The Bulls are the basketball equivalent of a big-budget Hollywood action flick—thrilling to watch but, when you get right down to it, pretty predictable.

When these Bulls have had Michael Jordan for a full season, they've been far and away the best team in the NBA. In its five championship seasons Chicago has won the Central Division by an average of 11.4 games; in those five postseasons the Bulls have faced elimination only once (in the 1992 conference semis, against the Knicks). In each of the past two seasons they clinched a playoff spot during the first week of March.

Yawn.

Off the court is where the suspense lies. After Chicago beat Utah for the title, Jordan said the Bulls should be allowed to stay together to defend their crown. But owner Jerry Reinsdorf hesitated to commit the resources to make that happen, especially with his White Sox draining finances. When push came to shove, though, Reinsdorf didn't have the nerve to deny Jordan his very public request. On July 24, coach Phil Jackson signed a one-year, $6 million contract to return—though, after announcing the deal, G.M. Jerry Krause made it clear that Jackson would not be back in '98. With Jackson again in the fold, Jordan agreed to a one-year deal worth $33 million, and Scottie Pippen—who had nearly been traded to the Celtics on draft day for Boston's two first-round picks—was taken off the block. Michael then lobbied Reinsdorf to re-sign Rodman, which the owner was expected to do early in camp.

The signing of Rodman would guarantee that the Bulls go for the three-peat with essentially the same team that won the last two NBA championships. That already-aging squad is another year older and rather banged up. Pippen, 32, recently underwent surgery to deal with the nagging soft-tissue injury to his left foot. He will be out for at least two months and might miss three. In Pippen's absence, 29-year-old Toni Kukoc, battling foot problems of his own (his sore right arch caused him to miss 22 games last year) will be given a chance to start, a role he much prefers to coming off the bench.

But Pippen and Kukoc are not the only key Bulls who are walking wounded. Center Luc Longley, 28, and backcourt starter Ron Harper, 33, both nursed sore knees over the summer. Rodman, 36, missed 13 games with a sprained left medial collateral ligament, which may have contributed to his lackluster postseason. In the Finals he had just 7.7 rebounds per game, far off his league-leading season average of 16.1.

When the bodies break down—and Pippen doesn't figure to be the only Bull to confront problems this season—Chicago won't have much to turn to. The Bulls have done little to cultivate new talent; Jordan's megabuck deal doesn't exactly give them room to maneuver under the cap. Chicago could offer only $310,000—a 20% raise from the league minimum—to Brian Williams, the late-season addition who excelled in the playoffs; he signed a seven-year, $45 million deal with Detroit. The Bulls blew a chance with another promising young center last year when Krause outmaneuvered himself. He tried to convince 1996 first-round draft pick Travis Knight to go to Europe for seasoning. Knight said no thanks and became a free agent; he had a fine rookie season with the Lakers, then signed a $22 million free-agent deal this summer to be Boston's center of the future. Undaunted, Chicago tried much the same tactic with this year's first-round pick, Maryland forward Keith Booth, who wavered but signed a contract in early October. The Bulls added only cast-off center Joe Kleine and oft-injured swingman Scott Burrell.

Such live-for-today thinking will catch up with the Bulls. But, with any luck, not this year. Losing Pippen hurts, but the way the Bulls see it, it could've been worse. "It's better now than somewhere near the playoffs," said Jordan. "Hopefully, he can recover and come back to play the kind of basketball we all expect of him. This could be a blessing in disguise." If that is to be the case, then Burrell, a solid defender with good outside shooting touch, will need to help fill the gap. And someone other than the dependable Steve Kerr and the indefatigable Jud Buechler will need to produce off the bench. Sure, an 82-game season is going to be a grind on this aging, battered bunch, but when the playoffs roll around, this team will be all business.

Don't expect an NBA-record 73 wins—heck, maybe not even 63—out of the Bulls, but as Jordan's Finals performance against the Jazz (32.3 points per game, two game-winning shots) showed, betting against him in the postseason is still a ludicrous proposition. "This is a veteran team that knows what it takes to win," says Jordan. "Mentally, we are so much stronger than other teams. That allows us to overcome some things that might stop other teams."

The only thing capable of stopping this team is its front office. Win or lose, Reinsdorf and Krause seem bent on letting the club disintegrate after the season. But the guy who forced the Jerrys to bring the gang back this year has other ideas. "I think we are going to win again," Jordan said in September, "and go for seven."

Get ready for a pretty suspenseful summer of '98.

—Mark Bechtel