Grant was never a serious contender for any individual awards, but he was a reliable figure in the first half of the 90’s dynasty, winning three chips from 1991-93; he also made two All-Defensive Second Teams with the Bulls and was a member of the 1994 All-Star team, his only nomination as a professional. That ‘94 season was the best of his career and saw him average 15.1 points and 11.0 rebounds, although Chicago ultimately fell to the New York Knicks in seven games in the first year of MJ’s first retirement.
Honorable mention: Toni Kukoc
Kukoc arrived in the NBA as a made man at 25 years old, having already won three EuroLeague championships with Jugoplastika; he needed time to adapt to the NBA but eventually found his footing and became an integral part of Chicago’s second three-peat. His best season came in 1998-99, during which he averaged 18.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game. The sweet-shooting lefty was also the 1996 NBA Sixth Man of the Year and had a knack for making big shots, including the infamous game-winner in the ‘94 playoff series against the Knicks where Scottie Pippen benched himself after the final play was not drawn up for him.
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